» 2009 » November Ms Sparky

Ms Sparky didn’t turn in her Common Access Card(CAC)? I don’t think so!

Posted on: November 30th, 2009 at 9:12 am — by Ms Sparky

A Sample Common Access Card (CAC) from www.cac.mil

I have received countless emails from former KBR employees claiming they have received the email below which states they didn’t turn in their Common Access Card (CAC). But, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get the same email after having demob’d (not fired) almost 3 1/2 years ago. Like I told the person who sent me the email, I left Baghdad on July 28, 2006 and turned in my card to a KBR representative at the Baghdad Transit Center (BTC) when asked to do so.

For those who aren’t familiar, a Common Access Card (CAC) is in essence your ID badge for the military. The card is issued to a person who needs access to a military facility such as a military base, PX, dining facility etc. KBR was responsible for issuing and controlling these cards for KBR employees. This is not rocket science, and yet according to a DoD Inspector General report, their claim is KBR can’t seem to get it done and has put our troops and civilians at serious risk in the mean time.

So now what? I say I did turn it in, KBR says I didn’t turn it in. I am interested to see how KBR responds. I’ll let you know.

I removed the name and contact information for the person who sent me the email. She is just doing her job, no need to inundate her with unwanted emails and phone calls.
************************************

Kellogg Brown & Root

From:    Name Removed (name removed@kbr.com)
Sent:    Tue 11/10/09 12:17 PM
To:     Name Removed (name removed@kbr.com)

Common Access Card (CAC) Recovery Plan

Due to a recent audit by the Department of Defense (DOD), it was determined that your Common Access Card (CAC) has not been recorded as being returned when you demobilized / medical leave from the LOGCAP Project.

In an effort to update the DOD’s records, please complete form below and email back so that we may be advised of the status of your CAC ID. If the CAC ID is still in your possession a self-addressed, stamped envelope will be provided for your convenience at your request or you may mail it to the following address. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me via email or at the below phone number.

Kellogg Brown & Root 713) 753-XXXX
4100 Clinton Dr. 3/778E
Houston, TX 77020 name removed@kbr.com
KBR LOGCAP III

Attn: (Name Removed)

Name: ______________________________.

Badge #: ____________________________.

Please choose one of the following options: _____________________________ .

(Example: “#1, Turned in, in Baghdad, Iraq 06/06”), (“#4, <company name employed with>”).

- 1. Card turned in. (Please explain when and where)

- 2. Card has been lost.

- 3. Will return the card to KBR. (Indicate if self-addressed self envelope is needed and current address to send envelope).

- 4. Currently employed overseas. (Please indicate which company employment is with).

US LAW GOVERNING IDENTIFICATION CARDS

“United States Code: Section 701, Title 18”

“Whoever manufactures, sells, or posses any badge, identification card, or other insignia, of the design prescribed by the head of any department or agency of the United States for use by any officer or employee thereof, or any colorable imitation thereof, or photographs, prints, or in any other manner makes or executes any engraving, photograph, print, or impression in the likeness of any such badge, identification card, or other insignia, or colorable imitation thereof, except as authorized under regulations pursuant to law, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.”

(Name Removed)
CAC Recovery Team
4100 Clinton Dr. 3/778 E
Houston, TX. 77020
(713) 753-XXXX

name removed@kbr.com

This e-mail, including any attached files, may contain confidential and privileged information for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any review, use, distribution, or disclosure by others is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient (or authorized to receive information for the intended recipient), please contact the sender by reply e-mail and delete all copies of this message.

Posted in GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR Investigations, LOGCAP III - KBR, Miscellaneous, Reports & Investigations. Tags: Common Access Card (CAC). 12 Comments »

Lt. Col. James “Jim” Gentry dies at age 52

Posted on: November 27th, 2009 at 7:47 am — by Ms Sparky

Lieutenant Colonel James Gentry, Indiana National Guard

(See Funeral Notice update below)

Sadly, I have learned Lt. Col James “Jim” Gentry has lost his battle with cancer and has died in Indiana at the young age of 52. Gentry was diagnosed with cancer in 2006. A cancer he felt was caused by his exposure to the deadly carcinogen known as sodium dichromate at the Qarmat Ali water plant in Southern Iraq in 2003.

A retired Indiana National Guard lieutenant colonel, Gentry was the commander of the 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry, which, at about 600 soldiers strong, was in Iraq from February 2003 to February 2004.

