From the Summer 2006 UWM Today
UWM Engineering Grads Meet in Fallujah
By Lts. David Platz and Peter Jilek
Lts. Dave Platz (left) and
Pete Jilek in Fallujah, Iraq.
Panther graduates Pete Jilek (’98 B.S. Civil Engineering) and Dave Platz (’99 B.S. Civil Engineering) met in Fallujah, Iraq, last May. Both are lieutenants in the United States Navy Civil Engineer Corps and were recalled to active duty in January to support Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Platz and Jilek went through mobilization training in Port Hueneme, Calif., at the same time and had several military classes together. They are both reservists who work for the United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in their civilian lives back home.
Jilek serves as one of two construction officers for the Al Anbar province (which includes Fallujah) in Western Iraq. He is assigned to the headquarters for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF), in the G8 office (current and future engineer operations). Jilek oversees projects both on military bases and in the cities and towns in the Al Anbar province. These include both simple projects like upgrading rural roadways and bridges to more complex projects like reconstructing helicopter landing zones and Coalition Forces/Iraqi Army bases. In his civilian life, he is currently assigned to the Office of Program Administration in Washington, D.C. His wife, Lorrie, and three children reside in Frederick, Md.
Platz serves as the officer in charge of Task Force Sierra, a Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) detachment in Iraq. His detachment is a combination of Seabees from NMCB TWO FIVE, a reserve battalion from Fort McCoy, Wis., and NMCB FORTY, an active-duty battalion from Port Hueneme, Calif. Platz oversees the design, construction and maintenance of vertical and horizontal projects for a Special Operations Force (SOF) base and several SOF Forward Operating Bases in Iraq. Seabee work includes contingency and non-contingency construction along with enhancing force protection. Back home, he is a field operations engineer with the Wisconsin Division of the FHWA, based in Madison, WI. He provides federal oversight of major interstate highway design and construction projects in Southeastern Wisconsin.
Platz and Jilek both belong to one of the 12 commissioned Reserve Naval Mobile Construction Battalions and are maintaining the long legacy of the Seabees by their dedicated service. The Navy Civil Engineer Corps was first commissioned by Congressional statute on March 2, 1867. From 1867 until 1942, civilian contractors provided all labor for Navy construction projects. This posed a problem at construction sites in hostile territory, since civilians were not permitted to bear arms without being perceived and treated as guerilla fighters. They were therefore unable to defend themselves and their projects.
Since 1942, Seabees have built and fought in every major conflict in which the United States participated. Seabees have also been the Navy’s most prominent goodwill ambassadors, rebuilding war-ravaged facilities and providing relief after natural disasters throughout the world, including the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean on Christmas Day 2004.
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