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No Boundaries

  • Published
  • By Capt Jillian Torango
  • Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team
PANJSHIR, Afghanistan --  As part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team, it is common to go "outside the wire" to do work. 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. 

On April 1, the engineers inspected of a handful of construction projects in the mountainous district of Khenj. First they went to the construction site of the new Khenj District's Justice Center. This $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 became 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. Capts. Jason M. Aftanas and Kenneth McGinnis, PRT Panjshir, represented Coalition forces in the ceremony. Each captain took his turn and laid 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 for the captains.

"We've never been asked to participate in an event such as this," said Captain McGinnis, an engineer 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 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 and checked the next project on the day's schedule: the foundation for a schoolbook repository. 

After 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 eight percent grade. 

After getting all of the information they needed from this site, they were in their 4-wheel-drive vehicle and 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. 

McGinnis highlighted the contractor's use of electrical conduit and junction boxes that are not common in most Afghan construction. 

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 Aftanas, whose home station is Andersen Air Force Base, Guam . 

The engineers used a system to ensure they maximize their time on site. McGinnis started looking at the electrical work, circuit boxes and conduit, while Aftanas checked the finished work for the floors, walls, and carpentry for anything that didn't seem right.
After their inspection of the main building, they moved on to survey the tashnob (bathroom), under construction next door. They checked everything from the walls and floors to the handicap ramp that led to the front door. 

"You might not think that having appropriate handicap-accessible ramps here would be all that important," Aftanas said, "but every little improvement makes a difference."
"And we want to ensure the contractors are building the best product they can in-line with the project's statement of work," said Aftanas. 

A statement of work is basically the blueprint for the contract and states what is supposed 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 there, they headed back to their vehicles for a Meal-Ready-To-Eat lunch.