Louisiana soldiers in Iraq take on role of protecting United Nations officials

Louisiana National Guard soldiers with New Orleans' 1-141st Field Artillery Battalion stand at attention during a transfer-of-authority ceremony with the Oregon National Guard's Task Force Guardian. The 1-141st and the Virginia National Guard's 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment comprise Task Force Overlord in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom at Contingency Operating Base Adder. Both units are deployed with the 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Iraq.



Louisiana soldiers in Iraq take on role of protecting United Nations officials
Published: Wednesday, November 24, 2010, 9:45 PM

In their civilian lives back home, the soldiers of Alpha Battery, 1/141 include police officers, shrimpers and bartenders.

But in Iraq the Jackson Barracks-based soldiers in the 1st Battalion, 141st Field Artillery Regiment have a much higher profile task: They’re providing security for high-ranking United Nations officials while also standing by to quickly respond to emergencies within the International Zone in Baghdad.

The work is a departure from the initial training the Army provided to the troops before their deployment overseas. They were schooled in how to fire howitzers on faraway targets, then retrained to provide convoy security.

Alpha Battery commander 1st Lt. Joachim Fernandez of Metairie admits his soldiers could give the Army a black eye if they slip up while providing security for the senior-most United Nations officials serving in Iraq. But he isn’t fretting.

“The potential for something negative happening is tremendous,” Fernandez said recently in a phone interview from Baghdad. “They’re doing a very unorthodox job and doing it very well,” he said of his soldiers.



unhappycamper comment: What happened to Xe and Triple Canopy? Is the DoD actually insourcing jobs? Or are they running out of money to keep the charade going?

BTW, I think the United States recently renamed the Iraq occupation to Operation New Dawn.