John Smith (right) with Hussen Jowd, a butcher in Arab Jabour along the Tigris River south of Baghdad. View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

In Iraq to train, rebuild, learn

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Area residents among those helping Iraqis rebuild their lives, society

Date published: 8/24/2008

By RUSTY DENNEN

Transcending the scenes of combat and violence on TV news, two Fredericksburg-area residents are part of a new mission in Iraq--helping rebuild lives, businesses and a battered society.

John Smith, 55, who lives in Sparta in Caroline County, works for the State Department in Baghdad, part of an embedded provisional reconstruction team. The teams, which attach to a military unit, help foster political reconciliation between various sects. They also build up the local capacity for Iraqis to govern themselves, and they assist with economic programs to get the country's battered economy back on its feet.

Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Mary Ann Ante-Amburgey, 51, of Fredericksburg recently returned from Iraq after serving on a provisional reconstruction team working with women, children and physicians in Ramadi, about 68 miles west of Baghdad.

The two recently talked to The Free Lance-Star about their missions in Iraq:

SMITH: building up government, economy

"In Baghdad, we were one of nine teams serving with a military brigade," Smith said in a telephone interview from Iraq. He's working in an area south of the capital known as the Sunni "Triangle of Death," an area notorious for sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslim factions.

When he arrived last September, "That area was 100 percent kinetic. You go by the grace of God," he said. But, thanks to the troop surge that began in January 2007, "there's a difference of night and day" in how much violence has declined, he said.

U.S. military officials last week reported fewer than 200 attacks per week in Iraq over the past 10 weeks. That compares to an average of 1,500 weekly attacks over the same period two years ago. Attacks in Afghanistan, however, have been increasing.

Smith said that as soldiers secured an area, "We were right behind them on the ground working on setting up local governments, town councils" and helping small businesses.

"It's very rural, with farming and agriculture being the principal form of economics, so we were engaged with local farmers," he said.

Working with Smith were representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Agency for International Development, which provides economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide.

In a country with a tribal culture, getting to know individual Iraqis was key, he said.

ABOUT TOM SMITH AGE: 55 HOME: Caroline County EDUCATION: Administration and justice graduate of American University, with a master's in sports medicine from Virginia Commonwealth University. BACKGROUND: Grew up in St. Louis, instructor at the FBI Academy in Quantico, member of the Army National Guard, police officer in Boulder, Colo., and worked in private industry. Also has worked at the State Department as diplomatic courier and in logistics management and has done tours in Germany, Finland, South Africa and the Middle East. CURRENT JOB: Working with a State Department provisional reconstruction team in Baghdad. Will return home this fall. ABOUT MARY ANN ANTE-AMBURGEY AGE: 51 HOME: Fredericksburg EDUCATION: Received commission through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training program, University of Louisville. BACKGROUND: Grew up in Philippines and Louisville, Ky. Joined Air Force, 1978. While on active duty, served as an intelligence officer and on Air Force bases in the U.S. and Japan. In 2005 helped set up the Federal Emergency Management Agency's joint field office in Baton Rouge, La., following Hurricane Katrina. Later that year, she headed for her first tour of duty in Iraq. CURRENT JOB: Information operations supervisor, Standing Joint Force Headquarters, Joint Forces Command, Norfolk.

Date published: 8/24/2008

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