8 June 2009 Update

Frustration, frustration and more frustration. How does one survive in a war zone when all the different NATO countries want things their way and often won't budge an inch to make things better for each other! Even the separate branches of the US want to manage things differently.

Here is a bit of what I mean; everyone needs their space so that they can conduct their missions and have a location to park their vehicles or train, right? Our team is tasked with Base planning meaning that we have to fit all of the requirements into the allotted space that is available i.e. the motor pool goes here and supply goes there and they each get a certain amount of space and so on. The Air Force is really good at Base planning and our team has one of the best officers at this particular function in the entire Air Force.

There are units here that refuse to move to their new assigned locations because the new space is smaller or not quite to their liking. We have watched two commanders arguing about a required change in locations only to later follow through with the order as in the end any change in location is for the betterment of the base as a whole. I actually understand all of the foreign countries complaints but when it's your own country, the way they treat each other is often sad. Why should some units get so muchmore space or acreage than my unit is a common question. It doesn't matter whether the recipients have valid requirements due to their mission; everyone wants what the other guy has.

Prior to our team arriving and starting the base planning cell this Base was called the wild wild west as units would simply come in and claim their space and quickly settle in. We found out that this process was a huge reason billets were basically placed next to the dump and or poop pond, nobody was thinking ahead. Well now we are finally thinking ahead.

Here is another example of communication issues; the new section of property which we just had the fence placed around it has what is called a Wadi surrounding the area closest to our existing fence line. This wadi is 90 feet wide and easily 20 feet deep. None of the countries who have space in this new section want to build the bridges to cross this wadi so that the land can be used and they are refusing to spend the money for such a task. Who is going to get the bridge built, who is going to get the bill for such an effort....In the end the bill will more than likely fall to the country that has the first need for use of the land. More than likely that will force the hand and yet how quick can such a bridge be constructed and finished. After all, the project in question is supposed to start in a couple of weeks, not....

Why does all of this matter to me? Well I was assigned to be the project manager for one of the many construction projects going into this area and have no way to accomplish the task without first building a bridge, no way...I'm not going to build it, ha ha as I will be long gone before the funding arrives for such a requirement....I just hate leaving something unfinished for the next team.

Later. Love Lincoln