July 2005 ISSUE
THE KEYSER FILE
'our reputation was on the line'
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BY Tom Keyser
Freelance Columnist
Professional engineers are well accustomed to stress and tight deadlines. But when the U.S. Air Force is the client and the job is to rebuild an abandoned military base in Iraq, the pressure can be unbelievable.
Just ask John Munroe, P.Eng. Last year, Mr. Munroe led a six-member engineering team from the Calgary office of Earth Tech into Iraq as part of an international effort to reconstruct the shattered and plundered An Numaniyah base, 120 kilometres southeast of Baghdad.
Based in Long Beach, Calif., Earth Tech was fulfilling terms
of a $65-million task order awarded by the U.S. Air Force Centre for Environmental Excellence. It wound up tapping its Calgary design centre to do important advance engineering work.
When the dust settled, Mr. Munroe's team in the field, plus an Earth Tech “home team" of 32 engineers working out of the Calgary office, had completed designs for eight new buildings with 230 drawings — in less than 30 days.
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“We were only about three weeks ahead of the construction team," says Mr. Munroe, who was running a somewhat desperate race against time.
Deadlines Met
Earth Tech won the race, by the way. The company received the assignment in January 2004, and the base was ready to house 7,000 members of the new Iraqi army by June.
“We met all our deadlines," confirms Mr. Munroe's boss, Earth Tech VP Rob Johnston, P.Eng. “Throughout the course of the job, our reputation was on the line."
Looking back, you can see it was a masterpiece of logistics. That’s an assessment recently endorsed by the Consulting Engineers of Alberta.
In recognition of a job well done, CEA presented Earth Tech with an International Award of Excellence earlier this year.
Mr. Munroe and his colleagues in the field volunteered to visit an international war zone because, as he puts it, “it was an opportunity to assist a nation with rebuilding.”
He adds: “And yes, there was some danger involved. But every possible precaution had been taken to ensure our safety.” That came thanks to Earth Tech's corporate parent, Tyco International, which spared no expense to secure the area.
Up From the Ruins
When they arrived, following a few days of preparatory military training, the Calgary engineers found a blank slate. The place was a ruin. Even sewer pipes had been dug up and removed.
No electrical power. No water or waste water infrastructure. Not much of anything at all.
“Our guys had to figure out how to get this place operational and meet the specifications we'd been given by the U.S. military," says Mr. Johnston, who remained in close touch with his field team via satellite telephone.
All the electrical cables had been ripped out, so the team had to determine what kind of electrical distribution system was required, as well as HVAC requirements. In addition, the Calgary engineers had to design new kitchen and mess quarters, dormitories and maintenance facilities.
Meanwhile Back in Calgary
As the field team proceeded, the home team was frantically working to keep pace, creating designs based on specs supplied by Munroe's little platoon. Earth Tech sent reinforcements to Calgary from the Edmonton and Vancouver offices as well as from the U.S. – and even the U.K.
Most booked into a hotel not far from the office, and Mr. Johnston found himself faced with a serious computer shortage.
“We had to buy more. We were stacking up the computers so everybody had a place to work," he recalls with a chuckle.
In the field, Munroe's team quickly adjusted to local standards. The sextet soon realized there was no point installing North American-style systems in a region that would be unable to maintain them.
“It wasn't a question of what you'd like to see, it was a question of what you could get," says Mr. Munroe. “Anything that seemed to work, we used."
Opting for on-site power generation, the team sent procurement experts in search of a portable diesel power plant large enough to support the rebuilt structures – including a mosque – on the vast base.
Meanwhile, Martin Schuster (surrounded by a heavily armed security detail) was sent to test the water quality of the Tigris River, prior to design of a water treatment plant.
An Electric Atmosphere
In all, it was an exhilarating experience. Mr. Johnston says both the field team and the home team were ecstatic when they successfully brought this delicate project to completion.
“The morale, the cheer and the high spirits in this office place were absolutely electric.”
John Munroe: “If you asked the guys who went over, given the right circumstances, I think we'd all go back.”