Photo By Tech. Sgt. Michelle Larche | Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Messimer, 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron structural...... read more read more
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As rising numbers of personnel arrive in Southwest Asia for increasingly longer deployments, leadership officials are, likewise, making efforts to bring all who serve here an increasingly better quality of life.
One of these QOL initiatives has some members of the 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron broadening their professional skills and finding ways to add a few new tricks to their trade.
"We have one specialized 'Tiger Team' doing nothing but building bunker 'Cadillac's,'" said Lt. Col. Michal Holliday, 379th ECES commander. "Contractors started building them, but construction was halted because they defaulted on the contract by coming in over budget and taking too long to get the job done. My craftsmen are here finishing the job — at workmanship that's the same or better quality and they're doing it smarter and faster."
The project, originally started in late 2007, has been left unfinished for more than a year.
"After the termination of the contract in January 2009, a year was needed to reconcile paperwork and finances before we were able to take on the job," the colonel explained. "When I got here in June, we immediately started planning to complete the work and acquiring the materials to do it," he said.
The plan included dedicating 40 troops to work exclusively on the project — craftsmen from heating, ventilation and air conditioning; electrical; plumbing; structures and heavy equipment.
"We have our own specialties, but we all work as one team," said Master Sgt. Steven Owens, 379th ECES Tiger Team superintendent. "We tried to put as many NCOs as we could on the job, for the experience, and also give some of our younger Airmen a great opportunity to take part in a major construction project."
Tiger Team members, who began working on the caddie project in January, said being part of this construction crew is turning out to mean far more than just putting in an honest day's work to put out a quality product.
"We're on a really tight timeline — March 1 — to have two caddies done," said Tech. Sgt. Lucian Blake, 379th ECES HVAC craft lead. "What makes our deadline a problem is that we have issues with materials. The timeline given to leadership was with materials on the ground from the start. The timeline didn't change even though we didn't have the materials on ground. This put us on a really tight schedule, working longer than normal hours, with a stressful pace. We're dealing with different standards — American and European — and different grades, and we don't have all of the materials we need."
Fixing the problem, though, isn't simply a matter of ordering and receiving materials and getting back to work.
"The contractor used U.S.-standard materials, but to try to save time and money, we're converting to local standard," Owens said. "When we order locally, we pay fees on the materials, whereas if we were doing this like a Red Horse team, we'd just ship the materials from the States. But, under the circumstances, we don't have that luxury."
"It's really tough because we're on a budget constraint, too," Owens explained. "Originally, the contractor got $750,000 to build the caddies. When they defaulted, they estimated their work cost $550,000 — more or less on some — for just the block walls and floors," he said. "That leaves us with $200,000, or less, and in a position to figure out how to get all the rest of the materials we need, as quickly as possible and get all the work done on time."
Staying on track is something the entire team has come together to figure out.
"The teams have been improvising — being creative every day — in order to get the job done," said Blake.
One creative idea saved $45,000 per caddie.
"We didn't have the electrical parts we needed to keep the job going," said Staff Sgt. Demond Ingram, 379th ECES electrician "magician," as referred to by Owens. "So, I went looking for those things...in old buildings that are going to be demolished, in recycling areas and whatever other means I could think of, to scrounge up parts we could use."
Another sergeant who was faced with a job, but insufficient tools to complete it, came up with a re-design to keep progress from coming to a stop.
"We didn't have enough hangers to run water pipes up the walls and along the ceiling," said Staff Sgt. Rick Blayney, 379th ECES plumber. "I started thinking about how to do it without hangers. Then, I thought it would actually look a lot cleaner to hang them along the walls instead."
The solution was to substitute the missing pipe hangers with available electrical hangers, and mount the pipes to the walls instead of the ceiling, Blayney explained.
"We've just been figuring things out the best we can," said the sergeant. "We've had to — people are counting on us."
Despite the shortages in funds and materials, the Tigers said they are confident they'll meet their mission on time.
"We're accomplishing more than we imagined," said Sergeant Blake. "There have been a lot of problems along the way, but we've solved them and we're still on schedule."
Owens said he agrees.
"These guys are doing an awesome job. We track every penny spent in every caddie," he said. "They tell me what they put in every day, and I put it down in the books and make sure we stay in our window."
Once they meet their March 1 deadline for the two caddies, however, their project is far from finished.
"This is a large-scale construction project for us," said Holliday. "We have 10 caddies to complete — opening two per month, and they should all be done by the end of this calendar year.
"These guys are dedicated to this, and I'm thrilled with the great training opportunity this project presents for our craftsmen — not to mention it's an all-around great deal for the Air Force, as well as for the residents here," he said.
| Date Taken: | 02.13.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 02.13.2010 02:22 |
| Story ID: | 45291 |
| Location: | (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION) |
| Web Views: | 534 |
| Downloads: | 290 |
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