The Red Bulls

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq - I was standing outside in the middle of August with two Iraqi interpreters who were enjoying their cigarettes. It was 120-degrees Fahrenheit, without a cloud to provide us a moment of relief. Even though we were under a canopy, my breath was the coolest thing I had going for me.

To my surprise, one of the interpreters opened up a bottle of water and poured it all around us. I looked at him as if he were crazy and asked “What are you doing?”

He replied “Giving us air conditioning! Watch you’ll see.”

Sure enough, the small area around us felt cooler. I asked him how he learned that and he told me how his family would do it in their home during the summer months in northern Iraq before they had air conditioners. He went on to say that, at night, they would sleep on the roof because it was cooler underneath the stars. His family lived in a remote area and never had the luxury of air conditioning, nor electricity well-into the later part of the 20th century.

In contrast, most Americans have enjoyed the benefits of electricity for nearly a century. Our current culture has always had it and has become overwhelmingly dependent on it. For almost all of us, going without it for any reason other than a blackout, is unacceptable. However, for most Iraqis, blackouts are a daily routine.

Of the many areas of infrastructure still needing attention in the southern corner of the country, electricity remains at the forefront for a multitude of reasons--120 degree summers for starters.

However, the most important reason is to aid each provincial government in maintaining their legitimacy in a post-Saddam era.  During the Hussein regime, southern Iraqis were last-in-line for any of the central government-regulated electricity.

Since the 2003 invasion, the black curtain held over the population was lifted and, for the first time, it became possible to watch satellite television, or carry a cell phone anywhere in the country. With this massive influx of technology came an increased demand for power in areas previously without a need for it.

Task Force Pathfinder, 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division, the main effort of the army’s first advise and assist brigade, has been tasked with building provincial civil capacity in Al Muthanna, Dhi Qar and Maysan provinces in southern Iraq for a little over five months.

Although each province’s needs differ, the necessity for a more capable electrical network exists everywhere. As a result, the taskforce is currently undertaking 31 electrical projects ranging from transformer repair and network expansion to training local Department of Electricity employees how to maintain their network.

However, this is only a small portion of the taskforces 140 total projects covering categories such as water, trash, transportation, health, governance, education and agriculture.

Each project is a direct result of constant coordination between provincial governments, each assigned a U.S. State Department run Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), and Task Force Pathfinder.

This is a complex dance of identifying needs, locating funding, opening it up for bidding to local contractors, reviewing all contracts and finally providing oversight to ensure the project stays on schedule and on budget. When performed correctly, this massive, interagency operation yields the potential for the majority of Iraqis, instead of a select few, to perform the simple act of turning on an air conditioner in 120 degree heat, or a light in the dark, or preserving food in a refrigerator.