Images | Marine Contribution puts Iraqi School on Right Track for Future

A young boy and a Marine from the 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, look in on new desks the battalion bought for a school in Al Kabani, an Iraqi village in the Al Anbar Province, on Aug. 26, 2004. Marines with the battalion visited the village to see the new furniture and to drop off school supplies, including notebooks, pens and crayons, which were donated by family and friends of the troops. Elements of the battalion provide security for nearby Camp Taqaddum, home of the headquarters of the 1st Force Service Support Group. Headquartered in Bridgeton, Mo., the battalion has awarded numerous contracts to the local Iraqi government worth approximately $350,000 for numerous improvements to communities near Camp Taqaddum.

Iraqi children look into a box of school supplies donated by family and friends of Marines with the 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, at the village of Al Kabani, on Aug. 26, 2004. Marines with the battalion visited the village to see new furniture the unit bought for the school and to drop off the box, which contained notebooks, pens and crayons, among other things. Elements of the battalion provide security for nearby Camp Taqaddum, home of the headquarters of the 1st Force Service Support Group. Headquartered in Bridgeton, Mo., the battalion has awarded numerous contracts to the local Iraqi government worth approximately $350,000 for numerous improvements to communities near Camp Taqaddum.

Lt. Col. Rod T. Arrington, 43, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, motions for some Marines to look at the desks the unit bought for Al Kabani, an Iraqi village in the Al Anbar Province, Aug. 26, 2004. Marines with the battalion visited the village to see the new furniture and to drop off school supplies, including notebooks, pens and crayons, which were donated by family and friends of the troops. Elements of the battalion provide security for nearby Camp Taqaddum, home of the headquarters of the 1st Force Service Support Group. Headquartered in Bridgeton, Mo., the battalion has awarded numerous contracts to the local Iraqi government worth approximately $350,000 for numerous improvements to communities near Camp Taqaddum.

Muktar Ismael Hamaad, the leader of the village of Al Kabani, smiles at a group of Marines on Aug. 26, 2004, after troops from the 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, visited the community to see new furniture the unit bought for the school. The reserve infantrymen also dropped off school supplies, including notebooks, pens and crayons, which were donated by family and friends. Elements of the battalion provide security for nearby Camp Taqaddum, home of the headquarters of the 1st Force Service Support Group. Headquartered in Bridgeton, Mo., the battalion has awarded numerous contracts to the local Iraqi government worth approximately $350,000 for numerous improvements to communities near Camp Taqaddum.

Marines with the 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, look around a school in Al Kabani, an Iraqi village in the Al Anbar Province, on Aug. 26, 2004. Members of the battalion visited the village to see new furniture the unit bought for the school and to drop off supplies, including notebooks, pens and crayons, which were donated by family and friends of the troops. Elements of the battalion provide security for nearby Camp Taqaddum, home of the headquarters of the 1st Force Service Support Group. Headquartered in Bridgeton, Mo., the battalion has awarded numerous contracts to the local Iraqi government worth approximately $350,000 for numerous improvements to communities near Camp Taqaddum.

A Marine with the 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, stands watch on a bridge during a stop along the way to Al Kabani, an Iraqi village in the Al Anbar Province, on Aug. 26, 2004. Marines with the battalion visited the village to see new furniture the unit bought for the school and to drop off supplies, including notebooks, pens and crayons, which were donated by family and friends of the troops. Elements of the battalion provide security for nearby Camp Taqaddum, home of the headquarters of the 1st Force Service Support Group. Headquartered in Bridgeton, Mo., the battalion has awarded numerous contracts to the local Iraqi government worth approximately $350,000 for numerous improvements to communities near Camp Taqaddum.

A young boy from Al Kabani, an Iraqi village in the Al Anbar Province, listens to other residents talk to the Marines with 3rd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, while standing outside a classroom that uses a painted slap of wood as blackboard on Aug. 26, 2004. Marines with the battalion visited the village to see new furniture the unit bought for the school and to drop off supplies, including notebooks, pens and crayons, which were donated by family and friends of the troops. Elements of the battalion provide security for nearby Camp Taqaddum, home of the headquarters of the 1st Force Service Support Group. Headquartered in Bridgeton, Mo., the battalion has awarded numerous contracts to the local Iraqi government worth approximately $350,000 for numerous improvements to communities near Camp Taqaddum.

Photo by Lance Cpl. Samuel Bard Valliere