Part of Reclamation's legacy is our tenacious effort to help settle the American West.

Along the way, agency engineers and other personnel worked in some far-flung, desolate places. Although the “Big Dam Era” appears to be in the past, some employees carry on those traditions, working in remote locations, under difficult conditions.

Larry Bean, a landscape architect from Reclamation’s Great Plain’s Regional Office in Billings, Mont., has been on a hardship tour in Afghanistan for the past year. After a brief stop in the United States for some well-deserved rest and relaxation, he is back overseas for another six-month tour.

Bean originally arrived in-country in February 2007 and serves on temporary duty with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Afghanistan Engineer District. He works as a project engineer and contracting-officer representative at the Kandahar Airfield, managing construction on police stations and other facilities.

He is soft-spoken about his time in Afghanistan. “I'm stationed at the Kandahar Airfield,” he said. “It's really not too bad where I'm at. I enjoy it. Kandahar is really kind of a prized location.”

Globalsecurity.org, an organization that inventories data on global military operations, describes Bean's “prized location” differently. It calls it one of the most remote, landlocked and desolate places the Army has ever tried to build a combat base.

“We very seldom get out of the wire because of logistics,” Bean said. “Anytime you go off-base it requires at least three vehicles, because of security.”

Kandahar is located in southern Afghanistan — one of the most hostile areas in the country. In addition to security threats, the weather tends toward the extreme. “The hottest day was 127 [degrees],” Bean said, “and in the winter it froze. We actually saw snow. Some of the Afghanis said it hadn't snowed in more than 10 years.”

Despite the difficult conditions, Bean is upbeat about life on the base. “Kandahar is pretty nice,” he said. “In my particular living quarters I have a private room and a phone with a U.S. area code. It's only about 100 feet from my room to my office.

“Most of the meals are taken in the dining facilities that the base runs,” he said, “but Kandahar is big enough that we also have Burger King, Subway, Pizza Hut and coffee and bagel shops.”

In spite of the amenities, Bean keeps up a grueling pace. “Our workweek matches the Afghani's, which goes from Saturday through Wednesday,” he said. “I work six 12-hour days, which makes for a 76-hour workweek.”

Bean headed back to Afghanistan on Feb. 11, after taking a brief sojourn to Hawaii. He oversees about $60 million of construction and is one of only eight specialists in the Kandahar office.

“One thing I think a lot of people forget,” he said, “is that it is not just American money we're working with. There are a lot of countries that don't have soldiers, but who provide dollars. We're managing their money.

“I have been in awe of the number of nations involved,” he said. “There are Jordanians, Indians, Australians, New Zealanders, Brits — more countries than I can even begin to name,” he said.

Although Bean mentions the lure of adventure as one of the reasons for serving in Afghanistan, he expresses a deeper sentiment about his time overseas. “A few months ago Mike [Regional Director Mike Ryan] sent out an article about the need to be engaged in your work,” he said. “That really struck a note with me. I'm absolutely engaged in the work. As a bonus, you really feel like it’s good work.

“One day I asked them [his Afghani counterparts], 'Wouldn't you really rather be building clinics and schools?'” Bean said. “They said, 'We need police stations first. Once this [neighborhood] is secure, we can build our own schools and clinics.’

“That told me that this [building police stations] is the logical place for us to make real improvements in their lives right now,” Bean said. “We're just trying to expand the circle of safety for these people. That's good work, and something they've never had.”

During a brief visit to the Great Plains Regional Office, Bean presented Assistant Regional Director Don Moomaw with a plaque, which now adorns the front-office entrance. The wood-and-glass frame contains an American flag the Army Corps of Engineers hoisted on Sept. 11, along with a certificate that reads, “flown in the face of the enemy in Afghanistan on behalf of the Bureau of Reclamation.”

The Kandahar Airfield commander signed the plaque as an act of appreciation for both Bean and the Bureau of Reclamation. Although the Corps presented the plaque to Bean personally, he gave it to the Great Plains Region because he thought Reclamation deserved the recognition. “I am doing this [assignment] with the blessing of Reclamation,” he said, “and it only seems appropriate that [the agency] should take credit for their role.”

Bean is back in Afghanistan after his brief stint at home. Regardless of location, his words and thoughts remain focused on the endless number of projects yet to be completed and the work that is still undone.

“Southern Afghanistan is one of the hotter spots,” he said. “We just pushed the Taliban out of an area where I have a police station going in. We're trying to accelerate the schedule and get a police station built while it is still relatively safe. You know, trying to expand that circle of safety.”