The Mastermind

When American service members and civilians are captured or missing in Iraq or Afghanistan, it's the work of Ron McNeal that guides their safe return.

Some of them-like Jessica Lynch and Jill Carroll-have become household names. But there have been many others: American service members and civilians missing or captured in Iraq and Afghanistan who were successfully rescued by the U.S. military. And while each recovery is, of course, a team effort, much of the credit for their safe return belongs to Ron McNeal, the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency's representative to the Tampa, Fla.-based U.S. Central Command.

McNeal, a logistical mastermind who works behind the scenes, was one of the chief architects of America's personnel recovery strategy for the region. That in-depth plan, which McNeal has sculpted over several years, serves as a sort of playbook for personnel recovery, outlining the exact steps to take in order to retrieve someone who has been "isolated" (meaning that he or she must "survive, evade, resist or escape") without needlessly disrupting the battle plan.

"We're not as effective as we want to be as long as there is anyone missing," says James Roberts, JPRA's director for operations and plans. Past wars, especially Vietnam, serve as reminders of the importance of bringing Americans home. And while the recovery mission in Iraq and Afghanistan doesn't have a perfect record, Roberts says, it has been far more effective-thanks to new technologies and to McNeal's skill and dedication. "He is a strategic thinker," Roberts says. "He is very effective in laying out problem sets and proposed solutions." So effective, in fact, that JPRA asked him to lead a team that analyzed the agency's entire strategy, a project he has been working on for about a year.

"You can find me at all levels of the command," McNeal says. "Wherever the tasks are identified that need to be improved, that's where you'll find me." He deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan twice in 2005 and once this year to train troops and provide personnel recovery guidance and operations support. He also serves as a trusted adviser on personnel recovery to high-ranking officers. "I have one mission only," McNeal says. "I provide a very clean assessment of the personnel recovery operations."

The elements put in place long before an individual is isolated are key, McNeal says. "We have three dimensions: preventing, proactive and reactive," he says. "Reactive is the lowest form of the art." Ask him what aspect of his job he finds most satisfying, and McNeal won't give you the obvious answer-watching as his carefully crafted plan unfolds in a heroic recovery mission or seeing the tears of joy as an American is rescued from captors. Instead, McNeal points to the ongoing education and training he conducts to advance the expertise of the constantly rotating forces. "That's very, very satisfying to me," he says.

While those around him offer high praise, McNeal, who served for 20 years in the Army before beginning his civilian service, refuses to accept recognition. Working with the military "is a very selfless service," he says. "It is first and foremost a team effort." "McNeal is driven by one thing," says John Jagielski, JPRA's chief of staff: "He's a good American doing what he has to do to make sure-at least in the current war in Iraq and the war on terrorism-American soldiers, airmen and marines will all come home."