by Laura Freeman
Reporter
Hudson -- A Western Reserve Academy graduate found his second tour of duty in Iraq far different from his first, with signs of progress and cooperation from the Iraqi people.
U.S. Army Col. Todd B. McCaffrey, 45, has been in the Army for 22 years and is commander of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division out of Hawaii. He has been in Iraq since early December on his second tour of duty in the conflict that began in March 2003. His first was from September 2004 to October 2005.
"We're scheduled for a 15-month deployment and expect to be back in Hawaii in early February or March [2009]," said McCaffrey in a phone interview from Taji, Iraq. "It's a long time."
McCaffrey, a 1981 WRA graduate, and his family moved to Aurora Street in Hudson when he was in the second grade. He and his two brothers were familiar with the downtown, and he has vivid and fond memories of Hudson.
"I remember Saywell's Drug Store and playing Kiwanis baseball," McCaffrey said. "The Ice Cream Social was every year. I remember as a kid it was a much smaller event then. And I remember the Clocktower decorated at Christmas time."
McCaffrey spent one year at Miami University in Ohio and graduated from West Point in 1986. His parents live in Florida, and his two brothers live out of state, but he said he tries to get back to Hudson once a year. That has been more difficult with his time in Iraq and his home base in Hawaii. His wife, Lisa, and three children, Michael, 14, Sara, 13, and Andrew, 9, live in Hawaii.
McCaffrey commands 4,000 soldiers in a brigade, which consists of six battalions that range from 500 to 700 soldiers each. He said his brigade's mission is to bring stability and security to 600 square miles of rural terrain on the northwest side of Bagdad.
"Our job has us deployed in an area near Taji, 12 miles north of Bagdad," McCaffrey said. "Our job is to work stability and security operations with the Iraqi army and police. Our goal is to assist Iraqi personnel to establish a stable environment for its government to fulfill its objections and goals."
Agriculture is the main industry of Taji, and the people have deep tribal roots, McCaffrey said. He spends a lot of time dealing with local tribal leaders or sheiks.
"The society is based on family, clans and tribes, which have long histories," McCaffrey said. "Those tribal leaders have immense power."
The tribal leaders are not the government, but they influence governmental leaders and speak with authority for the people, McCaffrey said.
"We've recognized the sheiks importance more in recent years than in prior years," McCaffrey said. "They have taken on a security role of their own."
Sheiks have publicly rejected terrorism in many places and have taken up arms in cooperation with coalition forces to expand neighborhood watch programs and provide security for their own areas, McCaffrey said.
Cooperation with the Iraqi people has made a difference in the fight against terrorists, McCaffrey said.
"Al Qaeda was very prevalent in this area just last year," McCaffrey said. "Al Qaeda was taking from the people and not providing anything, and the people threw them off and rejected the terrorists."
McCaffrey said there is a mix of Sunni and Shiite religions, with Shiites in the southern part of the area. However, he said the sectarian strife, which was prevalent a year ago, is gone, and there has been no sectarian violence in the last four months.
"There has been some violence but not near the level of sectarian strife a year ago because tribal leaders have resolved differences," McCaffrey said. "Strife was instigated by al Qaeda and terrorist groups who fed on the people's fears and emotions. We have six to 10 events [of violence] in a week now where in the past we had that many in a day."
McCaffrey said the change has been a combination of factors, but he believes the addition of more than 20,000 U.S. troops in 2007 gave the Iraqi people the confidence to reject violence on their own and someone to back that decision up.
"It's like a police presence in a neighborhood which dampens violence," McCaffrey explained. "It allowed people with confidence to provide information to authorities."
McCaffrey said in his last tour, large operation bases were centrally located and soldiers drove out to areas, worked with people and drove back to the base, but now, groups of 120 to 140 soldiers live in combat outposts throughout the area.
"We don't leave their neighborhoods," McCaffrey said. "We have combat outposts with American soldiers living with Iraqi soldiers throughout the area."
McCaffrey said Iraqi people are intelligent and well informed with Satellite television and cell phones are common.
"They want the same things we want in the United States," McCaffrey said. "The things we take for granted, they can't."
McCaffrey said Iraqis want reliable electrical power, water for agricultural use and to feel safe when going to local markets.
"We need to establish the [safe] conditions for Iraq to provide for its people," McCaffrey said. "Attacks on markets are attacks on people. That's where they gather, shop and have daily involvement."
McCaffrey said the problems in Iraq are long term, but progress is being made.
"As a brigade commander, this effort requires a level of resolve to see the problem through."
E-mail: lfreeman@recordpub.com
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