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- Jan 12, 2005
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So... As many of you may know, I in the Canadian Forces Reserves. more specifically, in the communications Reserves. Reserves is usually a pretty good deal, a part-time job with almost no obligations, i can usually work about 4 days a week avg with them and never be forced anywhere. during the summer months reservists take either courses (trades courses or soldiering or leadership stuff) or taskings (usually staff or support positions supporting courses or task force/rotation training). this summer, having completed my journeyman level trades qualifications last year took a tasking as Support staff for the Com Res School at CFB/ASU Shilo. this is turning out to be one big mistake because of one thing. well, three little parts to one thing. T-100. or T-1000 as we refer to it.
T-100 is the building I'm living in while i'm in Shilo. in fact, the building is my job. i'm the quarters NCO for this building which means i am effectively in charge of everything in the building. for a normal building, this would be a good thing. when something breaks you put in a work order, the highly overpaid and should be auditted C&E contractors come in and fix it. This building is different. this building... is condemned in all but official status.
T-100 was a school originally and was condemned in 1987 for asbestos. the building was shut down and boarded up. in 2005 the comm res school took the building over from base to use for barracks for it's students. they paid over $500,000 that year to remove the asbestos and refurbish the building. because it's the army that all has to be done by the official military channels, C&E. who should be auditted.
In 2005 the building, in spite of being condemned was passed by the preventative medicine technician (military health inspector) as safe to live in. In spite of hazardous levels of toxic black mold. about halfway through the summer, the condemned and nonfunctional air systems sprang into action of their own volition. students and staff reported black mold spores shooting out of the vents for the remainder of the summer. it was bad enough that an entire room of the school was literally sealed off and marked "DANGER, TOXIC MOLD INSIDE. DO NOT ENTER!" that is now my laundry room.
Over the winter the school was supposedly cleaned of the majority of the mold. this cost the army $173,000. actually, not too bad to get people in proper protective equipment to clean poisonous mold out of a large building's air systems.
In 2006 in the spring T-100 was smote yet again, this time, with flood damage. the basement accumulated 11 feet of water which was enough to do damage to the main floor. suffice it to say, more mold was grown and the floors in some areas of the building were damaged and warped. the army laid down a lot of money again.
In the fall/winter of 2006 while the building was empty, they found trace amounts of asbestos and mold still clinging into carpets of some unused rooms, in spite of steam cleaning. the carpets were to be removed for spring 2007. also, payments were sent in to have the floors redone in many areas, for privacy walls to be placed in an entire wing of the building for staff usage the next year due to lack of accomadations predicted due to pre-deployment training to take place concurrently in 07. when i arrived on ground in APR 2007, in spite of the fact all of this had been paid for (more than 70,000 in costs for the carpet removals, floors replacement) none of this had been accomplished. Myself and about 12 other support staff arrived to begin setup of the school for the courses to arrive at the start of may.
Health regulations state that a building must be approved by health and safety inspectors and the fire marshall before persons occupy the building. 3 weeks after i had arrived on ground the preventative medicine technician and the fire marshall did their inspections of the building. now there are two distinct sad amusing stories here. the first, the fire marshall told me the building was a fire hazard and that he has been trying to have it torn down since 2005. the better one. the pre-med, who was new to the base as opposed to the ...person who had deemed this building safe to live in the previous 2 years... was doing her inspection of the building. i was doing some work in the building with a crew of people, moving furniture ect in prep for the staff influx. the med was shocked and appalled by the building. the word "inacceptable" was repeated over and over. after she had finished her inspection she turned to us and commented...
"Aren't you glad you don't live here?"
*my head hangs in defeat* "we do live here"
"Oh, dear god, i'm so sorry. we'll be doing this and this and this to improve it before you move in."
I pause "we've been living here for 3 weeks already"
She took samples for an air quality test and a water safety test. the water passed. they still haven't returned the air tests after 3 weeks. regardless of the results, which they probably will never show us, we still live in this building. there is still mold on the bathroom ceiling. this building did not pass her inspections but the medic supervisor signed it off as livable. as i live here, i can feel myself getting sicker by the day.
this marks the end of my T-100 complaints.
This is just par for the course in the signals. My trade, Signal Operator, is the most in demand trade in the Canadian Forces. It is tied for the highest entrance level on the intelligence test scores of any trade. Beyond the fact that i feel my trade is totally pointless. The signals are a seperate command from the army airforce and navy, dealing with all three but belonging to none. already, we've set ourselves apart and we are seen by the rest of the forces as aloof and reclusive. the personality type inclined to joining the comms doesn't help that. a lot of people using it for college money. the job in and of itself, is really pretty decent, and when working with any element besides the signals it's enjoyable. we set up our command post, man the radio in shifts and make sure there's coffee for the officers. in theory our job is even sweeter. we set up the equipment and log the traffic but a duty officer is supposed to work the radio. this never happens but it's nice in theory. When we work with just signals though... well, there's a saying with the rest of the army. actually there are a few, but it's well known fact that sig ops "eat their own." it's probably the only trade in the army that you come off a trades course wishing you were another trade. The staff cock you and cock you and cock you. Ridiculous PT 5 AM every weekday+Saturday. Classroom 8-4, every day. Inspections 5:30-9:30/10:00 every night. the most cock for the least hardcore trade. well, not the least, but a very easy trade. So why don't i change out? Sig Op has issues with letting people go. no, seriously. they refuse to kick the stupidest people out. people who are a hazard to everyone around them by their sheer incompetance, who fail their basic trainings just keep getting sent back till they pass. When you try and remuster out they simply don't process the paperwork. the only way out once you're qualified is pretty much to quit the army at large.
