World News @ Anderson Free Press

By Multi-National Division
Baghdad Public Affairs Office

BAGHDAD, IRAQ – A Multi-National Division–Baghdad Soldier died in Kamaliyah, Iraq, from a non-combat related incident February 8, 2009.  Spc. James M. Dorsey, 23, of Beardstown, Ill., assigned to 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, attached to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, was found unresponsive by fellow Soldiers. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.

By Spc. Joanna N. Amberger
Hawaii Army National Guard

CHANTHABURI, THAILAND - Shrieks of laughter greet the formidable Hawaiian as he steps into the large, open classroom filled with small Thai children. He looks as if he wants to give all the children a bear-hug. The kids are excited and laughing, but they are shy and playfully keep their distance in a large ring around him. As he kneels down on one knee, the children finally feel more comfortable and approach the laughing, warm-hearted stranger.

American Forces Press Service

AT SEA ABOARD USS VELLA GULF – The crew of the guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf apprehended seven pirates in the Gulf of Aden today after responding to a distress call from a nearby merchant vessel.

By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, DC – Though U.S. special operations forces are working with local and regional governments to reduce and prevent instability on a global scale, very few actually are engaged in direct combat, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command said on Tuesday, February 10, 2009.

By Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jill LaVoie
Special to American Forces Press Service

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN – To maintain a consistent presence to the southeast of Forward Operating Base Ramrod in southern Afghanistan, 1st Infantry Division soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, recently secured a piece of desert to build Combat Outpost Terminator.

By Army Maj. Dave Olson
Special to American Forces Press Service

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, IRAQ – For thousands of years, fishermen near Ma Baynaa al-Nahreen, or "the Land Between the Two Rivers," sold their catch to others to sustain their existence. Today, the Saydiyah Fish Market stands as a classic example of where Iraqi fishermen sell their wares to their neighbors from across Iraq.

By Spc. Darryl Lee Montgomery
Multi-National Division - Central

CAMP VICTORY, IRAQ – Deployment usually means packing up and leaving family behind for a year so that Soldiers can do important missions abroad.

By Afghanistan Public Affairs Office

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Afghan national police and coalition forces were attacked by militant forces while conducting a reconnaissance patrol in Shaheed Hasas district, Oruzgan province Feb. 10. As the ANP and coalition forces convoy was approaching a village, they were attacked by militants from multiple locations using small arms, rocket-propelled grenades, and heavy weapons fire. ANP and coalition forces responded with small-arms fire.

By Cpl. Ryan Young
2nd Marine Aircraft Wing

AL ASAD AIR BASE, IRAQ - Work may have felt less like endless hours in a helicopter hangar and a little more like time spent back in Iowa for three soldiers who share more than a common hometown.

By Army Pfc. Bethany L. Little
Special to American Forces Press Service

ALBU HASSAN, IRAQ – While Iraqi soldiers provided security, U.S. soldiers of A Company, 9th Engineer Battalion, performed much-needed maintenance on an Iraqi road outside of Albu Hassan on Feb. 3.

One civilian man has died of a head wound sustained when he failed to stop his vehicle when approaching a coalition checkpoint in Khowst province Feb. 6, after multiple warnings to stop.

By U.S. Forces
Afghanistan Public Affairs Office

KABUL, Afghanistan - One civilian man has died of a head wound sustained when he failed to stop his vehicle when approaching a coalition checkpoint in Khowst province Feb. 6, after multiple warnings to stop.

Provincial government officials and coalition partners laid the first batch of cement for a new bridge crossing the Shatt al Arab River in Basra, Feb. 7.

By Aaron Thacker
Multi-National Division - Southeast

BASRA, IRAQ – Provincial government officials and coalition partners laid the first batch of cement for a new bridge crossing the Shatt al Arab River in Basra, Feb. 7.

By 455th Air Expeditionary Wing

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – An Air Force MQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aircraft System crashed in southern Afghanistan on Feb. 8 at approx 11:35 a.m. local time.

By the International Security Assistance Force

KABUL, Afghanistan - Clean water is one of the main foundations of every civilization. People need water for drinking, cooking and cleaning; something that many western countries take for granted.

By Capt. Daniel T. Sem

TIKRIT, Iraq – It seemed like a normal Tuesday morning for the Iraqi doctors and nurses of Tikrit Teaching Hospital as they filed into the conference room for the weekly senior physician case study presentations. It did not take long for them to realize something was different when an American doctor from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division stood up and began teaching on pediatric complications.

By Robert Wood

By Spc. Angie Johnston

KIRKUK, Iraq – Coalition forces took a back seat to Iraqi authorities Jan. 14 during a city council meeting in Tuz Khurmatu. Council members discussed a wide range of issues facing the city, including recurring power shortages and the safety of residents. Although there are security concerns dotting the province, Deputy Chairman Qadir Ali Saleh is certain that Tuz Khurmatu is on the upswing. “It is a proven fact that security has improved,” said Qadir. “We always have to expect negative issues, but they have been declining in the past five years since coalition forces have come to our province.”

By the International Security Assistance Force
Afghanistan Public Affairs Office

KABUL, Afghanistan - The German armed forces employ approximately 400 local Afghan nationals everyday on Forward Support Base Camp Marmal, helping to keep the base going and boost the local economy.

By U.S. Central Command Air Forces Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA – As part of a Global Power training mission, a pair of United States Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., flew nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean, through the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East region en route to a base in the Indian Ocean on February 3, 2009.

By International Security Assistance Force

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Ninety-one years ago, Amanullah Khan was the king of Afghanistan and Theodore Roosevelt was the President of the United States. World War I had just ended. Yet the Third Anglo-Afghan War raged in Afghanistan, and Din Muhammad was born.

Ninety one years later he is still alive and is one of the oldest Afghans living in Afghanistan; a country where the average livespan is 44-years-old, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Fact Book.

By 2nd Marine Logistic Group

CAMP AL TAQADDUM, IRAQ – Brig. Staff Gen. Ali Haider Abdulhameed, Habbaniyah’s location commander for the Iraqi army, presented 13 U.S. service members from the Camp Al Taqaddum Surgical Team and Coalition Army Acquisition Team with certificates of appreciation, Jan. 29.

By Army Staff Sgt. Michel Sauret
Special to American Forces Press Service

CAMP VICTORY, IRAQ – During the 2005 provincial Iraqi elections, voters had their fingers stained with election ink to prevent them from voting twice. Some held their fingers up in pride as they took part in democracy; others hid their faces from cameras, afraid of becoming victims of sectarian violence.

By John Ohab
Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Army Southern European Task Force officially has assumed its new role as the Army component for U.S. Africa Command, an effort to build and strengthen relationships with African army organizations and national and international partners.

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. servicemembers and civilians are seeing the fruits of their labor in Iraq where, increasingly, they are celebrating completed projects and humanitarian efforts that build both infrastructure and relationships.

By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, DC - The members of agricultural development teams in Afghanistan are living examples of the symbol of the National Guard: a Minuteman with a musket in one hand and the other hand resting on a plow.

Army Secretary Pete Geren and Army National Guard Chief Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn spoke here on January 22, 2009 about the capabilities these citizen-soldiers bring to development in Afghanistan's Ghazni province.