thoughtleaders
BY STEVE GEARY, EDITOR AT LARGE
detours of duty
U.S. ARMY PHOTO BY PIERRE-ETIENNE COURTEJOIE
interview with Dr. Stephen Rutner
In 2009, Dr. Stephen
Rutner put his teaching
career on hold for his
second tour at the Port
of Ash Shuaibah in
Kuwait. Today, he’s back
in the classroom with
tales from the war zone—
in the most literal sense.
IF DR. STEPHEN M. RUTNER, PROFESSOR OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEment at Georgia Southern University, seems unusually familiar with the ins and
outs of moving large international cargo shipments, there’s a reason for that. As
it happens, Dr. Rutner is also Lt. Col. Rutner, an Army Reserve logistics specialist
who has helped move tens of thousands of pieces of military equipment in and
out of the Middle East during two tours of duty at a military port in Kuwait.
Rutner originally trained as a tanker, but along the way, the Army Reserve discovered that its armor officer had picked up a Ph.D. in logistics and transportation at the University of Tennessee and adjusted its career plan for the “doctor.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
Rutner recently returned from his second deployment to the Port of Ash
Shuaibah, Kuwait, where he served as commander of the 1181st Transportation
Terminal and Deployment Distribution Support Battalion. This is the primary
military seaport in Southwest Asia supporting our forces in Iraq. He’s Airborne
qualified, which means he’s trained to parachute into a drop zone, and he has
earned a Bronze Star. We suspect that his students are afraid to skip class.
