Quote:
Originally Posted by frostfire
I have WHO and UNHCR associates here, and their salaries and business/first class allowance raise eyebrow. However, she works very hard ie 10+ hours, very sincere/passionate, and readily acknowledges US pays most of her salary. When the UN compound ran out of booze she reached out to me. I told her they ll be more productive w tax payers money with less booze. She did not appreciate that comment
I do help her from time to time though
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I’m sorry I didn’t reply sooner, must have been busy. I’m not saying people that work for these organizations are bad or misguided, I’m saying they are idealistic and throw OPM at a problem thinking if they throw around enough of OPM (pronounced “OPIUM” aka Other Peoples‘ Money) the problem will go away and they will look good for doing it.
They are very good at attaching their name or emblem on things formerly stamped or imprinted with “USA” clearly written on the bag underneath the UN or WFP emblem/letters.
I (as in me, me, and again me, and (occasionally two other USA-SF persons, our CA Captain) a US citizen NGO (former Green Beret from MACV-SOG days) a dozen Laotian locals (laborers) later followed up by another dozen USA Reserve component doctors, dentists and nurses brought into the country for a week towards the end of the project again by “me” (and the US Ambassador to Laos at the time) built (or more appropriately re-built) a Vietnam War era hospital in southeastern Laos from a dilapidated building built towards the end of the war by the Vietnamese near Uncle Ho’s famous pipeline trial. Filled it with over a half-million dollars worth of US war stock medical equipment (again brought into Laos from Thailand over the river in seven semi-trucks and mysteriously past customs and border patrol agents with the help of a case of Johnny Walker and some fried grasshoppers over drinks one night) and turned it into a fairly modern 50-bed hospital complete with surgical suite, OB/GYN L&D and dentistry suite...oh and running water and electricity. At the end of this nearly six months long project where I never once saw a representative from the UN and I know for a fact they did not provide any funding for this “US Humanitarian Aid” project (again because I’m the one with the help of another USA-SF guy and the Ambassador who sourced all the money) funded it (ironically with OPM!)
On the day of the dedication ceremony and against the US Ambassador’s ‘wishes’ (loved her but, she lost out) and most likely a request by “others’” present to include many representatives from the Laotian government, doctors from Savannakhet, and the “United Nations” (I have no idea why they were there, I had not contacted them or dealt with them at all, but there they were) we had a big ribbon cutting ceremony and all...three of us stood there in pressed BDU’s wearing our “Green Beret” (only time any of the locals saw “the American “Doctor”” outside of wearing khaki shorts, boots, a sweaty shirt and canvas ‘Australian outback hat.’ Must have been quite the surprise for all of them! ‘Sandy’ the MACV-SOG era NGO absolutely fell over himself with joy and the reps from Joint Task Force-Full Accounting were happy to see us as well...they too are not allowed to wear US Army/Air Force uniforms or insignia while carrying out their mission but they were a big part of this project. (We even got an “Joint Service Commendation Medal” from them, yeah!)
Anyways, we affixed a bronze plaque (about 10”x10”) on the building next to the front door that read something to the effect of “On this day April XX, 1998, This hospital is dedicated to the people of Xepon Savannakhet Laos for their continued friendship and support. From the United States of America and the 96th Civil Affairs, Battalion, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, De Oppresso Liber” (I’m sure it didn’t last five minutes after we pulled out and left but I have a picture of it somewhere.) The Ambassador loved it and never said anything about us wearing our uniforms and head gear. I think she was secretly proud (and she was a Hillary Clinton college roommate, but she was definitely not so far gone to respect the military and what we did on this and other projects in country.)
(PS. I just looked and they lifted the satellite imagery ban from Google Maps...if you find Xepon, Laos along highway 9E from Savannakhet to the Vietnam border town Lao Bao (where I practically lived for six months) on the south side of the highway and between the athletic field and west of the Banghiang River you will see a group of red roofed connected buildings...the one with the oldest roof (Which was new when I finished) on the west side of compound (I built, well the contractor built) most of those were not there (I think it became a military compound or government complex) the “L” shape is part of what was there and the white thing south of the building is actually up a hill and is a gravity fed water tank cut from a truck we used for a water storage tank from a well. Like i said, we installed two 60Kw diesel generators (effectively giving the town electricity) the town has grown ten-fold from when I was there. The road you see in the picture below was the highway when I was there.)
PSS. Don’t tell me about “Agent Orange” either, these people lived through it being dumped on them and while I don’t doubt it was toxic and may have likely caused a lot of problems for service members handling and mixing the substances, I didn’t see it among the 72,000 odd people (no I didn’t see 72,000 people just maybe a few hundred *) that lived in this region, I saw gout and iron deficiency and a lot of malaria. I walked and drove along several miles of the Ho Chi Minh trail and saw first hand the effects of B-52 “Arc Light” bombing missions. Yes, they still use fuel drop-tanks cut in half as boats and each village has a 30’x10’ pond evenly spaced about the radius of a 2,000-pound bomb the length of a mile or so. Parts of the pipeline where still there and most people suffered from amputations picking up and disassembling anti-personnel mines for the explosives - same problems i saw in Cambodia - makes for great fishing. (Those that mess up disassembling 2,000# bombs don’t have an amputation problem...just saying.)
* some walked days because they heard there was a “Doctor” in town, I didn’t have anything more than Iodine water purification tablets but hey...I’m a “quack” not a real doctor...Iodine treats gout “Crush half a pill mix with water twice daily” (Never ask me about Tic-Tac’s
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