The state has recommended that the Eagle Point School District prohibit employees from using motorcycles as transportation to work-related activities after Principal Tiffany O’Donnell was seriously injured Sept. 13 in a motorcycle accident en route between the two rural schools.
Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division officials said the school district has not violated any regulations, and no citations have been issued to the district. But OSHA cautioned that allowing employees to drive motorcycles for work activities presents a hazard to employees, as well as a liability to the school district.
The agency also recommended that administrators be added to the district’s DMV automatic reporting system where the district can check on employees’ driving records and licenses to operate a motor vehicle. Neither recommendation is mandatory, according to OSHA.
Administrators are the only district employees excluded from the automatic reporting system, but Eagle Point schools Superintendent Cynda Rickert said the district’s human resources department already has taken steps to change that.
“We don’t know if the Board will move forward on a policy not allowing you to drive a motorcycle if you are doing school business,” she said.
O’Donnell, principal of both Elk Trail Elementary School and Shady Cove School, was driving her Suzuki motorcycle from the Trail campus to the Shady Cove campus when she was struck by a Nissan pickup truck. The driver was making an illegal U-turn on Highway 62, police said. O’Donnell’s right leg and pelvis were broken in the crash, and she underwent multiple surgeries at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland to reconstruct her leg. She is now at home in Medford recovering from her injuries.
Tiffanie Lambert, a White Mountain Middle School teacher, is substituting for O’Donnell during her absence.
Eagle Point school administrators are expected to drive their personal vehicle for work purposes, but it hadn’t occurred to district officials to dictate what kind of vehicle they drive, Rickert said.
She said the School Board would like to consult with the Oregon School Boards Association, which guides districts in crafting or amending policies, before making a decision on whether to ban motorcycles for school business.
“We can surely see some merit in the recommendation,” she said. “There is always another side to this. Would that then mean we would have to purchase more vehicles for our employees to use? We’re hoping OSBA can tell us that.”
Reach reporter Paris Achen at 541-776-4459 or e-mail pachen@mailtribune.com.
Let me start off by saying that I am going to piss some of you off with the opinion you are about to read! But I am SICK and TIRED of people NOT understanding what the word “MILITARY” means.
An article from the Washington Post titled “For soldiers, single motherhood becomes another battlefield” brings up the question of single parents in the military. Now I understand that there are many people that want to serve their country, but not all should. Heck, I tried at the age of 42 but my body did not cooperate and I chose to come home. I felt, even though the Army was willing to do what it took to help me over come the problems in my lower back and hips, that it was better for my fellow soldiers for me to stay home and give them all the support I can, than to be the weak link. And that is what I felt I would be. If you can not perform the duties required to the fullest, whether physically or mentally, then you are just putting the people around you at risk.
I don’t care if you are single, married, a single parent, or a married parent, when you sign on the line to join the Military, you should know that one day you could be sent into battle and have to leave your children behind. If you have children, then you need to weight the responsibilities as a parent against those of being in the military. What is best for you and what you feel you and your family can deal with may not be what is best for your career in the military. I am NOT saying that all military personnel should be single, many make it work. Yes, it is hard on the whole family, I don’t deny that, BUT, what do you think the military is and does?
I get so tired of people that say they joined the military to get out of this or that, or to get a “free” education. It isn’t free! That “free” education or “free” ticket out of the situation you are in could be paid for with your life. To me that is very expensive! If you are not willing to lay your life down for this Country, DO NOT JOIN THE MILITARY! It is that plain and simple.
Yes, the military still has many things that it needs to work out where women are concerned, health care and women in a combat MOS are just two. But as the article, “G.I. Jane Breaks the Combat Barrier” that they reference from “The New Your Times”, many women are honorably proving that they can handle “the shit” just as well as many men that they stand beside in battle. So how can it be any different for a single mother in the military then a single father? Just a few years ago a friend of mine that was in the Navy, retired because he and his wife divorced, and he got custody of their children. Feeling that it was better for him and his boys, he gave up a military career that he dearly loved. I respect his decision, I am saddened by it, but respect it. He was, and still is to me, a great Sailor! And look at CJ and the battles he has gone through over the last year. He is still in the Army AND doing his duty as a parent. Yes, it has cost him greatly, but apparently he was willing to make that sacrifice for the things he believes in, the Army and being a Dad.
