Forging a future: One warrior’s experience

  • Published
  • By Kevin Chandler
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The only time most Americans will see Iraqi officials debating policies to rebuild the nation is on television or the Internet. But there are a select few with firsthand experience in providing expertise to Iraqi officials. Capt. Douglas Todd, 97th Mission Support Group executive officer was one of these advisors. For his significant contributions, Captain Todd was awarded the Bronze Star.

Captain Todd was a coalition advisor to an Iraqi Major General in charge of transportation and fuel for joint military forces in the region from October 2007 to October 2008. Captain Todd, who spent five years as an air transportation journeyman and has worked in a wide array of logistics fields, used his knowledge to assist in the development of Iraqi strategic and tactical logistics plans.

"My main focus was to help him build his logistic capabilities to support military forces," he explained.

One of Captain Todd's first projects was the development of a sustained fuel authorization. "When I arrived in Baghdad, their fuel authorization was slim to none," he said. He quickly advised the Iraqi leadership that they needed to work with the Ministry of Oil leadership to increase the fuel supply to the military forces. "The 12 million liters per month the forces were currently receiving was not nearly enough and their shortages in fuel were being paid for by coalition forces." When Captain Todd left Iraq that authorization had increased to 20 million liters and plans for a jump to 30 million liters were "drawn up."

The Captain also created a plan for vehicle procurement and distribution. Using Foreign Military Sales, he was able to convince the Ministry of Defense to procure a vehicle supply valued at 1.5 billion dollars. His actions were crucial to the Iraqis assuming responsibility for "over the road" cargo movements conducted by American contractors and convoy teams in the past. "Now," Captain Todd explained, "it's all about self-reliance."

This transition, in addition to helping the Iraqis become self-sustaining, saves close to 1 billion dollars a year in coalition contracts.

While Captain Todd brought many experiences to his tour, he also took many more with him when he left. During his time at Multi-National Security Transition Command Iraq in Baghdad's International Zone, he "interacted daily with Iraqi counterparts." This gave him new insight into the Iraqi culture and way of life.

"They have families just like us, they worry about putting food on the table just like we do, they face many of the same challenges we do," he said. "They encounter more security threats though."

When asked what advice he would give Airmen preparing to deploy to the region, he pointed to the difference in culture. "While we think in terms of months, they think in terms of years. It requires Airmen to be patient and recognize the different point of view."