Realigning the Workforce

In July 2013, as the U.S. drawdown went into high gear, AED-N and AED-S were merged into a single new organization, the Transatlantic Afghanistan District (TAA). The new district is only expected to remain operational for one year, with MED taking over all USACE work in Afghanistan upon the final pullout of U.S. combat troops, as it previously did in Iraq.

“I was the last GRD [Gulf Region District] commander and handed that mission off to the MED, which I then inherited. So we’ve essentially done this before, except we’re being more proactive in taking over some programs based on lessons learned,” Christensen said.

“The main difference is we’re taking over some programs early, such as MILCON and AIF [Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund], that we know will extend past 2014. So in March, we established an area office that is supervising those projects and providing a base for when we inherit the rest of the program.”

With public attention focused on Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11, many – even within USACE – have tended to think of those as being TAD’s only responsibility. Although the current division only stood up in late 2009, a USACE organizational unit has been based in the Winchester area since 1976, dedicated to supporting CENTCOM’s 20-nation AOR, from Egypt through the Arabian Gulf to Central Asia.

According to its mission statement, TAD is dedicated to providing “design, construction execution and related engineering services to U.S. Central Command and other activities within the CENTCOM area of responsibility to establish the conditions for regional security, stability and prosperity; and, on order, support for USACE worldwide contingency operations.”

That involves overseeing thousands of USACE projects throughout CENTCOM, including a full spectrum of regional support. The most active of those, for now, is TAA, taking over or, to a limited degree, initiating projects for the ANSF, United States, and coalition forces, counternarcotics, border management, and strategic reconstruction support to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Our [short-term] mission is to complete our work in Afghanistan and make sure we don’t lose sight of mission requirements across the rest of the CENTCOM AOR, primarily through the MED,” Eyre explained. “We already have begun to refocus program responsibility in Afghanistan. TAA’s priority will be Afghan National Security Forces projects; the Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund, Commander’s Emergency Response Fund, and MILCON projects will go to MED.

“There are two parts to transformation [in Afghanistan]. As we go to a single district under TAD, similar to the model we have across the CENTCOM footprint, we will have an area office to support remaining or new projects, such as FMS [Foreign Military Sales]. The other aspect, as we become a smaller entity, is we will reduce the size of TAD Headquarters – what we call Transatlantic Division Austere. That still leaves the capability to grow as we support CENTCOM requirements.”

The new and future organization of USACE operations in Afghanistan is based, in large part, on lessons learned from USACE’s earlier efforts in Iraq, leading up to, during, and after the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces.

“July 2013 is a good point to do the first transition, inactivating [AED-N and -S] and relinquishing command to the TAA. And in July 2014, we are looking at inactivating that district, but that will be decided based upon the workload and conditions on the ground as we move into that time frame. …”

“I was commander of the Gulf Region Division when that happened,” Eyre recalled. “As we consolidated from three to two to one district and now maintain an office co-located with the Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq [OSC-I] and the U.S. Embassy, it was based on project work requirements and tied to the drawdown and affordability. I have drawn on my experience as GRD commander at TAD [and] we are seeing a similar approach now with Afghanistan.”