PHOTOS: A Day With The Mayor

By Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell

Joint Security Station Cahill gets maintenance

BAGHDAD - "I'm the maintenance man," said Sgt. Brian Weber, an infantryman and Joint Security Station Cahill mayor from Gratiot, Wis., assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, as he uses a wrench to try to fit a water line onto a pump here. "This is the only air-conditioned [latrine] on the compound, so we're trying to get it running for the guys," he added. The mayor's cell, which includes five other paratroopers, has been working on the latrine for six weeks. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, MND-B PAO)

BAGHDAD - "You can't go down to Ace Hardware and pick up what you need," said Joint Security Stastion Cahill mayor, Sgt. Brian Weber, an infantryman assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. "Getting the right supplies and right materials has been a bit of a problem. You just can't make a call and run down to the Class IV yard to get it." Weber and his other paratroopers work with what they have and try to perform maintenance routinely to stop any problems before they begin. Weber cleans a generator in order to prevent it from breaking down in the heat and dusty conditions of Iraq. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, MND-B PAO)

BAGHDAD - Sgt. Brian Weber, the Joint Security Station Cahill mayor from Gratiot, Wis., assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, pressure washes a generator used to run all the electricity on the compound here. "I'm in charge of maintenance and infrastructure for the JSS," explained Weber. "You got to be self-motivated…the hardest part of the job is staying one step ahead of everything." (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, MND-B PAO)

BAGHDAD - Sgt. Brian Weber, who grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, pressure washes an air-conditioner to clean it of dust and sand at Joint Security Station Cahill, here. Weber, the JSS mayor and his fellow paratroopers, use the limited supplies they have to accomplish the job of keeping the Soldiers quality of life on the compound bearable. "We try not to ask for a lot because you can't ask for what they don't have," explained Weber, an infantryman from Gratiot, Wis., assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, MND-B PAO)

BAGHDAD - "We're preparing everything as if it's going to be here for ten more years," said Sgt. Brian Weber, an infantryman and Joint Security Station Cahill mayor, as he checks the oil and fuel for the generator that provides power for the compound. Weber, a native of Gratiot, Wis., assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, knows he's leaving Iraq in about 4 months but wants to try to leave the compound better than when he inherited. Weber explained the unit has invested more than $250,000 in improvements on the compound with their biggest project being rewiring the entire base. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell, MND-B PAO)