Week ending 29 June
60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. The first proof of airborne logistics, now essential to any operation. (Yes, airborne supply was used in WWII, but predominantly naval support. Berlin was just aircraft).
I did a book signing here last night, and will attempt to do another one at the Army facility adjoining.
Amusing note: The Army checks ID upon leaving post, too. They’ve had troops drive off, even to bases south of here in Kuwait, and arrive sans ID. This creates a massive security problem.
The Army side has better food in the chow hall, a McDogfood’s, a Chinese restaurant, a donut shop, a KFC, a Subway, a Pizza Hut, jewelers, internet cafes, the works. Sheesh. I keep hearing about how rough it is. Doesn’t sound too bad to me. Here and at al Jaber in Kuwait, I’ve generally had chow hall and not much else. We do have a pocket Taco Bell and Subway here, but none of the other stuff. Granted, our chow hall is an actual building, not a double wide, but we have Host Nation cooks and they have KBR.
I realize the Army is undersized, but I’m amazed at how bad management is. Base security: Contract. Engineering: contract. Services and support: contract. They’re using AF transportation and drivers for convoys, AF Security Forces and Force Protection for convoys, AF and Navy combat photographers, AF weather forecasters, AF, Navy and Marine EOD, Naval port and customs, they’re using our flight line for their transport planes, and of course, the main air support is ours, our medics and our CASF for support and evac (and Navy), AF and Marine JTACs and fire control, and still can’t get into an expeditionary mode and have reasonable rotations. They even have some of our snipers. Their aviation transportation detachment is billeted and managed from our side.
In contrast, our side is pretty much self sufficient. Each unit here has one or two civil service or contractors whose main job is liaison with local supply, and stateside coordination. Everyone else is AF, and we provide support to the Seabee det, ROKAF, JASDF, RAF, RAAF and occasional passers through. We have contractors to take care of cleanup, trash, chow hall and Host Nation requires that they do the construction. That’s it.
I will be getting less and less time outside the wire. I suppose that’s good, but I’d like to play, not just coach and manage. I’m HAZMAT NCO, HAZCOM NCO, material control NCO, inventory control NCO, and when the E7 gets too frustrated to deal with stuff he heads out to get hands on and I sub in as “office bitch” (His term for his position). When not doing any of that or when we get smashed, I also do work orders and provide myself as manpower for other duties, including assisting with medevac organization and training. Every NCO in our shop has at least two positions.
Ironically, maintenance is easier in Tent City 1, 2, 3, and 4 than in hard billets. Host Nation power is theoretically 240 V. That means it might be 210 V, or 280 V, and most of this stuff is not built for 50 Hz. Also, much of it was license built in Saudi Arabia, meaning by some poor illiterate third world bastard the Saudis conned into being almost slave labor. We install new equipment and then have to overhaul it to make it work. If we get four calls in the same building, we know it was a voltage spike even before Power Pro does.
Tent City…ah…ECU not working? Checklist:
“Evaporator?”
“Clean.”
“K1 contactor?”
“Works.”
“K2?”
“Works.”
“K3?
“Works.”
“K4 relay?
“Not engaged.”
“Screwdriver…bigger…bigger…bigger…”
WHACK!
BUZZZZZzzzzhummmmmzzzzzzzzz.
“Check for pulse.”
“Pulse steady.”
“Dustoff.”
“Dustoff.”
Spraayyyyyyyyy.
“Close.”
“Closing.”
“Duct tape.”
“Duct tape.”
Ah, percussive maintenance. I wonder if it works on idiots?
We had a First Sergeant (in Services, no less) call up to complain that one of his troops’ room’s AC was out. Yeah, you and 40 others, pal. Get in line. He personally demanded that we fix it, AND make immediate arrangements to move his troops meantime.
I have to wonder how he got to that position in Services without realizing that Services handles billeting assignments, AND submits work order requests to our Production Control. Considering the prima donna attitude, he must have just come over from the flight line.
Generally, though, the air crews are well behaved, decent and courteous. It seems the less action someone gets, the more they whine, complain and regard themselves as some kind of hero, in all branches. We’re all volunteers. Just perform your effing mission, get things done, and go home. Why the drama?
EOD disposed of more leftovers/captures and the three blasts were tremendous. We all fell outside to hoot and holler. Engineers LOVE explosions. Of course, ones we instigate are better than the other kind.
The CASF (Aeromedical evac) building is going to be the death of us. We had a long sit down, our management to theirs, and discussed that even the Wing King can’t authorize the money necessary to fix the badly designed, locally constructed ductwork and filtration, and our field units are NOT sealed enough to provide the filtration level they need. We can stack bag filters, but then we lose airflow, stress the system, burn compressors. We’ve already replaced $4000 worth of compressor late at night to minimize stress on the facility and patients. We all agreed they can manage with a little more relatively clean desert dust, as long as the patients are comfortable before they evac. It would really, really suck to be lying there injured in a hot, humid building full of sick people and bacteria. Dust can be cleaned, or you can cover with a sheet.
