Ex-Fort Bragg worker gets 3 years for taking bribes

Fort Bragg has been having a lot of serious things happening lately . . . soldiers murdering soldiers. Soldiers stealing large amounts of military equipment. Rapes. Suicides. What's happening?

Hi All My Fellow Veterans. Having worked in Procurement/The Office of Acquisition for28 of my 36 years with the Federal Government I can tell you it is very easy to work with Contractors in order to obtain bribes and kick backs. I have had several Contracting Officers led away with those silver bracelets only to find out later just what they did. Normally, in the cases that I have heard about it was over payments of services that were never provided and after the invoices were paid the money is split between the contractor and the Government employee. Other times payments were made for substandard materials. Sometimes it was due to indifference of the inspection system. Repavement of asphalt roads and parking lots are another easy location for a contractor to be paid for material and services and the material was provided at a reduced amount, and the inspector never followed the inspection process. In one case a parking lot was to have an additional 3 inches of new asphalt added to an existing parking lot. When the inspection was accomplished it was measured at the edge of the parking lot rather than in the center. The contractor put down asphalt and rolled it out in a cup design, meaning the edges were thicker but the middle had at most one inch of new material. Failure by the inspector can be avoided if directions are provided as to how a final inspection and acceptance is to be accomplished. In the case of a repaving project the inspection process should be described such as 'The final inspection/acceptance will be accomplished by means of a series of random number of core sample drills of three inches diameter and four inches deep'. The difference in the color of the new asphalt will be different than the old asphalt. Corrective action is normally provided as a last minute fix of the contractor if the measurement is less than the three inches required in the contract. If the contractor is given free will to decide where the holes are to be drilled you can see how easy it is to get paid for a job not accomplished per specifications. There are many ways for a contractor to pull one over on the Government but if you have an inspector that does not do their job or just looks the other way only the contractor wins. I do not know of any of my coworkers ever being accused of taking bribes or kickbacks but everyone knows that someone has failed in some way to do their job. Faulty materials, or shabby services happen all the time but if everyone is doing their job correctly the bad apples will be caught over the course of time. I for one am happy to be retired! I Salute All My Fellow Veterans!!! GOD Bless America!!!