Fuck T-100, Fuck the Signals.
/end rant
So ya, that needed to get off my chest... with the black mold weakening my lungs having things on your chest makes it hard to breathe.
T-100 is the building I'm living in while i'm in Shilo. in fact, the building is my job. i'm the quarters NCO for this building which means i am effectively in charge of everything in the building. for a normal building, this would be a good thing. when something breaks you put in a work order, the highly overpaid and should be auditted C&E contractors come in and fix it. This building is different. this building... is condemned in all but official status.
T-100 was a school originally and was condemned in 1987 for asbestos. the building was shut down and boarded up. in 2005 the comm res school took the building over from base to use for barracks for it's students. they paid over $500,000 that year to remove the asbestos and refurbish the building. because it's the army that all has to be done by the official military channels, C&E. who should be auditted.
In 2005 the building, in spite of being condemned was passed by the preventative medicine technician (military health inspector) as safe to live in. In spite of hazardous levels of toxic black mold. about halfway through the summer, the condemned and nonfunctional air systems sprang into action of their own volition. students and staff reported black mold spores shooting out of the vents for the remainder of the summer. it was bad enough that an entire room of the school was literally sealed off and marked "DANGER, TOXIC MOLD INSIDE. DO NOT ENTER!" that is now my laundry room.
Over the winter the school was supposedly cleaned of the majority of the mold. this cost the army $173,000. actually, not too bad to get people in proper protective equipment to clean poisonous mold out of a large building's air systems.
In 2006 in the spring T-100 was smote yet again, this time, with flood damage. the basement accumulated 11 feet of water which was enough to do damage to the main floor. suffice it to say, more mold was grown and the floors in some areas of the building were damaged and warped. the army laid down a lot of money again.
In the fall/winter of 2006 while the building was empty, they found trace amounts of asbestos and mold still clinging into carpets of some unused rooms, in spite of steam cleaning. the carpets were to be removed for spring 2007. also, payments were sent in to have the floors redone in many areas, for privacy walls to be placed in an entire wing of the building for staff usage the next year due to lack of accomadations predicted due to pre-deployment training to take place concurrently in 07. when i arrived on ground in APR 2007, in spite of the fact all of this had been paid for (more than 70,000 in costs for the carpet removals, floors replacement) none of this had been accomplished. Myself and about 12 other support staff arrived to begin setup of the school for the courses to arrive at the start of may.
Health regulations state that a building must be approved by health and safety inspectors and the fire marshall before persons occupy the building. 3 weeks after i had arrived on ground the preventative medicine technician and the fire marshall did their inspections of the building. now there are two distinct sad amusing stories here. the first, the fire marshall told me the building was a fire hazard and that he has been trying to have it torn down since 2005. the better one. the pre-med, who was new to the base as opposed to the ...person who had deemed this building safe to live in the previous 2 years... was doing her inspection of the building. i was doing some work in the building with a crew of people, moving furniture ect in prep for the staff influx. the med was shocked and appalled by the building. the word "inacceptable" was repeated over and over. after she had finished her inspection she turned to us and commented...
"Aren't you glad you don't live here?"
*my head hangs in defeat* "we do live here"
"Oh, dear god, i'm so sorry. we'll be doing this and this and this to improve it before you move in."
I pause "we've been living here for 3 weeks already"
She took samples for an air quality test and a water safety test. the water passed. they still haven't returned the air tests after 3 weeks. regardless of the results, which they probably will never show us, we still live in this building. there is still mold on the bathroom ceiling. this building did not pass her inspections but the medic supervisor signed it off as livable. as i live here, i can feel myself getting sicker by the day.
this marks the end of my T-100 complaints.
This is just par for the course in the signals. My trade, Signal Operator, is the most in demand trade in the Canadian Forces. It is tied for the highest entrance level on the intelligence test scores of any trade. Beyond the fact that i feel my trade is totally pointless. The signals are a seperate command from the army airforce and navy, dealing with all three but belonging to none. already, we've set ourselves apart and we are seen by the rest of the forces as aloof and reclusive. the personality type inclined to joining the comms doesn't help that. a lot of people using it for college money. the job in and of itself, is really pretty decent, and when working with any element besides the signals it's enjoyable. we set up our command post, man the radio in shifts and make sure there's coffee for the officers. in theory our job is even sweeter. we set up the equipment and log the traffic but a duty officer is supposed to work the radio. this never happens but it's nice in theory. When we work with just signals though... well, there's a saying with the rest of the army. actually there are a few, but it's well known fact that sig ops "eat their own." it's probably the only trade in the army that you come off a trades course wishing you were another trade. The staff cock you and cock you and cock you. Ridiculous PT 5 AM every weekday+Saturday. Classroom 8-4, every day. Inspections 5:30-9:30/10:00 every night. the most cock for the least hardcore trade. well, not the least, but a very easy trade. So why don't i change out? Sig Op has issues with letting people go. no, seriously. they refuse to kick the stupidest people out. people who are a hazard to everyone around them by their sheer incompetance, who fail their basic trainings just keep getting sent back till they pass. When you try and remuster out they simply don't process the paperwork. the only way out once you're qualified is pretty much to quit the army at large.
Fuck T-100, Fuck the Signals.
/end rant
So ya, that needed to get off my chest... with the black mold weakening my lungs having things on your chest makes it hard to breathe.
