We all want the power to change the world for the better. But chasing that power at the risk of life and limb and being half a world away from loved ones is heroic.

Lt. Col. David Hickey wears his U.S. Army uniform proudly. He has been in Baghdad since November of last year. He works with the civilian side of the Iraqi government as the primary manager of central service issues.

The 1981 Oak Harbor High School graduate is part of the Fourth Infantry Division at the Multinational Division Baghdad.

“We’re helping rebuild the country and we’re helping with reconstruction,” said Hickey.

As a part of civil military operations, he keeps track of coalition and city of Baghdad projects. Sewer, water, electricity and trash system problems are what Hickey faces. The goal is to help the Iraqi government learn to solve these issues themselves.

“They’ve made a lot of improvements and are putting out their own contracts and fixing things,” said Hickey. “We’re focusing on sustainable security and return to normalcy. Once the Iraqi government has their independence and confidence, then we can leave.”

Hickey and his team get right to work on projects such as failed water pumps. Such a pump might purify water from the Tigris River. Engineers on his team help with repairs. Hickey educates the governor and mayor’s office of Iraq on how to deal with and pay for such projects. One goal is setting up neighborhood civil service departments in Baghdad to handle these types of problems as they arise.

The Iraqi government has sufficient funds to pay for the work that needs to be done. They are paying more money than the U.S. to complete these projects, according to Hickey.

“There’s reason to be optimistic about that,” said Hickey. “Their problem is just getting the mechanism in place to build a budget, execute and forecast. We try to help them with this.”

Walking around Baghdad, it’s “just like any other large city,” Hickey explained. People go to work and drop their kids off at school. They want to feel safe in their homes and not face violence and fear.

“The average Baghdad citizen is just like you and me,” said Hickey. For the most part, he’s seen only positive reactions to the United States’ presence.

The last time Hickey was stationed in Iraq a few years ago, “it was a little more tense,” Hickey explained. He was a civil affairs company commander then.

Now, scenes of ordinary day-to-day activities are more the norm. People are less concerned about violence and terrorists than a few years ago, according to Hickey. This lets the Army focus on “non-lethal” work like Hickey’s that it couldn’t accomplish earlier.

“I feel safer now because the level of violence is down,” said Hickey. “But it’s a combat zone so I wear armor and we must be in a group of four vehicles at least. We take precautions, even though we’ve never encountered any kind of violence in this tour.”

He knows the Iraqi army is aiming to keep streets safe.

After working with the Iraqi army, Hickey noted that they are making huge improvements.

“There was a lot of frustration in just trying to get the army competent,” Hickey said. “Now they appear to be a competent, well-organized and well-led army that wants to do the right thing. They protect Iraqi citizens. They plan missions and execute them, maybe not the way we’d do it, but they’re competent.”

On Hickey’s previous tour in the Middle East, he attended neighborhood council meetings and helped them focus on what a neighborhood council should talk about. He researched and made presentations to the Iraqi government about landfills, schools, school boards and other civil matters. The goal of the presentations was to bring attention to issues requiring discussion in order to ease life for ordinary citizens.

“It’s not us doing things for them, but us teaching them so they can learn to do it alone,” Hickey explained.

The path Hickey forged to where he is now was a worthwhile one for him.

At Oak Harbor High School, Hickey participated in the armed drill team through NJROTC. After high school, he attended the University of Washington on an Army scholarship. He graduated in 1985.

“I already knew my career plans to be an Army officer then,” Hickey said.

Despite his dreams of majoring in engineering or computer science, Hickey’s love of writing and the past led him to major in history.

In the Army, Hickey’s basic branch was armor. He also attended ranger and airborne schools. Marine amphibious warfare school was a meaningful accomplishment for him.

“He was an excellent student in school,” said his mother, Trudy Hickey. “He always expressed a strong interest in the military.” Hickey’s father, Ed Hickey, retired from the Navy at rank chief warrant officer four.

Hickey’s first tour was in Korea for two-and-one-half years. Due to his armor branch, he worked with tanks. Later, Hickey headed for Germany. He spent 10 years there, separately, partly as a civilian. During part of that time, Hickey earned his master’s in management information systems long-distance through the University of Maryland. Hickey served in Desert Storm with the Third Armored Division.

After 11 years of being a reservist for the Army, Hickey just returned to active duty approximately one year ago.

Ever since 9/11, Hickey burned to get back into the military and contribute personally.

“By doing this, I hope my kids won’t have to someday,” Hickey said.

His return to active duty has resulted in a lot of time away from home.

“It’s hard to be away from my family,” Hickey said. He has three children, ages 4, 10 and 14. He’s been away for 15 months and counting.

Hickey returns to Oak Harbor when he can. His parents have lived here since he was young.

“I love the area. It’s a great place to live and grow up. I’d love to retire here someday,” Hickey said.

During his short leave, he returned to Oak Harbor to visit loved ones. The Fourth of July parade awakened his memories of the good old days.

“It’s hard to say goodbye. All the soldiers miss their families,” Hickey said. “But morale is pretty high because we are doing something to make a difference and improve the situation at a hotspot in the world. Everyone knows they’re making a contribution with that.”

“We miss him and worry about him,” Trudy said. “We’ll be glad when he returns to the states.”

Hickey won’t return again until next February. At that time, his division will rotate out of Multinational Division Baghdad and a cavalry division that was there previously will rotate in.

“I think when they come back they’ll see a much more peaceful city,” Hickey said. “We hope someday we won’t have to send a replacement.”