BAGHDAD , Iraq – Reconstructing Iraq after decades of dictatorship and war is going well and great progress is being made, the Army’s top Engineer said in Baghdad Aug. 22.

            Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the Army’s Chief of Engineers and commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, toured reconstruction projects across the country Aug. 22-25, visiting engineer Soldiers and the more than 230 civilian volunteer employees charged with rebuilding the nation.

            “You are demonstrating to the Iraqi people that there is a very positive difference between the new Iraq and what they knew under the former regime,” Strock said during an address to the Corps’ Gulf Region Division staff in Baghdad .  “You are bringing clean water, new schools, reliable electrical service and all the critical infrastructure to the Iraqi people, and I have confidence in what you are doing and your ability to deliver for Iraq .”

            Corps civilian engineers, project managers and quality assurance specialists dot the map of Iraq, serving at power generation facilities, military bases and construction sites across the country executing a $12.6 billion infrastructure construction and rehabilitation program. 

            During his five-day trek, Strock visited project sites across the country ranging from a new Iraqi Army base to new and rehabilitated power generation plants to the Gulf Region Division’s three district offices in Basrah, Baghdad and Mosul in hopes of better understanding operations of the seven-month old division.

            Strock, who served in Iraq for six months in 2003 as the Deputy Director of Operations for the Coalition Provisional Authority, also visited engineer Soldiers deployed across the country as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

            During the northern leg of his trip, Strock visited a company of 1^st Infantry Division engineer Soldiers who had suffered two casualties only 96 hours before his arrival. 

            The two were on an improvised explosives clearing mission when an explosion rocked the vehicle, killing them and injuring the driver.

            “There is nothing tougher than having to talk to someone who just lost a friend and a brother,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Balch, the Corps’ senior enlisted Soldier who traveled with Strock and currently serves in Iraq .  “All you can do is listen, let them know you care and help them to focus back on the mission at hand.”

            Like their civilian counterparts in the engineer corps, the Soldiers are working on projects designed to impact the Iraqi people – school renovations, parks, hospitals and a variety of small capital projects that provide improved facilities and jobs for the people of Iraq .

            “I am deeply indebted to the volunteer civilians and Soldiers for what they are doing and deeply gratified to see the results of their hard work,” Strock said.  “Everyone here has pulled together and is making a huge difference.”

            Difference in Iraq is measured in impact to the Iraqi people, a scale that is frequently in Megawatts, kilometers of pipeline and total numbers of new starts on construction progress.

            In less than two years, the Corps’ Restore Iraqi Electricity team has added more than 1,535 Megawatts to the national power grid, providing enough electricity to fuel nearly 4.6 million Iraqi homes.  The Corps and the reconstruction team of the Project and Contracting Office and the U.S. Agency for International Development have repaired 1,230 schools, 52 clinics, 10 fire stations and rebuilt bridges, sewage treatment plants, water purification  systems and upgraded Baghdad area telecommunications.

            “The courage that each and every one of you shows here in this environment is absolutely amazing,” Strock said.  “There are a lot of people back home that will pat you on the back and celebrate what you are doing, but we cannot forget those back home who are unable to make the sacrifice and commitment you are able to make by serving here. 

            “They too are contributing in someway to our ability to complete our Corps mission and support you while you are over here,” he said.

            Since arriving to the country in the fall of 2003, more than 1,500 civilian volunteers of the Corps’ 35,000-member workforce have served in Iraq .

Editor’s Note: Photos of LTG Strock’s visit are available by request.  Requests should be directed to Mitch Frazier at (540) 665-5339 or via cell at 0-790-192-5105 (Iraqna). Email requests can also be made to mitchell.frazier@tac01.usace.army.mil.