Major David Novy, US Air Force, in this second of two interviews, talks about serving as a project engineer for the US Army Corps of Engineers in Bagram, Afghanistan, from April through October 2006 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Unlike his previous deployment, he was able to go to Fort Carson, Colorado for predeployment training, where he accepted the spartan conditions as realistic, was adamant that everyone treat the convoy training as the real thing, and insisted that all personnel go through the combat lifesaver course. He describes Bagram Airbase, explaining how a long series of quick-fix solutions have seriously affected any ability to expand on a master plan, how the reception, staging, onward-movement and integration requirements have occupied a third of Bagram's undeveloped space, and how some old Soviet minefields further complicate any construction efforts. Novy notes that two different cultures will take two very different approaches to engineering and construction, and American ignorance of Afghan culture makes any rebuilding efforts more difficult. He also notes that Army and Air Force cultures were different and mixed on Bagram, but because of his commander, Colonel Schlatter, everyone's needs were balanced towards the mission. "The Air Force sometimes takes a bad rap for being too corporate and the Army takes a bad rap for pounding the ground," says Novy, but demonstrating time with other services gives you credibility. He also says that his time with the Army has been valuable, giving him a new perspective and exposing him to outstanding leaders like General David Petraeus. He recalls his one incidence of media contact involved him explaining that all of the trash in the open fields was from the Americans but it could not be easily dealt with because of the minefields. An area where he always worked to improve on was construction, such as sewer systems, which would decrease the operating costs of the base. Novy tells how this deployment further confirmed his love and respect for the Marines as a professional organization. He believes that each service brings a unique set of skills to the fight and everyone has to be willing to fill in wherever their skills best fit the needs of the mission. Novy closes the interview by stating that the leadership from all services needs to recognize that each service's engineers are equipped and trained differently with different areas of expertise and that a one-for-one swap of unlike units can lead to unhappy results.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited