BY BLU GILLIAND, The Associated Press
PRATTVILLE, Ala. (AP) -- Zane Jones doesn’t seem to mind that his Christmas this year is khaki instead of white, but he really is hoping for a little peace on Earth.
The Prattville native, a major in the U.S. Army’s 519th Military Police Battalion, has the challenging duty of overseeing police operations on Baghdad’s turbulent east side.
It’s a job that doesn’t give him much time for celebrating the season, although he tries.
“We make a joke here about ‘the 12 minutes of Christmas,”’ Jones said during a telephone interview from Baghdad on Tuesday.
Jones joined his battalion in Baghdad in July, where they have been working steadily to shore up an Iraqi police force that he described as being “in shambles.”
“There was nothing but looting and stealing and dead bodies,” Jones said. “It was Dodge City.”
Jones and his men are working to rebuild the police force on two fronts. Facilities devastated by neglect and looting had to be reconstructed nearly from the ground up. The most daunting task, however, lay in the rebuilding of the force itself, a group of officers Jones said was riddled with corruption.
“It was expected for them to take bribes,” Jones said. “That’s the way they made their money. They were paid $3 a month (in salary).”
Jones said that, before the United States entered the picture, Iraqi police officers were mostly Baath party members loyal to the regime of Saddam Hussein. This made finding good leadership to put in command of the Iraqi police a difficult step.
“We have probably gone through three sets of Iraqi leadership at the highest rank, because they were either Baath or had criminal charges come up against them,” Jones said. “Since about October, we’ve become more comfortable with the top brass leadership here.”
Jones, who graduated from Prattville High School in 1980 and attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery before joining the Army, said there have been many rewarding times for him while in Baghdad. There have been scary times, too, times he would rather not discuss. Instead, he points to the day that Saddam Hussein was captured as an example of the good things he’s seen.
“The soldiers were excited, and the people in the streets were excited,” Jones said. “In the Middle East, when people want to celebrate, instead of shooting off fireworks they want to shoot their guns in the air. We couldn’t walk outside without hearing rounds hit the ground.”
Being away from home is nothing new for Jones, who serves as operations officer for the 519th, which is based at Fort Polk, La. Over the past several years, he’s been to Germany, Cuba and Haiti, among other places.
Although he loves his job, there are some downsides, such as spending Christmas away from home. Last year, Jones was in South Korea while his family and friends opened presents stateside. This year, it’s Baghdad.
“It’s tough, but he’s doing what he’s trained to do,” said Jones’ wife, Dorian, who is spending the holidays at home in Gulfport, Miss. “Being an Army wife for as long as I have, I realize it’s a sacrifice you have to make. I guess it’s harder during the holidays.”
Zane Jones said he and his men are thankful for the support of family, friends and fellow Americans back home.
“We feel the support, we hear it, and it just makes the biggest difference knowing that,” he said. “I get notes from groups and from people who have us in their thoughts and prayers. These soldiers over here are doing a wonderful job. I know people are proud of them, and they should be.”