Many years ago during WWII, my grandmother was in the Army. First she was a flight instructor and then a darkroom tech. When she became pregnant with my mom, she was released from the Army with a dishonorable discharge.There was no debate about it and she had no choice. Today, women can stay in the military when they become pregnant whether they are married or not. That is a great thing! We have come a long way in the last 60 to 70 years. But to sit there and refuse to deploy when you have known for months that it is going to happen is inexcusable. I understand in the case of Spec. Alexis Hutchinson that her mother was supposed to take care of her son, but she was offered other help and refused it.
Now granted I don’t know all the regulations and maybe CJ and Marcus over on “A Soldier’s Perspective” can help me with this, but can’t a person get out of the military siting hardship, without getting a “other-than-honorable” discharge? According to the story, Hutchinson choose the”other-than-honorable” discharge because she could get on with her life and would not have to face court-martial or possible jail time. In a way, I can understand that decision and sympathize with her. But I have many questions that these articles do not answer. Did she exhaust every means possible to delay her deployment and find other arrangements? Is there not any other family? And what about the offer of help that she did get and refused? Why did she refuse it? What were the conditions of it? There are a lot of unanswered questions. I believe that MSM has yet again taken a story and reported only half of it to, once again, make the military out to be a bunch of cold-hearted bastards!
DORGAN: ARMY DECISION TO DENY MILLIONS IN BONUSES TO CONTRACTOR KBR IS
“RIGHT CALL,” BUT ONLY A “FIRST STEP”
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who chaired Senate hearings on electrocutions of soldiers in Iraq resulting from shoddy contracting work by KBR, said Thursday the Army’s decision to deny million of dollars in bonuses to the firm for its 2008 work in Iraq “is the right call, but it is only a first step.”
Dorgan chaired two Senate Democratic Policy Committee (DPC) hearings in 2008 and 2009 on KBR’s shoddy electrical work in Iraq. The hearings revealed widespread problems with KBR’s electrical work there including countless electrical shocks including one that killed Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, and perhaps others, and injured dozens more on their own bases as they showered and engaged in other routine activities.
Following the hearings, Dorgan and Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) wrote the Army asking that it review KBR’s work and the electrocution death of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth. They also asked the Army to re-evaluate the millions of dollars in bonuses it has routinely awarded KBR for supposedly excellent work, even when the Army’s own evidence made clear it was highly questionable.
The Army’s investigation of Maseth’s January 2008 death found that KBR’s work exposed soldiers to “unacceptable risk.” A theatre-wide safety review that resulted from the Dorgan-Casey request — Task Force SAFE — also found widespread problems with KBR’s electrical work that exposed soldiers to life threatening risks.
“The decision to deny KBR millions in bonuses for its work in 2008 is welcome news, and is a significant change from the Army’s past practice, but the Army clearly needs go much further,” Dorgan said. “Specifically, it needs to review the $34 million bonus and other bonuses it awarded KBR for shoddy work that may have contributed to other electrocution deaths and other serious electrical shocks.”
Dorgan said the Army’s decision “will send a long overdue message to military contractors that they will be held accountable for their performance. But the Army needs to send that message much more powerfully. Not awarding a bonus for widespread sloppy contracting work that killed soldiers is just the beginning, not the end point, of accountability.”
Dorgan has chaired 21 Senate DPC hearings on waste, fraud and corruption in military contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. Evidence at those hearings he said, “has been overwhelming that KBR’s work was shoddy and put the lives of U.S. soldiers at risk. KBR’s electrical workers were often unqualified, poorly trained and poorly supervised. When questions were raised, they simply denied there was a problem and proceeded with the same shoddy business as usual.”
