Posted on 11/28/2003 10:15:56 AM PST by mrsmith
Talk about a senior trip.
Scott Erwin, a senior at the University of Richmond, is spending this academic year in one of the most dangerous places in the world - Baghdad - where bullets fly, trucks explode and heavily armed helicopter gunships skim the rooftops.
It's a long way from the tall pines on the UR campus.
In e-mail exchanges recently, the 21-year-old Erwin discussed what he's doing in Iraq and how he got there.
Erwin, now a civilian employee of the U.S. Department of Defense, is a budget adviser for the Coalition Provisional Authority's Ministry of Interior. The authority has the task of helping to rebuild Iraq.
"I am assisting Iraqis in the management of finances and budgeting for the domestic security forces, which include police, customs, border patrols, fire and other units," he said.
If the job sounds a little dry, just remember that all that accounting is going on in the middle of an undeclared war zone.
Besides, it's only part of Erwin's story.
Akiba Covitz, an assistant professor of political science at UR and a confidant of Erwin's, says his student's most important work may be going on in his spare time, in the streets and classrooms of Baghdad.
Erwin is working on civic-education initiatives, helping to train university students to carry the message of democracy to Iraqi children. In spirit, it's not unlike a program that Erwin started at UR to bring veterans in to talk with students about the costs of war.
"He wants [Iraqi] young people to know how valuable a life in a democracy can be. He's dedicated to serving others; he has a real sense of mission," Covitz said.
"After being one of the leading students on campus, he could be taking a grand tour his senior year.
"Instead, he's over there wearing Kevlar and helping kids in the street," Covitz added. "He recognizes that one has an obligation when he's as intelligent as he is to go where he can do the most good.
"I don't want to present him as a do-gooder. He doesn't have the missionary zeal of a dyed-in-the-wool Republican.
"He just wants to be where he can absolutely make a difference in people's lives. He's already worked in the White House, and now he's there. He's extraordinary."
When he completes his assignment in the financial unit, Erwin plans to help promote programs that will prepare Iraqis for free elections next year. Then he'll return to finish his university work.
A Kansas native, Erwin has a triple major at UR: political science, public economic analysis and classical civilization. He is on a full-tuition merit scholarship.
He has always been interested in politics and, under a UR program called D.C. Initiative, he had an opportunity to intern in the nation's capital.
In 2002, Erwin worked in the office of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, which led to an internship in Vice President Dick Cheney's office, which eventually led to the offer to go to Baghdad.
Dan Palazzolo, who heads the D.C. Initiative, praised Erwin's work ethic and personal skills.
"He's a go-getter. The people in Tom DeLay's office said he was the best intern they had. He would work till 10 or 11 at night and would do just about anything," said Palazzolo, an associate professor of political science.
By the time his internship in the vice president's office had ended, Erwin had caught the eye of others...
Like many Americans, Erwin said he had mixed emotions about the war in Iraq. But after being in Baghdad and seeing the aftermath of Saddam's regime of terror, he has become dedicated to the nation's reconstruction efforts.
Erwin said he has seen hopeful signs that progress is being made, and he thinks much more will be accomplished as Iraqis begin to take more control of their country.
He believes journalists have spent far too much time focusing on acts of terror, rather than on the successes of the coalition and the Iraqis themselves...
(Excerpt) Read more at timesdispatch.com ...
(if not accept my apologies)
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