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We have plenty of space (churches, meeting halls, school and university dormitories) to use for temporary hospitals w/o the Army building temporary buildings th

We have plenty of space (churches, meeting halls, school and university dormitories) to use for temporary hospitals w/o the Army building temporary buildings that will cost a fortune and later be torn down all on the taxpayers' dime. Charitable organizations, universities and institutions should be willing to donate those resources. I don't want to pay the army for building: I want their doctors doing research on a cure/fix for Covid-19 and I want their soldiers alert and ready. It would be cheaper to hire immigrant Mexicans to build temporary hospitals. Using the army to build hospitals when better space is already is a waste of time, a waste of money and little more than a boondoggle for the suppliers who are chosen. And isn't this possibly a violation of the posse comitatus Act? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

crooked-v 7y ago
> We have plenty of space (churches, meeting halls, school and university dormitories) to use for temporary hospitals Making these spaces fit the physical needs of these hospitals (massive power requirements for equipment, hallways and elevators with certain amounts of clearance for transporting patients, extremely well-controlled ventilation systems, sanitizable surfaces everywhere, rooms laid out with central access for doctors and nurses) would take so much time and effort that it would be more money- and time-efficient to build new buildings with the expertise of a group practiced in building new, reasonably high-quality buildings as fast as possible... like, say, the Army. These need to be modern hospitals, not 19th-century sanitariums where patients just get dumped into a bed and left to die or recover on their own. > It would be cheaper to hire immigrant Mexicans to build temporary hospitals. Right, and I'm sure hiring random people to construct temporary buildings as fast as possible would result in something that won't fall in on peoples' heads immediately. > And isn't this possibly a violation of the posse comitatus Act? The Posse Comitatus Act applies to the use of the military as law enforcement, so, no.
- narogab 7y ago
  crooked-v says "these hospitals (massive power requirements for equipment, hallways and elevators with certain amounts of clearance for transporting patients, extremely well-controlled ventilation systems, sanitizable surfaces everywhere, rooms laid out with central access for doctors and nurses) would take so much time and effort that it would be more money- and time-efficient to build new buildings with the expertise of a group practiced in building new, reasonably high-quality buildings as fast as possible... like, say, the Army." Can you name 3 hospitals that fit your description and were built by the US Army in the last 10 years? I mean "actually built" (not bought, not prefabricated for, etc.) Can you name a single one? I don't think so. I was speaking to a US Army carpenter 5 weeks ago: his Army classes taught him how to build an outhouse: it was his choice whether it had a door or a window - he chose a door because the design/build is simpler. I'd much rather have a Mexican laborer who is familiar with a handsaw and hammer than the average GI in the US Army. You're wrong about what they are trained to build and you're wrong about their skills. The Corps of Engineers are good at earth moving and that's about all. This will be a "learn on-the-job" boondoggle. We don't need what you describe: we need modern buildings that have good roofs and in which the proper equipment can be deployed. Those buildings are already built: gymnasiums, dormitories, meeting halls, stadiums, auditoriums, churches et al all fill the bill and are almost immediately available. crooked-v says "Right, and I'm sure hiring random people to construct temporary buildings as fast as possible would result in something that won't fall in on peoples' heads immediately." Here you _must_ be talking about the US Army - there's little more random than the conscripts today. And they'll do it on the lowest bid. A recipe for success or for failure?
rtkwe 7y ago
Posse Comitatus doesn't really apply they're not enforcing a law or acting as a policing force which is all that law actually cares about. The Army Corps of Engineers does a lot of projects like this, it's part of the reason they exist at all. Lots of the flood control along the Mississippi for example are COE works and they come in during emergencies to do stuff like this. For example during Katrina they were the ones repairing the dykes that had failed around New Orleans.

crooked-v 7y ago

> We have plenty of space (churches, meeting halls, school and university dormitories) to use for temporary hospitals Making these spaces fit the physical needs of these hospitals (massive power requirements for equipment, hallways and elevators with certain amounts of clearance for transporting patients, extremely well-controlled ventilation systems, sanitizable surfaces everywhere, rooms laid out with central access for doctors and nurses) would take so much time and effort that it would be more money- and time-efficient to build new buildings with the expertise of a group practiced in building new, reasonably high-quality buildings as fast as possible... like, say, the Army. These need to be modern hospitals, not 19th-century sanitariums where patients just get dumped into a bed and left to die or recover on their own. > It would be cheaper to hire immigrant Mexicans to build temporary hospitals. Right, and I'm sure hiring random people to construct temporary buildings as fast as possible would result in something that won't fall in on peoples' heads immediately. > And isn't this possibly a violation of the posse comitatus Act? The Posse Comitatus Act applies to the use of the military as law enforcement, so, no.

narogab 7y ago
crooked-v says "these hospitals (massive power requirements for equipment, hallways and elevators with certain amounts of clearance for transporting patients, extremely well-controlled ventilation systems, sanitizable surfaces everywhere, rooms laid out with central access for doctors and nurses) would take so much time and effort that it would be more money- and time-efficient to build new buildings with the expertise of a group practiced in building new, reasonably high-quality buildings as fast as possible... like, say, the Army." Can you name 3 hospitals that fit your description and were built by the US Army in the last 10 years? I mean "actually built" (not bought, not prefabricated for, etc.) Can you name a single one? I don't think so. I was speaking to a US Army carpenter 5 weeks ago: his Army classes taught him how to build an outhouse: it was his choice whether it had a door or a window - he chose a door because the design/build is simpler. I'd much rather have a Mexican laborer who is familiar with a handsaw and hammer than the average GI in the US Army. You're wrong about what they are trained to build and you're wrong about their skills. The Corps of Engineers are good at earth moving and that's about all. This will be a "learn on-the-job" boondoggle. We don't need what you describe: we need modern buildings that have good roofs and in which the proper equipment can be deployed. Those buildings are already built: gymnasiums, dormitories, meeting halls, stadiums, auditoriums, churches et al all fill the bill and are almost immediately available. crooked-v says "Right, and I'm sure hiring random people to construct temporary buildings as fast as possible would result in something that won't fall in on peoples' heads immediately." Here you _must_ be talking about the US Army - there's little more random than the conscripts today. And they'll do it on the lowest bid. A recipe for success or for failure?

rtkwe 7y ago

Posse Comitatus doesn't really apply they're not enforcing a law or acting as a policing force which is all that law actually cares about. The Army Corps of Engineers does a lot of projects like this, it's part of the reason they exist at all. Lots of the flood control along the Mississippi for example are COE works and they come in during emergencies to do stuff like this. For example during Katrina they were the ones repairing the dykes that had failed around New Orleans.