DIYALA, Iraq - The village of Karbul, in the Diyala province, is a small community which faces many challenges as it builds toward the future. Of its 600 residents, approximately 60 percent are currently unemployed. For children going to school, a journey to a village about a mile away is required. Trips for medical treatment usually take at least one day if not two.

With these kinds of issues, it would be easy to overlook some of the individual challenges each citizen faces. While on a routine patrol, the Soldiers of Attack Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, saw a 12-year-old girl, Fatem Halm Sieyd, who they knew they needed to do something for.

"We went through the town to check security of the area when we first saw her," said 1st Lt. Nicholas Davis, a platoon leader with 5/20 Inf. "She doesn't have use of her legs so she had to drag herself through the courtyard just to see what was going on."

The Soldiers talked to her parents to discover what caused the situation and how they could best improve her daily life. They were told that from birth Fatem had no use of her legs, and they believe it was a result of spina bifida. Attack Company's desire to help the girl was cemented after hearing her father tell the Fatem's story.

"My daughter has to be carried anywhere, or she drags herself," said Hamit Seiyd, her father. "Most of the time she never gets to go outside of our courtyard, and is stuck here watching the other children play."

"She is not able to go to school, even though she loves reading and math, but because she cannot do anything the rest of the children do, most nights she just cries all night," said Hamit.

After hearing her story, the Soldiers looked for some way that they could provide her with a wheel chair to allow her more freedom of movement and make it easier for people to take her places.

"Myself and other platoon leaders went through our chain of command to try to find out how we could get her a wheel chair," said Davis. "We ended up finding one through the medical center at [Forward Operating Base] Warhorse."

Once they received the chair, the 5/20 Inf. Soldiers personalized it for Fatem by cleaning it and by putting on a bow and an attachment for her country's flag.

On the day they took the chair to give her, Fatem's mother had taken her to see the doctor because she had the flu. Even though she was not there to accept the wheel chair in person, her father was more than happy to see the gift, almost never losing his bright smile.

"He seemed so happy to have something that was a small gift from us," said Davis. "It made me feel that if all we did during our deployment was to improve this one girl's life, then I will go home happy."

The Soldiers were happy to see something good done, but it also gave Fatem's father hope for his daughter's future.

"This chair will help us so much," said Hamit. "Now we can try to get her to school, and hopefully this will make it so that she will not cry anymore."