My second career after retirement from the Navy in 1992 was to join the United States State Department.A choice at the time because I could not find any suitable work , and a officer from my last command suggested the state department. So why not try. I submitted my application and was accepted. They sent me from California where i was living when i was discharged from the navy to Washington DC. When I arrived I was introduced to the running of the department in which i would be a part of . which was at the time FBO ( Foreign Buildings Operations )which was later changed to OBO ( Overseas Building Operations.) Spent over two months waiting for assignment overseas, This was because I did not have the security Clearance they required which was Top Secret . All of which could have been avoided if the State department used my security clearance I already had with the navy which was higher than Top Secret ,but instead did not and I had to go through the whole process again to apply for my clearance not only was it a inconvenience but the money they spent going through the process while waiting. The cost at the time was over 10 thousand dollars and in addition the cost of lodging while waiting to be cleared. While waiting I was put to work looking over blueprints , Electrical , Mechanical, and Architectural of Embassies and other government facilities overseas. I was hired for my expertise and vast knowledge of building systems ,electrical, utilities and mechanical . My background was as a Electrical Journeyman before joining the navy . Obtained a California Electrical Contractors License while being stationed in California plus my career in the navy attending various schools relating to construction matters, and utilities systems. While Looking through the prints I was amazed that they were done by Architects and engineers all professionals . There were so many errors, saying the state department needed help was really putting it mildly. Overall I was not impressed by what I saw . Thinking that the state department of all agencies whom I thought would be way on the top of my list for expertise and professionalism , and to find out they did not was a real disappointment that would stay with me for all the years i spent with them . .
What I did learn while employed by them as a facility manager that there would be a lot of problems between myself and the establishment which included people that held them self’s above others because of education and the state department system of keeping the system as it is . . Biggest problem was not to listen to the old timers who knew what was going on at posts and had more hands on experience than the new engineers that had book learning but no practical . This caused a lot of wast of material, and money at many posts because a lot of work had to be redone at a great expense . The amount of money spent at some posts was absolutely ridicules . Money spent for travel of engineers from Washington alone was such a wast . Engineers put the old timers aside which was a shame and could have saved thousands if not millions of dollars had they cooperated . It was a system in which if you were a technician and had any advice and there was a engineer , the engineer would prevail . You were nicely put aside . This was also the case in a different prospective as a facility manger there were people above you who basically did not mind there own business but thought they knew more than you . . Here is where i did mentione that my military experience would come into play ., At one post I had the GSO (General services Officer ) who took it into himself to redo some of my electrical because he thought his way was the right way and what i did was not to his liking . I was told politely to leave the matter alone since he was a senior state employee and i was the new man on the block and who was i to question him . Who knew it all . Like all government positions you have people you run into that make you wonder how they got where they are and stay there , and in some cases even get promoted .
Examples of problems I ran into during my 12 Plus years with the US State Department as a Facility Manager ., and the people . Either as a Facility manger of the embassy or as a rover helping out in the interim before a facility manager was assigned.
Country’s I was assigned to either as the facility manager or as a rover .:
Armenia, Panama, Kuwait, Georgia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cote Ivoire, Egypt, Lebanon, Uganda, Angola,
As I go from country to another will list as locations to make it simpler for me to remember and follow since there were so many instances . The problems with some was complete ignorance in doing or designing a system that had failed at one embassy but to copy it again at another . I guess they did not learn from the past disasters but try again and of course waste of money and resources.
Location 1:
I remember at one post in Africa where there were so many construction errors . The cost to fix all the mistakes cost the US Government thousands of dollars if not millions . Some of which were complete stupidity and wast . This was a new Embassy .
- A heat exchanger was installed as per planes which later proved to be inoperable and had to be completely redesigned .
- No sump pumps in basement which caused flooding during heavy rains which are common in Africa. This seemed not to be taken into consideration during design stage
- Security door put in the wrong way. Entrance to the outside reversed. Done at a strategist building .
- No makeup water to air handlers. Causing shutdowns of systems . Design error.
- Improper drainage air handlers. This caused the cost of two engineers from Washington to say that the coils of the air handlers were punk-chard causing the excess water in the air handlers to flood . This later was not the case when a maintenance team from South Africa found that the cause was a drain pipe installed without the proper slope.alowing the water to drain .
- No floor drain second floor toilet , Toilet overflowed which caused damage to first floor ceiling and devices .
- No provision to clean outside embassy windows.
- Condensation in Electrical Conduit caused by no provision to isolate the cold air from conditioned space to warm , Caused water to accumulate in conduit and to drip down into electrical equipment. This caused a major concern.
