In Iraq from October 2004 through October 2005, Major Trent Darling - in this second of two interviews concerning his Global War on Terrorism deployment experience - discusses his service as an economics effects action officer with Multinational Force-Iraq (MNF-I). "When I got there," Darling said, "I found out they had just gotten rid of the Deputy Chief of Staff-Engineer and turned it into an economics effects division that was basically in charge of tracking the economics of Iraq. They were trying to implement General George Casey's campaign plan and we had the economic/reconstruction piece of that. I was a civil engineer officer and went to Iraq to be an engineer but I found out I was going to be an economics effects guy. I couldn't prepare for that because I had no idea I was going to do it." Darling discusses his main job, which was to track the reconstruction effort in Iraq, and shares a number of thoughts on how far along the effort was when he got there and when he left, as well as his views on how various projects were prioritized. He also talks about working with the US Agency for International Development and the Project Contracting Office, how these two deployments have affected him as an officer and a leader, and gives his thoughts on the future of Iraq, both economically and otherwise.

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