What We Are Doing Here

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is busily helping with the effort to establish a secure and stable environment in Afghanistan. The main programs USACE is involved with are:

1) Afghan National Security Forces Program - deals with the Afghan National Police, Border Police, and National Army

2) Counter-Narcotics/Border Management Initiative - provides security along the borders through construction of guard towers and forward operating bases

3) Strategic Reconstruction Program - works with other international agencies to develop water and electrical resources and construct roads, and

4) U.S./Coalition Forces Power Projection Program - constructs the military facilities required to maintain troop and civilian workforce in Afghanistan

Based on the programs listed above it gives the initial impression that less humanitarian type projects (water supply, sewer systems and treatment plants, school, hospitals, etc.) are being constructed and completed in Afghanistan then in Iraq. Since Dani worked on sewer and water systems when she was in Iraq, the "non-humanitarian type work" has been a large concern of hers - that the work wouldn't seem to be as rewarding. It's much to early in our tour to determine whether or not the work is rewarding. But about a month before we deployed a Colonel put the work we are doing into perspective. He said that security is required in Afghanistan prior to building water systems, sewer lines, schools, and hospitals, that there needs to be strong sense of order/law, and that other international organizations are focusing on the "humanitarian" mission. This allows us to focus on the security that will permit all other efforts to be successful.

Another interesting point this Colonel made was there isn’t the experience and education in Afghanistan to staff the schools and hospitals even if we where building them. Beginning with the Soviet invasion some 30 years ago and continuing with the repression of the Taliban, very few doctors and teachers remain in Afghanistan. Efforts are now underway to open schools to teach the teachers who will eventually fill the schools that will built.














Photo: National Military Afghanistan Academy Graduation (USACE mentors in brown)

Along those lines, Dani attended the graduation of three Afghanistan Lieutenants who studied and were mentored by USACE. The idea is they can now go and teach their peers in the Afghan Army what they learned – engineering, project management, construction, etc.

USACE is also attempting to place an emphasis on employing local nationals (Afghans) to learn as much about USACE so that when the U.S. leaves there will be locals left to continue and maintain all that we have started. To date this has seen minimal success due to a variety of reason, but primarily the lack of access to the computer networks.

Enough politics…So, Billy works as a cost engineer. The government needs to budget for everything that gets built…what, the government cares about a budget?! No way! Believe it or not, Congress wants to know how much the construction work USACE plans to oversee will cost. Thus, Billy develops what are called budgetary estimates to give Congress visibility on the total costs of a project. In addition to budgetary estimates, Billy also develops detailed estimates for construction projects before a contract is awarded to a contractor. The detailed estimates allow USACE to determine if the government is getting a fair and reasonable price. And last, but not least, Billy develops estimates if there is a large change in the construction contract that requires additional money (or savings). He’s been working on figuring out costs for everything from renting armored cars to building FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) in the middle of nowhere.

Dani is a Project Manager in the Afghan National Police (ANP) Program. She is currently managing 21 contracts with over 60 constructions sites for Uniform Police District ( 60-120 people) and Provincial (400 people) Headquarters, Afghan National Civil Order Police (345 people) Battalions and Border Police Company (90 people) Headquarters. Basically these are self contained compounds (diesel generators for power, wells for water and septic systems for sewage) with barracks for personnel. The contracts are "site adapt" which means the building is a cookie cutter design (which is fondly referred to as the "cube") and the contractor only needs to design the foundation, in ground utilities, etc.
















Photo: Mountains of Afghanistan

There are several challenges with these projects. For this update, the highlight will be about the challenges of LAND. Afghanistan is very mountainous and most usable land is already built on, in addition to the fact that it's one of the most heavily mined countries in the world! So, before a project begins, a right of entry is provided by the Afghanistan Ministry of Interior (MOI). This is basically the permission slip for USACE to build on the piece of land that is owned by the Government. Note that this means no one in the village or town claims to own the land. Once the project is awarded, the first step a contractor has to complete is to demine the site. This means removing all the unexploded ordinances (rockets, mines, grenades, etc.) down to 1 meter below the ground surface. After this is done, it’s amazing how many people in the village say they own the land - the land is now usable and safe so of course it doesn't belong to the Afghanistan Government. So, at the beginning of a majority of the contracts, this is the first hurdle!

Boots on Ground

To get everyone caught up. . . August 30, 2009 we left for a 6 month "vacation" to Afghanistan.

