Rock Island Arsenal, Ill. -- Many people shy away from two-and-a-half month deployments to Kuwait and Qatar but for Gregory Moore it's another opportunity to learn more about the region and share his knowledge with the locals.
Moore, chief of the Kuwait/Qatar branch, Reachback Division at Army Contracting Command-Rock Island, is no stranger to Middle East travel, making the voyage at least 20 times since 2008.
"We have to continually go over and make ourselves visible to the customer and make them aware of the capabilities of the center," said Moore. "We need to let them know that we are here to provide them with our best contracting and business advice that the Army has. My family is grown and is accustomed to me traveling so I've been kind of a go-to guy for Middle East travel."
The bulk of his recent trip was in Saudi Arabia, where he served as interim director of contracting for the Office of the Program Manager -- Saudi Arabia National Guard modernization program. OPM SANG's mission focuses primarily on foreign military sales to the Saudi Arabia National Guard.
According to Michael Hutchison, ACC-RI executive director, Moore is the perfect person for face-to-face work with overseas customers.
"Pair his extensive contracting knowledge with his eager and willing attitude, along with his zeal for successfully working the mission, and ACC-RI truly has a consummate theater contracting expert," he said.
As director of contracting for OPM SANG, he worked on contracting that dealt with light armored vehicles, tactical vehicles, and training of the Saudi National Guard.
"OPM SANG is getting ready to do a huge FMS case for the aviation upgrade modernization of the Saudi Arabia National Guard, so I had to deal with some construction projects, bunkers, and other brick-and-mortar construction," said Moore.
Construction contracting took Moore back to his roots. Earlier in his career, he worked as the construction contracting officer at Rock Island for several years, and then worked on contracts for chemical demilitarization facilities.
"I'm one of the only people still here that did and understands brick-and-mortar construction from a contracting officer perspective," said Moore. "I didn't know that I would be able to use that skill again, but when I went over there and looked at this massive amount of construction going on everywhere, I was kind of at home and I was able to impact or make a difference right away over there because I understood construction."
That knowledge and the relationships Moore has built in the Middle East has enabled him to be more than just another business associate.
"They really wanted to know more about me as an individual," Moore said about the locals. "I told them about my family and my beliefs and they embraced and welcomed me with hospitality. They don't do that with everyone, so it truly was an honor."
His dedication to the OPM SANG and reachback missions has not gone unnoticed.. He recently received two awards, a coin and salutation from Brig. Gen. Victor Petrenko, program manager, OPM SANG, and the Superior Civilian Service Award for his reachback work from Carol Lowman, ACC's former executive director.
Moore says the awards are a result of all of the discussions and work he and his fellow ACC-RI employees have accomplished over the years.
"When I go overseas I take the whole center with me," he said in reference to those he has learned from during his time at Rock Island. "Some of them are retired, some aren't even alive anymore, but the entire center, past and present, goes with me when I go to do these things."
Moore admits that constantly traveling is not always easy, but he's always willing to go.
"I have to deal with a lot of difficult situations and make hard decisions," said Moore. "For instance, the closeout meeting on the last trip was difficult and adversarial, but my leadership had the confidence in me that I could go and represent the center."
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