West Valley welcomes city manager back from deployment to Afghanistan

Reserve Sgt. Maj. Wayne Pyle spent a few hours greeting his co-workers and colleagues Monday morning before diving back into the business of running West Valley City.

Pyle, West Valley's city manager, was honored by city staff and elected officials at a reception celebrating his return, after nearly a year of military service in Afghanistan.

"We are thrilled to have Wayne safely back at home," Mayor Dennis Nordfelt said. "Wayne is an exceptional leader and a great friend, and we look forward to working with him again."

Pyle has been away from the city since December 2005 when the 405th Civil Affairs Battalion reported to Fort Bragg, N.C. The unit departed for Afghanistan in March 2006.

The 405th was spread throughout Afghanistan on military bases to assist with tasks such as building roads and schools, as well as training police and government officials.

Pyle said he was based out of Bagram Air Base, about seven miles southeast of Charikar and 27 miles north of Kabul, for most of his stay in Afghanistan.

His two main jobs were conducting analysis for the reconstruction efforts going on throughout the nation and helping to set up prevention coordination centers, from which Afghan military and police share intelligence and resources.

Ultimately, those centers will be used as coordination centers for emergencies such as natural disaster or fires, similar to 911 emergency centers in the United States, Pyle said.

"It was really a worthwhile mission," he said, "and I'm glad that I got to be a part of it."

While serving his military duty, Pyle left his city work in the hands of assistant city manager Paul Isaac and acting assistant city managers Nicole Cottle and Layne Morris.

"They did a really good job," Pyle said. "They knew what they were doing and handled things well. It was a relief to come back and find out things have gone pretty well."

Pyle said he wasn't left completely in the dark on city business over the past 16 months. He kept in touch with city staff via e-mail every three or four weeks.

"They really kept me up to date on the big issues going on in the city," he said.

Pyle has served as West Valley's city manager since fall 2002 and previously was the assistant city manager for five years.

For nearly 20 years, he's also pursued a second career in military intelligence with the U.S. Army Reserve.

In 2004, Pyle was given the charge of preparing the newly formed 405th for deployment in just one year. It normally takes about five years for a new reserve unit to be ready to deploy, he said.

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E-mail: jpage@desnews.com