November 13 2000

Some heavy duty electrical installations going on here. Check out the temp power cables on the ground. That's 4 conductor 500 mcm tray cable.Those that know can feel the pain of bending that cable on a cold  morning.
       The 1000kw gensets associated with this service  have 48 cables in each plus grounding conductors. At $50/foot the 1500 feet laying here begin to add up. Panels, cable, and much of what you see installed here arrives by 747 freighter. The cost just to ship a 1500 pound reel of cable is staggering. Costs include army security, and contracting oversight,  each part and piece is handled 10 times before it is installed. One 747 round trip is over $1m.
     One structure of 400 on one base of 740. This is a tiny piece of the expenses in this country. Lets not forget about the bases in the former Russia, Kuwait, UAE, Dubai, Germany, and Turkey. The list goes on and on. It is staggering. Re-fueling tankers fly 24/7 overhead.