Iraqi air force village construction project takes shape

Published Oct. 16, 2008
By Tech. Sgt. Jeff Walston
506th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs

KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq -- The largest U.S.-managed construction project for the Iraqi Air Force has made major progress here, despite many challenges.

When complete, the $30 million multi-purpose Flight Training Wing Complex will consist of 24 K-span buildings and one mortar-and-brick facility. The project will include nine dormitories with 669 bed spaces, along with classrooms, office space, and aircraft flight-line facilities.

This complex, which will support 880 personnel, is the key piece to the $163 million of ongoing construction projects here. "They (the Iraqis) can't be supported without this," said 1st Lt. Kelly Mattie, a civil engineer with the Coalition Air Force Training Team. This is just one of 12 construction projects being managed here.

K-span buildings are usually warehouses and storage buildings, but these K-spans are specifically designed for housing.

"This is the first time I've seen them used as housing units and these are the first windows I have ever seen in one," Mattie said.

Construction workers had two weeks of training on running the machines for the construction of the K-span structures, he explained. "In the beginning, it took three to four days to put up a building. Now, it is one building every 24 hours," Mattie said.

Crews work 24 hours-a-day. They eat at the site since they have their own dining facility which prepares meals and delivers them to the location. Workers are also billeted on-site in their own compound, Mattie said.

Among the challenges workers faced at the site is the site itself. In some places, up to five feet of backfill dirt was required for proper drainage.

Heat is also a factor in all aspects of the construction in areas where concrete is the dominant construction material. Construction workers mix a heat additive to the concrete, allowing it to cure properly in high-temperature environments.

"We're pouring a lot of concrete, during the day, in the desert," Mattie said.

Communication has also proven to be a challenge for construction supervisors. Even the simplest instructions can be misinterpreted when language is a barrier among workers trying to achieve the same goal.

"We have Nepalese, Indian, Philippine, Turkish, Bengalese and Iraqi workers who speak three or four different languages," said an on-site construction manager. "It's staggering what has been accomplished with very little one-on-one communication."

A simple safety meeting to remind every worker to wear his hard hat, something that would normally take five minutes, can last for hours, he said.

On one occasion, he was speaking to an Iraqi who speaks Arabic, who was speaking in English to a translator who speaks Arabic and Turkish, who then translated into Turkish for the artisans. He once needed seven translators to hold one meeting, the site manager said.

The first phase of construction, consisting of eight buildings, is scheduled for completion on Nov. 19, with the second phase completed two weeks later. The final phase is scheduled to wrap-up by the end of December. Iraqis should move in immediately after each phase is completed, Mattie said.

Other construction projects scheduled for completion during the next six months include re-skinning the skeleton hangar, constructing 12 sunshades for aircraft, laying concrete for an apron for helicopters, pumping and pipe infrastructure for water and sewage, and other amenities that would naturally go with construction projects of this scope, said Mattie.

"The construction of this complex will provide the Iraqi Air Force a phenomenal series of facilities to house, train and operate from for the foreseeable future," said Lt. Col. Tony Cotto, Base Support Unit chief. "The construction is first-rate and will leave an indelible mark on this time in Iraqi history here at Kirkuk.

"If I return 25 years from now, these facilities will be here ushering in a new generation of Iraqi air force personnel," he said. "I'll look back at where they were now and compare it to where they are then and I expect we'll all be proud of our efforts of setting our Iraqi friends on a solid road toward democracy."