Committee Holds Hearing on Deficient Electrical Systems at U.S. Facilities in Iraq

I am currently stationed in Iraq at a location that is not even considered a patrol base. More like an outpost. The reason that this is important is that we do not get support from KBR, because their contract does not require it. I was currently attending a technical school to receive an education to become an electrician when ny national guard unit was deployed. About a month ago, when all of this became a big issue. A team of electricians came to our camp to survey the electrical situation here. Their findings are the same as the other problems previously mentioned. Grounding and bonding. Our problems are not as bad as some or the other bases in the are due in part to efforts by myself and another soldier making constant repairs. W receive power from two 20 kva generators. Both installed by a KBR contractor approximately 2 years before we arrived. To start these generators are installed incorrectly. The main switch gear has the grounds tied in with the neutrals. This has been causing a feed back in the ground that no one will fix,. This in turn has required me to disconnect the grounds going to the service panels as people were getting shocked from touching them and other appliances like washers and driers. These panels installed at the same time as the generators had no ground rods. They were grounded at the grounds for the generators which as I stated before were shared with neutrals. This is just a small portion of the electrical problems here. The recommendations by the Army engineers was to fix these problems. No kidding! However, with no support, and no way of getting the supplies any time soon. How is this accomplished. Also in response to the previous posting, the electrical here is 220v, but it is on one leg. the same way as 120v is wired in the US. One hot, one neutral, and one ground. If you tie a ground to a neutral you will get voltage when that circuit is completed. Not the same as 2-120v lines as the neutral carries only the unused portion of the voltage, which in this case is zero voltage. Red tape is the cause of these problems.

What are the qualifications of the electricians and the foreman running the job? I understand many are Iraqi’s but the foreman are they American’s, trained are not trained, union or nonunion? Anyone know the wage scale for oversea electricians in a combat zone? Where does one apply if the wages and benefits look appealing?

When our brave men and women sacrifice daily for the benefit of our country the least they should be able to have is Safe shower and some good food. I am sure the food situation is OK but the shower just might be a bit dangerous.

Where are the independant inspectors that are not on the payroll of the company's doing the work. Where is the trial going to be for all the A$$ holes that did the work in such a maner that killed some of our brave men and women in uniform? If these defective systems were inspected and approved when is the trial for those folks to.

There is no reason for this to happen but at least the troops had a option. They could dodge a road side bomb, take a couple of rounds from an AK or just when they think they are back at base and ready to wash the sand out of there ears get hit by a defective gen set hookup. What has happened to our country,how could we fail them just because someone never checked the bonding and grounding of equipment.

I know electrical generation is a priority issue on base but the least they could have done is use some GFCI protection in some areas along with regular testing. Another item that was not properly addressed was setting the system up properly so those fault currents could be cleared and had a direct path back from wence they came. The military has a great hand book on all of this and they are enclosed with every portable system. I have to guess that as usual no one bothered to read that manual and tossed them in the trash. As inspectors we all know that if we need the docs on a device we look in the trash can first at all job sites.

I guess you can tell I am a little PO about this situation. Many years ago in a far away land when I set up base generation I can guarantee you it was safe in all the proper areas. Sorry to vent but dag gone it something needs to be done an some people should get a little pay back for this screw up.

i am willing to go and do my part, reading the narratives it seems there is more ass-covering going on than work.

one guy holding a breaker to keep it from tripping whilst the other guys are holding the contactor in with a screwdriver, by-passing the overloads???

wtf is going on over there?

There are a lot of technical details lacking, or "fuzzy". For example, one would think the circuit breakers mentioned would be "trip free" meaning they would trip despite being held by "tar". This whole situation is sickening. Let's hope the solution is not lost in the "Myriads of Dichotomies" that come with the "blaming system". I hope that Mike can truly "Make a Difference".

Oh Boy! In my other life I was an Instructor in the USMC. I taught generator operation and Base Camp wiring. I can bet none of the "sparkies" are my students. None would be so careless as to NOT install grounding and bonding. Hey General, send me some orders and I'll go over and fix this stuff. All I want back is my rank--it's a Marine thing!

I sent this article to my son who is stationed at this location yesterday morning. This is part of the response that he sent back last night. "This is funny, since we talked about this in staff meeting yesterday. They are pulling showers offline due to this and lawsuits that are coming around." It is bad enough with all of the threats against them from the A**$o#@s and now this!