This Indian National Guard unit was responsible for protecting US civilians working for KBR at the Qarmat Ali water plant in Southern Iraq. Returning this water plant to full operation was essential to restoring Iraqi oil production and KBR had the contract to do that.

Unfortunately, upon retreat, Saddam loyalists sabotaged the plant by cutting open bags of sodium dichromate, a yellow-orange powered rust inhibitor, and spread it everywhere. Not being informed by KBR management what this powder was, soldiers and civilians alike took few precautions to protect themselves. People started experiencing symptoms of chronic nose bleeds, headaches, skins lesions. Even after countless complaints KBR did not test the substance and inform anyone as to the hazards. Click HERE for five short (18 min total) deposition testimony videos of KBR management putting their spin on why soldiers and civilians weren’t informed of the inherent health risks of this “yellow-orange” powder.

Gentry, even after being retired and diagnosed with cancer, led his soldiers with strength and dignity. He became an outspoken advocate demanding investigations and VA coverage for illnesses believed to have been caused by the toxic exposure.

Jo Frederiksen is a construction manager who worked with Gentry during his second tour in Iraq. She said,

“He was the consummate leader and professional who always put others first before himself.”

“Jim’s courage and selflessness continued even after he was diagnosed with a devastating disease and given a terminal prognosis.”

Because of Lt. Col. Gentry hundreds if not thousands of US National Guard soldiers from the states of Indiana, Oregon, West Virginia, British troops and US and Iraqi civilians are now aware of their potential exposure. Congressional Hearings have been held, Department of Defense Inspector General Investigations have been initiated. Lawsuits have been filed. Click HERE for everything I have on the sodium dichromate exposures at Qarmat Ali.

Senator Bayh (D-IN) said,

“I promised Lt. Col. Gentry I would use my position to get them the care they deserve and to make sure we protect our soldiers from preventable risks like this in the future.”

Frederiksen said,

“Jim came forward to speak out on behalf of the troops he commanded. … I hope that his country and its people will give Lt. Col. Gentry and his troops the honor and respect they deserve for their sacrifices, while serving our country with valor.”

My most sincere condolences to Lt. Col. Gentry’s family and friends, both in the private sector and military.

As for KBR, I would think in this case, they could be charged with treason. They knowingly exposed our soldiers to a chemical that is killing them.

Updated Nov 30, 2009 - The original article in the Times Mail stated that Lt. Col Gentry was not a part of the suit against KBR. He in fact did join the other litigants earlier this year after he saw more of the documentation and testimony about what KBR’s managers knew and when they knew it.

Ms Sparky

UPDATED Nov 30, 2009 Funeral Notice:

Lt. Col. James Gentry

52; Iraq War veteran

Funeral service for Lt. Col. James Gentry, 52, of Williams, will be at noon Tuesday, Dec. 1, at the Kraft Spring St. Chapel with burial with Full Military Honors in Pleasant Ridge Cemetery in Starlight.

He was retried from the Indiana Army National Guard after serving as commander of the 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry and two tours of duty in Iraq. He was a former resident of Indianapolis and was a native of Mitchell.

Survivors include his wife LouAnn Grube Gentry; children Sarah Clark (Will), of New Albany, Jason Newman, of Indianapolis, Emily Gentry, Bloomington, Jennafer Newman, of Santa Anna, Calif., Ellen Gentry, of Georgetown; parents George and Brenda Sue Gentry, of Mitchell; brother Sanford Gentry (Valerie) of Williams; and sister Carolyn Hodges (Franks), of Mitchell.

He was preceded in death by his brother Randy Gentry.

Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30, at Kraft Funeral Service, New Albany.

Expressions of Sympathy can be made to Uplands Hospice, 1500 West Main St. P.O. Box No. 9, Mitchell, Ind., 47496.

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

Posted on: November 26th, 2009 at 8:50 am — by Ms Sparky

Happy Thanksgiving

By the time this is published on MY Thanksgiving morning (PST), a 100 thousand American Troops and civilians in the Middle East will already have enjoyed their Thanksgiving meal. Many sacrificing a meal with their families at home to share it with fellow soldiers and co-workers at their KBR Dining Facilities (DFAC) in the Middle East. I have to say, they put on a pretty nice Thanksgiving meal. I stress out over feeding 10 people. I can’t imagine trying to feed 10,000! On this day….The KBR DFAC staff get KUDO’s from me!

