Members of the 122nd ROC following a morning run

ROC Oversees Iraqi Reconstruction Projects

As Operation Iraqi Freedom pushes toward the day that Iraqis will take on all responsibility for the running of their country, Soldiers of Georgia’s 122nd Rear Operations Center continue helping the country get back on its feet through assistance with projects to rebuild that war-torn nation.

Part of the mission of “The ROC” is to oversee reconstruction projects such as the one that brought safe drinking water to residents of Airport Village, a community not far from Baghdad International Airport.

The project, begun in July 2005 by Hawaii’s 2nd Battalion, 299th Infantry, saw completion of the project’s first phase in April by Soldiers Oklahoma’s 17th Field Artillery Brigade, said Maj. John Gentry, Victory Base Defense Operations Center Effects coordinator and a member of the 122nd. Phase one of the project saw the completion of a tower and pipeline. Phase two will see the replacement of the inner water network within the village.

Georgia’s 122nd ROC is in its 11th month of a one year deployment. This is the unit’s second deployment in the Global War on Terror, its first was a year long deployment with the Military-Civilian Joint Operations Task Force in Afghanistan early in the war as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.