Buffiniraq

Been very busy as of late as rotation of personnel continues. Many Corps folks planning to come here have been diverted to tend to Rita and Katrina matters back home. Soooooooo, those of us remaining have to pick up the slack in managing the existing construction on base. As a practical matter, that means simply more work in the same time frame-12 to 14 hour days. Sunday is relatively quiet - only 10 hours more or less. Beyond that, the 3 projects I am now responsible for are the Waste Water Treatment Plant (about 50% complete), the Class VIII Medical Storage Warehouse (about 90% complete) and the Postal Distribution Facility ( see pic is about 40% complete). There are 3 new projects coming on board according to my new boss (Ray from KC MO-see pic) but not til Nov/Dec. Hopefully, we'll have some "volunteers" by then. Bottom line is time continues to fly by working here and I still continue to marvel at the amount of work being done by our civilians and Corps folks under War time conditions. For example, on the one hand, contractors have to ship all their tools, materials and equipment necessary to construct the schools, treatment plants , facilities by truck from wherever etc, and on the other hand, the unskilled labor of local nationals in some cases need to find their way to the access gates safely and incognito for security reasons. The need for manpower of trade technicians and skilled laborers must be "shipped from other countries and put up in tents called "man camps" on the base for the duration of the project. It sounds simple but coordination of bringing men and materiel to this Forward Operating Base isn't simple nor without risk. After going home in the evening some locals recently have been killed just for working on the base. It's things like this that make me marvel how we can still manage to get things done in spite of these horrific tragedies...I know your prayers and support are what makes this whole experience so very worthwhile.