Howard McGhee Transportation Technologist Sr. Alabama Department of Transportation Third Division Pre-Construction 1020 Bankhead Highway West Birmingham, Alabama 35202-2745 Phone: (205)581-5641 Fax: (205)581-5624 Email: mcgheeh@dot.state.al.us
IF YOU ARE DRIVING AT NIGHT AND EGGS ARE THROWN AT YOUR WINDSHIELD.
DO NOT OPERATE THE WIPER AND SPRAY ANY WATER BECAUSE EGGS MIXED WITHWATER BECOME MILKY AND BLOCK YOUR VISION UP TO 92.5% SO YOU ARE FORCED TO STOP AT THE ROADSIDE AND BECOME A VICTIM OF ROBBERS. THIS IS A NEW TECHNIQUE USED BY ROBBERS.
In a highly publicized corporate arbitration case involving an employee of an American defense contractor conducting business overseas, Tracy Barker, and the employer KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton; Court records filed on November 18, 2009 show the corporation suffered a judgment against it of $2,934,376.60 and now refuses to pay the face amount of the judgment and is seeking to modify the award and limit her pain and suffering losses to $300,000.00.
KBR moved the District Court in Houston to force Ms. Barker to litigate her case before an arbitrator and agreed to be bound by the result when her original case was filed in 2007. The case will return to the docket of the federal court in Houston for further litigation after the arbitrator considers KBR’s motion which is being opposed by Barker’s attorney.
Nov 19, 5:16 PM EST Woman awarded $3M in assault claim against KBR
By JUAN A. LOZANO
Associated Press Writer
HOUSTON (AP) — A woman who claimed she was raped in 2005 while working in Iraq for a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary has been awarded nearly $3 million by an arbitrator to settle her case.
Tracy Barker had sued U.S. contractor KBR Inc., its former parent company Halliburton and several affiliates in May 2007, claiming she was sexually attacked by a State Department employee while working as a civilian contractor in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
A federal judge in Houston had dismissed Barker’s lawsuit in January 2008, ruling she had to abide by an employment agreement she signed that said any claims she made against the companies would have to be settled through arbitration and not the courts.
Court records filed this week show Barker was awarded a judgment of $2.93 million to settle her arbitration claim against KBR.
The Associated Press doesn’t usually identify those who report they were sexually assaulted, but Barker made her identity public in her lawsuit.
“It took me a long time to get here. I’m happy about the award,” Barker, 38, who lives in Yuma, Ariz., told the AP.
In a statement, Houston-based KBR said Thursday it disagreed with the interim ruling from the arbitrator and it has filed a motion to modify the award.
“However, the decision validates what KBR has maintained all along; that the arbitration process is truly neutral and works in the best interest of the parties involved,” the statement said.
Barker said she was upset KBR is trying to modify the award.
“They are still dragging it out,” she said. “They didn’t win and now they want to amend the award. You can’t with binding arbitration. How is that fair?”
In her lawsuit, Barker had claimed while working in the companies’ procurement department in Baghdad, she was housed in mostly male barracks and consistently subjected to sexually explicit comments and verbal and physical threats of abuse. Barker claimed she and other employees complained to the companies but they did nothing and instead retaliated against her.
Barker was later transferred to Basra, where she claimed that in June 2005, she was raped in her room by the State Department employee, who she also sued. That case was transferred to federal court in Virginia, where it was formally settled last week. Details of the settlement were not made public.
U.S. District Judge Gray Miller, in dismissing the lawsuit against KBR, said that until Congress tells courts that binding contracts to arbitrate do not include sexual harassment claims, Barker’s claims had to be arbitrated.
Last month, the Senate approved a measure prohibiting the Defense Department from contracting with companies that require employees to resolve sexual assault allegations and other claims through arbitration.
The amendment was attached to a larger defense spending bill. A vote on the full bill was expected later.
Miller did not dismiss claims by Barker’s husband, Galen Barker, that he had experienced loss of consortium – diminished care, companionship or affection – because of what his wife had experienced. The Barkers’ attorney asked Miller this week to put those claims back on his docket.
