Rotten Food Being Served to Soldiers - 10/10 update

[fwschrom]

As a 14 year Army vet, and 25 years working for the DOD let me give some advice. There are right and wrong ways about fixing things. Going out of order can and will be detrimental to your sons career. In order:

1. Notify chain of command in writting....document.
2. report to IG ( inspector general )
3. Call DOD Hotline - 1-800-424-9098 waste fraud and abuse hotline

It sounds like to me that someone is in this command is on kickbacks or not on the up and up. Its a common problem with contractors across all DOD, and there are systems in place to correct and prosecute if neccesary.

A couple of side notes: this takes a bit of time, the IG and Army CID ( criminal invetigation division ) work together on issues like this if neccessary. If it is something simple such as just putting a contracting officer on inspecting the goods CID probably won't be involved, if they suspect criminal activity, CID will investigate, and they are looking for convictions of wrong doer's which can take quite a while as they are working on Federal Prison time for wrong doer's.

Going to your congessman first PO's the whole chain of command sometimes its neccessary if the above steps don't fix problems, but usually it becomes a big cover the whole commands butt exercise, and there is no real cooperation, just reaction and damage control.

 

[fwschrom]

On one last thought. I said it could be fraud, I don't know nor or I making an accusations. All of DOD has issues with logistics. Perishable items can be extremely difficult to supply at times. I worked with the Marines in al Jubail and Khafji during the first gulf war. In the begining fresh vegtables they didn't get, they got powdered eggs. Later they got local contractors to supply veggies and eggs. The salads were a disaster even then, the medical people identified a problem with fresh greens ( lettuce ) and they took all the lettuce and soaked in in bleach water to kill whatever. I would have served that salad to hogs it was gross., but it did prevent distentary. I was a contractor and didn't eat ( rarely ) in the military mess halls and my system was adjusted to local veggies, as I had been there years before the war, but I felt sorry for the Marines that had to eat that crud.

This could be just a bad logistics problem, cargo ships get unloaded in Southern Iraq...days go by, then it gets loaded into non frigerated trucks and distributed throughout the country, and the camp your son is stationed in is on the end of the supply line.

I wintered over at the South Pole for the NOAA team in 89-90 and I will let you know we had real problems with eggs and fresh vegetables, basically we got supplied fresh stuff just before they closed the station, then we got ONE mid winter air drop. Some of our veggies looked just like your pictures, our choices were clean up and throw out the bad and pare veggies, or eat frozen veggies and powdered eggs. There weren't any airplanes comining in for 6 months, mid winter antartic flights are extemely dangereous, risking flight crews and planes is not worth fresh vegetables and eggs.

This is why using the IG and the waste fraud and abuse hotline is important, they take complaints very seriously and it isn't just dropped.

 

[welsummerchicks]

I really like the young man's spirit, but I think it's better to go quietly through channels. I am going to disagree with some and say I think it's wrong to put it up on facebook. I feel that in big organizations - big companies, army, government...change happens very, very slowly and it is very frustrating. When we get involved with these sorts of organizations we have to just realize we can get more done if we go through channels.

I think it's awful hard on a young person to go into the service as they have no knowledge of that sort of system and it is so frustrating to see nothing get done. So they turn to facebook etc but it can actually wind up causing more trouble and lessening the chances of getting it fixed. One has to be very tactical, diplomatic, and follow channels. It's hard.

I also think when they are in country often it is better to just keep the diet safe. They are better off not eating raw foods than taking the chance someone doesn't cut off all the bad parts.

When I traveled in the third world I never ate any lettuce or fresh fruit for months. You gotta figure, any fresh produce has gotten some dirt on it, not just rainwater. Everything was boiled for at least 10 minutes, hard, even my toothbrush water, and I filtered the water thru a 3-way filter (carbon, ceramic and micro pore filter) before I boiled it, LOL. Oh, I did eat bananas if the peel was perfectly intact and I peeled it with my own washed hands, green coconuts are ok too, cut them with your knife. Mangoes, if I picked it off the tree myself, washed it in my boiled water, and peeled it with my boiled knife. Plus not washing hands with untreated water. And following the old custom of eating with one hand and never touching that hand to any door knobs or anything else that could have germs, water, dirt on it.

That's about it. And I was the only Westerner that didn't get sick. I watched other people crawling around on the ground barfing their guts out for days. Just not me.

 

[rufus]

Quote:
Their website says it is a stock company, NYSE KBR.

FYI, Haliburton is Arab owned. They moved their headquarters to the middle east to be closer to their owners. It is still traded under the symbol HAL.

Rufus

 

[Wifezilla]

Going out of order can and will be detrimental to your sons career.

Oh yes. We do know this.

1. Notify chain of command in writting....document.
2. report to IG ( inspector general )
3. Call DOD Hotline - 1-800-424-9098 waste fraud and abuse hotline

Number 1 - check
Number 2 - not sure but his dad did suggest it (dad used to work in congressional inquiries)
Number 3 - didn't know that one. Will pass it along.

This could be just a bad logistics problem, cargo ships get unloaded in Southern Iraq...days go by, then it gets loaded into non frigerated trucks and distributed throughout the country, and the camp your son is stationed in is on the end of the supply line.

I considered this and that may be the case for SOME of the food. But when the contractor rejects it and KBR tells them they have to use it anyway...and the rejected food gets mixed in with the good food...well there is something else going on besides logistics issues. And if it really is a logistics issue, isn't that what MRE's are for?

I watched other people crawling around on the ground barfing their guts out for days. Just not me.

We had a friend with a similar experience. He was a bit of a germophobe when he left for the Gulf War. He was even worse when he came back, but he he wasn't one of the fools puking his guts out

 

[Wifezilla]

If anyone is interested in care package info please PM me.

 

[country freedom]

Put This On Facebook, Myspace, Twitter.....everywhere! Do not do this!
Ok - I understand!! Go in chain of command and not social sites.

 

[joebryant]

Most congressmen are the problem, not the solution. Probably alerting them to this would cause most to call the culprits and demand a bigger payoff in campaign funds. Good luck getting something/anything done.

 

[Wifezilla]

Good News and Bad News.

Bad.
A vets organization came out and did an inspection. They said it was OK to serve the rotten food as long as it is soaked before and after they chop it up

. Some of the guys with penicillin allergies are seriously worried about possible reactions to the mold.

Good
Son doesn't appear to be in any trouble

Good
We just got an email from KBR asking for more info and copies of the photos. They are apparently doing their own investigation.

Bad
No word on a congressionals action.

 

[EweSheep]

I ought to smack the organization saying it is ok to wash and chop up! Why dont THEY eat that after they see THAT being served????? Good God!

So you are either half way there or half way off the rocker...something gotta give and it is NO sense onceforever that food is SAFE for them to eat. Haven't they look at the medical records?