Though stories of military maneuvers and Washington, D.C., diplomacy may capture the most attention in stories about the rebuilding of Iraq, an array of civilian government employees are also sharing their knowledge and experience daily with Iraqis eager to bring their country closer to stability.
Today, one of Princeton’s own is leaving for a year-long stint in Iraq to join that effort.
Mike Clayton, district conservationist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, has been accepted for a 12-month deployment as an agricultural advisor on a provincial reconstruction team (PRT).
Clayton said he first saw a USDA announcement advertising detail opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2005.
“It really kind of struck a chord with me,” he said.
When another announcement was posted this year, with federal USDA officials taking applications from qualified USDA employees in every state, Clayton took advantage.
“I feel, more or less, a calling to do it,” he said.
PRTs are military/civilian-led units, with about 50 members each, aimed at establishing security and supporting reconstruction projects in a particular province.
Clayton will be a part of Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team (ePRT) Baghdad Number 4.
Their home base is located between 20 and 25 miles south of Baghdad, near the cities of Mahmudiyah and Yusufiyah, in the Mahmudiya qada, or region.
The job, said Clayton, will essentially involve covering a 200-square-mile area, visiting with farmers and officials there to determine which reconstruction projects to undertake.
Some of the work, he said, will be a continuance of projects begun by previous PRT members. Other projects will be new.
All the work, he said, will be done toward the goal of bringing the Iraqi agriculture industry back to life.
“There’s been a generation lost in farming,” he said. “A whole generation of technology lost.”
Minimal agriculture, minimal water resources and 20 to 30 years of neglect of the materials there are to be expected, he said.
Agricultural extension, improving livestock health and animal production, improving irrigation, tree production, reforestation and crop production are all skill areas that will be drawn upon in Clayton’s year abroad.
Specialists in Baghdad will be available to help those in the field, he said, noting that approximately 20 USDA employees would be deployed across Iraq at the same time.
“I’ll have contacts,” he said. “That’s the main thing.”
Clayton said he would also have regular e-mail access to consult with agricultural officials in the U.S.
He will also be able to maintain daily contact with his family — wife Karen and their five children, one of whom serves in the National Guard.
The deployment will include two two-week trips back to the U.S. “That’s 10 days home, so that’s good,” he said.
Clayton’s predecessors as USDA members of PRTs in Iraq told him they would definitely return to Iraq if given the chance.
“That was encouraging,” he said. “They said it’d be the most rewarding job you’d ever have.”
And the goals of the project are good ones, he said.
“This is going to help Iraq to self-govern quicker and get our boys and girls over here quicker,” he said.
“We’re basically trying to empower the Iraqi people.”
Clayton interviewed for the position in June in Washington.
“They’re looking for people with broad experience,” he said.
Clayton, who has 25 years’ experience in eight different locations and is a certified USDA conservation planner, wetland delineator and crop advisor, fit the bill.
He was selected in July but only recently found out where he would be stationed.
He leaves today for three weeks of training in Iraqi culture before flying into Kuwait City, Kuwait.
“I’m anxious to get started,” he said.