Apparently, there was an altercation at the chow hall with some Army sar major who probably has never been in the field and thought he was a badass. He began (quietly, at least) berating an Airman for wearing his dust goggles around his neck.
Pity I wasn’t there. I speak fluent Army and fluent AF. It would have gone like this:
“Sergeant Major, let me explain a few things to you. First, this is not “your” DFAC. Your “chowhall,” because it lacks the dignity to be “dining facility” is three miles over that way, and is built on Air Force AM2 matting from when we occupied that hole. This is an Air Force dining hall. As such, it is infrastructure. As an engineer, infrastructure is my domain, including two thirds of the equipment in this building, the building itself belonging to the Structures superintendent, the crusty wrestler-looking guy over there. So in actuality, it’s my chow hall. Had you bothered to pay attention at your inbrief, you’d be aware that local regs allow the wear of goggles and glasses around the neck in any uniform combination. We even extend that courtesy to Army personnel on this side, and allow them to abide by Army standards where such standards are laxer than our own. Now, on your side, you insist everyone abide by your rules only, and we don’t complain about it. So while you’re here to slop at our trough, enjoy the air conditioning I provide as a courtesy, and watch Services’ big screens with choice of Fox News, ESPN or local military briefs, how about acting like a guest?”
Apparently, one of our Chiefs explained it to him. Depending on which Chief, it was either more diplomatic than I would have, or much shorter and cruder.
You can always tell a desk sitter, but you can’t tell him much.
Good thing he didn’t meet Sergeant Asshole, who last week got in an argument with an E3, and responded with, “I’ll fuck your mother.” Really. I know he’s 30 year Guard with no active duty, works in a prison and is from Jersey, but even (or especially) with a subordinate customer…sigh…would have been fun to see him and the SGM, though.
Contracting office…sigh. Per US law, and local law, everything has to be put out for bid. This actually costs more money. We know what we need, let us buy it. Small purchases out for bid cause delays, and then some small vendor buys what we would have and slaps 10% on. It’s Good for American Business, according to a certain political party whose identifier can also initial the word “Dumb.” End result is that same vendor pays more taxes. This is a benefit?
That’s if it works correctly.
Contracting is allowed to “acceptable substitute.” This is what causes Master Sergeant Office Bitch to kick filing cabinets and throw furniture.
We get “acceptable substitute” transformers with the same load rating as we ordered….that won’t fit in the box we have to put it in. This is not “cheaper.”
We get electrically insulated friction tape, which is not electrical tape.
We get anemometers a backpacker might use, or my daughter for her science lab, that are far too coarse for precision air balancing of the clinic. We don’t need to measure in Beauforts, or even in feet per hour. We need to measure inches or centimeters per second sometimes, and it has to be precise AND sturdy. Sigh.
From now on, with our CO’s agreement, we’ll be ordering everything on Form 9s with lengthy explanations as to why no substitute is acceptable, and a specific vendor is mandatory.
I suggested we play dodgeball, engineers vs contracting, with volleyballs. I was told the flaw was that they’d Acceptably Substitute for the volleyballs. OTOH, we might get lucky and get baseballs. Or bullets.
Generally, the contractors we have deliver what they are contracted to. The problem comes when Contracting doesn’t tell them adequately what mission requirements are. The second problem is that sometimes the contractor is owned by a local mob boss, who wants his share of Uncle Sam’s pie, and doesn’t give a rat’s ass if his people perform or not. He’s paying them $5/day, who cares if they’re any good or even work? Just have them get on base, and claim contract delivered.
I guess I would summarize all that part as “if someone tells you how evil and corrupt Halliburton is, beat them to death with a ball bat.” Halliburton, like Lockheed, manages to bid, deliver, usually ahead of schedule and under budget, and perform. If we had them in our supply chain, we’d have a lot less problems. We’d get stateside built stuff that would work right the first time, not third world “substitutes.”
KBR also does the engineering for the Army side. One of the Army ID and personnel offices has an AF detachment. They called us for a work order. We’re looking at the map going, “Where the @#$ is G6???”
Sorry, guys. You’re their problem. We wouldn’t like it if they came up here and screwed with our equipment. We don’t screw with theirs. Nor are we going to give the Army or its contractor a working unit and accept a bad one in return. They’re as busy as we are, be patient.
Geeze, it’s long this week.
Heinlein described the military as having Surprise Party, Practical Joke, and Fairy Godmother Departments. So get this:
I am the only one from my home unit here, except for 6 firefighters. Practical Joke Department decreed that my orders be copied from theirs, complete to requiring me to have rebreather gear and license to drive three different fire trucks.
Surprise Party Department decreed that my orders be coded so I can only leave on the designated date.
However…Fairy Godmother Department noticed the discrepancy in my orders, and decided that the coding was inapplicable.
So…there’s an excellent chance I’m getting out of here two weeks early, right around 120 days as theoretically planned, not 135.
We’ll see.
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bouncy
tired
drained
amused
anxious
apathetic