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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Wednesday, May 12, 2004 A View From a Broad I added A View From a Broad to the blogroll the other day, and failed to mention it. It came to my attention because of a note on someone else's blog claiming that Kellog Root Brown, the Halliburton subsidiary that was said to provide internet communications for soldiers in Iraq, had cut off access to Army personnel. Following link to link finally brought me to Ginmar's LiveJournal, and some fascinating reading. Ginmar is an Army reservist in Iraq. Among other things, I was struck by the contrast between her living conditions and those of the contractors. It reminded me of the impromptu golf game described by Joe Ryan, and the showers that he apparently takes for granted (even if he can't get his clothes cleaned to his satisfaction). Ginmar says:I noticed a couple people pointed me at some posts that actually used me as a source---and drew some of the wrong conclusions. In no particular order, here are the corrections: The soldiers here as far as I know, never hooked up an internet café using KBR’s signal. There were some soldiers here who got extended abruptly, came here to rescue us, and got sent somewhere else. Some of them died. The KBR guy who told me I was ‘just a Reservist’ also talked gleefully about how KBR would soon cut off the internet access that some KBR people are surreptitiously providing some soldiers. Some of the KBR guys are nice, but it frankly confuses me. If there were no internet access at all here, there would simply be no issue. None. But everyone here has it except for the soldiers. We have Army access, which is ridiculously slow and blocks all civilian email sites---because of viruses, is the excuse. But our machines are checked for viruses before we’re allowed on. We have to have good updates and so on. Theoretically we have phone access. There are DSN lines, which frequently don’t work. There’s an AT&T trailer----with half its phones broken, for a few thousand soldiers. It’s impossible to use anything but AT&T cards in that trailer, and you have to resign yourself to at least an hour wait. My point was that KBR has everything their little hearts desire, and the soldiers are living in buildings that are considered habitable because there are boards haphazardly thrown up on the windows, some electric line to a generator, and air conditioning. The latter is not a luxury here, not at all. It’s been over a hundred every day this week. The whole point is that they’re supposed to be supporting us. It doesn’t really seem like they’re doing much of that, so much as they are rationing out as little as they can get away with. And there are some nice KBR guys, so I confess to being more than a little confused about this. They’re nice, so what’s the deal here? If a method can be found to give KBR all this stuff, then some of it should be going to the soldiers. Communication back home is not a luxury, not for people in this situation. Some of those soldiers who were trying to hook up to that wireless signal? They were killed leaving here. I hope that fucker is happy that he denied them one last chance to communicate with their families. In the next paragraph, Ginmar says:The local contractors are happy, and oddly enough, I’m genuinely happy for them. For $250 dollars, four guys renovated the hovel we were living in. (It cost $17,000 to fix up the house we’re living in now, on top of whatever KBR is charging to provide living quarters. They didn’t do the work.) The guys who charged $250 ripped down charred plaster and mold, scrubbed the filthy walls, floor, and tiles, and cleaned out the line to the septic tank. Meanwhile, the soldiers scrounged a water tank, a pump, and so on. There was an old shower in the building that was wrecked before. This was one of the buildings that had human excrement smeared all over the rooms. Now all the rooms are painted and clean, and the windows have either been screened off, or boarded up so neatly that you’d think a professional did it. Sounds like KBR and At&T employees are sitting pretty, while our soldiers get the leavings. posted by Liz @ 9:57 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
I added A View From a Broad to the blogroll the other day, and failed to mention it. It came to my attention because of a note on someone else's blog claiming that Kellog Root Brown, the Halliburton subsidiary that was said to provide internet communications for soldiers in Iraq, had cut off access to Army personnel. Following link to link finally brought me to Ginmar's LiveJournal, and some fascinating reading. Ginmar is an Army reservist in Iraq. Among other things, I was struck by the contrast between her living conditions and those of the contractors. It reminded me of the impromptu golf game described by Joe Ryan, and the showers that he apparently takes for granted (even if he can't get his clothes cleaned to his satisfaction). Ginmar says:I noticed a couple people pointed me at some posts that actually used me as a source---and drew some of the wrong conclusions. In no particular order, here are the corrections: The soldiers here as far as I know, never hooked up an internet café using KBR’s signal. There were some soldiers here who got extended abruptly, came here to rescue us, and got sent somewhere else. Some of them died. The KBR guy who told me I was ‘just a Reservist’ also talked gleefully about how KBR would soon cut off the internet access that some KBR people are surreptitiously providing some soldiers. Some of the KBR guys are nice, but it frankly confuses me. If there were no internet access at all here, there would simply be no issue. None. But everyone here has it except for the