NATION BUILDING IN MESOPOTAMIA: U.S. MILITARY ENGINEERS IN IRAQ

Army, Feb 2005 by Hawkins, Steven R, Wells, Gordon M

In addition, the CJTF-IV engineers took the lead to develop the military plan for post-hostilities humanitarian demining and unexploded ordnance (UXO) operations. In early April 2003, the CJTF-IV engineers co-hosted a two-day humanitarian demining conference in Kuwait City. Attendees included representatives of CENTCOM, CFLCC, the United Nations and several nongovernmental organizations. Despite being periodically interrupted by Iraqi SCUD missile attacks, the conference was successful. The fundamental determination that came out of the meeting was the decision to deviate from previous models used in the Balkans and to develop two separate mine and UXO centers: a mine action center (MAC) run out of the CPA to conduct traditional U.N.-style humanitarian demining, and a coalition-hosted mine and explosive ordnance coordination center (MEOCC), that would be focused on mine and UXO database development to facilitate the force protection of deployed coalition forces.

Working with the U.S. Army Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Maj. Regan McDonald, the CJTF-IV engineer in charge of this project, arranged for the 1138th Engineer Team, an Army Reserve unit from Missouri, to receive appropriate training in both the United States and the Balkans. Shortly after their arrival in theater in May, the 1138th was organized as a MEOCC and deployed forward to Baghdad where they immediately went to work.

Shortly after U.S. forces entered Baghdad in early April, the power inexplicably went out. Obviously concerned that the loss of all electrical power in a major metropolitan area the size of Los Angeles would create a humanitarian disaster, Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, commander of the U.S. Third Army and CFLCC, directed me to form and deploy a team of engineers into Baghdad to assess the situation and get power back on as quickly as possible.

Within 24 hours, I formed a team consisting largely of Wells' engineers and a contingent of military doctors to assess Iraqi hospitals, and had them sitting on the ramp at a military airfield in Kuwait. Late in the night on April 12, this 28-person team, designated Joint Task Force Fajr (pronounced "FA-JER" and meaning "dawn" or "new light" in Arabic), boarded a C-130 aircraft and began their journey to the newly renamed Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) that had opened to U.S. aircraft several days earlier. After a three-hour flight, the pilots, wearing night vision goggles and flying in total blackout conditions, guided their aircraft into a corkscrew descent and safely delivered my team at 2:30 in the morning on April 13 at BIAP.

I, Wells and a small contingent of engineers found Col. John Peabody, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division's Engineer Brigade, at his headquarters on BIAP. The 3rd Infantry, having already added to their long, illustrious history with a historic attack through southern Iraq, was now faced with the challenge of pacifying a major city whose utility systems were no longer functional. Despite the difficulty posed by ongoing combat operations, Peabody was successful in locating several Iraqi electrical engineers who were familiar with the Baghdad power system. After being on the ground for just a few hours, the U.S. Army engineers met with their Iraqi counterparts to assess the situation.