Pieces like this epitomise my worries about KBR's prolific status in Adelaide and South Australia!
Reprinted from Houstonpress.com:
If it's not one thing (such as accusations of sexual harassment) with those crazy cats at Kellogg, Brown & Root, it's another.
A lawsuit against the company recently filed in Houston federal court accuses its workers of exposing military and non-military personnel in Iraq to contaminated food, contaminated water, and improperly incinerated human remains. Yeah, that's right. Human remains. Joshua Eller, the principal plaintiff, says he witnessed a wild dog running around base one day carrying a human arm in its mouth.
The first allegation deals with water. According to the lawsuit, KBR provided most of the water used to drink, swim in, or treat the wounded with, and was supposed to monitor and maintain its quality. KBR is accused of failing to test the water and then distributing unsafe, untreated water.
Next there's the spoiled food. Eller alleges KBR served U.S. forces chicken, fish, beef and eggs that were well past their expiration date, causing salmonella poisoning in at least one case. Even when KBR food-service managers were notified that the food had expired, the lawsuit states, KBR still served it. Some of the nourishment, according to the lawsuit, "may have been contaminated with shrapnel, or other materials."
Which bring us to the third allegation in the lawsuit: the incinerator.
KBR "failed to properly maintain and operate the incinerator designed to ensure the safe disposal of medical waste at Baland Air Force base, which operated a busy front-line military hospital," the lawsuit states. "Instead, [KBR] merely dug an open-air burn pit and burned in the open air hazardous medical waste and other waste not appropriate for open air burning."
Such items allegedly included human body parts.
Eller, a civilian sent to Iraq in February 2006 to support Air Force troops, is the lead plaintiff in this class-action lawsuit. There are one to 1,000 John and Jane Does also represented, and "at least an estimated 100,000 individuals who were exposed to the actions of" KBR, according to the lawsuit.
In addition to recurring skin lesions and stomach pain, according to the lawsuit, Eller also continues to have nightmares of the wild dog with an arm hanging from its mouth.
-- Chris Vogel
Friday, December 05, 2008
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Masters of War: New Adelaide Defence Degrees announced
From DefPro.com:
Greg Combet, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement, and Mike Rann, Premier of South Australia, today outlined a significant program of investment in South Australia to help build skills within the Australian defence industry sector.
To help support the Defence industry meet the skills challenge it faces, the Rudd Government recently announced a $61 million investment in Defence Industry Skilling with South Australia set to benefit from up to a third of that expenditure.
During a visit to the University of South Australia today, Mr Combet and Mr Rann outlined four of these initiatives, totalling up to $20 million over the next 6 years. They include a Schools Pathways Program, a Professional Doctorates Program, a Masters of Systems Support Engineering and an expansion of the Masters of Military Systems Integration.
Greg Combet said that the Rudd Government was committed to dealing with the skills challenge within the defence industry.
“Over the next decade the Government will be investing over $100 billion to equip and sustain our ADF. We will also be replacing over 80 per cent of the ADF’s warfighting equipment,” said Mr Combet.
“To help achieve this ambitious program it is essential that we address current industry constraints including the provision of skilled labour,” he said.
Mr Combet also acknowledged the work that had been done by Mike Rann and the South Australian Government in encouraging and fostering a vibrant defence industry.
Premier Mike Rann says the fact that South Australia has won a third of this defence training funding is an acknowledgement of the State's growing strength as a defence capital.
"The State Government has worked hard to establish South Australia as the nation’s hub for major defence projects," Mr Rann said.
"We've won $14 billion worth of defence projects over the past four years, including the $8 billion Air Warfare Destroyer contract. That project is the centrepiece of the defence industry’s growth based at Techport Australia, near Port Adelaide, where we're investing more than $300 million.
"The AWD project alone is expected to create more than 3,000 direct and indirect jobs, and this training package will help ensure that South Australia can provide the skilled workforce needed for this growing industry.”
School Pathways Program
Up to $6 million will be available to establish the South Australian Advanced Technology Schools Pathway Program to provide career pathways to defence industry for young people in South Australia.
This initiative is designed to increase the pool of young people in South Australia interested in and able to join the local defence industry by making them aware of the career opportunities in defence industry in the state. It will also ensure participating schools are providing the right studies and are maintaining close relationships with defence industry.
While funded by the Federal Government, the program will be developed and administered by the South Australian Government.
Professional Doctorates Program
Up to $5.9 million will also be available to establish a Professional Doctorate Program in Systems Engineering. This initiative seeks to increase the Australian defence industry’s capacity and capability in the area of systems engineering.
The program will ensure PhD candidates receive the most up to date coursework and research in systems engineering and ensure they have a clear appreciation of its application to defence industry and the military.
The Defence Systems Innovation Centre (DSIC) will coordinate the development of the course and administer the scholarship program. The professional doctorate degree will be initially offered by the University of South Australia (UniSA) which will work with defence industry to develop an appropriate program.
The first round of scholarships will be offered nationally in early 2010 with an annual intake of 5 PhD candidates.
Masters of Systems Support Engineering
The Commonwealth will invest up to $6 million to establish a Masters Program in Systems Support Engineering that will equip senior engineering and project managers with the knowledge and understanding to develop and deliver integrated support solutions.
