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Honestly I have been disappointed by how effective they have been. I would expect the Army to be able to build field hospitals faster than this. There have been

Honestly I have been disappointed by how effective they have been. I would expect the Army to be able to build field hospitals faster than this. There have been a lot of setbacks, detailed in a recent NYTimes article: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/us/us-effort-in-liberia-barely-gets-on-the-ground.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/us/us-effort-in-liberia-ba...

bdunbar 12y ago
" the local contractor announced that the crusher’s engine, needed to smash rocks, had broken" and "Hauling parts and equipment from the United States and Europe takes time, and then there are negotiations with local contractors for heavy equipment." That's crazy. The Seebees and other military engineers have rock crushers, and construction equipment. They know how to break that stuff down and put it on airplanes. The Air Force is used to transporting that stuff. Now, I was only a stupid jarhead, and there may be issues not called out in the article, but I'd expect a week, tops, could get engineers on site, working, with their own equipment.
techdragon 12y ago
replying to you since i can't reply to the child reply i wanted to address. If they deployed the SeaBees this wouldn't be happening. The key word is 'contractor', by using companies to avoid the political taint of 'getting involved where they aren't wanted' or being accused of 'wasting money' we send the proverbial 'lowest bidder' instead of the trained experts. Sad but true.
- bdunbar 12y ago
  The linked article is now slow to load, for me. But I recall that the fellow who was having issues with the rock crusher was called out as a Seebee. Perhaps he's there as sort of general contractor, working with the locals to build stuff, and not part of a battalion. Which seems stupid, to me. Building a lot of stuff on short notice, as a team, is what the Seebee battalions are for.

bdunbar 12y ago

" the local contractor announced that the crusher’s engine, needed to smash rocks, had broken" and "Hauling parts and equipment from the United States and Europe takes time, and then there are negotiations with local contractors for heavy equipment." That's crazy. The Seebees and other military engineers have rock crushers, and construction equipment. They know how to break that stuff down and put it on airplanes. The Air Force is used to transporting that stuff. Now, I was only a stupid jarhead, and there may be issues not called out in the article, but I'd expect a week, tops, could get engineers on site, working, with their own equipment.

techdragon 12y ago

replying to you since i can't reply to the child reply i wanted to address. If they deployed the SeaBees this wouldn't be happening. The key word is 'contractor', by using companies to avoid the political taint of 'getting involved where they aren't wanted' or being accused of 'wasting money' we send the proverbial 'lowest bidder' instead of the trained experts. Sad but true.

bdunbar 12y ago
The linked article is now slow to load, for me. But I recall that the fellow who was having issues with the rock crusher was called out as a Seebee. Perhaps he's there as sort of general contractor, working with the locals to build stuff, and not part of a battalion. Which seems stupid, to me. Building a lot of stuff on short notice, as a team, is what the Seebee battalions are for.