Jul 29 2008
Site Visits in Kurdistan
Last week, I spent a day visiting projects in Dahuk followed by a day of visits in Erbil. I saw lots of great projects. With construction projects, the most memorable things are the things that aren’t perfect. You’ve probably heard the phrase “good enough for government work”. When I was in Korea, we often joked that it was the land of the “not quite right”. Sometimes when I visit projects here, I think of “Iraqi good enough”.
At one school we visited in Dahuk, the contractor had recently completed a basketball court. Unfortunately, he installed the goal so that the backboard was almost even with the half circle below the free throw line. In the photo, Masuood, the Deputy in the Dahuk Office, is shooting from the line.
Masuood Shoots a Freethrow
Also at this school, the contractor installed a very popular fire extinguishing system I’ve seen at several other school projects.
Fire Buckets
How do you fix issues such as these? Easy, you put the USACE castle on the front, and that’s makes everything perfect!
Veen School in Dahuk
After 18 years in the Engineers, you know well enough that adding the USACE castle to all items whether they be cups, coins, pictures, rugs, plaques, trays, photos, surfboards, sabers, helmets, uniforms, t-shirts, carvings, etchings, plates, hats, shorts, sun catchers, Christmas ornaments, or cakes, makes the item so much more desirable and appreciated.
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 07/30/2008 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.