BAGHDAD, Iraq – Marines and “Illini” in western Iraq denied the enemy weapons and munitions, while Coalition trainers continued developing Iraq's elite forces. And in the north, reconstruction means ‘power to the people.'

In an effort to foster awareness of Iraq's fledgling police forces, Iraq's Ministry of Interior has declared 2006 the “Year of the Police.”

"We think that the future is to take them to a true national police force, to where they're badge-carrying and qualified officers enforcing the Iraqi rule of law," said Army Col. Jeffrey Buchanan, Commander of 2nd Brigade, 75th Division, and the Police Commando Special Police Transition Teams, or “SPTTs.”

Buchanan briefed the Pentagon Press Corps from Iraq Feb. 3 on the progress of Iraq's police commandos. The SPTTs are 11-man teams of U.S. Soldiers and Marines who've been working with the police commandos and the mechanized police brigade since last March.

The Police Commandos began as an independent, single battalion in Aug. 2004. They were the only Iraqi security force formed without the help Coalition Forces. Today, they are their own division with four brigades, each over three battalions. They are deployed in Baghdad and four other provinces.

Buchanan defined the Division's mission as counterinsurgency operations, intelligence gathering and capturing or killing enemy forces in order to establish a secure environment in which other security forces can operate.

To that end, the police commandos conduct raids, cordon and search operations and reconnaissance. They also protect fixed sites, but the mechanized troops have the more visible job in Baghdad.

“The primary focus of the mechanized police is to secure Baghdad's airport road, or Route Irish.” The route has earned a moniker once reserved for post-Soviet era Afghanistan's Khyber Pass: the world's most-dangerous road. But the mechanized troops of the new Iraqi National Police Commando Division are working together to change that.

Buchanan praised the dedication and selfless service of both the SPTTs and the Commandos they train.

“It's humbling to know these men. They serve the people, and they do it voluntarily.” said Buchanan.

“For the Iraqis, the volunteer force is a new concept, but they're starting to learn that democracy is far more complex than simply choosing those who govern you.”

The 1st Commando Brigade has suffered 99 men killed in action and 140 wounded in the past year alone.

“Democracy requires individual sacrifice for the good of society,” said Buchanan. “And these men are doing just that.”

Selfless service and vigilance are military values troops in Iraq exemplify every day in order to help create a safe environment for both the Iraqi people and Coalition Forces. Marines and Soldiers of Task Force Blackhawk produced tangible results to that end near Fallujah Feb. 2.

Soldiers with the Illinois National Guard along with Marines from 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward), captured a weapons cache while on a combat patrol.        
The cache included 470 60 mm mortar rounds, 360 82 mm mortar rounds, 43 57 mm rockets, 75 tubes of C3 explosives, 125 hand grenades, seven 50-kilogram bags of TNT, eight land mines, 250 mortar fuses, 500 artillery primers, 15 82 mm illumination rounds, 5 60 mm mortar systems, 1 82 mm mortar system, 11 rocket propelled grenade rounds, eight RPGs, 50 anti-aircraft rounds, 20 sticks of TNT, four 12.7 mm machine guns and 1,000 7.62 mm rounds.

This weapons cache is the eleventh these service members have discovered in a 13-day period. Prior to their current assignment, the unit was attached to Multi-National Forces-Baghdad, working near the Iraqi capital, where they captured more than 30 weapons caches.

Besides establishing security, reconstruction of Iraq's infrastructure remains a major priority of the new Iraqi government and Coalition Forces. A new electricity control center now under construction in northwestern Iraq is designed to improve the reliability of electricity in the region.

The control center is being built by local construction companies under the supervision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The project will connect the National Electrical Network with the Northwest Regional Control Center, or NRCC.

One of many new substations, the NRCC will allow monitoring and control of power and will improve electricity production and transmission in the region. The system will bolster the reliability of the electrical network's communications and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, or SCADA, systems.

“A healthy power system should have a healthy brain, which is the SCADA
and communication systems,” said Saman Mosai, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project manager-electrical sector. “The power plants, substations
and transmission lines could be compared to the body organs. The SCADA and communication systems will be acting as the brain and nerves. So you see the NRCC is a vital component.”

The National Dispatch Control Center—part of the SCADA system located
in the Baghdad Governorate—will monitor and control the grid. Eventually, the entire country's electrical system will be monitored by the NDCC.

Blackouts and shutdowns are common in Iraq. The electrical systems are not yet stable and consumption is often more than the source can handle. SCADA is designed to reduce and eventually eliminate blackouts.

(Content compiled from Official DoD sources)