Another Day Another Dollar

Wow hard to believe I have been mobilized 10 months as of 25 November, as the saying goes "time goes by quickly when you're having fun"! Things are really starting to pick up at the Depot. We now have some sort of construction going on in every building but 5 so that means I am getting out of the office a lot more to walk the sites, check up on issues that have arisen and talk to the USACE Quality Assurance Reps on their findings and resolution of those deficiencies. Today was a typical day, there was an issue with the component cleaning building regarding the doors which swing inside as they open and the available clearance between the doors and the blast booths that will be located inside the building. The USACE rep stopped by last night and told us about the issue, so this morning we went out and had the contractor measure the layout and we could see where the doors would hit the booths. So after reviewing the equipment layout we realized that we could move the 40 ft long blast booths 4 feet deeper into the building and still be able to have clearance for forklift traffic in the building.

I got a chance to confirm my suspicion that on the DPW building the water troughs that collect the runoff around the building did not actually drain into the sewer but instead the water would remain stagnant at the end of the trough! I had asked about it the other day when I saw them rinsing off the driveway and noticed water gathering instead of disappearing, but since it was under the grate I couldn't tell if they had plugged the drain for now with plastic and would remove it later. So today I removed the grate and kept searching for the plastic cover but there was none. The contractor never put the drain in, duh!! So it's on their dime to have to cut away the cement and insert a drain from the trough to the sewer. Right now for us the long lead item for all these buildings tends to be the crance whether jib or bridge cranes. The bridge section and motors tend to take a long time to be manufactured and shipped up to Taji.

I later stopped over at the Iraqi PMO Headquarters to sign for computers, printers and scanners that had arrived for the Generator Repair Building. So I inspected the items, signed for them and subsequently hand receipted them to my Iraqi counterparts who were waiting with baited breath the receipt of these laptops since they have no computers and are not allowed due to force protection to bring in their personal laptops onto the Iraqi side of base. I know that our interpreters will be happy campers now that they don't have to type documents for the Iraqis. They still owe me the SOP's for the handling of the weapons that will be repaired at the Depot. I can not sign over to them the keys to the secured storage until I approve their SOP and am satisfied that they have the proper internal security procedures, inspections and paper trail for maintaining custody of the weapons. Lt Shaw AKA "junior" is working with an Iraqi officer assisting him on what is required and providing guidance.

A couple of quick shoutouts for Brenda and Stephen thanks for the package of goodies that you sent me, the running socks and drink powders will come in handy this Sunday when I and a couple of running buddies of mine will be running our California International Marathon (CIM) here in Taji. I and SSGT Mike one of the guys I ran with at Ft Riley down in the IZ got another 18 Soldiers, Airmen and Sailors to run down there so the CIM has graciously supported us in running their Marathon and have sent us t-shirts and finisher medals. Pictures to follow! Mom and Dad thanks for the pates and the smoked salmon. The only thing I will be missing on my Friday night tapas nights is the company of my family and a nice glass of wine. I guess that grape juice will have to do for now!

That's all for now I am heading over to grab some chow to go as the Aussies invited me over to their base camp to smoke some cigars, drink some non-alcoholic beer and shoot the breeze around their evening bonfire.

The Colonel