DAU professors help train Iraqis.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT * PROCUREMENT * DEMOCRACY * HUMAN RELATIONS 

Army Lt. Col. Steve Cummings and Wayne Glass, both professors of systems acquisition management at the Defense Acquisition University, Fort Belvoir, Va., recently returned from Baghdad where they trained Iraqi personnel supporting coalition and Iraqi missions. The students came from every part of Iraq to Baghdad for the training, which was a combination of project management and procurement subjects. Cummings and Glass taught the project management lessons, which made up most of the course, and Air Force Maj. Mark Milan from the Air Force Judge Advocate General School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., taught the procurement subjects.

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The training was sponsored by the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I), which is commanded by Army Lt. Gen. Dave Petreus. MNSTC-I and the Iraqi students, Cummings and Glass noted, were extremely appreciative of the training.

"It is 1775-1776 in Iraq ... and we were involved in training the folks who are responsible for making things happen in Iraq and getting the country on its feet," said Glass. "It was the most important and personally rewarding work I have done in a long while. There is something very special about being on the ground, working with the people who are helping to get their country back up and running after years of tyrannical rule."

While PM/Procurement training was the mission, democracy training and human relations building were a big part of the effort as well. The majority of the Iraqi students represented the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior. They are responsible for electric power, petroleum production, the Iraq military, and all infrastructure programs. Many work directly with U.S. and other coalition forces, while a few are industry personnel. They are very courageous, Cummings and Glass noted, and took significant risks to participate in this training.

"It was interesting to hear from students that they had never worked in a group setting on projects," Cummings reflected. "It was very good for them to hear each other's perspective and to see different solutions to the same problem."

Glass and Cummings also met with Army Maj. Gen. John Urias, dual-hatted as head of contracting activity and commander of the Joint Contracting Command--Iraq; members of his staff attended several of the classes, as did representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers. The two DAU professors recommended that the university support follow-on training missions in Iraq. It is training the Iraqis need, it is well received, and it is important for the future of Iraq, they concluded.

Cummings will soon depart DAU to become a project manager in Huntsville, Ala.; Glass will continue his dual-hatted responsibilities at DAU as a professor of systems acquisition management and director for strategic partnerships.