HNC employees see Mosul Dam Task Force mission complete

Courtesy Photo | Johann Lopez, one of three Huntsville Center employees to support the Mosul Dam Task Force project, stands in front of the dam in northern Iraq. Huntsville Center volunteers were important contributors to the project’s success and designation as “Mission Complete.”  

HUNTSVILLE, AL, UNITED STATES

07.31.2019

Story by Mark Thompson 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville

When the Mosul Dam Task Force recently celebrated mission completion, U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville employees could claim a piece of that success. Three volunteers from Huntsville Center made the journey to Iraq and gave their time and talent to “the conclusion of the largest drilling and grouting project currently in the world,” according to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Transatlantic Division news release.

Johanna Lopez, a contracting officer representative at Huntsville Center, and Steven Pautz, a project manager with the Ballistic Missile Defense System Mandatory Center of Expertise were the last of three employees to provide support to the MDTF.
Lopez says she volunteered for the mission to challenge herself and help others.
“I knew the work of this project would force me out of my comfort zone based on my traditional work experience, but the challenge to develop myself and to contribute to something greater than myself exhilarated me,” Lopez said.

The three year project was done in collaboration between USACE, the Government of Iraq and Italian contractor Trevi S.p.A. Together, the trio stabilized the dam, located more than 200 miles from Baghdad, via an extensive grouting process that reinforced the dam’s sometimes precarious position on water soluble foundation.
Despite limited knowledge about dams, Pautz says his teammates were always there to help as he provided contract administration support for the project.

“MDTF was the first time I have ever worked on a dam, so for me it was a huge learning experience,” Pautz said. “Fortunately I had fellow deployees with significant dam experience that were willing to help. In addition, it was the first time I have administered a Cost Plus Contract, so again, I learned quite a bit about administration of a contract with unique challenges.”

Work on the dam become even more imperative after ISIS claimed control of the structure in 2014 and the critical and ongoing grouting maintenance ceased due to the ongoing armed conflict in the area. Even worse, when Iraqi forces regained control of the dam they found, “ISIS had ransacked the dam, damaging valuable equipment, looting supplies, and leaving workers without the resources required to adequately conduct grouting operations,” according to the release.

The project began in 2016 and Huntsville Center personnel quickly answered the call to facilitate restoration efforts. Chad Braun, a civilian civil engineer and senior project manager with Huntsville Center, appreciated his time with the MDTF for many of the same reasons as Lopez and Pautz.

“It is rewarding to know that I play a role in repairing the dam because if the dam failed it would have an enormous negative impact on the local economy and the potential for a large number of fatalities,” Braun said in a 2017 interview.

Transatlantic District Commander Col. Mark Quander said of the project, “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers vision is 'Engineering solutions for our nation's toughest challenges.' And sometimes that means helping other nations solve their toughest challenges.”

Pautz agrees with Lopez that the significance of the work helped provide an even greater sense of accomplishment when the project was designated Mission Complete.

“For me the biggest impact was working with the Government of Iraq officials and seeing the direct impact that the project had on the lives of actual Iraqis,” Pautz said. “This was my third time to Iraq and it was refreshing to see how Iraq has improved in the time since my first deployment in 20010 to this current deployment nine years later.”

For Lopez, her work in Iraq showed added importance by providing an example of what a women in her field is capable of accomplishing while also building strong relationships for foreign partners.

“On this project in particular, I enjoyed building profound relationships, working across multiple languages, and leading others to develop solutions to complex problems,” Lopez said. “I worked alongside outstanding partners to accomplish a truly important mission for the people of Iraq.

“All the while, I felt distinctly honored to serve as an exemplar of female leadership in what is often a male-dominated career field in a region of the world with historically lower gender equality,” she added.

The continuous work of maintaining Mosul Dam has been handed back over exclusively to the Government of Iraq. But the contributions to the repair and restoration of the vital structure by Huntsville Center team members will always be a part of its history.

• Date Taken: 07.31.2019
• Date Posted: 07.31.2019 10:51
• Story ID: 333840
• Location: HUNTSVILLE, AL, US