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Joined: Nov 2002
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As mentioned in an article in the New York Times: Failure to Fix Base Hazards Worried Pentagon Official Separately, five Democratic senators, including Senator Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota and Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, sent a letter to Mr. Gates on Friday calling for the Pentagon to order an independent inspection “by someone both well-qualified and objective” of electrical work at bases in Iraq. Any inspectors here up for a road trip?
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Joined: Jan 2005
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Lets see ... we have a bunch of folks, temporarily assigned far away, with many more pressing concerns ... other third world hate-filled persons actively breaking everything they can touch ... and someone wants to worry about making extension cords out of 4-squares?
I submit that an organization that can keep carriers on track, plane flying, tanks rolling, and troops marching needs our advice about as much as a fish needs a bicycle.
It's an election year. Don't let some partisan nebishes fool you into doing their dirty work.
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Joined: Jul 2004
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Any inspectors here up for a road trip? If I was a little younger I would go. I bet they pay "Haliburton/KBR money" and if you stay 18 months it is all tax free. On these types of jobs I doubt there is much to spend money on in country so it will pretty much all go in the bank. I tried to get IBM to send me to Vietnam in the 60s to work on mod 30s and 1401s but the list was too long and I never got close to the top. That deal was 166% of your pay, tax free and expenses.
Greg Fretwell
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Joined: Oct 2006
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Maybe, but we can't enforce US regulations as an inspector in a foreign country. Just because our people are there, the country still has the right to operate under their standards that might be well-below our standards here.
---Ed---
"But the guy at Home Depot said it would work."
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Joined: Jul 2004
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Military bases are usually considered to be US territory and there are a bunch of guys with M-16s to make the point.
In real life they don't need to be up to the absolute letter of the code, just safe.
Greg Fretwell
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Joined: Mar 2005
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It's all about risk mitigation, and US codes are very conservative. Makes for some very tough decisions and a paradigm shift from what we're used to here in the states. Any inspectors here up for a road trip? Don't give my bosses any bright ideas! The real problem isn't even inspections- it's just too widespread, the problem is far beyond that at this point. The real root of the problem is the lack of qualified personnel to do these installations in the first place. The contractors are grabbing locals off the street for a dollar or two a day who don't even know what an electron is, letalone proper protection and grounding. Picture the worst DIY job you have ever seen... EVERYWHERE! Any of ya'll up for a tour in Iraq to redo it all right? Air conditioned tents aren't all that bad, really! And you'd at least have the right equipment to test the shower before stepping in, right? BTW, my Dell laptop apparently works just fine at 100V 50Hz.
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Joined: Feb 2002
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The New York Times article from the previous day gives a heads up to the political nature of the story in sentence one. The article opens with "Shoddy electrical work by private contractors...". "Privatization", "outsourcing", and even "contractors" are political buzz words. Never mind that almost all of us are "privatized", if your paycheck does not come directly from the US Treasury, apparently you are suspect. I'm guessing there is an exemption for people working for the New York Times - they're OK, just ask em. This issue comes from people who are dangerously unqualified doing work they have no business doing - just as seen in this forum's Violation Photo section. Unless the goal is to make a poitical point, private vs. public has nothing to do with it. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/world/middleeast/18contractors.html?hpBut on the private vs. public question, I'd be curious to know which party is easier to sue for their negligence. My guess, only a guess, is you would find it easier to get justice when wrong by an individual rather than a government. Guess I'm biased too.
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Joined: Oct 2000
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The problem isn't with people making extension cords or even "for now" work ("for now becomes forever"). Service people are getting electrocuted. We're paying these contractors tons of money to do the right job......
From Camp Phoenix, Afghanistan (Peter Coleman)
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based on the quote wa2wise, it seems that in partisan politics : "Well qualified" means 'registered to vote (in our party). and "objective" means 'will most likely agree with us'. Not to throw stones specifically at the Dems (since this article specifies them) just politics generally. I've only recently heard (while working for a govt. subcontractor) that electrical licenses are optional and at the discretion of the primary contractor. I can't swear this as a fact, but I did hear it from the "electrician" (ex-lineman) running the job.
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