Major Steve Sattinger deployed to Qalat, Afghanistan, in the Zabol Province in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as the resident engineer from February to August 2005. He received his commission through the ROTC program at Penn State University where he obtained both his undergraduate in mechanical engineering and his graduate degree in civil engineering. He deployed as an individual augmentee and went through the CONUS Replacement Center at Fort Benning. Upon arriving in Kabul, he moved to his new home at FOB Lagman and commuted the five miles a day to the work site in an uparmored Toyota. He was responsible for quality assurance on a $65 million project to build an Afghan National Army (ANA) brigade base camp. The contract was awarded to a US contractor but the company employed mostly Egyptians (skilled labor) and Afghanis (unskilled labor). They were contracted to build a one-kilometer-square secure facility that had its own power plant, sewage treatment, wells, living quarters and dining hall. The main difficulty was acquiring the right materials as required by the contract. The contract was written to US standards and it was very hard to get the approved materials. His recommendation for future base camps is to write and build the facilities to Afghan standards. It would save both money and time and still be acceptable to the ANA.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited