rapidfire
M Active Duty Spotlight
aj. Leslie Parks, USA, was a model-train enthusiast before he and his team began surveying the
underused Iraqi Railways in 2007. Parks, a special operations civil affairs battalion com- pany commander, helped draw up a systems operation plan to move product and people. He sat the new Iraqi government down with businesspeople and by 2008 helped make the rail a reality. How did you get involved with the railway project? The railroad headquar- ters was in my area of operations. The Iraqi government had no system in place to move product and people into Syria [and] Basra, Umm Qasr, and Bagh- dad [Iraq] in an organized fashion. A plan to cut travel time from 14 [days] to two days would be available [if we used] the rail- ways instead of trucks. And there would be no moving taxation. Was permission difficult to ob- tain? Yes, the railway was con- trolled by the government. The
people had money and motivation. But they needed someone to put it together. I ... identified the needs to legitimize the mission and work on a layout. We developed a positive relationship with the di- rector general of the railroads and discussed the need to move product. How did you create a sustainable transpor- tation mode? The railroad never had a business venture. This was the first time in the history of Iraq that government and private business sat down to discuss a system. We gave the Iraqis a voice with their own money for private business. How is the railway doing today? With assistance from [the U.S. Agency for International Develop- ment], the Department of State, and my team, the rails are moving commercial product and people. We began at $0 of investment and cur- rently have $26 million in operating capital ... not one
American dollar is involved. — Anita Stone
Attention! Check out these military-related entertainment offerings.
BOOK THE OFFICERS’ CLUB (Tor/Forge, 2010) Who killed Lieutenant Lamoreaux? This novel by Ralph Peters strives to cap- ture the passions and con- fusions of the 1970s after the Vietnam War. Peters explores the military com- mitment as well as ques-
tions of right and wrong in American culture.
MOVIE WINTER IN WARTIME (Sony Pic- tures Classics, 2011) Originally released in the Netherlands, this film by director Martin Koolhoven outgrossed both Twilight
28 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2011
and The Dark Night in its home country in 2008. The story follows Michiel, a 14-year-old boy who comes to the aid of a wounded British soldier in 1945 Nazi-occupied Holland.
BOOK GREAT CIVIL WAR HEROES AND
THEIR BATTLES (Ab- beville Press Publishers, 2011) In this special book edition for the Civil War's sesquicentennial, editor Walton Rawls presents the American Civil War through evocative words and pic- tures from the generation that experienced it.
MO PHOTO: EDDY MCDONALD
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