Waste Fraud and Abuse

A while back I wrote about our new laundry facility. 55 new washers, 110 new dryers, but inadequate wiring and apparently cheap washers and dryers.

I went in today to do a load of laundry and as I was looking around for an open working dryer, a sergeant sitting there told me that only three - 3 - washers are currently working. Good grief.

I'm sure that GI's are hard on the equipment. I've seen soldiers cram the wash tubs as full of clothes as they can get in, so that's got to be hard on the motors. Still, I wonder why they aren't getting fixed. In some cases, the washer is sitting there full of water that won't drain. Either the pump has conked out, or it's some simple fix. We've had them less than 60 days; they must still be under warranty.

If I were conspiracy minded, I'd note that KBR (probably) is supposed to maintain the W/Ds. I'd also note that KBR has the contract to do laundry on a turn in basis, and I'd guess that KBR gets paid by the number of loads they do. So if the free laundry facility is shut down, more laundry goes to the KBR laundry. I dunno, I just wish I could go do a load of laundry. KBR takes 3 days.

Also, on our FOB there are 22 new Dodge Durangos, just sitting exposed to the weather. They have been here since before we got here; how long altogether, I dunno but at least 70 days. I hear that they will continue to sit there for the foreseeable future. Soldiers are not allowed to drive them. I guess they belong to the State Dept so we can give them to the Iraqis, but there is some hold up. Even if they cost as little as $10,000 each, that's $220,000 in taxpayer $$ that's just rotting away in in the Iraqi sun.