Our "vacation" began with the cross country flight to Winchester, VA where we spent the first week at the USACE Deployment Center (UDC) at the Transatlantic Center (TAC). After having our lost luggage delivered to the hotel at 3am, we spent the next 5 days preparing for deployment. We were issued uniforms and other gear, underwent medical assessment, watched several training videos, learned field trauma care, and attended 2 days of Quality Assurance and RMS training. All in all UDC was tolerable and ended early Friday afternoon, giving us almost the entire weekend to play tourist since we didn't depart for the Middle East until late Sunday night.

So, we spent the weekend busy as usual. We ventured to Shenandoh National Park on Saturday with a friend of Dani's from Iraq, met one of Billy's college roommates who now lives in Blacksburg, VA (Virginia Tech is located there.) for dinner, and helped a friend tar seal her driveway. And somewhere in between all that we packed up our gear which could weigh no more than 66 pounds. Not to worry though, we shipped 3 duffle bags and 1 box of stuff ahead of us so we'd have enough for the 6 months, including all the mandatory issue items (uniforms, boots, camo rain sets, etc.).

Suprisingly enough UDC did not have a lot of "hurry up and wait" time - we were typically busy the whole day. But we think the tactic was to save all the "hurry up and wait" for the day you depart the States - we (there were 5 of us) arrived at Dulles International Airport at 3:30pm for a 10pm flight. Luckily, Dulles has a nice USO and with our CAC ID's we were able to enjoy the amenties (snacks, cozy chairs, football) until our flight.

Our flight was a 13-hour direct flight from Dulles to Dubai International Airport. Yes, 13 hours . . . and yes, Dubai! The flight luckily wasn't full so we each got 2 seats, the food was tolerable, and even though Dani should have been sleeping, she'd tell you the movies were good.

We lost a day during the flight due to time conversions and arrived in Dubai at 7pm Monday night. Getting through customs, passport control and baggage claim were a breeze because USACE hires a "marhaba" (meaning welcome) to help get you into the express lanes and into the hired car to take you to the hotel.

Unfortunately because we arrived in the evening it was basically dark already. (It's amazing that it's completely dark by 6:30pm!) Thus, we weren't able to do much sight seeing and the front desk at the hotel reminded us it's Ramadan and most places would not be open their usual hours. Basically, there wouldn't be much for us to do if we ventured out. So, an attempt at sleeping during what felt like the middle of the day is what we did.

The hotel was luxurious. The United Arab Emirates tourism group rates it as a 4 star hotel. And the prices of everything there reflect as such ($8 for a beer, $12 for a small daquiri and $20+ for a buffet breakfast per person). But considering per diem is $413 per day I guess we made out pretty well (food alone is $135)!

The next morning (although our body was screaming at us that it was the middle of the night!), we ventured out to see the sights immediately surrounding the hotel. We quickly discovered that we weren't staying in the downtown tourist district and didn't get to see any of the world reknown sites (Burj Al Arab, indoor ski hill, mosque open to non-muslims, etc.). We now have a plan for next time though!

By 9:30 Tuesday morning (about 12 hours after landing in Dubai) we were headed back to the airport for a 2-hour flight to Kabul, Afghanistan. By this time there were 9 of us traveling together and making our way through security that would never meet stateside standards, passport control, and boarding the plane via a shuttle to the tarmack and stairs up to the plane cabin. And if you can believe this, they served drinks before take-off and a hot meal on a 2 hour flight (not just salted peanuts!).

Dani slept during the flight but Billy enjoyed looking out the window at the countryside which entailed lots of desert and very rugged mountains. But as we entered the Kabul area Dani was roused and we had a chance to see the city from the areal vanage point - the arid landscape, the lack of trees, and the individual, wall-encapsulated residences. It was also amazing to taxi around what seemed to be all of the Afghanistan International Airport, only to discover we'd squeeze the plane inbetween other planes away from the terminal and the luggage would be unloaded onto carts that appeared to be hand-pulled to baggage carousels beneath the terminal.

Once again, we completed a trip through passport control, customs and baggage claim and met up with our "guide." Our "guide" took us on a long walk (there were several people with heavy suitcases that wished they had accepted the services of the porters at baggage claim) to the convoy vehicles. We suited up in fire retardant jumpsuits, flack vests and helmets and were on our way. After a quick trip through the city, we were at Qalaa, which is where Afghanistan Engineer District North (AED-N) is headquartered.

So as of last Tuesday afternoon, we were considered "boots on ground."

More to come. . . .