COB BASRA, Iraq – Fifty years of experience as an architect, a master’s degree and a resume that reads like a travel guide ranging across Europe and the Middle East and even Japan: these are just a few of the things Abrahim M Oda al Timimi brings with him as the leader of the Iraqi Facilities Engineering Team at Contingency Operating Base Basra.
A Basrah native, Abrahim seems perfect to lead the six other Iraqi electrical, civil and mechanical engineers hired to take over the job of the U.S. Air Force Facilities Engineering Team.
The IFET will be overseeing quality assurance and control for all facilities, utilities and construction on COB Basra.
They are the military equivalent of city planners.
And the small city that is COB Basra is more complex than many would guess. Though decentralized, the base has full sewage, water and electrical systems, roadways that are constantly being adapted and improved, and any number of ongoing construction projects.
It’s a good-sized job, and the current FET has taken time and effort to make certain it is one the IFET is ready to take over before they leave in the next few weeks and the new FET comes in.
The Air Force FET started training the IFET on military regulations, customs and courtesies and U.S. standards in regard to environmental concerns in October, said Gallegos.
Now the Air Force is stepping back. The FET acts primarily in a support role to the IFET, providing consultation on American and military particulars and making certain the IFET members have everything they need, even such basic things as office supplies and furniture.
“The goal is that the Air Force FET would never have to come back, and that the Iraqi FET would be able to do everything,” said 1st Lt. Joe Gallegos, an electrical engineer with the 150th Civil Engineering Squadron out of Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.
“We’re trying to work ourselves out of a job, basically,” the Albuquerque, N.M. native added with a smile.
There are some things the IFET, as contractors, cannot do, and even when the next – and last – Air Force FET leaves in approximately six months, the IFET will have a military officer they can take issues to.
However, with local contractors doing much of the work around the base, there are things the IFET can do that their military counterparts would have more trouble with. Aside from the obvious lack of a language barrier a military FET would need to overcome, Abrahim and his colleagues know how to get materials locally, allowing them to propose cost-saving alternatives to the contractors.
Yet, cost is not the primary factor they look at in the projects.
Standing in their office at the Mayor’s Cell Saturday, members of the IFET examined electrical outlets a contractor provided as samples. They look OK on the surface and have, “Made in UK” printed on the outside, but they lack the necessary markings and certifications to meet U.S. Army standards. Achmed, an electrical engineer who asked that his last name not be used, rejected them without hesitation.
Achmed is also responsible for the electrical work in Containerized Housing Units being refurbished at LSA Anzio, where the local contractor is currently turning out eight finished trailers per day. “We calculate the load,” Achmed explained, “and then check the circuit boards, wiring and sockets for each trailer.”
He considers all the items that might be used in the CHU, from lights and electronics to coffee makers and mini-refrigerators, Achmed said. He then directs the contractor what changes, if any, to make to the trailers and what requirements the parts must meet.
He points to a socket. The series of numbers and letters tell a variety of things about the part, including its resistance to water, he said. For a housing unit, a certain level is acceptable, but the same socket cannot be used in a shower trailer.
A short drive away, the base hospital will be getting an overhaul of its electrical supply.
“This is our spaghetti,” Achmed said, pointing to a tangle of cables running out of the generators behind the Combat Support Hospital.
The cables were the “field expedient” solution when the hospital was first installed.
“They are overloading the cables,” Achmed said, “because they didn’t know which cable is going where.”
In addition, short cables were plugged into each other in place of long cables, and water can get into the connections. The temporary remedy is obvious at a glance: several connections have been wrapped with bags and tape – ragged already from the weather. Most remain completely exposed.
The cables themselves are sound, Achmed said, so the team will not have them completely replaced. Instead, working in stages so as to not interrupt the operations of the hospital, they will test each cable and have the contractor replace the sockets with “straight joints” sealed against moisture.
Once that is done, Achmed explained, trenches will be dug and the cables will be arranged and properly buried or secured, allowing anyone who comes after them to know immediately which cable is which.
Hours later, on the other end of base at Camp Charlie, Mustafa Muhamed Atu al Haidary, a civil engineer, explains the role he plays as a surveyor. In simplest terms, he collects data. However, the data is anything but simple.
Mustafa checks the levels of the land, records every angle of the area, the width, length and even the GPS coordinates, he said. In addition, he takes down the measurements of any existing buildings and includes the structural and landscape changes to be made.
Jalil Dheyab, a civil engineer with the IFET, pointed out the importance of surveying at the Anzio site.
“In getting the survey for us, it sometimes takes 2 or 3 days,” he said, “but it actually saves time and money.”
At camp Charlie, Mustafa reiterated the point.
“Without a database, that means you are floating,” he said, his hands gesturing a limbo of uncertainty.
Once all of the data is collected, Haitham Abood al Hayati, a mechanical engineer, turns the numbers into visual plans using AutoCAD.
As the two of them put it, Mustafa turns the site into numbers, Haitham turns the numbers into a plan, and then Mustafa sees that the plan is turned into a reality.
Their partnership is somewhat like a marriage, Haitham joked.
The various members of the team enjoy working with U.S. forces so far, and Mustafa even made a crack about grabbing onto the treads of the U.S. vehicles and hitching a ride at the final drawdown.
Haitham’s own story is one many soldiers on deployment may find familiar. With limited time off and a wife who works a good distance across the country, he will go months without seeing the woman he married only a few months ago, he said.
The two are working to develop a “base” of funds for their future, but that is not easy in Iraq, he said.
Jalil, who has been working alongside Americans in Iraq since 2004, is preparing for the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test, and with family in America already, hopes to go to the U.S. Yet, he said, he would like to return to Iraq once he has his U.S. citizenship and work in rebuilding the country.
Abrahim said he is not certain what he will do in the future. He is 68 now, and has a daughter who is a successful architect in her own right in Poland, where he studied for his master’s. He has considered moving to Canada or the U.S., but said it ultimately comes down to what work remains to be done in Iraq.
“If I go to Poland, what can I do but just sit?” he said.
