091910 Iraq can sure suck, but 'ghan' really sucks!
Many DynCorp LOGCAP IV employees disgusted
March 31, 2010 — Ms Sparky
I can't even count the number of complaints I've received regarding the pay issues and the working and living conditions for Dyncorp LOGCAP IV employees in Kandahar , Afghanistan . All in all it has to be close to 100% that being an new American expat working for Dyncorp sucks. Many are saying it's worse than working for KBR. But I'm sure if you're Scott Mount, Jeff Archie or Conrad Cannon your living conditions are premium. Below is an email from a Dyncorp employee.
Friends,
If you are thinking Dyncorp for your job, let me give you some true blue facts. I know everyone at one time or another has ask, "what have you heard about Dyncorp", well you are hearing it from the horses mouth.
Dyncorp is not what you expect from a company of this size and reputation. The HR is as bad as it gets. The finance (pay) is a hit and a miss. Some people get paid others are not paid for up to three months. The living conditions are as poor as there is. We start out in a circus tent with 300 people double bunked with 2 foot of space between bunks. Then we are moved to an 8 man tent but they have placed bunks in for 20 people. The top bunks are only 2 inches from the top of the tent and the lights. We are given 3 to 4 foot between bunks and this is our permanent living assignment, even for Supervisors. There are CHU 's(Civilian Housing Unit) with TCN's (Third Country Nationals) running everything. There is no such thing as a waiting list for CHU 's and nobody can explain why most xpats are in tents. I can see most xpats demobing once they all get their clearances.
The laundry goes this way…you turn your laundry in with an issued bag which holds 2 sets of clothes. It takes 72 hours to receive your laundry back. They wash your clothes without removing the clothes from your bag. If you do not put the soap powder in your bag your clothes are washed with dirty water only. When you receive your clothes back they smell, most have dirt stains on them (which were not there to start with) and they are waded up and wrinkled beyond belief.
The chow is bad, C-Rations are better. The working conditions are bad, I will not go into this. Think the worst and then add more bad things to it and you have the work conditions.
There is no safety or any kind of QAQC around the company.
We all share the bathrooms with the TCN's. These guys are from all over the world. They are doing their laundry in the showers and sinks. Absolutely disgusting people. There is nobody around to enforce rules or regulations in the camps. It looks and smells like a group of animals just spent 24 hours in the showers. Nasty to say the least.
One of the Transportation Managers (name edited out) here just got busted with drugs and having classified material in his computer. Real class act management. I thought KBR was bad until I came here. I found out some supervisors and managers that KBR fired – are here. It's hard to get away from idiots.
Stay away from DynCorp Intl.
I know this will guarantee some hate emails but I stand by my opinion there are inherent safety issues with American expats living in close quarters with unvetted TCN's from SE Asia , India etc. At least Americans get a back ground check and you know there are no convicted felons sleeping in the next bunk. With regards to TCN's you have no idea who the person is sleeping next to you and then there are health issues. Diseases such hepatitis and tuberculosis are near epidemic conditions in some countries and it's a well known fact that labor contractors lie about getting these people vetted including medical checks.
Ms Sparky
1. sail says:
March 31, 2010 at 7:33 pm <http://mssparky.com/2010/03/many-dyncorp-logcap-iv-employees-disgusted/comment-page-1/#comment-9887>
Gee – wasn't it DIGUY who said that Dyncorp had bid far less than KBR and was saving the Government millions. Maybe this is the type of housing a services employees get when the company bids that low. Substandard Subsistance.
I sure hope they are not doing the Soldiers laundry in that manner if they are they are asking for a CAR big time as they are violating DFAR Clause 252.237-7017 Individual Laundry – which actaully state the number of pieces and how the laundry is to be done.
* Ms Sparky <http://mssparky.com/> says:
March 31, 2010 at 7:37 pm <http://mssparky.com/2010/03/many-dyncorp-logcap-iv-employees-disgusted/comment-page-1/#comment-9888>
I am also concerned that DI is not provided the TCN's with an appropriate means to do their laundry. They should not be washing clothes in the shower.
* sail says:
March 31, 2010 at 7:43 pm <http://mssparky.com/2010/03/many-dyncorp-logcap-iv-employees-disgusted/comment-page-1/#comment-9890>
Deb – just curious – did you take a close look at the ovehead wiring and lights in the second picture – I don't know a thing about electricity – past turning on the switch – but that does not look like anything I could like to be that close to.
2. Ms Sparky <http://mssparky.com/> says:
March 31, 2010 at 8:00 pm <http://mssparky.com/2010/03/many-dyncorp-logcap-iv-employees-disgusted/comment-page-1/#comment-9891>
Yes I did see that. I am also concerned about the occupancy issues. I don't know what the occupancy is for those tents, but it looks to me that access and egress is very limited. Especially if you are in a top bunk.
3. Widowmaker says:
April 1, 2010 at 3:04 am <http://mssparky.com/2010/03/many-dyncorp-logcap-iv-employees-disgusted/comment-page-1/#comment-9897>
Dyncorp has made billions of dollars and this is what the employees get? I think the prisoners at most prisons live better than this. Disgusting and Unacceptable!
I wonder if the Executive leadership at DynCorp ( William Ball haus and Pals) care that the employees live this way? My guess would be NO!
