Ohio National Guard UPAR

Engineers set barriers at IZ compound

By Spc. Heather Todd
1192nd Engineer Company, USD-C


BAGHDAD- Soldiers from the Ohio National Guard’s 1192nd Engineer Company set multiple barriers in three sections of the International Zone here to help protect workers and residents from improvised explosive devices.

The 104th Infantry Battalion supported the project by securing the site. The IZ includes the Central Court of Iraq and the Ministry of Justice. The engineers set barriers at the main entrance of the compound, the sidewalk entrance where judges and lawyers enter the building and at the parking lot.

“The barriers were placed to help defend against any IED’s or VBIED’s (vehicle borne improvised explosive devices) that could be placed there,” said Sgt Nicholas Adamson from Struthers, Ohio, who is assigned to 1192nd.

 

Contractors supplied the barriers and engineers operated the crane, with a team of six Soldiers emplacing the barriers. The Soldiers worked four 15-hour days to get the job done ahead of schedule.

“The team was very motivated,” said Staff Sgt. Isaac Johnson, the project noncommissioned officer in charge, from Elyria, Ohio. “We worked long hours every day, but they never complained and they were always on time – and we didn’t stop till the job was done.”

The terrain made the project more difficult. Trees and brush kept hampering the job.

“We had to be very flexible; the terrain was horrible with all of the trees, so we had to make a lot of adjustments to get the barriers in place, but we accomplished the mission and that’s all that matters,” Johnson said.


   

Spc. Kimberly Gordon from Youngstown, Ohio, waits as the chains from a crane move over for hook-up to the barriers. Ohio National Guard Soldiers from 1192nd Engineer Company, are building a barrier yard at Joint Security Station Constitution in Baghdad. The barrier yard will be used by the 6th Iraqi Army during the upcoming election. (U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Tanner Dunlap,1192nd Eng. Co., 16th Eng. Bde., USD-C)

Staff Sgt. Bradley Wilson from Willard, Ohio, a Soldier with 1192nd Engineer Company, guides a barrier into place at Joint Security Station Constitution. Ohio National Guard Soldiers are helping to build a barrier yard for the 6th Iraqi Army to use during the elections. (U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Tanner Dunlap, 1192nd Eng. Co., 16th Eng. Bde., USD-C)


Staff Sgt. Keith Manning from North Ridgeville, Ohio, with 1192nd Engineer Company, reaches for a set of chains dangling from a crane, used to lift and move concrete barriers. The engineers are at Joint Security Station Constitution in Baghdad setting up a barrier yard for the Iraqi Army in support of the upcoming election. (U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Tanner Dunlap, 1192nd Eng. Co., 16th Eng. Bde., USD-C)