Photo By Tech. Sgt. Kristen Pittman | U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Jack Cross, 1st Expeditionary Theater Support Group Qatari...... read more read more
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U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY -- Base sustainment and modernization are vital to U.S. military operations anywhere, but in overseas locations, partnerships between the U.S. and host nations are essential to maintaining mission success and building for the future.
U.S. Air Forces Central Command’s 1st Expeditionary Theater Support Group proves a collaborative, industrial vessel for the AFCENT area of responsibility, bolstering operational capabilities by leading the Air Force’s largest project management office coordinating and providing engineering support for billions of dollars of host nation-funded construction projects across 12 countries.
U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Jack Cross serves a vital role in the group’s modernization efforts for the AOR’s largest U.S. presence in the Middle East, Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, as project management chief of the 1st ETSG’s Qatari Development of Al Udeid section.
The QDA’s primary focus revolves around Strategic Master Plan 2040, a portfolio of over 170 Qatar-funded projects worth $10 billion that will be carried out from the first quarter of 2026 until 2040. According to Cross, most of the projects are designed and will be constructed by Qatar with a few being U.S.-designed and constructed.
“As QDA, I work hand-in-hand with the Qatar Emiri Corps of Engineers ensuring all of these projects and the requirements outlined in the SMP fit the needs of the relevant AUAB stakeholders,” said Cross. “Those stakeholders include the U.S. Air Force, Qatar Emiri Air Force, the Royal Air Force from the UK, as well as [U.S. Air Forces Central], [U.S. Space Forces – Central] and [U.S. Army Central]’s needs.”
Designing and executing these projects while ensuring all stakeholders’ needs and requirements are met requires frequent collaboration with counterparts of the QECE.
One way the QDA and QECE coordinate to deconflict and confirm requirements is through a quarterly Al Udeid Coordinating Committee. U.S. and QECE leadership attend these meetings where Cross and his QECE counterpart brief any changes that need approval.
Maintaining a working relationship that requires being on the same page at that high of a level can be challenging to foster effectively due to the rotating nature of U.S. forces in the AOR Fortunately, for Cross and the QDA, he got a head start on building that relationship with his QECE counterpart, 1st Lt. Mohammed Al-Mohannadi, when both attended the Civil Engineer Officer Basic Course at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, in the spring of 2025.
Cross and Al-Mohannadi spent the duration of the two-month course in the same flight which afforded the two the opportunity to get to know and understand each other as well as work together during the 10-day culminating exercise at Tyndall AFB, Florida.
As one of the first Qataris to attend the course, Al-Mohannadi said his experience was worthwhile from a curriculum standpoint as well as understanding certain cultural and structural nuances within the Air Force and the CE career field.
He said airfield repair was an especially critical topic he focused on and appreciated from the course due to some of the new-to-him methodology and systems the U.S. Air Force has developed throughout its history building and repairing airfields. This focus is extremely relevant considering the early phases of the SMP 2040.
According to Cross, the first phase of the SMP will consist of studies, one of which is a pavement condition index of the airfield that will take six months to a year, enabling the QDA and QECE to understand what is needed to upgrade the airfield.
“It will be a full remodel for the airfield,” said Al-Mohannadi. “We’ll remove the upper layer and replace it with a new layer. Some of the temporary buildings we have and you have will also be replaced. The passenger terminal will also be modified for people who are only here for 5 or 6 hours.”
As the two entities continue to work toward the SMP 2040, maintaining the working relationship between the QDA and QECE is important to both Cross and Al-Mohannadi.
One way Al-Mohannadi’s team wants to ensure that relationship thrives and transitions seamlessly from one rotation to the next is through the eventual development of a document that outlines the common standards and guidelines used for projects that members tasked for deployment to the 1st ETSG can study prior to their rotation.
“We really need people to be able to get to work quickly,” said Al-Mohannadi. “If we could create something to send to them before they get here to reduce the time spent learning Qatar regulations, that would help keep projects on schedule.”
On the personal and social level, those relationships are more of a case-by-case basis, but he said his time working with his U.S. counterparts has been agreeable, and that the networking from the course will impact future rotations. Al-Mohannadi said as more members of the QECE attend the WGMT 101 course, the shared understanding of processes and culture as well as connections and likelihood of working with U.S. members they’re already acquainted with will continue to strengthen the relationship between the QDA and QECE.
In his three years with the QECE, Al-Mohannadi said his biggest challenge working with his U.S. counterparts is the rotational nature of deployed forces and having to break the ice and catch the next team up to speed on the encyclopedia of projects in development, so knowing Cross helped bridge that initial gap for the current rotation at a pivotal time for the SMP 2040.
“I love working with Mohammed,” Cross said. “I think having that personal relationship makes me work even harder. I consider myself a hard worker anyway, but there’s something different when you have that relationship, it makes you want to do a good job that much more.”
As Cross and Al-Mohannadi forge ahead managing and collaborating on the litany of projects that will sustain Al Udeid as an enduring location, their commitment to strengthening their partnership is a testament to the wider commitment U.S. has to an enduring presence in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.
| Date Taken: | 01.19.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 02.03.2026 04:27 |
| Story ID: | 557337 |
| Location: | (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION) |
| Web Views: | 15 |
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This work, Strengthening partnerships, modernizing AUAB, by TSgt Kristen Pittman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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