In September, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that a similar lawsuit filed by another ex-contract worker, Jamie Leigh Jones, could go to court in Houston instead of arbitration.
Jones filed a federal lawsuit in 2007 claiming she was raped by Halliburton and KBR firefighters while working at Camp Hope, Baghdad, in 2005.
Jones has also made her identity public in her lawsuit and her face and name have been broadcast in media reports and on her own Web site.
In February 2008 Tracy did an interview with The People Speak Radio detailing what she suffered in Iraq and how the process was going at that time. As with many of these cases dealing with civilian contractors working for some of the more uncouth contracting companies, this has been a long drawn out deal. In Tracy’s interview with The People Speak Radio, she stated that she and Jana Crowder, now former owner of the web site “American Contractors in Iraq“, had created the War Zone Workers foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to helping United States citizens and legal residents working abroad for federal contractors, corporations, or government entities secure benefits under existing laws designed for their protection and to provide resources so that contractors can obtain immediate medical and mental healthcare upon their return home.
Even though I am mentioned as being a founder with this foundation, I have not heard anything more about it. I have searched Tracy’s web site and the internet and can find nothing about this foundation either. The web address that she mentions in her interview goes no where. I am sure that the length of time it has take to get this case settled the idea has gone by the wayside. Maybe once the courts are forced to abide by the arbitrators ruling, Tracy will be able to get this great idea off the ground.
ATLANTA — A Kuwaiti logistics company inflated prices and defrauded the U.S. government for contracts to feed American troops based in Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Public Warehousing Co. has been charged with making false statements, submitting false claims and committing wire fraud, said acting U.S. Attorney Gentry Shelnutt.
The company, also known as Agility, has received more than $8.5 billion in food supply contracts. Federal prosecutors say its contract with the government is scheduled to expire in December 2010. Agility did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
The six-count federal indictment claimed the company manipulated a complex funding formula to defraud the U.S. government of at least $68 million, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Nelan.
The indictment said the company provided false invoices and statements to a logistics center, bought high-priced food items and then knowingly inflated prices. And it said the company received rebates and discounts from vendors that it did not pass to the government as required by the contract.
The company also inflated fees by asking vendors to manipulate the way the products were packed, enabling it to bill the government twice as much as it should have, prosecutors said. And they said the firm encouraged a vendor in Conyers, Ga., to conceal fees that should have been paid to the company, leading to inflated prices.
“The defendants, tempted by monetary gain, betrayed the trust invested in them by the U.S. Army,” said Brig. Gen. Rodney Johnson, the commander of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division. “And now they must face the consequences.”
The alleged scheme was first outlined in a civil whistleblower filing that was filed in 2005 and unsealed this week. It was filed by Kamal Mustafa Al-Sultan, general manager of a contracting firm that partnered with Public Warehousing Co. in 2002.
The company, which is scheduled to make a first court appearance Friday, could face probation and a fine of up to twice the company’s illegal gains or twice the loss to the U.S. Prosecutors also stressed that more charges could be filed because the investigation is ongoing.
“Others who have engaged in similar conduct should beware,” said Shelnutt. “This indictment is only the first step.”
Before you watch this remember that there are a lot of truckers out there that are good drivers .Many of the good drivers are older drivers. Many of those are getting off the road because of the hassle that is inherent with some of the stupid regulations that are mandated by people that have never driven a truck in their life. I am not saying that some of the newbies are not good drivers, but the idea that anyone can drive a truck is just down right STUPID!
The driver shortage is no more and I wonder if there ever really was one. My belief is that some of these larger companies just bought to many trucks and then felt the financial pain of them sitting in the yard. With the fuel and economy being as has been the last couple of years, many trucking companies and Owner/Operators have gone under. Drivers are getting their wages cut or not getting the raise they were promised. This forces the driver to stay out on the road longer, 4 to 6 weeks, to make ends meet.
If the government wants to throw regulations out, why don’t they regulate these schools? Why don’t they regulate the brokers that steal away a good portion of the money paid on a load that should be going to a company so they can pay for better drivers?
