GlobeSt.com EXCLUSIVE: Vet Shares Iraq War & Construction Stories

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LOS ANGELES-Bill Wenger, vice president for the Los Angeles region of Charles Dunn Co., has lived a dual life. In one existence, he’s a 20-year veteran of commercial real estate, specializing in property management; in the other, he’s a veteran, with 35 years of military service to his credit.Wenger retired from the military in 2000 to focus on family and his real estate work, where he manages a seven-million-sf portfolio of commercial property. But his status changed last year when the Pentagon asked him to serve as Army colonel at the Multinational Force Headquarters in Baghdad. Wenger worked with the interim Iraqi government to help organize and secure the country’s first free election following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Six months into that post, he volunteered for field duty.His new assignment held a daunting task–secure the country’s 2,280 miles of borders and 14 major ports of entry. Working with Iraqi generals, Wenger readied 20,000 Iraqi border security police for duty and built the force up to 40,000 strong.Wenger notes that his tenure in commercial real estate served him well in the Middle East. He negotiated with contractors who are in the process of building approximately 440 forts, totaling more than 2.2 million sf, along Iraq’s borders.”My contracting, property management and negotiating experience having to do with leases and contracts certainly came into play over there,” Wenger tells Globest.com. “It is much of the same legalese and concepts.”Over 400 of the forts count 5,000 sf each and are being built jointly by American contractors and Iraqi subcontractors. Used for border control and surveillance, the roofs are outfitted with parapets for artillery, and accommodate up to 32 soldiers. Another 36 structures are known as super forts. The super forts stand 8,000 sf and are used as battalion headquarters.”It is an amazing construction process compared to what we are used to here,” Wenger says. “Obviously there are no seismic code requirements and they just build them to suit.”The forts incorporate traditional Arabic architecture, according to Wenger, with a common area in the center of the structure. Other amenities include side rooms for sleeping, a small kitchen, a latrine and a few offices. Wenger says that a fort was named in his honor by an Iraqi general. Fort Wenger sits where the Jordanian, Iraqi and Syrian borders meet, approximately 320 miles west of Baghdad. In prior stints during his military life, Wenger commandeered the 18,500 soldiers of the California Army National Guard. He also led a battalion task force during the Los Angeles riots of 1992 and provided military support to local law enforcement during the Northridge earthquake of 1994.When he was asked to complete another six-months-to-one-year tour of duty with US forces, he declined, deciding it was time to come home. This time, for good.He’s been back in Southern California for two months now, implementing strategic plans for Charles Dunn and mulling over offers to run for political office. “It was time to come home,” Wenger says. “I needed to get back to my family and my Charles Dunn family.”Although Wenger will not be returning to Iraq, he remains active in building security issues and military response. He served as chair of BOMA’s Security and Emergency Preparedness Committee and trains recent graduates from the LAPD police academy. His expertise landed him on KRWB news radio during the attacks of Sept. 11, where he fielded questions on air. Wenger says the heightened awareness for building security since Sept. 11 walks a fine line between necessity and cost. “You have to factor in what a reasonable expense is for the owners and for the shared expense of the tenants, compared to the level of need [for safety] that exists,” he says. “It’s a balancing act.”