soldiers. We have Army access, which is ridiculously slow and blocks all civilian email sites---because of viruses, is the excuse. But our machines are checked for viruses before we’re allowed on. We have to have good updates and so on. Theoretically we have phone access. There are DSN lines, which frequently don’t work. There’s an AT&T trailer----with half its phones broken, for a few thousand soldiers. It’s impossible to use anything but AT&T cards in that trailer, and you have to resign yourself to at least an hour wait. My point was that KBR has everything their little hearts desire, and the soldiers are living in buildings that are considered habitable because there are boards haphazardly thrown up on the windows, some electric line to a generator, and air conditioning. The latter is not a luxury here, not at all. It’s been over a hundred every day this week. The whole point is that they’re supposed to be supporting us. It doesn’t really seem like they’re doing much of that, so much as they are rationing out as little as they can get away with. And there are some nice KBR guys, so I confess to being more than a little confused about this. They’re nice, so what’s the deal here? If a method can be found to give KBR all this stuff, then some of it should be going to the soldiers. Communication back home is not a luxury, not for people in this situation. Some of those soldiers who were trying to hook up to that wireless signal? They were killed leaving here. I hope that fucker is happy that he denied them one last chance to communicate with their families. In the next paragraph, Ginmar says:The local contractors are happy, and oddly enough, I’m genuinely happy for them. For $250 dollars, four guys renovated the hovel we were living in. (It cost $17,000 to fix up the house we’re living in now, on top of whatever KBR is charging to provide living quarters. They didn’t do the work.) The guys who charged $250 ripped down charred plaster and mold, scrubbed the filthy walls, floor, and tiles, and cleaned out the line to the septic tank. Meanwhile, the soldiers scrounged a water tank, a pump, and so on. There was an old shower in the building that was wrecked before. This was one of the buildings that had human excrement smeared all over the rooms. Now all the rooms are painted and clean, and the windows have either been screened off, or boarded up so neatly that you’d think a professional did it. Sounds like KBR and At&T employees are sitting pretty, while our soldiers get the leavings.
I noticed a couple people pointed me at some posts that actually used me as a source---and drew some of the wrong conclusions. In no particular order, here are the corrections: The soldiers here as far as I know, never hooked up an internet café using KBR’s signal. There were some soldiers here who got extended abruptly, came here to rescue us, and got sent somewhere else. Some of them died. The KBR guy who told me I was ‘just a Reservist’ also talked gleefully about how KBR would soon cut off the internet access that some KBR people are surreptitiously providing some soldiers. Some of the KBR guys are nice, but it frankly confuses me. If there were no internet access at all here, there would simply be no issue. None. But everyone here has it except for the soldiers. We have Army access, which is ridiculously slow and blocks all civilian email sites---because of viruses, is the excuse. But our machines are checked for viruses before we’re allowed on. We have to have good updates and so on. Theoretically we have phone access. There are DSN lines, which frequently don’t work. There’s an AT&T trailer----with half its phones broken, for a few thousand soldiers. It’s impossible to use anything but AT&T cards in that trailer, and you have to resign yourself to at least an hour wait. My point was that KBR has everything their little hearts desire, and the soldiers are living in buildings that are considered habitable because there are boards haphazardly thrown up on the windows, some electric line to a generator, and air conditioning. The latter is not a luxury here, not at all. It’s been over a hundred every day this week. The whole point is that they’re supposed to be supporting us. It doesn’t really seem like they’re doing much of that, so much as they are rationing out as little as they can get away with. And there are some nice KBR guys, so I confess to being more than a little confused about this. They’re nice, so what’s the deal here? If a method can be found to give KBR all this stuff, then some of it should be going to the soldiers. Communication back home is not a luxury, not for people in this situation. Some of those soldiers who were trying to hook up to that wireless signal? They were killed leaving here. I hope that fucker is happy that he denied them one last chance to communicate with their families.
The local contractors are happy, and oddly enough, I’m genuinely happy for them. For $250 dollars, four guys renovated the hovel we were living in. (It cost $17,000 to fix up the house we’re living in now, on top of whatever KBR is charging to provide living quarters. They didn’t do the work.) The guys who charged $250 ripped down charred plaster and mold, scrubbed the filthy walls, floor, and tiles, and cleaned out the line to the septic tank. Meanwhile, the soldiers scrounged a water tank, a pump, and so on. There was an old shower in the building that was wrecked before. This was one of the buildings that had human excrement smeared all over the rooms. Now all the rooms are painted and clean, and the windows have either been screened off, or boarded up so neatly that you’d think a professional did it.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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