Stripes letter: KBR (Halliburton) won't repair equipment

[lebkuchen]

KBR won’t repair equipment

Why is KBR here? Certainly not to repair broken equipment.

Currently on Logistics Support Area Anaconda, there are soldiers living in housing with a life expectancy of two years. The third year is approaching. The generators and air-conditioning units on that housing were bought with field ordering officer (FOO) money, as was the housing.

Now the limits on FOO money will not allow replacement of generators. Without a government purchase number, KBR refuses to work on or replace anything. KBR’s claim: They do not know if the housing the generator will be attached to is up to standard. They will not inspect the housing to ascertain if it is up to standard. Are there soldiers living in substandard housing?

FOO is money spent by the Army to buy civilian equipment from local vendors. The Army bought the equipment. Isn’t the Army part of the government? Is there not a GP number somewhere? Should not a GP number be assigned?

A total of $60 out of pocket for generator fan belts. Assigning maintenance sections the dying generators. The worn out promise of “the power grid.” A waste treatment plant when the plumbing in place cannot handle the waste? No American plumbing in the facilities KBR brought in? At least American toilets could handle the crap. KBR is supposed to be a service provider. “The customer is always right.” Who are KBR’s customers? Not the government or the Army because they have let both down.

The KBR workers are not the problem. The KBR workers are willing to work on the equipment. If KBR is not here to maintain every piece of nonmilitary government-owned equipment in theater, GP numbers be damned, then why is KBR here?

Maj. Ralph D. Heady
Logistics Support Area Anaconda, Iraq

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=31236

[FloridaPat]

1. This is the way repubs support the troops.

[Karenina]

2. Bingo.