FOCUS ON MANUFACTURING
LAND
REBUILDING a B R O K E N
A mechanical engineer who served
on a reconstruction team in Iraq tells
how a little outside help can hasten the recovery
of a damaged industrial center. By G. Blake Keller
Engineers play a significant role in society—developing new products, enabling the exploration of our planet and space, designing life-saving equipment for our soldiers, and even accompanying military forces into battle. It should be no surprise that engineers also play a key role in the reconstruction of Iraq. Engineers from the military
and from civilian engineering and construction firms have worked
for years to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure, providing electricity, water,
and sewers to millions of Iraqis.
As members of Provincial Reconstruction Teams, engineers have
also worked to rebuild Iraq’s industrial base and to develop a sustainable economy for the people of the country.
The teams operate in Iraq under the U.S. State Department and are led
by civilian Foreign Service Officers. Their mission is to increase Iraqi
civil capacity in a variety of areas, including rule of law, agriculture,
Beginning in March 2009, the Industrial
Advisor from Baghdad ePRT Northeast,
embedded with the U.S. Army’s First Brigade Combat Team, First Cavalry Division, began to work in an industrial center
called Bab al-Sham, on the northern edge
of Baghdad. The ePRT Northeast had ten
subject matter experts—specialists in rule of
G. Blake Keller (shown above left, interviewing the owner of a tile factory in Bab
al-Sham) said the activities described in this article were undertaken while he
was an industrial advisor assigned to an embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team in Iraq under a limited-term appointment with the U.S. Department
of State. The opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed are those of the
author and do not necessarily reflect those of the State Department or of any
other part of the U. S. government. Keller, an ASME member, is currently completing certification as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
Al-Rasheed Street was
one of Baghdad’s first
to be electrified. Civilian
and Army engineers
are working across
Iraq to restore civil and
industrial institutions.
