Photo By Sgt. Johnathon Jobson | Air Force Brig. Gen. John Ranck, the chief of strategic effects for U.S. Forces-Iraq...... read more read more
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CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq – Task Force Marne senior commanders and members of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams from around U.S. Division-North met on Contingency Operating Base Speicher for the second quarterly PRT conference this year, June 30 – July 1. Also in attendance were senior Department of State personnel from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, to include Alcy Frelick, the director of the Office of Provincial Affairs.
The purpose of the conference was to make sure that future plans and actions of military units and the PRT's were moving in the same direction as the plans and actions of the U.S. Agency for International Development. USAID will be the organization that takes over the mission of helping rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure in the coming years as the military steps down from that mission.
“The purpose was to assess the operating environment in order to improve the effectiveness and promote civil capacity across northern Iraq within context of the transition to stability operations,” said Lt. Col. Frederick Little, the G-9, civil-military operations, chief for TF Marne. “We want to make sure everyone is on the same page so that our efforts from Sept. 1 on in stability operations are consistent, giving the PRT's an opportunity to see what our [military] plan is and to make sure it is synced with their efforts.”
Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo, the TF Marne commanding general, hosted the event and during his opening remarks spoke about his goals for the conference, one of the primary being updating the Unified Common Plan if necessary. The UCP is a living agreement between the PRT's, brigades and division leadership that outline basic responsibilities for each group in the rebuilding of Iraq.
The first day of the conference was focused on the overview of the current and future plans for rebuilding northern Iraq. Starting with a security briefing from the TF Marne intelligence officer and transitioning to briefings from embassy officials and USAID representatives. The day ended with the senior officials from the embassy and Brig. Gen. John Ranck, the chief of strategic effects from U.S. Forces-Iraq J-9, answering questions on topics such as rule of law and oil issues.
The second day of the conference started with small breakout sessions to further discuss the issues of rule of law, agriculture, health and oil. A senior PRT member who specialized in each particular field along with a military subject matter expert in the field headed each breakout session.
Following the breakout sessions, one final group session was held to share the information discussed in the breakouts.
According to Peter Thompson, a Department of State employee assigned as the foreign policy advisor to Cucolo, the conference was a success and will help both Task Force Marne personnel and the PRT's to properly plan their actions to move both their own missions as well as those of USAID forward for the betterment of Iraq.
“We had three new PRT leaders and new PRT staff members at the conference,” said Thompson, a Connecticut native. “It gave everyone a great chance to network and learn more about the other provinces. We also had very robust participation from the embassy in Baghdad. So they had an opportunity to witness the level of collaboration we have [between the military and units and PRT's]. The comments I have received about the conference were very positive. We plan to use the feedback to drive the next conference in October.”
| Date Taken: | 06.30.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 07.08.2010 08:28 |
| Story ID: | 52501 |
| Location: | CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, IQ |
| Web Views: | 183 |
| Downloads: | 91 |
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