DEPLOYMENT SPOTLIGHT: Maj. Matthew Kindig
“Col. Pfeiffer, deputy director of contracting for USACE, the highest military contracting [official] in USACE, reached out to all 51Cs (Army contracting officers), asking us about deploying to Saipan to support disaster relief efforts from Typhoon Sinlaku,” Kindig said. “I volunteered but couldn’t go for the first iteration due to family commitments, but I offered to go over the summer. I always wanted to deploy and support natural disaster recovery, so I jumped at the opportunity.”
Upon his arrival, Kindig found himself jumping feet-first into the action.
“I worked within the Recovery Field Office while there,” he said. “I wasn’t a part of any of the Planning and Response Teams. Contracts themselves were handled by the home districts. Instead, I was giving business advice to the commander, tracking contracts and advising on pieces I identified that either already needed contract support or were likely to in the future. I would also relay my findings to the home district based in Hawaii.”
Kindig said he quickly found that his role would evolve and become more complex.
“Roughly a week after I arrived to the Recovery Field Office, the commander pulled me aside and, since I was the senior major, he made me the Executive Officer of the RFO,” Kindig said. “I helped coordinate the staffing, logistics, administrative, and operational side of things because it was a rapidly evolving mission, especially when Typhoon Bavi came through while we were there.”
While forecasted in advance, Typhoon Bavi was a system with a difficult-to-pinpoint landfall location. Thankfully, Kindig and others were prepared.
“We all had to shelter in place as that happened,” he said. “Since the Northern Mariana Islands consist of three main islands — from north to south, Saipan, the biggest island, Tinian and Rota — the destruction was spread out. Saipan took most of the damage from Sinlaku, and Tinian took a glancing hit,” said Kindig.
“Meanwhile, with Bavi, it was a direct hit on Rota. This second typhoon didn’t delay any progress we had made on the first two islands, but it created a recovery need where we previously didn’t have much work. We had to do power generation first,” he added.
It also meant a change in mission for Kindig and others.
“After Bavi, the biggest portion of my role was organizing the logistics to get people onto Rota, because with the airport being down, you could only do charter flights,” Kindig said. “It’s such a small island, with approximately 2,000 people living there, and they only have two hotels and an incredibly limited number of rental vehicles. Now trying to bring in so many members of FEMA, USACE and other personnel, they just lacked the capacity for them to be there. This meant staggering our support, so power generation was the top priority, then roofing, then debris.”
“Deployments with USACE are well worth it. While there, numerous people told me this would be one of the most gratifying times I would spend with USACE, and I would agree with that. You’re there for the people, and to help them, and not for yourself. The people who were there are so appreciative of us being there to help them.”
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