MikeF:

Same thing our professional associations do now. Council of Ed Facilities Planners, Intl does outreach to Guatemala, India, etc... both through site visits and on-line.

I got a lot out of reach back, but you have to know what to ask for. Also, DoD/DoS are very wired into Universities, which is fine if you need what they have. But the majority of problems are not university problems.

The same trouble with maps. We were discussing last month the way to get NGA's mapping capacibilities into the hands of DoS/PRTs etc., but you have to know what to ask for and why.

A water/waste water system designer is looking for topo (to establish drainage patterns), population data (to establish the design standard), and sub-surface studies to know what he is designing in. The questions he would want answers to are all technical---not the types of things program administrators would know, or think about. Thus, a circuit rider to answer the basic scoping questions. Problem with using US designers is that they don't always understand the context and local techniques and materials. Finding the balance for a project, then engaging the right folks, is a one-two week problem, then move onto the next.

Actually, I'm interested in a goosed up construction battalion deployment process, because a lot of the big toys come in very handy for reconstruction-related activities. But that, like COIN, needs to be set in a protocol to become effective.

I just wish they would start on some of the big basic stuff SOOON.

Steve