Heres a list of the "elite" – they look pretty comfy dont they?
http://www.dyn-intl.com/executive-leadership.aspx <http://www.dyn-intl.com/executive-leadership.aspx>
4. Ksniper says:
April 1, 2010 at 3:53 am <http://mssparky.com/2010/03/many-dyncorp-logcap-iv-employees-disgusted/comment-page-1/#comment-9900>
Lost for words, see what you get when you hire another contractor trying to save the government money. Yes i hear all of those hater KBR sucks and KBR this and that but when they get the DYncorp and Fluor well fluor will pay you and they have the head guy Mr Reuter former KBR and who started afghanistan at least he will get you in to a tent sooner or later you can forget about CHU's don't believe the hype. A lot of folks i know who jumped ship to especially Dyncorp are always calling to see if there any openings with KBR. Remember folks the grass is not always greener on the other side.
* Ms Sparky <http://mssparky.com/> says:
April 1, 2010 at 4:48 am <http://mssparky.com/2010/03/many-dyncorp-logcap-iv-employees-disgusted/comment-page-1/#comment-9901>
Ksniper, you're right the grass is not always greener on the other side. But I look at it this way, Dyncorp got the the LOGCAP IV task order for Southern Afghanistan . They are supposed to be supporting 1000's of US troops. They have at least 1000 (if not more) if not more employees (many are Americans) living in horrible if not unsafe conditions. They can't seem to get much transitioned. Dyncorp is acting like the DoD just dumped this LOGCAP IV contract on them at the last minute. LOGCAP IV was award June 27, 2007 and Dyncorp's Task Order 4 was awarded in July 2009. They knew it was coming and apparently they were and still are ill prepared on virtually all fronts. Rumor is a Level IV Corrective Action Request (CAR) has been issued or is in the process of being issued. At this point it's hard to say what specifically the CAR is/will be written for unless it is just general non-performance.
5. world-upside-down-WHY? says:
April 1, 2010 at 4:49 am <http://mssparky.com/2010/03/many-dyncorp-logcap-iv-employees-disgusted/comment-page-1/#comment-9902>
It would be difficult to bring all the hardshell hooches to a base in Afghanistan as all cargo has to be flown in, BUT each man/woman can have their own tent or share one with another. Make certain that the wiring issue is corrected (I vote Ms Sparky to oversee that project-pay her $650.00 p/hour :). I have seen the Army use a transportable laundry unit, seems like that would be better and cleaner for a corp. that says one thing and does another. Where is the base fire dept? How many would be allowed to sleep in that tent pictured if it were in a tent city in Arizona -the prison where the Sheriff plays tough? Fire Codes? Take one of those tents to the Dyncorp headquarters, set it up, put a sign on it that says – "New living quarters of our Executive Staff- provided by the shareholders, call the media from around the world for this photo op.!
* Ms Sparky <http://mssparky.com/> says:
April 1, 2010 at 5:08 am <http://mssparky.com/2010/03/many-dyncorp-logcap-iv-employees-disgusted/comment-page-1/#comment-9906>
$650/hour!! I'm all about that! Hell I would probably do it for half that. :)We have been in Afghanistan since Spring 2002. If the Military has planes that can fly in heavily armored vehicles, then there are planes that can fly in the material for modular living containers. Even if Dyncorp has to foot the bill for it. Think about it this way. People are not staying. They are incurring the cost of mobilization (unless they are charging that back the employee) but more importantly you are losing the person who is supposed to be doing the job and supporting the Mission . And clearly the mission is not being supported. The smallest things can make a big difference, like the laundry. What the hell is up with that. Laundry is not rocket science! If Dyncorp can't even get the laundry right, how can they get anything else right.
* sail says:
April 1, 2010 at 7:07 am <http://mssparky.com/2010/03/many-dyncorp-logcap-iv-employees-disgusted/comment-page-1/#comment-9910>
Truely these are deplorable living conditions and should not be tollerated. I agree that the good people are not going to put up with this for long – they will just leave.
Each contractor was required to submit a detailed 'Transition Plan' for the TO's that was then suppose to be reviewed and accepted by the Client. Apparently what looked good on paper lost something in the translation to execution.
It may however not be totally the contractors fault that they are not able to bring in hardshell housing or CHU 's right away.
I have been working on North Face Man Camps for the Artic Oil Fields in Canada – and there is such a tremendous requirement for this type of housing all over the world at this time that the back order delivery dates are at least 6 months in the future. This includes units from manufacturers in Romania , Turkey , Denmark and even China . Tents are not an option in the artic area – so the oil contractors are getting priority by paying premium prices for fast delivery and still having to wait months.
I however, don't see any reason why they can not obtain – at a bare minimum via lease – a sufficient number of tents to house people realistically. There are a dozen large companies in europe that lease, deliver and assemble man camp tents. I have used a few of them and they are excellent. There are even companies that lease out Tractor Tailers that are built out like dorm's that have privacy curtians, built in electrical, HVAC and operate off of their own generators. I used some of these on Katrina. They were quite nice.
As a good number of the locations in Afghanistan are new camps – taking over the assets of the incumbent is not an option – as there are none.
The TOP priority for every contractor should be the comfort and services provided to the troops (those they serve) so I hope that they are providing better housing, food and other services for them than they are for their employees. If not I am not sure there is enough paper in the whole country to write up the details of the supposed CAR that may be issued.
6. world-upside-down-WHY? says:
April 1, 2010 at 2:23 pm <http://mssparky.com/2010/03/many-dyncorp-logcap-iv-employees-disgusted/comment-page-1/#comment-9932>
I would hope that Dyncorp would also provide separate latrine's for Americans', also make the Americans Latrines off limits to anyone other than badge carrying Americans. I remember having no other alternative than to use a latrine that was also used by folks from India , etc., (One hand-One bottle of water-No clean-up – I wanted to Up-Chuck!!!
posted by Chris in Iraq @ 6:50 PM
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