The 1st Infantry Division is providing two new chilling units for the North Region Electricity Control Center (NRCC) in Taza, Iraq. The existing chilling system operates at one third of its capacity and is not able to properly cool the control equipment. This causes the controls to overheat and malfunction. These malfunctions can damage equipment and cause electricity outages. There have been three shutdowns recently due to the high temperatures in the control room. The new chilling units will lower the control room temperature to normal operating conditions, even on the hottest summer days. This will immediately improve operation of the facility, minimizing shutdowns and provide more reliable electric service to the Iraqi people. MORE

Soldiers of Alaska-based Company C, 84th Engineer Battalion, teamed with elements from two sister engineer units to fix the abutments of a river float bridge across the Tigris River in Iraq. The bridge provides the local population with a timesaving way to travel across the river. The bridge project was located in a rural section of the countryside where Marine engineers had previously installed a float bridge for easy access over the Tigris. Because the road was used so extensively by the general public, the on- and off- ramp earthen abutments were worn and had degraded significantly. To upgrade and repair the bridge, Company C first had to coordinate for gravel haul support and security with the 84th Engineer Battalion units and 116th Combat Support Engineer Battalion. MORE

Faced with an increase in complex head injuries, caused mostly by improvised explosive devices, surgeons turned to Walter Reed’s new 3-D Medical Applications Center for help. With a computerized tomography scan of a patient, the center produces 3-D medical models of the shattered faces and skulls. Armed with this tool, surgeons can better analyze a patient’s injury and better plan their treatment approach. Using these models helps surgeons to get more precise re-approximation for the realignment of the fracture lines. One of the things this has allowed them to do is to model it perfectly on the model first, reduce the fractures with a perfectly shaped reconstruction bar and sterilize that reconstruction bar, then use it on the patient knowing that the alignment would be perfect. MORE