- No electrical safety devices placed on electrical overload equipment to protect overload and eventual burnout of motors..
- Improper fusing of circuit, fuse to small to cover normal load in water treatment facility.
- Condensation in sealed conference room because of improper design. ceiling tile damage
- Generator room excess condensation on walls and ceiling do to improper design . No ventilation provision Caused extensive damage to equipment and corrosion to critical equipment .
- Use of Electrical conduit in place of black iron used for sprinkler system in building.
- use of ferrous straps to secure copper piping . causing electrolytic action on pipping . should or required to use copper strapping .
- leaving a architect to do final inspection of embassy. Person had no background or idea on most of the equipment he was suppose to approve or what was required to repair or replace equipment. Person was not a OBO employee but a person that happened to be there with his wife who was a state employee. This was done to save money so that OBO did not have to spend money on having one of there people there full time.
More examples :
Will go by location but will not mention which embassy it was that i found the problem . But will mention the location so it makes more sense of why the problem existed and why it applies.
Location 2
A African post they wanted to know why i was ordering so many filters for my air handlers . I guess no one in Washington ever stayed in a African location long enough to understand that they did have yearly sand storms which took its toil on filters.
Location 2
One location Asia ,had a electrical disconnects switch in which the wires were close to burning because the wires were coming lose in its terminal and overheating . I was miracle that i was there at the right time and hate to think what could or would have happened if i did not discover it at that time.
location 3
Middle east :
Water blew apart a central UPS system because condensation buildup in conduit dripped onto equipment shorting out the unit. No provision made to stop water build up in conduit which enters a space from a cold or air conditioned space into hot or warm space .
No provision when laying tile outside and leaving expansion joints so the tile can expand when the heat of midday comes. Was walking around the embassy grounds when all of a sudden I heard pooping sounds . I looked and the tile in back of me was buckling up from the heat of the day which was above 115 deg Fahrenheit that day .
No back flow preventors installed in swimming pool. When it cam time to connect water piping to ambassadors residence we found out that his water was also water from the swimming pool. I looked at prints and what it said was amazing. It stated that it was “up to the contractor to install or not” who would do the work and not get paid for it so the contractor did not install the device.
Ventilation system in cafeteria also vented into the health unit next door . So if you were in the health unit you could smell the food smell from the cafeteria .
The palm tress were all imported from Egypt , Called royal palm cost a arm and leg to ship and when they placed it they found out later it was placed in the wrong area. They placed them in front of the security cameras .So something had to go.
When they tested the generators and switching the power was to go back in or on in sequence. I was there during the testing . So when the power started to power the different areas of the embassy all would go in according to importance . All did go in except one . I pointed this out and said the test is not ok
Water entering embassy room because of the trapped water in roofing when roofing membrane placed during a rain storm. Later was turning into steam from the hot sun shining on it and forcing it into the concrete roofing which in days later this water had no place to but into the room below since it could not escape back out of the rubber membrane ,but found its relief in penetrating the concrete roof and leaking water onto the floor below . I guess you don’t or should not lay rubber roofing after a shower . The average temperature daily in this country is above 100 deg Fahrenheit
Location Africa
Water storage tank controls and pumps placed below ground level same level as the water storage tank. They provided no sump pump in case a pipe leak or brake. A connection came apart from one of the pumps and and flooded the control room causing major damage to all the controls in the compartment together with the shut down of the water supply system in the embassy.
Moving chill water tank from top of building to street level. No one took into consideration the amount of dust the was . This caused the water to become extremely dirty and filters had to be instead in system to prevent blockage of water flow. This was not the case when the chilled water tank was on top of building where the dust was minimum.
Installing plastic piping PVC on outside walls to run electrical service. The conduit became hot from the outside temperature of over 100 deg Fahrenheit and started to drop . The entire conduit hanging on the wall looked like a complete mess . Not enough hangers were installed to support the piping . No one took into consideration of the heat and what it would do to PVC plastic conduit .
Another serious problem the state department had or OBO who were in charge of all maintenance and construction was to use the services of contractors who as cost saving would use other than licensed plumbers, electricians , roofers , or other skilled tradesmen etc to perform installation and inspection of systems. Work was performed not according to code . This caused serous problems when equipment had to be maintained or serviced . Also serous safety issues.At one of the tests it failed the specified requirements which any one could see but they passed it anyway and my input was not listened too, and was told since i was not an engineer and did not have PE in back of my title my in put was not worth any thing.. So i thought why was i even there for the test .
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Gerald's Memoirs 