Trucking is a way of life, not just a job. Truck driving for me is a love/hate relationship. I love driving a truck, seeing this wonderful country, and making great friends. But I hate the stupid regulations that make driving a truck more dangerous to the driver. Like the new log book rules that were started a few years ago that force a driver to drive tired if they want to “run legal”!
The doctor says that my fall last November that caused the shattering of both of my wrists is going to take me out of a job and a way of life that I have loved doing for 20 years. But in some ways I am ready to get out. I am tired of these “new school” drivers that have no courtesy, no sense of camaraderie and are half-ass trained.
If the doc is right, I am going to miss the road. I am going to miss the feel of the truck under me as I roll down the road. I am going to miss seeing the sunrise over the Rockies and set on the Painted Desert, the snow fall in Wyoming, the rain in Arkansas, the leaves turn in the fall in Pennsylvania and the new buds in the spring in Tennessee. I am going to miss talking on the CB with other drivers as I roll down the road or in a Truck Stop when I take a break to eat. I am going to miss that feeling I have when I know I am headed home after being on the road for a couple of weeks and the same feeling I have when it is time to head back out!
Published:
Tue, October 20, 2009 – 5:08 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, October 20, 2009 – 5:42
pm CST
MOBILE, Alabama – It’s estimated that there are over 150,000 homeless veterans across the U.S.. Many pass away with no family or money to see to a proper burial. One group made sure that a homeless veteran from right here in the Port City got the honor that his Vietnam war service merited. News 5 photojournalist Gary Arnold takes us to Biloxi where Air Force veteran Anthony Vallia was given full military honors.
With more than 150,000 homeless veterans in the U.S., many whose remains are unclaimed at their death risk burial in pauper’s graves. Through the Dignity Memorial® Homeless Veterans Burial Program, one Mobile-area veteran won’t be among them. U.S. Air Force veteran Aubrey Vallia Jr. (1945 – 2009) is the first homeless veteran in Mobile to be served by the Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program. The program has existed in other parts of the country since 2000 but was organized in the Mobile area just this summer. Through the Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Burial Program, Vallia will receive a chapel service at 2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19 at Radney Funeral Home, 3155 Dauphin St. in Mobile, and a graveside service with military funeral honors at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20 at Biloxi National Cemetery with interment following. Vallia, 64, is a Vietnam-era veteran with no home, no money, and no legal next-of-kin to make his funeral arrangements. That’s when Radney Funeral Home stepped in to see to it that Vallia receives a burial befitting a veteran of our nation’s armed services.
MILITARY RECORD LABEL TO THE FALLEN RECORDS RELEASES HIGHLY ANTICIPATED COMPILATION VOLUMES ON OCTOBER 1st* * *
Wealth of Veteran & Active Duty Artists Featured on Rock, Country & Hip-Hop Collections
Washington, D.C. (September 25, 2009) – Dedicated to producing and promoting great American music from the nation’s most talented military personnel, To The Fallen Records (www.ToTheFallenRecords.com) has announced the long-awaited follow-ups to their stunning debut genre compilations that launched the label. Three new full-length compilations of soldier-songwriters – To The Fallen Records Presents: Rock Volume 2, Hip-Hop Volume 2 and Country Volume 2 – will be released this October, and together represent the latest and greatest from active and veteran U.S. Armed Forces musicians.
The music heard on To The Fallen Records releases is created by artists stationed overseas, who set up studios in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as by artists stationed in Europe, Asia and the United States. Lyrics come straight from the artists’ mouths and describe their most private and intense moments, telling the stories and experiences of being a Marine, soldier, airman or sailor in today’s military. The songs on the compilation offer moving portrayals of the varied experiences of both active soldiers and veterans of combat, while embracing everything from plaintive country ballads to gritty, guitar-driven rock jams and lyrically hard-hitting rap tracks. The label is also dedicated to giving back to its artists and their communities, as a percentage of all To The Fallen Records profits are donated to organizations assisting those who have fallen in the line of duty or have become disabled while serving their country.
