May 10, 2013
 Temple Community and Regional Planning graduate student Terrence Harrington came to urban planning as a profession from a decidedly atypical angle, receiving inspiration from the unlikeliest of sources.
George Costanza.
“I was watching an episode of Seinfeld where George was pretending to be a city planner. It was the first time that I thought about urban planning as a career,” said Harrington, a career military officer with more than 17 years of service to his country. “At the time I was being redeployed to Iraq, but I knew that city planning was my future.”
It’s a future firmly rooted in his military career, which has incorporated planning in some aspect at nearly every turn. While it might have been a comedy that helped the planning seed germinate, his dedication to ensuring the safety, security and well being of his fellow soldiers at home and abroad in locations such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and South Korea is no laughing matter.
“I think my interest in planning first started at Ft. Stewart in Georgia where I was a facilities officer and began to understand the facilities planning process,” said Harrington, a United States Army Major currently serving as a Brigade Engineer in Afghanistan. “While I was serving in Iraq I was an ‘Forward Operating Base (FOB) Mayor,’ which is similar to a city manager. I felt like someone was trying to tell me something.”
That “voice” was clearly speaking to Harrington from the very beginning. In Korea, for example, he coordinated logistical support, physical security and administration for a 100-member unit. In 2004, he was an Assistant Brigade Operations Officer, coordinating facilities and housing for a 900-person unit. In Baghdad, Iraq, he was a Company Commander and Base Camp Manager, increasing base camp utilizations by managing $400,000 in construction projects. He also served as an International Liaison Officer in Iraq tasked with “synchronizing, coordinating, and de-conflicting Iraqi Police force employment between the U.S. military and the Iraqi government.”
From 2009 to 2010, as Director of Engineering and Housing, Harrington was responsible for all U.S. Kuwait base camps in support of the defense of Kuwait and during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Overseas Contingency Operations.
In Kuwait, Harrington was involved in supporting massive national celebrations, developing essential infrastructure for roads, tents, military vehicles and even elaborate parade facilities “all in the middle of the desert.”
“I was also involved in developing stormwater management plans for our base camps in Kuwait to allow for some normalcy of life during the rainy season — November to mid-March. The bases were not originally intended to handle so many people — we expanded the based infrastructure and developed methods for water diversion and retention,” he said. “I also worked with the director of public works in Kuwait to develop a power distribution plan during the summer months when temperatures reach 115 to 130 degrees and outages are common. It was very interesting to develop a power distribution plan — determining how to reallocate assets — for a camp of 10,000 people.”
Currently Harrington is helping to supervise the planning and execution of U.S. troop withdrawal and base closures out of Afghanistan while also being responsible for the planning and execution of all engineering missions — both combat and construction.
“As a combat engineer, you’re exposed to a lot of different experiences and opportunities — clearing the roads of explosives; working with the Army Corps of Engineers on cartography; placing obstacles to ensure no one comes up behind your troops,” he said. “As a Brigade Engineer, you’re overseeing the security forces looking for IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) to ensure no catastrophic harm comes to our soldiers or anyone else. As a protection officer, you’re making sure the bases are safe; that the necessary defensive assets are in place to repel and insurgent force that might attack the base.”
Amid his decorated military service, Harrington made a stop at Temple University Ambler along the way. With an M.S. in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Missouri and a Certificate in Facilities Planning and Management from Ohio State University already under his belt, Harrington wanted to continue his higher education experience in the planning field. In 2006, he entered Temple’s Community and Regional Planning master’s program.
“I’m originally from Chicago; I’ve always been an urban guy — I like the culture, the people in cities. As I got older, I really became interested in how places operate. When I decided to return to higher education, I wanted that urban experience and I knew Temple could provide that while also providing small classroom sizes at Ambler,” Harrington said. “I think my military training has helped greatly in the program and vice versa. In the military there is a lot of organization and structure and a lot of opportunities for analytical thinking — how to resolve problems based on current facts while managing your assets. Temple’s planning program provided me with the technical understanding and the theoretical processes that I needed in a broad spectrum — economic, environmental, societal, geographical — and explore how they interrelate.”
Seven years and several tours overseas later, he’s about to complete the long journey to finishing his planning degree. While several thousand miles — and one ocean — will prevent him from attending graduation personally on May 16, he’ll certainly be there in spirit.
“It’s such a great sense of accomplish. I think in my situation, a lot of people would have quit but the institutional and faculty support I’ve received has been awesome. From Kuwait to Kansas to New York, they helped me do whatever was necessary to complete the program,” he said. “I think my next challenge is pursuing a PhD, looking more into the form and design phase of urban planning. I want to be a world expert on contingency base camp planning. I originally started as a facilities officer then I was managing bases and now I am closing them — there have been a lot of lessons learned in the past 17 years.”
Harrington’s advice to fellow active duty service men and women who might be thinking about high education is simple.
“Do it. The military provides you with multiple opportunities to pursue a higher education degree — it will be the cornerstone of what you do at some point in your life,” he said. “Your time in the military will end. What is your future going to be? Take any and every opportunity to learn.”
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