Airmen ‘connect’ with Iraqi villagers

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Scott Elliott
  • Air Force Print News
FRENCH VILLAGE, Iraq --  Most airmen deployed to nearby Baghdad International Airport live and work there, but a few have managed to mingle among the local residents.

Besides doing their jobs, they said they feel they are building a bridge in American-Iraqi relations.

“The Iraqis I’ve met are great,” said Senior Airman Matt Read, a medical technician with the 447th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron. “They’re very friendly and appreciate us being here.”

Read and other medical professionals based with him helped open a medical clinic here Oct. 18, and plan to care for patients three or four days each week.

“It’s a great opportunity to do something like this,” said Maj. (Dr.) Gene Delaune, an individual mobilization augmentee with the 89th Medical Group at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

Following their shift at the clinic, Delaune, Read and others were invited for tea and lunch in the home of one of the local families.

“This is a really warm neighborhood with friendly people,” Delaune said. “They really make you feel at home.”

While waiting for lunch, 15-year-old Ahmed challenged Read to a game of Nintendo Play Station soccer. Read got smoked, 7-0, but readily agreed to a re-match the next time the medics came to the village.

Read said the people he met here are very much like the folks back home.

“They’re a lot like Americans,” he said. “They have jobs to do and children to care for. You get a weird picture of it back home, but when you get here you see they’re human beings just like we are.”