The first volumes of To The Fallen Records’ genre-specific compilations were immediately met with overwhelmingly positive acclaim from both the military and civilian communities worldwide upon their release in 2007. The label was featured widely on the CBS Evening News, Rolling Stone, the Sunday Times (UK) and more
I have always known that I was one of the lucky ones to have survived working in Iraq THREE times, but I did not realize how lucky, till I read an article in the LA Times today.
Company e-mails and other internal communications reveal that before KBR dispatched the convoy, a chorus of security advisors predicted an increase in roadside bombings and attacks on Iraq’s highways. They recommended suspension of convoys.
After consulting with military commanders, KBR’s top managers decided to keep the convoys rolling. “If the [Army] pushes, then we push, too,” wrote an aide to Craig Peterson, KBR’s top official in Iraq.
The decision prompted a raging internal debate that is detailed in private KBR documents, some under court seal, that were reviewed by The Times.
One KBR management official threatened to resign when superiors ordered truckers to continue driving. “I cannot consciously sit back and allow unarmed civilians to get picked apart,” wrote Keith Richard, chief of the trucking operation.
I remember that Two days before, on April 7, 2004, I was going through Baghdad on Sword and the problems we had getting through town. I remember my escorts being VERY on edge and how they were so worried about us being attacked when we were stopped on a “traffic jam” on Sword that they cleared out ALL the civilian traffic around my convoy and refused to take the feeder road. Good thing they refused, because after they pulled a check of the surroundings, they found an IED waiting for us on that feeder road.
“Can anyone explain to me why we put civilians in the middle of known ambush sites?” demanded one security advisor in an e-mail. “Maybe we should put body bags on the packing list for our drivers.”
Another wrote, “I cannot believe this has happened; the ones responsible should be held accountable for this.”
I remember we had a saying for KBR and that instead of it standing for Kellogg, Brown, & Root it should stand for “Kill ‘em, Bag ‘em, & Replace ‘em”. I did not realize how true that little contractor joke was.
It would turn out to be one of the deadliest months of the war for American soldiers and contractors — and KBR’s truck drivers were caught in the crossfire. Trucking program chief Richard fired off e-mails to superiors in Houston and Kuwait describing the growing risks to his drivers.
“One of my convoys was hit with 14 mortars, 6 RPGs, 5 IEDs and small arms fire,” Richard wrote April 7. Senior KBR management in Iraq suspended travel, with Richard telling one colleague in an e-mail that the roads were “too dangerous.”
Several convoys were canceled that week. Delayed shipments contributed to spot shortages when many supplies were needed most.
Yes, that is the same day that I went thought Baghdad. After reading this, I realize how lucky I and my crew are to have made it thought on that day. I remember how nervous I was. Watching every roof top for snipers, watching my crew behind me and making sure there was no one walking up to their trucks trying to place something on their trailers or trying to shoot them. I remember how nervous We ALL were, escorts included!
That was clear to KBR dispatchers on April 8, when the first convoys that had moved out onto the highways started reporting gunfire.
Vivid reports came in from the field. “We are taking on gun fire, mortared, rocket launch, small arms fire you name it, we got it, we are losing trucks one by one. . . my driver and I were lucky to get out alive.”
By the end of Thursday, one KBR driver was dead and more than 70 had been attacked. Several were seriously injured. Because the next day was a Shiite holiday as well as Good Friday, security advisors worried that sectarian violence might add to the danger. They were of one voice calling for suspension of convoys.
“I say we halt them for a day at least and consider it a safety/security stand-down, and mental health day,” security chief Seagle wrote on April 8. “There is tons of intel stating tomorrow will be another bad day.”
Trucking chief Richard agreed. “Another day like today and we will lose most of our drivers.”
And they did. I am not sure of what the real numbers were of drivers that quit and went home after April 9th, but I know it was in the hundreds.
