Staff Sergeant Sanders Fosters Cooperation And Understanding
The soldiers serving in Iraq serve side by side. They are different people with different cultures, and different home countries. But they all have the same root goals; stability, security and safety of Anbar province.
Staff Sgt Robert Sanders is with Battery K, 1st Battalion, Eleventh Marine Regiment, and serves as operations chief. He helps to try to bridge the culture gap.
Sgt Sanders grew up in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran. He was originally from Fort Benning Georgia, but his father worked in the oil fields and so Sanders had experiences living in various Arabic countries. His father was originally in the U.S. Army but went to work in the oil fields after the end of the Vietnam War.
“We use Sanders as part of our bid to succeed here in the Villages,” said 1st Lieutenant Matthew Thompson. Thompson is the executive officer for Battery K. “Sanders is able to converse, to talk to people without having an interpreter around,” said Mathews. “He has discovered his ability and his niche, working with the local Iraqi people,” stated Lieutenant Matthew.
Much of the current positive rapport that the Marines and natives from Kabani have can be traced to the dealings with Sgt. Sanders. In addition to the plans by K Battery to help rebuild different areas in the village and the area, in particular a local school that was rebuilt is partly thanks to Sanders.
Sgt Sanders lived among the Iraqi people in 2004 during his last Iraqi deployment. He lived in the Iraqi Compound in eastern Fallujah while there.
