BAGHDAD — U.S. military project managers who oversee significant civil capacity improvements in northwest Baghdad and Abu Ghraib gathered recently to discuss ongoing and future Iraqi infrastructure projects.
Leaders serving with the 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team "Dagger," 1st Infantry Division, and the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team "Raider," 2nd Inf. Div., participated in an all-day course at Camp Liberty, Sept. 3.
"Every quarter that we have been here in Iraq we have a daylong project management course to sustain and improve on the skill sets of our project managers and to train up new project managers as they come on board," said Maj. Andrew Attar, a native of Bristol, Conn., project management officer in charge, 2nd HBCT. "This one was extra significant because our brigade is leaving after our 12 months here and the project management team from the new brigade was on the ground. We conducted the course with them so it was a shared training, shared lessons learned to get them to take full advantage of the techniques that we were able to develop over here and make sure they are continued and improved on."
Attar said that in every course they cover core materials, such as adherence to legal standards, proper records management, file management, scopes of work development, how to write a scope of work and how to see a project from start to finish.
"Ultimately, it's not projects for the sake of projects. Our commanders have tactical objectives that they need to accomplish and our reconstruction efforts can assist in accomplishing and supporting those objectives," he said. "Our job as project mangers is to be fluent experts in doing projects so we can apply those projects successfully to our commanders' tactical goals on the battlefield."
The goals of the Raider Brigade seem to be on line with the Dagger Brigade as the newcomers step up to the plate in the infrastructure arena.
"We are currently going to inherit the projects from [Dagger] that are active. We also are taking a hard look at the projects that are planned and most likely will incorporate once the battalion commanders and brigade commander are comfortable with the plan," said Capt. Talgin Lee Cannon, a native of Elkin, N.C., 4th SBCT. "We will also generate our own projects. It will be business as usual in the non-lethal world."
In the Dagger brigade's operational environment, leaders took a non-lethal approach to defeating insurgency by helping the Iraqi government provide essential services and build civil capacity in neighborhoods.
"This mission is extremely important because it shows that the government cares about the people and in order to win, we have to be able to show that we are partners in everything," said Cannon. "We will be partners now and we will be partners in the future. I hope we will have an impact on the infrastructure here."
As the Dagger project managers pass the torch to the Raider Brigade, the leaders are making sure proper project management is taken seriously.
"In the 12 months here, the Dagger Brigade has proven itself to be very proficient in those types of endeavors," said Attar. "We're all aware that the American taxpayers' dollars are a precious resource; they need to be used accordingly to make every dollar count and to make sure that everything is being done the most efficient and effective way possible."
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