"If you can't make it better, you can laugh at it." - Erma Bombeck
...
While the tagline situation was happening over at the housing project, I had another adventure to deal with over at the hanger project. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for Mike, that this next tale will be only on my watch for a few days before I’ll be placed on Housing only (and then eventually I’ll get moved again to Iraqi Police stations projects). Mike, on the other hand, will be with the radio and comm. Building and hanger projects until the end of his tour in Iraq… And this story I’m about to tell, well, reoccurred until the very end for him.
A few posts back, I excitedly went on about working on the Iraqi Air Force base, I said it was nice to be “off” Victory, even though I was technically still on base. I said that being on the Iraqi Air Force base really meant absolutely nothing, but I could still pretend.
I was wrong.
Very wrong.
Being on the Iraqi Air Force base DID mean something. It meant we were on Iraqi soil and Iraqi rules—or lack of rules – applied. It meant, no dig permits were required before a contractor stuck his excavator into the ground. It meant, and means, a headache…
On this particular day, I had started my morning over at the hanger project, and so it was about midday before I arrived on site at the radio and communication buildings. It was a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, and a perfect 98 degrees (funny, it was the same weather yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that…).
I got out of the truck and saw before me, what appeared to be the work of a giant, drunk groundhog that had failed miserably at walking the line. Which meant that either the groundhog from Caddyshack was in Iraq or English Hyder and I were about to have some words.
The former would have been preferred.
English Hyder had started on the trenching for the communication, electric and water lines, as planned. But the lines he was trenching along was NOT as planned. Instead of a neat, straight line with a 90 degree bends where needed, the line went straight, then left, then right, then left again, then cut 45 degrees across the road, then right again… apparently he hit an underground concrete conduit box he couldn’t go through, and so instead of shifting the entire line, he zig-zagged around it. Then, decided to take a 45 degree shortcut to……? Why? I have absolutely no clue.
And then I looked into the hole, not only did it dance all around site, but he managed to hit and cut through existing cable lines, and PVC piping in FOUR locations!!!!
I should note, drawings were available to the contractor to show where existing lines laid, the contractor just never looked at them. Not today, or tomorrow, or in 4 weeks from now. The contractor, rightfully so, argued that the drawings were out of date and did not show all existing utilities, but that doesn’t mean taking a glance wouldn’t have at least given an idea of what he was digging into...
Alas, no matter how many times Mike would try to tell English Hyder that he needs to scrape lightly in areas he’s unsure of instead of just trying to attack China with every strike of the backhoe, it never happened. The contractor found it a waste of time, and found it much more efficient to just splice back together every cable they hit. And so, English Hyder went on to hit 5 or 6 more electrical and communication cables. One would think that after he hit a water line—one that had no shut off valve so they just had to wait for the water to drain completely out and flood all around the project and the neighboring Housing project before commencing work, THAT would have gotten his attention. Nope. Backhoe continued to strike his mighty blows, and breaking every electrical, communication, water, sewer and who knows what else along the way.
On the bright side, once the contractor gets done with this project, that ole utility map will surely be up to date, thanks to Hyder and his crew’s elite trenching work.
A few posts back, I excitedly went on about working on the Iraqi Air Force base, I said it was nice to be “off” Victory, even though I was technically still on base. I said that being on the Iraqi Air Force base really meant absolutely nothing, but I could still pretend.
I was wrong.
Very wrong.
Being on the Iraqi Air Force base DID mean something. It meant we were on Iraqi soil and Iraqi rules—or lack of rules – applied. It meant, no dig permits were required before a contractor stuck his excavator into the ground. It meant, and means, a headache…
On this particular day, I had started my morning over at the hanger project, and so it was about midday before I arrived on site at the radio and communication buildings. It was a sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, and a perfect 98 degrees (funny, it was the same weather yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that…).
I got out of the truck and saw before me, what appeared to be the work of a giant, drunk groundhog that had failed miserably at walking the line. Which meant that either the groundhog from Caddyshack was in Iraq or English Hyder and I were about to have some words.
The former would have been preferred.
English Hyder had started on the trenching for the communication, electric and water lines, as planned. But the lines he was trenching along was NOT as planned. Instead of a neat, straight line with a 90 degree bends where needed, the line went straight, then left, then right, then left again, then cut 45 degrees across the road, then right again… apparently he hit an underground concrete conduit box he couldn’t go through, and so instead of shifting the entire line, he zig-zagged around it. Then, decided to take a 45 degree shortcut to……? Why? I have absolutely no clue.
And then I looked into the hole, not only did it dance all around site, but he managed to hit and cut through existing cable lines, and PVC piping in FOUR locations!!!!
I should note, drawings were available to the contractor to show where existing lines laid, the contractor just never looked at them. Not today, or tomorrow, or in 4 weeks from now. The contractor, rightfully so, argued that the drawings were out of date and did not show all existing utilities, but that doesn’t mean taking a glance wouldn’t have at least given an idea of what he was digging into...
Alas, no matter how many times Mike would try to tell English Hyder that he needs to scrape lightly in areas he’s unsure of instead of just trying to attack China with every strike of the backhoe, it never happened. The contractor found it a waste of time, and found it much more efficient to just splice back together every cable they hit. And so, English Hyder went on to hit 5 or 6 more electrical and communication cables. One would think that after he hit a water line—one that had no shut off valve so they just had to wait for the water to drain completely out and flood all around the project and the neighboring Housing project before commencing work, THAT would have gotten his attention. Nope. Backhoe continued to strike his mighty blows, and breaking every electrical, communication, water, sewer and who knows what else along the way.
On the bright side, once the contractor gets done with this project, that ole utility map will surely be up to date, thanks to Hyder and his crew’s elite trenching work.
