Life as a NATO Engineer
Abstract
Individual augmentee taskings are daunting enough by themselves, but getting orders as a senior captain to be a chief engineer on a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) staff was especially intimidating. Things started to look up when I finally made contact with the British captain that I was replacing, but then I discovered that as chief engineer, I was replacing not only him, but his entire platoon as well. I knew I could handle the job of project manager, but wondered about acting as contract manager, technical expert in building things, and managing a fire department. After a meeting in Kabul with the British captain and his platoon, the "right seat ride" began. I learned that I would be responsible for all the daily maintenance of the camp, site management, and all contract work on the camp up to 10,000 Euros, the fire department, and all NATO paperwork for the national assets that were on the camp. The tasker offered a wealth of knowledge, although that was not obvious until it was finished. Project management was essential to successfully performing the task at hand and keeping the leaders happy. A good crew of workers, from all walks of life and backgrounds, was critical to the success of every undertaking. Without the international help and the local contractors, the little team would never have been able to deal with all the daily work orders and ongoing contracted projects.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA559622
Entities
People
- Matthew F. Louvet