By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

CAMP BAHARIA, Iraq -- Pleasant Hill farmer Eric Dolbeare enjoyed a turkey dinner and a run on Thanksgiving.

But he was thousands of miles away from his family at Camp Baharia in Iraq where he works as an agriculture advisor with a provincial reconstruction team (PRT).

Thursday was just another work day for the PRTs, a joint effort of the U.S. State Department and the military working directly with Iraqis to rebuild capacity in agriculture, political activity, engineering and other areas.

"I was at an outpost with a company of Marines this past weekend. When I asked one of the Marines if he had to work on Thanksgiving Day, he pretty well summed it up for all of us by saying 'over here, they are all Iraqi days,'" Dolbeare said in an e-mail to The Herald-Whig.

Dolbeare's "Iraqi Days" began Sept. 17 when he left home for Washington, D.C., then onto Kuwait, Iraq, Camp Fallujah and now Camp Baharia where he hopes to help farmers improve infrastructure and adopt modern agriculture practices.

His skills as a pilot with the Coast Guard Auxiliary weren't a good fit to help the Iraqis, nor were civilian jobs available through the U.S. Army, but PRTs needed civilians with skills, and Dolbeare draws on his experience as a seed salesman and district sales manager for Pioneer Hybrids, in the agricultural chemical industry and on the farm.

"Most of my days are spent on missions or patrols away from camp. These generally involve a couple nights at an outpost or other facility," he said. "I can't be specific about movement patterns or times, but on these missions I'll travel in a military convoy with a predetermined destination and task."

Other days Dolbeare catches up on e-mail, follows up on information already gathered and makes plans for upcoming missions at the "rather picturesque (for Iraq)" camp, built around a man-made lake.

"There is no shortage of work. But most of us are glad to do it, and the work keeps us occupied," he said. "There are not a lot of other options."

His primary task is gathering information and building relationships with the Iraqis. "Soon I'll be utilizing that groundwork to help the Iraqis develop an agriculture strategy for the Fallujah district," he said.

Fallujah, about 40 miles west of Baghdad, is part of the Fertile Crescent, the flat and fertile area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Only about six inches of rain fall each year, mostly between November and April, so cropland is watered by flood irrigation requiring a system of canals and drainage ditches.

"These systems have not been maintained for more than 20 years and are in disrepair," Dolbeare said. "The U.S. Government has been instrumental in getting the renovation process started, and now Iraqis are transitioning into the lead position on prioritizing the funding for necessary projects."

Such improvements could have a dramatic, and stabilizing, effect in Iraq.

"As farm productivity increases, employment will rise, food security will be enhanced and Iraqis will see a better future. The result will be a reduction in violence, which will allow for the development of a safe and stable Iraq," Dolbeare said. "This is counter-insurgency, and counter-insurgency is the reason for the Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team."

-- dhusar@whig.com/221-3379