Iraqi workers carry election material from a warehouse in Baghdad's Kadhimiya neighborhood on Thursday afternoon. Soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, are also based at the site, providing protection and using it as a forward patrol base through Sunday's elections. (Jason Chudy / S&S)
Iraqi workers carry election material from a warehouse in Baghdad's Kadhimiya neighborhood on Thursday afternoon. Soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, are also based at the site, providing protection and using it as a forward patrol base through Sunday's elections. (Jason Chudy / S&S)
Iraqi National Guardsmen wait for a truck full of election supplies that they will guard on its drive to an election district office Thursday. (Jason Chudy / S&S)
A truck carrying election material passes a Humvee from 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, on Thursday. (Jason Chudy / S&S)
BAGHDAD — Soldiers sat in front of a fire early Thursday evening, talking and joking about everything from women to war but practically ignoring the handful of trucks that passed in or out of a dusty warehouse a few dozen meters away in the city’s Kadhimiya neighborhood.
Whether or not they even noticed the trucks, the soldiers from Company C, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, were witness to the first tangible steps toward Sunday’s historic election. Although the trucks roll in empty, they leave full of election material — voter registration information, election machines and, most importantly, ballots.
The battalion’s area of operation includes one of Baghdad’s four polling distribution sites. For the past few days, trucks have been in and out from sunrise to sunset with materials destined for 31 election district offices and then to the 300 to 350 polling sites themselves.
The soldiers, meanwhile, have been using the warehouse complex as a forward patrol base, conducting operations and providing security for the site with Iraqi National Guardsmen and some non-Iraqi civilian guards.
Of the dozens of soldiers in the area, only two will occasionally make the short walk to the warehouse. Capt. John O’Keeffe, the battalions’ civil/military officer, and Sgt. Maj. Roy Souvenir, operations sergeant major, have spent the past few days helping the three Iraqi election officials and 30 or so workers.
There really isn’t too much to do, they said. Mostly, they ask questions about how things are going and if anyone needs their help.
“We haven’t stepped in [much],” he said. “It’s going OK. I think our warehouse is going better than the other three.”
“It’s gone relatively smooth,” said Souvenir. “We’re not looking for perfection, we’re looking for cooperation. There have been a few glitches, but nothing that couldn’t be overcome.”
The main difficulty came from the trucks contracted to carry election materials to the district offices. A handful just didn’t show up.
Instead of causing a bottleneck, Iraqi National Guard troops stepped in with their own vehicles and a couple of loads were even taken on U.S. military vehicles.
“I’ve dropped off two loads and this is the third load,” said 1st Lt. Mike Campbell, an adviser with Company A, 303rd Iraqi National Guard Battalion, as his soldiers waited to escort a truck out of the site.
“We’re going to continue through the night,” Campbell said. From the district offices they will be taking the election materials out to the polling sites themselves.
They’ll be working “‘til it’s done,” he said. “Obviously before the elections, but we want to get it done the day before.
“We’ll go all night and all day tomorrow to do it,” he said, “and the Iraqis will do it. It’s been great.”
Campbell said that the national guardsmen know that if they don’t get the material to the polling sites, they won’t get to vote themselves.
“They’re anxious to vote for the first time,” he said. “They’re willing to put in the hard work and sacrifice it takes to make democracy work.”