I send my most sincere Happy Thanksgiving wishes to:

EVERY US soldier at EVERY base in the world. I am thankful to you for keeping my family safe.
EVERY civilian who supports them. I am thankful you are doing your best to take care of our soldiers.
EVERY family who will share this day without their loved ones.
My friends who are all over the world. I am thankful for your friendship and guidance.
My “Ms Sparky” readers. I am thankful for your insights, information and feedback. Without you, there is no “Ms Sparky”.
Most of all, my family who supports me in my quest to make things better for our soldiers and civilians.

I have so much to be thankful for.

Most importantly. I have loved ones on the road. PLEASE DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE!

Happy Thanksgiving

Ms Sparky

Posted in Holiday Tribute To Soldiers. Tags: Thanksgiving. 1 Comment »

Widow pleads for information about electrocution death of husband

Posted on: November 25th, 2009 at 9:02 pm — by Ms Sparky

Widow Raising New Questions About Electrocutions in Iraq

Husband Died While Showering in Baghdad
Carol Han – November 25, 2009

Adam's widow Janine Hermanson

WASHINGTON — It appears as if 18 deaths, a congressional probe and new military marching orders were not enough to end a rash of electrocutions in Iraq.

Now, a Pennsylvania woman is demanding accountability after her husband, an Air Force veteran and military contractor, died in a Baghdad shower Sept. 1. Adam Hermanson’s death comes less than two years after a Pittsburgh soldier, Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, was electrocuted while taking a shower in Iraq.

Janine Hermanson, of Muncy, Pa., says that for the past two months, she has been getting the runaround from military investigators and Triple Canopy, the Defense Department contractor that hired her husband.

SLIDESHOW: Widow Raising New Questions About Electrocutions in Iraq

KIROTV Video-In depth exclusive

KIROTV Video-Janine Hermanson “How I cope”

KIROTV Video-Janine Hermanson “No one will give me answers”

Senator Casey-Closing the contractor loophole

“It’s so frustrating,” Janine Hermanson said. “All I want to know is what happened to him and why it happened to him but no one can tell me. No one seems to care to tell me.”

Janine Hermanson’s search for answers started not long after she received a phone call from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Hermanson says the woman on the phone told her there was no foul play involved.

It’s the same point repeated in a letter she received from the U.S Embassy in Iraq dated Sept. 1. In it, Jennifer Tierney, chief of American Citizen Services, writes: “There is no indication of any foul play or unusual circumstances.”

Read the entire letter HERE.

“I didn’t understand,” Janine Hermanson said. “He didn’t have any medical problems. No health problems.” (Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Adam Hermanson-TC, Adam Hermanson-TC, CONTRACTOR DEATHS, Electrocutions/Shocks, GOV. CONTRACTORS, LAWSUITS, Security Contractors, Task Force SAFE. Tags: Adam Hermanson*, Army CID*, Army Criminal Investigation Command*, Cheryl Harris, Electrocutions/Shocks, Janine Hermanson*, LAWSUITS, Reports & Investigations, Triple Canopy. 1 Comment »

Will KBR “fly right” for the Air Force?

Posted on: November 25th, 2009 at 7:24 am — by Ms Sparky

The Air Force should already know better than to award contracts to KBR! Who made this Air Force Aircraft Identification Chart anyway?

KBR Wins Part of $3 Billion Air Force Contract

By Camille Tuutti

November 24, 2009

(Govconwire.com) Defense contractor KBR has been awarded a basic contract from the U.S. Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment Contracting Officer to compete for future task orders under the Worldwide Environmental Restoration and Construction 2009 program.

Under the base contract and upon award of future task order, KBR will provide engineering and construction activities necessary to meet Air Force and other customer requirements. The WERC09 is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract containing cost-plus-fixed fee, firm-fixed price, fixed-price incentive firm, and cost-plus-incentive fee contract types, which will be established with each task order award.

The total contract value to be dispersed among participating contractors is $3 billion. There is a base contract period of five years. (Click HERE for original article)

We are pleased to have been selected by the AFCEE to bid for future projects under the Worldwide Environmental Restoration and Construction contract,” said Bill Bodie, President, KBR North American Government and Defense. “Our long-standing commitment to provide high quality services to our military customers remains steadfast, and I am confident KBR will execute task orders under this contract with the same level of quality the military has come to expect from KBR.

Whoever writes that stuff for Bodie is most certainly being considered for a Pulitzer Prize, in the fictional literature category of course.

I guess I will have to start a new category for this contract as well.

