Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team leader hopes to make difference

Photo By Sgt. Jacob H. Smith | Linda Specht, a native of Carlise, Pa., and embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team...... read more read more

Photo By Sgt. Jacob H. Smith | Linda Specht, a native of Carlise, Pa., and embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team leader with the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team "Warrior," 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, speaks with Sheik Saed Jassim in Tarmiyah, northwest of Baghdad, Oct. 22.  see less | View Image Page

TAJI, IRAQ

12.29.2008

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Christina Bhatti 

2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division

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By Sgt. 1st Class Christina Bhatti
2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division

CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Civilians working alongside Soldiers is a relatively new concept for the U.S. Army.

Since the beginning of the Global War on Terror, civilians work with service members, risk their lives on the battlefield and continue to carve out their niche and prove they are a vital asset to the war effort.

Linda Specht, a native of Carlise, Pa., said she spent much of the last five years bouncing between Afghanistan and Iraq because she said the work is intriguing.

"Conflict really fascinates me," she said, "and the work that I do has the potential to make a huge difference."

Specht now works at the embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team leader for the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. She has been in the position for five months and said she is only beginning to appreciate the sacrifice of Soldiers who are deployed for 15 months.

"After five months, I am ready for leave. Going outside the wire daily and working nonstop can really wear on a person. I have such a respect for the Soldiers who do this for 15 months," she said.

Specht will complete a 12 month stay before going home to Washington D.C.

But while she is here, she said she hopes to have the greatest impact possible on the area. She also realizes that while she cannot win the war, she hopes by influencing small parts of the Iraqi government, her contribution can be long lasting and far reaching.

The ePRT has many different functions. The team is a group of 10 or more individuals who are embedded within a brigade. They specialize in various aspects of governance and essential services. Together with civil affairs, engineers and the other staff sections, they provide a link between the non-kinetic goals of the brigade and the kinetic.

"The goal is to work ourselves out of a job," Specht said. "Within our areas of expertise, we help the local governments empower themselves and the people. We want them to begin asking the [Government of Iraq] for help."

Specht was brought to the Taji area because of her past experience. The Taji Qada, which lies northwest of Baghdad, is mainly a rural farming community which, for years, didn't receive much help from the GoI. As years passed and violence escalated, many of the area's essential services degraded to a point where thousands of people were left with little to no electricity, no fresh running water and a lack of other basic needs.

Now, with the security situation improved across the Qada, coalition forces, along with the GoI, have rebuilt and improved the quality of life for the people. Essential services, such as water electricity and sewage have aided in the return of many Internally Displaced People to the area.

But this progress would not have happened without the empowerment of the Qada council in the area, said Dr. Tom Simpson, a native of Joplin, Mo., and senior city management advisor, ePRT, 2nd SBCT.

"We are now quiet mentors," said Simpson. "This transition of us taking a backseat role and allowing the council to make their own decisions is a step in the right direction."

The ePRT staff no longer sits "shoulder to shoulder" with the council members, Simpson said. Instead, they sit in the back of the room and listen and only give advice when it is asked for. This type of mentorship encourages the council to take a more active role in their futures instead of relying on American intervention.

"People are used to certainty," he said. "And as we draw down due to the new Security Agreement, people will have to find that certainty in their own government; we have to understand that this is their government, and we have to let them take charge."

And this new role of the ePRT allows for that transition to happen.

Simpson accredited this shift in responsibility to Specht and the entire ePRT team. The influence on the Taji Qada council is something Specht said she hoped to achieve during her time in Iraq.

"We have started a lot of projects, but now it is up to the Qadas to start and finish their own – and they are more capable than ever to do that," Specht said.