Courtesy Photo | Pfc. Gerald Smith and Spc. Justin Rainier (left) demonstrate how to use a program on...... read more read more
BAGHDAD – Accurate surveys, crucial to most engineering projects, provide Iraqi construction engineers, electrical engineers and mechanical engineers the information they need to work together to effectively rebuild Iraq.
Five highly trained technical engineer Soldiers from the 16th Engineer Brigade, based in Columbus, Ohio, spent the past week training Iraqi Federal Police not only how to use key survey equipment but more importantly, how to work together to make the surveys work for them.
The Soldiers, Staff Sgt. Joshua Singer, Sgt. Andrew Rasfeld, Spc. Justin Rainier, Sgt. Daniel Henle and Pvt. 1st Class Gerald Smith trained seven degreed engineers from April 19-22 in Baghdad's International Zone.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Annet Hix, construction engineering technician for the 16th Engineer Brigade, was responsible for planning and facilitating the training event.
According to Hix, the training was meant to provide an overall structure to the students in the beginning of the week using the Army's "tasks, conditions, standards" method, so the students could come away from the training with the ability to train others.
"We provided them with small group instruction to make it easier for them to take our "train the trainer" format and use it to train other ISF," said Hix.
The training focused on set up, equipment familiarization, and four types of surveys, including traverse, topographical, stakeout and GPS.
"We spent the first day familiarizing them with equipment and providing the technical expertise that they need to know to create accurate and effective surveys," said Hix.
Surveys help provide valuable information about terrain, elevation and the location of utilities with respect to a certain area. This information, if used properly, can be relied upon by different types of engineers working together on construction or infrastructure development projects.
One of the challenges facing the trainers was the different backgrounds the Iraqi students brought with them.
"There were a couple civil engineers, a surveyor, an electrical engineer and a couple mechanical engineers," said Hix.
"It was definitely a challenge that the electrical and mechanical engineers did not have the same experience that the civil engineers had," said Spc. Justin Rainier, one of the 16th's trainers for the event.
This diversity meant that the trainers had to find a middle road for the instruction.
"Not too broad for the civil and survey engineer but not too much detail on surveying because then we lost the electrical and mechanical engineers," said Hix.
Luckily, the students were not afraid to speak up when they did not understand something. That gave the trainers an opportunity to explain how the material applies to each of their fields and how they all benefit from working together, using the same accurate surveys.
"The mechanical engineer would need to know whether gas or electric is provided to the site, and electrical engineers need to know where the power is coming from and how much power can be provided," said Hix.
The surveys provide valuable, digital infrastructure information to electrical and mechanical engineers.
"When the surveyor comes in and provides a digital site layout or map, each one of the players can start drafting in their utilities from the source to their building," said Hix. "They all work from the same digital map to come up with a full set of plans."
"Their diverse backgrounds gave them the opportunity to work together and help each other to grasp the finer points," said Rainier.
According to Rainier, not only did the students' backgrounds bring diversity but the fact that they were a mix of civilian and military added additional challenges.
"I think the FPs and civilians will have an easier job working together on a job site as a result of this training because they have a better understanding of where they are coming from, what their roles are and what needs to be done," said Rainier.
Perhaps more important than the knowledge that the trainers impart are the relationships that they build during partnership training.
The 16th's trainers recognize that this training is a two-way street. They can learn as much from the Iraqi students as the students learn from them.
"It was a learning experience for us as well, and the cultural differences don't seem so great after having the opportunity to work one-on-one with them," said Rainier.
"The training was a real success, not only in our goal to help the FP and civilian engineers be more proficient in their work, but also in further building upon the relationship between the U.S. military and our Iraqi counterparts," said Rainier.
| Date Taken: | 04.30.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 04.30.2010 09:40 |
| Story ID: | 48941 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 424 |
| Downloads: | 308 |
This work, 16th Engineers conduct survey training, by MAJ Aaron Testa, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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