Ms Sparky

Posted in GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR, KBR Contract. Tags: KBR Contract. 3 Comments »

Halliburton must stay in “Good Friday Massacre” case

Posted on: November 24th, 2009 at 9:02 pm — by Ms Sparky

Judge says Halliburton must stay in convoy death case

By MARY FLOOD HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Nov. 24, 2009, 6:41PM

Tommy Hamill being held by his captors after he was taken hostage.

KBR convoy driver Tommy Hamill being held at gunpoint by the insurgents who took him hostage.

A Houston judge ruled today that Halliburton must remain as a defendant in a lawsuit alleging it and its former subsidiary KBR knowingly sent civilian truck convoys into dangerous conditions the day six drivers were killed in 2004 in Iraq.

U.S. District Judge Gray Miller found that Halliburton should remain in the case because plaintiffs have “numerous evidentiary examples of Halliburton’s involvement in the allegations giving rise to this litigation.”

Miller is considering a series of motions raised by the defendants to end three cases brought by injured plaintiffs and family members of the dead. The plaintiffs allege that KBR and its former parent, Halliburton, put profit above life in April 2004 when they deployed a convoy knowing about the heightened danger.

Miller previously dismissed the case, ruling that a civilian court could not second-guess military decisions. But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to Miller saying it may be possible to resolve the lawsuits without making a “constitutionally impermissible review of wartime decision-making.”

Halliburton spun off KBR in 2007. Last January it stated that it was paying off its final bill for KBR when it agreed to pay about $560 million to settle a Foreign Corrupt Practice Act case involving improper payments to Nigerian officials.

Halliburton has maintained the truck convoy lawsuits are based on KBR activity in Iraq, and Halliburton will be found to have no responsibility, legal or otherwise.

Miller did toss other corporate entities out of the lawsuit. KBR Inc. stays in the case. But KBR Holdings LLC and KBR International Inc. were let out. Also dropped from the suit were Halliburton Energy Services and DII Industries. (click HERE for original article)

I think Halliburton should stay in this suit. I remember in 2004 when I was there, KBR was clearly a subsidiary of Halliburton. Our email addresses were even “@Halliburton.com”.

Keep in mind several KBR drivers were killed and taken hostage. KBR driver Tommy Hammill escaped about a month later. Click HERE for more information on this tragic day.

I will be glad to see some closure for the victims of this tragic avoidable massacre!

Ms Sparky

Posted in CONTRACTOR DEATHS, Fisher vs KBR, Good Friday Massacre, GOV. CONTRACTORS, LAWSUITS, LOGCAP III - KBR. Tags: Fisher vs KBR, Good Friday Massacre, Judge Gray Miller, LAWSUITS, Tommy Hamill. 4 Comments »

TENG to perform electrical inspections in Afghanistan

Posted on: November 24th, 2009 at 10:50 am — by Ms Sparky

Apparently TENG Associates has been award a US Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) contract to perform independent electrical inspections in Afghanistan. TENG will be supplying electrical inspectors to inspect for Task Force POWER.

Below is an excerpt from the Department of Defense Inspector General Report dated July 24, 2009.

On June 29, 2009, CENTCOM stated that Task Force POWER continues their comprehensive inspection of existing facilities. The initial inspection team includes an organization of 116 personnel (including eight engineers, three master electricians, 72 subject matter experts/electrical inspectors, and 33 support personnel). After the initial inspection is complete, these personnel will transform into the continued inspection staff of 42 personnel. Once initial inspections are completed and results analyzed, requirements for funding, materials, and manpower will be requested.

This meter is reading 231 VAC from the water supply line of a small bathroom water heater to ground. That will clearly kill you in the shower! This is a 240/400 VAC system in Iraq

If I recall correctly KBR started performing inspections for Task Force POWER earlier this year. If that’s not a classic example of the “fox watchin’ the hen house” I don’t know what is!

TENG and Task Force POWER will be the Afghanistan counterpart to Stanley Baker Hill (SBH) and Task Force SAFE in Iraq. TENG is expected to start deploying inspectors to Afghanistan in January 2010.

I have known about this for a couple of weeks and have asked TENG for a statement but as of today, they haven’t responded.

As of yet I’m not sure who will be the driving force for Task Force POWER. I don’t know if the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and USACE will have a structure similar to what they have in Iraq.

I do hope TENG will learn from the management mistakes made by SBH in Iraq and improve on them.

I have started “Task Force POWER” and “TENG & Assoc” categories. I will keep you posted as I learn more. If you have any information on Task Force POWER or TENG & Associates in Afghanistan let me know.

Ms Sparky