Adelaide based company BAE Systems will co-ordinate the development of the course with RMIT, and with substantial input from the University of South Australia, SAAB and ASC.
The result will be a multi-disciplinary Master Degree education program covering systems engineering, supply chain management, maintenance, logistics operations, logistics engineering, information coherence, engineering enduring systems and architecting of support solutions and business process modelling.
Design and development of the program will commence in the first half of 2009.
Masters of Systems Integration
The Rudd Labor Government will also invest up to $2.5 million with the University of South Australia to convert the existing Masters of Military Systems Integration to flexible delivery mode.
The Masters program was developed by a partnership of UniSA and three defence industry companies – BAE Systems, Saab Systems and ASC Ltd.
The additional funding provided under this initiative will increase participation in the Masters program especially by industry, Defence civilians and ADF members.
Design and development of the program will take place in the first half of 2009 with testing and delivery scheduled for the second half of next year with UniSA anticipating up to 50 enrolments in the program per semester by 2011.
These initiatives will help further position South Australia as a hub of advanced defence industry, particularly in systems engineering and integration.
Greg Combet, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement, and Mike Rann, Premier of South Australia, today outlined a significant program of investment in South Australia to help build skills within the Australian defence industry sector.
To help support the Defence industry meet the skills challenge it faces, the Rudd Government recently announced a $61 million investment in Defence Industry Skilling with South Australia set to benefit from up to a third of that expenditure.
During a visit to the University of South Australia today, Mr Combet and Mr Rann outlined four of these initiatives, totalling up to $20 million over the next 6 years. They include a Schools Pathways Program, a Professional Doctorates Program, a Masters of Systems Support Engineering and an expansion of the Masters of Military Systems Integration.
Greg Combet said that the Rudd Government was committed to dealing with the skills challenge within the defence industry.
“Over the next decade the Government will be investing over $100 billion to equip and sustain our ADF. We will also be replacing over 80 per cent of the ADF’s warfighting equipment,” said Mr Combet.
“To help achieve this ambitious program it is essential that we address current industry constraints including the provision of skilled labour,” he said.
Mr Combet also acknowledged the work that had been done by Mike Rann and the South Australian Government in encouraging and fostering a vibrant defence industry.
Premier Mike Rann says the fact that South Australia has won a third of this defence training funding is an acknowledgement of the State's growing strength as a defence capital.
"The State Government has worked hard to establish South Australia as the nation’s hub for major defence projects," Mr Rann said.
"We've won $14 billion worth of defence projects over the past four years, including the $8 billion Air Warfare Destroyer contract. That project is the centrepiece of the defence industry’s growth based at Techport Australia, near Port Adelaide, where we're investing more than $300 million.
"The AWD project alone is expected to create more than 3,000 direct and indirect jobs, and this training package will help ensure that South Australia can provide the skilled workforce needed for this growing industry.”
School Pathways Program
Up to $6 million will be available to establish the South Australian Advanced Technology Schools Pathway Program to provide career pathways to defence industry for young people in South Australia.
This initiative is designed to increase the pool of young people in South Australia interested in and able to join the local defence industry by making them aware of the career opportunities in defence industry in the state. It will also ensure participating schools are providing the right studies and are maintaining close relationships with defence industry.
While funded by the Federal Government, the program will be developed and administered by the South Australian Government.
Professional Doctorates Program
Up to $5.9 million will also be available to establish a Professional Doctorate Program in Systems Engineering. This initiative seeks to increase the Australian defence industry’s capacity and capability in the area of systems engineering.
The program will ensure PhD candidates receive the most up to date coursework and research in systems engineering and ensure they have a clear appreciation of its application to defence industry and the military.
The Defence Systems Innovation Centre (DSIC) will coordinate the development of the course and administer the scholarship program. The professional doctorate degree will be initially offered by the University of South Australia (UniSA) which will work with defence industry to develop an appropriate program.
The first round of scholarships will be offered nationally in early 2010 with an annual intake of 5 PhD candidates.
Masters of Systems Support Engineering
The Commonwealth will invest up to $6 million to establish a Masters Program in Systems Support Engineering that will equip senior engineering and project managers with the knowledge and understanding to develop and deliver integrated support solutions.
Adelaide based company BAE Systems will co-ordinate the development of the course with RMIT, and with substantial input from the University of South Australia, SAAB and ASC.
The result will be a multi-disciplinary Master Degree education program covering systems engineering, supply chain management, maintenance, logistics operations, logistics engineering, information coherence, engineering enduring systems and architecting of support solutions and business process modelling.
Design and development of the program will commence in the first half of 2009.
Masters of Systems Integration
The Rudd Labor Government will also invest up to $2.5 million with the University of South Australia to convert the existing Masters of Military Systems Integration to flexible delivery mode.
The Masters program was developed by a partnership of UniSA and three defence industry companies – BAE Systems, Saab Systems and ASC Ltd.
The additional funding provided under this initiative will increase participation in the Masters program especially by industry, Defence civilians and ADF members.
Design and development of the program will take place in the first half of 2009 with testing and delivery scheduled for the second half of next year with UniSA anticipating up to 50 enrolments in the program per semester by 2011.
These initiatives will help further position South Australia as a hub of advanced defence industry, particularly in systems engineering and integration.
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