[April 14, 2017] Late in January, the Winter of 2007, on the outskirts of the city of Baghdad Iraq, I was given the most difficult mission that can be assigned to an Engineer. Personally given to me by General David Petraeus, Coalition Commander, I was to prepare to receive 45,000 combat troops in six months. My only request? Don’t tell me how to do it.
“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” – U.S. Army General George S. Patton
Great leaders know that ingenuity, experience, and dedication combine into a powerful factor that exceeds what anyone can possibly imagine. General Patton knew that he could not tell his subordinates how to do everything that is needed to get the job done. But he also knew that the right people could always do more than he could expect under any given set of obstacles.
My mission was simple … provide the entire physical infrastructure to accommodate 45,000 troops and civilian support. What no one knew at the time was that the final number was to exceed 60,000 and we had less than five months to see it done. To make the job more complex, it was in the middle of a shooting war, in a desert environment, and I was never given a location more than 45 days in advance (for security reasons).1
Some guidance was provided by Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, III Corps Commander.2 For example, any location had to have physical security walls, barriers, and guard towers. PX shopping facilities were to be provided when possible and I was to use Iraqi construction whenever feasible (employing locals). Otherwise, I had complete freedom to get things done.
Generals Odierno and Petraeus were both surprised by U.S. and Coalition military engineers, along with U.S. and foreign contractors and local Iraqis, that they were able to do all the work needed on time and not have any deaths due to the construction effort. The work done was the greatest logistical effort undertaken since the Vietnam War.
There are many who criticize the reason for U.S. troops being ordered into Iraq and while historians will debate it for years and tell us what went wrong, it was the effort by individual soldiers and civilians from many different countries (including Iraq) that this “surge” in troops was to finally stabilize the security situation there.3
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- Operational security was crucial to achieve tactical surprise on the ground during the Iraq War. I could be trusted with the information, of course, as could all my soldiers but when you put thousands of people to work on building a huge infrastructure package, people take note of the location and prepare. The enemy has eyes and could see where the incoming troops would go; giving them time and space to set traps and ambush locations.
- LTG Odierno would later be promoted to General, replace Petraeus, and ultimately become the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army.
- For example, Peter W. Galbraith in his book, The End of Iraq, 2006 (written before the troop “surge”), is highly critical of the U.S. administration and senior military generals. His thesis centered on how American “incompetence” created a “war without end.”