[FONT=Arial][FONT=Verdana][size=2]Let me know what you did while you were there.[/size][/FONT][/FONT]
Hi Joe,
Can you list the “average” starting pay?
Joe,
When are you leaving?
soon!
Keep me updated and send me pics…OK.
I hope everything goes well, and I hope to see the electrocution rates drop after you arrive.
Joe,
Thank you and stay safe! Keep up the Good Work!
Please send pics!
sure
Yea, it’s a wonder why they are sending you. This is their present Electrical Inspector…
C’mon now…CLASSIFIED PICS.
That person is gone!
Holy crap!
Can you imagine the money you can make on ripping off copper! 
Joe
When you get over there forget everything you think you know as most of what you think you know just won’t fly over there.
You will find many different type of installations from the type that was being done before the war to every type from every country involved in the war.
Most of what you have learned through the NEC won’t apply at all and those people will not be forced to accept you ideas at all.
I can see it all now, the inspector tells someone to fix something and that person pulls out their pistol and shoot the inspector and keeps on working.
Good Luck
The electrical systems are very different but the hazards are the same.
With the most of respect to you and everyone else involved I just don’t see the need for me to go anywhere except where I am right now.
Knowing people that have been involved with the private sector over there I do have a little understanding of how things work in those camps.
First the fact that they are sending someone over there is nothing more than a political move and has nothing much to do with safety. You will soon learn that you are nothing more than an ornament and powerless to do anything that the armed forces does not want done.
Second the area that you will be living in will be no safer than any other part of the country.
Finally, anyone who has ever had any dealings with the military knows that the NEC is nothing more than three letters of the alphabet and has no other meaning when dealing with the electrical installations on their bases.
YOU or any other person will have to follow the protocol for the military first and if there is no confliction then the NEC. Should there be a conflict with the protocol of the military and the NEC the military will trump.
You will also learn that any inspections you might do will be long after the installation is up and running. Most will be powered from generators that will be changed out about as often as the toilet paper rolls in the restrooms.
You will be inspecting the barracks of what comes down to the police in a country that has no appeal process so keep your head low, watch your back and never make enemies of the friendly as they will be all you have.
Food for thought;
This war started in early 2003 and they are just now looking for someone to go over there and do electrical inspections. Who was doing these inspections on our military bases during those first five years?
Do you really think that someone outside of the military is going over there and change the way the military has been doing things for the past five years?
One final question;
Does this mean that American Trainco will have an opening now?
I couldn’t agree more.
After so many uncalled for and senseless deaths the govt is trying to save face and say “Look. We are doing something about it”.
What about all the “private contractors” our billions and BILLIONS of dollars paid for? I bet there were quite a few Haliburton employed “inspectors”.
Yes, better late than never, but this is FIVE YEARS and many dead soldiers too late.
Joe,
First of all I want to thank you for accepting this position and taking the time and trouble to go to Iraq not only to do a job, but to help our American servicemen and women.
As I understand it you [size=3]will be in charge of the electrical inspections and training for the entire arena, making facilities safe for our great Service Members, not only in Iraq, but Afghanistan and Kuwait as well. [/size]
Send me an e-mail when you leave Houston and I will be sure to have my nephew arrange to meet you at Camp victory.
My nephew is in charge of KBR security for *all *military and civilian bases in the country of Iraq.
As far as someone not liking what you or any other electrical inspector has to say and “shooting you in the head” that might happen outside of the wire but certainly will not happen inside the wire.
Over the last five years my nephew and I have long talks and exchange e-mails on a regular basis. I have given him a lot of tips on “Camp safety” that I learned in Viet Nam and believe it or not we found that the majority are applicable to Iraq.
Four years ago I warned him about “the little kids” smuggling in components of weapons to be reassembled by adults later on. Guess what? They started searching the kids and found components for pistols, and improvised explosive device detonators!
Not to mention prohibited cell phones, “extra” batteries for the cell phones, components for detonators for improvised explosive devices, and compasses!
I already told him that you were coming and he is looking forward to meeting you! I will not post his name here but after you pass your physical in Houston send me an e-mail and I will give you his contact information.
As far as “the military” is concerned you will find that they have a very close working relationship with KBR. My nephew told me that the electrocutions in the showers and the electrical fires are no laughing matter. They are looking forward to having this mess cleaned up!
It seems that this job has been open for quite some time but no one with your qualifications had stepped up to the plate!
Once again, I thank you for having the courage to travel to Iraq to serve our country for the betterment of our American servicemen and women!
Stay safe, and keep in touch!
Thanks Frank:
I will take your advice, and will look forward to meeting your Nephew.
Joe-That’s a “cut and paste” right out of the Stanley offer letter. Those are SBH wages and they have everyone they need at this time. And KBR does not pay uplift on all hours worked. They never have. KBR doesn’t even pay close to that much. I have had numerous complaints that KBR is pulling a “bait & switch” Master’s have been quoted $244K on the phone and then at the last minute it is cut almost in half. That is what applicants are telling me actually happened to them. Just be VERY VERY careful when dealing with KBR.
Ms Sparky
http://mssparky.com/
Frank
Do you realize that you have made a statement that contradicts itself?
A few months back I had a student to come through one of my inspector classes that was a translator for one of the security firms in Iraq. He is home after being stabbed in the back. Guess what? It happened behind the wire and was done by an American.
All one has to do is hang out around some of the discussion forums that cater to only the electrical professional and one can quickly learn that the Military is full of licensed electricians and those that were employed in the electrical trade before being sent across the big pond to fight and die.
These electrical professionals are posting on these discussion forums every day looking for information that they can carry to their commanders to try and have things changed in the way these installations are done but in the end the commander wins out.
This call for more professional people is nothing more than a ploy on the behalf of the military to cover their rear ends in the public eye.
I sure hope that neither Joe nor anyone else is foolish enough to think that they are going to change the way the military does anything. If it was going to happen then the military would be listening to the voices of the professionals they already have.
I know of several jurisdictions here in North Carolina that has electrical inspectors that are serving in the war effort as I type. Why does the military not listen to what they have to say? Why does the military find it necessary to hire private companies and individuals to do the same thing that their service men did back in the states?
In the end it is all the same. Dollars, Dollars, Dollars. I can’t help but wonder as a tax payer funding all this spending just who is benefiting from all this needless spending.
Joe
Are you giving up your job with American Trainco?