The United States Army’s motto “Army Strong” translates into “BUILDING STRONG” for the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which has about eight hundred civilians and two hundred military members deployed to the Middle East. In the Gulf Region Division, this framework has been further translated into “Building a Strong Foundation for Iraq.”
Lt. Gen. Van Antwerp, USACE commander, explained some characteristics behind “BUILDING STRONG.” He cited John Maxell’s book, Talent is Never Enough, that describes a number of successful qualities that are not considered talents. The book asserts that America’s sidewalks are filled with people who have talent, but many of them don’t succeed because they lack specific attributes, such as initiative.
“One attribute that I love is passion. I would take passion over skill, experience, and a lot of other things. Passion is what gets people up in the morning. Passion is what makes you want to stretch and go to the next level,” Van Antwerp said.
“Another attribute is teamwork. In using a sports analogy, great players with great talent win games, but great teams win championships. That’s the difference. We want to win a championship,” he continued. “It’s like iron sharpens iron. When you get a team together, you also receive better disciplined thoughts and accountability. These teams need team leaders, but it’s about a team effort.”
One USACE construction project is an example of passionate teamwork. “We’re building a state-of-the art children’s hospital in Basra,” Van Antwerp related. “Project Hope has raised funds for the medical equipment, major corporations have donated and contributed, and the Iraqis are responsible for hiring and training eight hundred staff members.”
“This is an example of something that can be done with incredible teamwork. Basra was a place where security was very, very challenging, making it difficult to get in and do the work. We’ve had a number of contractor personnel who were kidnapped and killed just trying to get to the worksite, but with teamwork we persevered for the greater good.”
The greater good is to make life better for those kids.
“If you walk into the resident office, you’ll find pictures of Iraqis kids on the wall with the statement underneath, ‘This is what it’s all about.’ It tugs at your heart. It isn’t about the Corps of Engineers or who built it. It’s about children having a chance at life as a result of this work. That will be reward enough for us.”
Thank you for reminding me of the value of teamwork and the passion needed to complete a challenging project. Enable me to “sharpen” someone else today.
“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)