Duty calls KU staffer

Staff Sgt. James A. Pilch examines power-generation plant equipment in Baghdad while
serving a recent tour of active duty in Iraq. Pilch, who returned to Lawrence in December, is
director of laboratories for KU’s Tertiary Oil Recovery Project. A member of the U.S. Army Reserves, Pilch also served in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. Contributed/Courtesy of Jim Pilch

KU lab director recently returned from second tour in Middle East

While some KU employees may have returned to work grudgingly after a long winter break, one staff member is relishing his return after a yearlong deployment to Iraq with the 824th Quartermaster Detachment of the U.S. Army Reserves.

Staff Sgt. James A. Pilch returned to Lawrence Dec. 23 after spending a year overseas coordinating humanitarian fuel supplies in Iraq.

“ I operated out of the presidential palace/U.S. embassy annex on everything from initial oil production to refineries and distribution,” Pilch said. “I spent a lot of time at the Ministry of Oil gathering and sharing information.”

Pilch’s military duties directly parallel his job description at KU, where Pilch is director of laboratories for the Tertiary Oil Recovery Project. At TORP, Pilch oversees laboratories where researchers are investigating techniques using carbon dioxide to extract oil from reservoirs where conventional pumping methods are no longer effective.

“ I oversee a research lab at KU,” he said. “In Baghdad I spent considerable time rebuilding various laboratories at refineries and oil production areas and training Iraqi engineers.”

Pilch said Army Reserves are stretched thin in Iraq and because few units in the Army do the same job as his, there is potential that he will be called to serve on active duty again.

Pilch, who enlisted in the reserves about 15 years ago, is no stranger to the Middle East. The Gulf War interrupted his study of pharmacy at KU in the early 1990s.

“ I deployed with an evacuation hospital to Saudi Arabia and served in the communication section primarily doing radio work,” he said. “I lived in the Saudi desert in a tent for about six months.”

Despite the hardship of his first deployment, this year’s stay in Iraq brought new challenges for Pilch, who is now married and has a 9-year-old son.

“ The first war I was single and had only myself to worry about,” Pilch said.

Now back in Lawrence, Pilch said he was only beginning the process of reintegrating himself into daily life. His work at KU will resume in February, and Pilch has decided to reapply to pharmacy school at KU to complete the degree that he never finished.

TORP director Don Green said that in Pilch’s absence, researchers and student employees had taken on Pilch’s responsibilities—a sacrifice the TORP team was more than willing to make. Green, who also is distinguished professor of chemical and petroleum engineering, said the office had experienced reduced staffing for other reasons in the past, but never for such an extended duration of time.

At the KU lab, Pilch’s co-workers look forward to his return.

“ It’s been tough since he’s been gone,” said Stan McCool, associate scientist at TORP. “It’ll be great to have him back.”