Coalition Troops Work On New Patrol Base

Construction Near Sayifiyah Moves Ahead Swiftly

There has been at times a lot of fighting in the Sayifiyah area. Now, in an area that was formerly controlled by Insurgents, a forward Patrol Base is being constructed.

Forward Patrol Base Vanderhorn is currently under construction, and when it is finished it will play home to troops from 101st Airborne/Air Assault, 3rd Brigade Combat Troop, 187th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion. The base draws its name from a Staff Sergeant, Christopher Vanderhorn, who was a member of the 1-187th Infantry Regiment.

Sergeant Vanderhorn was killed during an IED attack in January of 2006, when the battalion was previously in Iraq.

Water, Food, and living quarters have been transported in by other Coalition Units, and construction is moving ahead at warp speed. Building supplies were brought in from Grafenwoehr, Germany, and supplies from other areas as well have been gathered together.

The battalion has helped in building other patrol bases since their deployment but this is the first time that they will be helping construct a base for their own use. Building bases that are forward and allow soldiers to live and work among the citizens is one of the main efforts of the current troop surge.

It is the strategy formed by General David Petraeus, who is the Commander of the Iraqi MNF division Coalition Forces.

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Patrol Base Meade is another base that part of the 1-187th will be based at. Most of the work on the Patrol bases is from Coalition troops but there is some Iraqi contractor involvement in non security related areas of each base.