Friday, June 12, 2009

Fired Up - Literally

Yesterday I posted that it had been days since I had heard from my husband. I was hoping he was coming home to surprise me.

Quite the opposite.

He was actually lying in the hospital after being electrocuted while washing his hands.

To bring you up to date, KRB was contracted to do the electrical wiring for our troops. They did a crappy job and men have died while swimming and showering. Others have been injured, my husband being one of them.

On May 20, 2009, Jim Childs,an electrical inspector hired by the Army to help review U.S.-run facilities in Iraq testified before the Democrats' policy committee that 90 percent of KBR's wiring in newly constructed buildings in Iraq was not done properly, meaning an estimated 70,000 buildings where troops lived and worked were not safe.

I'm furious. It was two days before I knew what had happened to him.

I'm worried. I want him to be someplace where he can be continuously monitored and evaluated by a neurosurgeon.

I'm at peace (somewhat). I have faith that if the Lord wants to take Him home, than there is nothing in the world, even the most perfectly wired facility, that can keep him here.

I'm sad. I want to to see him, and be reassured that he's recovering and resting.

I'm ready to make some noise. I want these electrical issues to be fixed NOW.

I'm coveting your prayers for my husband and the safety of our troops.

Please think of us today.

I would be forever grateful.

7 comments:

Penny said...

You have EVERY reason to be fired up! I'm sending my thoughts and prayers to you all!

geminirn said...

Keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers...this is terrible,hope it gets fixed very soon!

hugs from Canada

trooppetrie said...

I would be furious but i am new to your blog. is he a contractor or soldier. There is NO reason not to have told you. Even his friends could have called and said it is not life threatening. How did u find out. the same thing happened when my husband had a kidney stone in Iraq, no one called because he did not stay in the hospital. but he also was not well enough to stand in line to make a phone call. praying for you and him.

trooppetrie said...

Quick question, how did you find out he had been hurt, have you talked to his unit or to him. This is really crazy that you did not know. but then again my soldier who is setting next to me was told he would have to pay for his packing after two surgeries for infection. we are on a small post that does not have a hospital and they said they can not carry these things. i said so what the army is out of money for band aids and gauze. luckily his home health nurse is helping because i refused to pay for medical supplies for my soldier whose dr could not get him in for 3 days in a row. praying for your husband. my children would love to send him get well cards.

Amy said...

We'll be thinking about you and praying for your husband and your family.

Rach said...

He is in our prayers...how horrible that this type of work was done...inexcusable! Many hugs to you.

Jaima of Ring Around the Rosies said...

For some reason Blog Frog wouldn't accept my full reply?!?

Thanks for the email & the link. I am truly dismayed. What can we do here at home to raise awareness (or hell) about this? Apparently, from all of the links below it's a pretty well known fact by all of the higher-ups that this is a major issue. From what I've been reading it seems as though most everything was corrected last year, but to have your husband become a victim of this now is disheartening.

http://www.tressugar.com/1796181

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/07/faulty_wiring_killing_us_troop.html

http://talkradionews.com/2009/05/faulty-buildings-not-bullets-killing-american-soldiers/

http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/story/357464.html

http://www.newser.com/story/32735/shoddy-electrical-work-killing-us-troops-in-iraq.html
(the above one states that as of July 2008 13 soldiers had been killed from electrocution, several others perished in electrical fires, and countless others injured)

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2009/03/31/olbermann-dick-cheney-electrocution-showers-endangering-u-s-troops-ir
(Although I don’t agree with a lot of the comment made in the beginning, I do have a problem with us paying KBR our “millions” of tax dollars only to have our men killed by something so preventable)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/world/middleeast/04electrocute.html?_r=1


http://www.the-two-malcontents.com/2009/04/20/kbr%E2%80%99s-shoddy-work-is-killing-our-troops-in-iraq-but-the-pentagon-keeps-giving-kbr-contracts/
(this mother who lost her son to electrocution is suing KBR and seems to have a lot of info – she’s even in contact w/ Gates & General P (who I have personally met & hold the a HUGE amount of respect for). Here’s a clip of her conversation w/ The General, “Shea-Porter briefly questioned Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the U.S. Central Command, about the issue in an armed services committee hearing earlier this month. Petraeus told her that a new "Task Force Safe" was created in Iraq in response to the electrocution deaths and has inspected "tens of thousands" of structures. "Unfortunately there are still tens of thousands of structures" yet to be inspected, Petraeus said, but he said the task force "is working very hard and we have shared those lessons with Afghanistan and other places in Central Command where we have similar types of infrastructure that have been built up by contractors."”)

And all of this is just page ONE of my Google search!

You can email me @ Jaimashs@yahoo.com