Troops suffering from Water related illness In Iraq

[-MAD- SARGE]

I was just watching C-Span and they are talking about how Troops in Iraq have been exposed to water illnesses. A medical Captain believed that many of the troops that entered her facility had been exposed to untreated water some how.  A Halliburton employee who is responsible for treating the camps water supply came to the capt. and expressed concerns that the brine water from the Reverse Osmosis systems were being used to fill up water tanks for the bases use.  The capt. assigned an Lt. to follow the brine pipe line where he found the line exited into a water truck. He followed the water truck, where he found it pumped the brine water into a water holding tank for nonpotable use. The captain confronted the supervisor for Halliburton and he told her that the brine water had be previously treated by a carbon filter and that it was acceptable.  The captain basically told him he was full of s***.  Later they tested the tank and found it to test positive for e-coli and bacteria.  

As a water operator I am very appualed. First off these are our soldiers out there and they only deserve the best.  And what happened to the military providing for themselves instead of having private contractors doing supply work?  Streamlined I guess.   My major issue is that who decided that nonpotable water was safe enough to use for showering, brushing teeth, and making coffee as it was stated in this C-Span report?  Nonpotable means you dont use it for anything that will come into contact with people.  Fill your radiator, mix concrete, ect. but do not wash with it or much less put it in your mouth or eyes!   In my job I work on many things and one such thing is a Reverse Osmosis system.  We send our Brine or reject water into the sewer system to then be treated at a wastewater plant.  You can not use this stuff for much of anything and Halliburton said it was ok to use for showering!  Sorry but this crap really gets under my skin. I have had experience with private water companies and they are only in it for the money and will try to do the absolute minimum required of them.  Anything to save a few bucks [smilie=armata_pdt_19.gif]

P.S. and Halliburton is responsible for all water supplies for soldiers in Iraq! There are many more places with soldiers who have related illnesses!

[azsarge]

Financial logistics aside, have you considered that hiring civvies to do the rear-area shit frees up potential trigger-pullers to go do violence on the Nations behalf?

This isn't the first time something like this has happened, and it's certainly not the last.

[-MAD- SARGE]

Yes, I have and that is a good thing to have more soldiers and less soldiers in the support role.  But this water thing is just piss poor and it erks me off to say the least.  

In the same report, I cant remember the company. KB something...anyways they had a brand new $80,000 truck on a road in the middle of the desert. A witness who was assinged to escort this civilian outfit, who is very distinguished, reported that the truck got a flat while enroute. The witness to the best of his ability stated that this road was a safe as you could get while on a road in Iraq. The company didnt have the proper wrench to remove the tire to place a spare on, so after much debate, the company decided to leave the truck behind.  When they do this they torch the vehicle so that the enemy can not use it.  So in short this private company torched a brand new $80,000 truck, bought by the gov, because they did not have the wrench to change the tire.  OMG!

[azsarge]

So in short this private company torched a brand new $80,000 truck, bought by the gov, because they did not have the wrench to change the tire.  OMG!

Sometimes, men put in positions such as this make sound tactical decisions.

Sometimes, they make strategic ones.

I'm in total agreeance with you, brother.  If it were up to me, we'd all have better training, better equip, and the best resources available.  That's not always possible.  More often than not, it's 2 of the 3.

To say this didn't upset me would be a lie.  I, however, am relieved that they're paying these guys as well as they do.  Not every contractor over there is doing it out of love for their country.

[-MAD- SARGE]

To say this didn't upset me would be a lie.  I, however, am relieved that they're paying these guys as well as they do.  Not every contractor over there is doing it out of love for their country.

That's the thing. These guys have got to be getting paid well and they still are putting soldiers at risk for stupid reasons.  I know this topic may be vague to some, so I will use an example.  Helicopters in honor of you C-bone     What they did is like taking the aircraft fuel dump tanker instead of the fuel tanker and filling up a helicopter with it. It would fly just enough to get off the ground, then it would quit and crash.  And these guys did it knowingly.  It booggles my mind!  They failed at basic water treatment.

I dont know the answers. I just hope that this gets solved and that this does not happen again. But as you said Christian, it won't be the last.

Sorry if I am ranting a bit. But this is what I do and this was idiotic  :shock:

[IcePlatinumSky]

This kind of s*** realy ticks me off. I am not military but, are men and women deserve the very best. In reality that not even close to enough. They should be bathing in Aquafina, and drying there hand with Viva paper towels. If these people have the balls to serve this to our forces, they should have the balls to drink it themselves.