Despite their mounting fears, KBR security advisors had no authority to halt convoy deployment. They lost that on Monday, April 5, when that power was abruptly limited to Richard and his boss — KBR General Manager Craig Peterson. It angered the security team.
“Yeah, well I have been authorized for a year now to stop convoys now all of a sudden Keith [Richard] . . . is the only one who can. . . . well partner believe me the ball is in his court,” groused one.
I was told that if I felt things were unsafe that I could stand down my crew. But I also heard MANY time how someone would get into trouble if they did. So, I guess the bull they fed us was just that, AND a way to fill the seats of the trucks so they, (THE COMPANY), could make those dollars.
We need to work with the Army without a doubt relative to stopping the convoys. But if we in management believe the Army is asking us to put our KBR employees in danger that we are not willing to accept, then we will refuse to go,” Crum insisted.
Richard also argued that the truckers were not soldiers. “Our drivers did sign up with the understanding of some level of hostility, but they did not expect to be in the middle of a war,” he said in an e-mail.
One of Peterson’s aides sent a note scolding Richard. “[Peterson] says that if the client pushes, then we push,” the message said. It also specified that convoys should stop only if security was not adequate and “doesn’t pass the Common Sense Safety Test.”
I could go on and on, and pull quote after quote from this article and make comment after comment. But I think for now, ya’ll get the jest of what T Miller has written here. So let me get into what I am feeling.
I am pissed, VERY PISSED!! If they were fighting these guys 2 days before the 9th, that was the 7th. That was the day that I was there. That was the day I had problems getting though. That day, because of a COMPANY being so greedy that they couldn’t care less about their employees, me and my crew could have been added to that set of numbers of lives lost in those days.
I feel betrayed! You work for a company and you expect there to be some of the greediness going on, but you don’t expect it to possibly cost you your life. I know this may all sound selfish, but damn it, how can people do something like this. I remember the rumors floating around how it was this person or that person’s fault that the Hamil convoy even rolled. I heard how the reason it was so bad was that Tommy messed up. I heard that Keith Richards was on a suicide watch for a while. I heard that he was even fired over it. I heard so many things during that time, but never the truth. I never heard that KBR was so money hungry that they sent that convoy and others out, KNOWING that they may not all come back alive.
The military conducted its own investigation of the April 9 attack. The 280-page report concluded that miscommunications in the military about the danger of the roads had contributed to the casualties.
The investigating officer noted that he was not allowed to inquire into the actions of military officials in the 13th Coscom, because the unit was outside his chain of command.
For the families and drivers of the Good Friday convoy, however, KBR provided few details. The company has never made public its own investigation. Its attorneys have fought to keep internal communications under seal, arguing that they contain national security secrets.
In 2005, the families filed their wrongful death suit against KBR in Texas.
Last September, U.S. Dist. Judge Gray H. Miller dismissed the lawsuit under a rule that bars courts from jurisdiction in cases related to the routine exercise of military orders.
“Is it wise to use civilian contractors in a war zone? Was it wise to send the convoy along the route [to Baghdad airport] on April 9, 2004?” Miller wrote. “Answering either question and the many questions in between would require the court to examine the policies of the executive branch during wartime, a step the court declines to take.”
Lawyers for the families contend that KBR retained full authority over its civilian convoys and have appealed.
Will we ever know the full truth of what happened behind the scenes in those days? I think not. Halliburton/KBR/Service Employees Int. will never own up to it. They will leave those families wondering if their family member was screwed over by the company they worked for. But I can tell you right now, I feel like I was screwed over. I feel that if it had not been for my escorts on April 7th being the way they were, I might not now be sitting here writing this.
When is our Government going to mandate legislation governing what the contracting companies must do? I do hope that you, the reader, know the difference between the contracting company and the contracting employee. I hope that you know that like Tommy and many others that went to work in Iraq, that we were there to support the Troops. I hope that you now see that the companies are the one that you should spit on. I hope now you will get up and demand that the people on Capital Hill will set guidelines and rules down for contractors working in combat zones. Because if you don’t…. there are going to me more and more body bags filled with your loved ones.
