2008 PRT Information
Highway Official leaving to Help Rebuild Iraq
(Public Affairs specialist joins PRT in Kirkuk)
By Amy Bickel
The Hutchinson News
January 22, 2008
Hutchinson, Kansas – Martin Miller had received job e-mails from the Federal Government over the past few years, but he never opened them. After all, he wasn’t looking for a job.
But on this day in spring 2007, the Hutchinson resident glanced at the job listings, scanning them without much thought. One stuck out on the list. Wanted: Civilians to help rebuild Iraq, the posting stated. The other job notices blurred from his vision. “They didn’t seem important in the whole scheme of life,” he said.
Nearly nine months later, Hutchinson’s Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) public affairs manager has a diplomatic passport and U.S. State Department badge. His day job for the past decade has been as a liaison to residents on Kansas road construction in south-central Kansas. But for the next year, Miller will have a new duty – helping bring a war-torn country into the 21st Century.
Miller leaves today for Kirkuk, Iraq’s fourth-largest city with a population of about 700,000. It’s 155 miles north of Baghdad at the foot of the Zargos Mountains in northern Iraq.
There he’ll serve as a public diplomacy officer as part of the U.S. State Department’s Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) – a one-year post. “I’ll give them guidance and help citizens get involved in the decision-making,” he said.
PRTs are the civilian component of the U.S. surge strategy designed to support and reconstruct Iraqi neighborhoods, according the U.S. State Department. They deliver essential needs like schools, roads and sewage and water services, Miller said.
There are about 28 PRTs operating in Iraq, with close to 700 civilian members from several U.S. departments. Since 2003, the U.S. Government has shelled out $32 billion on reconstruction and stabilization efforts in Iraq, supported by these teams, according to the State Department.
Miller and other civilians are pledged with the goal, much like their military counterparts, to directly engage the local populations, promote reconciliation and foster economic development.
He’ll work seven days a week, 12 to 14 hours a day. His home will be like a dorm room – and 8-by-10-foot space. He’ll share a bathroom with a neighbor.
But International service work is familiar to Miller. He has volunteered in what is now the Czech Republic. He’s volunteered in Russia. He also went on an educational trip for Heifer International, a group with a mission to end world hunger and poverty. KDOT sent him to the Gulf Coast in 2005 to help with Hurricane Katrina efforts.
Yet the 51-year-old has never left U.S. soil for such a lengthy period. The decision to take the temporary job -- far from the comforts of Kansas and his family – caused internal struggle. “I wondered, ‘is this really what I should be doing?’” he said.
Then one Sunday last fall, while sitting in the pew at the First Presbyterian Church, his pastor, Tim Soule, offered up God’s calling. Soule gave a sermon on peacemaking, then read Matthew 5:9 – “Blessed are the Peacemakers.
“It helped me make the decision to go to Iraq, Miller said.
KDOT gave Miller a year leave to take the job, said Bob Cook, KDOT’s district engineer and Miller’s boss. His job will be waiting for him. “It is a good opportunity for Martin to assist in the recovery effort in Iraq,” Cook said. “He’s very dedicated and very good at what he does. He wants to help others and help where he can.”
Miller said he just hopes he can make a difference.
(Reprinted with permission of the Hutchinson News)