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PRT engineers inspect "outside the wire" daily

  • Published
  • By Capt. Jillian Torango
  • Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team
PANJSHIR, Afghanistan --  When most people think of civil engineer officers, they think of programming, planning, and designing; all of which usually take place behind four walls, a desk, and a computer. They envision a nine-to-five, white collar job that rarely puts them in harm's way.

That's not the case when you're deployed to Afghanistan as a Provincial Reconstruction Team engineer. Captains Jason M. Aftanas and Kenneth McGinnis along with Jerry Maureth, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, office spans the entire area of the Panjshir Valley.

It is common to go "outside the wire" to do work when part of a PRT. While some may only leave the base once a week, the engineers are out there every day conducting site assessments, quality control missions, and preparing the province to respond to natural disasters.

Recently, the engineers inspected a handful of construction projects in the mountainous district of Khenj. They started in a typical office at 7 a.m., but that's where the "Office Space" mission ended and the combat engineer mission began.

Before embarking on their five-hour mission, the team completed pre-combat inspections on vehicles, weapons, and communications equipment. About three hours later, the engineers arrived at the construction site of the new Khenj District's Justice Center. The $220,000 building is expected to be complete in January 2009 and furthers one of the key tenets of the PRT mission -- governance.

Within minutes after meeting with contactors, the meeting changed into something more.

The PRT engineers were informed there would be a ceremony to set the first stones of the foundation, and the District's Chief Justice, Mohammad Yousef Qata wanted them to participate. Without hesitation, the two captains stepped in and assumed the role of ambassadors for the United States; each taking their turn and laying a stone beside that of the Chief Justice. Then, in traditional Afghan custom, they were offered candies to drop into the foundation.

The ceremony was an unexpected surprise.

"We've never been asked to participate in an event such as this," said Captain McGinnis deployed from Ellsworth Air Force Base, N.D. "Even though we have only been working in the valley for just over a month, they were excited to have us represent the PRT. It makes me feel really good to know that the people of the district wanted us to be a part of this celebration."

A moment later, the event was over and the captains switched back into engineer mode quality checking the next project on the day's schedule -- the foundation for a schoolbook repository.

After taking an initial look at the foundation, the captains stopped to talk with the project's contractor and engineers. They discussed everything from the thickness of the concrete slab to the logistics of getting the proposed modular buildings up the switchback dirt road with an 8 percent grade.

Once the information they needed was gathered from this site, they were in their four-wheel-drive vehicle off-roading to their third stop of the day -- the Pukh High School project.

The minute the team exited their vehicle, the project's contractor was there to greet them. Pukh High School is a two-story, 16-room, reinforced concrete structure that will soon accommodate up to 3,000 students. While the contract mandates the use of a standard design from the Afghan Ministry of Education, several modifications have been added to improve the quality of construction.

Captain McGinnis highlighted the contractor's use of electrical conduit and junction boxes that are not common in most Afghan construction.
"We're trying to raise the standard of construction here in Panjshir one step at a time," said the Baltimore native.

Another unique feature of the school is the standing metal seam roof.

"We see a lot of concrete, mud, and corrugated metal roofs on the schools in Panjshir, but this roof system is a first for Panjshir," said Captain Aftanas whose home station is Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

The engineers have a system to ensure they maximize their time because there is no time to duplicate effort. Captain McGinnis begins with the electrical work, circuit boxes and conduit, while Captain Aftanas checks the finish work of the floors, walls, and carpentry.

After their inspection of the main building, they surveyed the tashnob (bathroom) under construction next door checking everything from the walls and floors to the handicap ramp that leads to the front door.

"You might not think that having appropriate handicap-accessible ramps here would be all that important," said Captain Aftanas, as he motioned to the steep hill right below the bathroom building. "But every little improvement makes a difference," said the Pennsylvania native. "And we want to ensure that the contractors are building the best product they can in-line with the project's statement of work."

A statement of work is basically the blueprint for the contract and states what is to be included in the project. If something is wrong or missing, then it needs to be addressed and corrected immediately.

Once the engineers were satisfied with what they saw, they headed back to their vehicles for a Meal-Ready-To-Eat lunch.

On the way to their last mission of the day, the engineers received a call postponing the final inspection of a medical clinic repair. No problem. Now they can head back to do four hours of paperwork in their office with the four walls, desk, chairs and computers.