----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark H" <mark@y...> To: <broadcast@b...> Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 11:35 AM Subject: [BC] [BC]Remembering Nick (was Why was Nick in Iraq?)
> The tragic news about Nick Berg's murder hit very close to home, as I > had known him for about two years and we hired him for several recent > projects -- in fact, he installed an auxiliary antenna for WPLY in > February, just before heading back to Iraq. Perhaps I can shed some > light on this situation. > > First, let me say that Nick impressed me as a very bright, resourceful > and dedicated individual who cared a great deal about improving our > quality of life by applying his skills and knowledge. Nick not only > possessed the necessary physical ability and stamina to do the job, but > had also studied engineering at Drexel, Penn, and Cornell, so I felt > very comfortable letting him handle our work. I knew that he wanted to > grow his own business, and I felt obligated to give him that > opportunity. > > He had all sorts of ideas to bring technology to less-developed > parts of the world, including a concrete tower which could be > fabricated in remote parts of the world using locally- > available materials, thus avoiding the problems of shipping steel in > the absence of a good transportation network. > > In fact, at last year's PAB Engineering Conference in Hershey, he and > his father (who served as business manager of the company) displayed a > prototype modular structure called "Bovl Blocks", made of interlocking > concrete blocks that could be cast on site, then stacked to the desired > height. He thought this product would be particularly useful in the > African interior, where cellular networks are just beginning to be > built out. > > Why did he go to Iraq? > > He was aware that some towers were damaged last year during bombing > missions, and many more had been looted... copper lines removed, > diagonal members taken out, etc. Few obstruction lighting systems were > functional -- he mentioned an 800 foot tower two miles from an airport > (used by our military) that was totally dark. So he first went over in > December to see if he could help to assist in the reconstruction, > restore Iraq's broadcast services, and repair the serious structural > damage that endangered the lives of their citizens. > > I received the following email message from Nick in early January: > > >About Iraq- > > >I am taking photos - where allowed. It's actually pretty sad - I just > >got off one of two 320 meter monster towers in Abu Gharib (also home > >to the main political prison) which use to support most of Baghdad > >area's VHF and UHF. > >Both have been badly looted, including 4000 feet or more of flexible 6- > >1/8" heliax, two full 12X4 panel TV antennas, and even some structural > >members. I was also in the North as I mentioned, but here there > >wasn't as much damage. I'll definitely share some of these pix with > >you and others next time I'm in the area - I'd love to put together a > >little presentation for SBE or PAB in about six monthes after I've > >been on every site and fixed some of them. > > He returned to Philadelphia in late January to catch up on some > domestic business -- then in early February, tackled an antenna > replacement job at our aux site, which he had quoted last summer. > > This proved to be more complicated than either of us had first assumed > (a three-bay DA with two vertical and four horizontal parasites per > bay) but he honored his original quote. The work took place in sub- > zero windchills... my feet were getting plenty cold just standing out > in the cornfield as we aligned the azimuth, it must have been brutal up > on the tower, but he took it in stride. (I'm sending Barry some > pictures of Nick on this job to post on the "Oldradio" site.) > > After Nick completed assembly and we purged the system, I ran the > pressure up to 5 PSI and closed the valve on the nitrogen tank. I came > out at 4:30 AM the next morning to run some power into the new antenna, > and as the transmitter ramped up to full output, I saw *zero* > reflected. (I tapped the meter to make sure it wasn't stuck!) > > We had a perfect installation, no split or missing bullets, etc. And I > haven't seen *any* pressure loss since then (actually, the gage reads > between 7 and 8 now, due to the warmer weather.) > > I knew that Nick was planning to return to Irag in March, but hadn't > heard any word from him over the past two months, which had me > concerned. Then I received the message from his parents (which Stu > Engelke posted here last week) and my heart sunk. I was at lunch > yesterday when the news broke about his brutal murder, and I was > devastated. > > If you've been following all sides of this story, you may have read > that his parents did not receive much cooperation from OUR Federal > Government when trying to learn his whereabouts, which is very > disturbing. He had reportedly booked a March 30 flight back to New > York, but missed it because he had been detained by our military. > Today's "spin" on the story is that they told him to get out, but I'm > not buying that. > > Let's keep his family in our thoughts and prayers. Our industry (and > humanity) has lost a very fine person. > > Mark
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I found this email reposted on Tower Pro, a yahoo group for discussion of communication towers and related work. Several members knew him and worked with him in the past in the tower-communications field, and have posted about it. In Berg's January emails, he claimed to have been awarded a subcontractor deal by Harris Corp-Florida. There don't seem to be any further details as to why he was back again in March looking for work if he'd already been awarded a subcontracting job in January. His comments indicated he was familiar with how the bureaucracy in Iraq worked. I can't find any information showing that Harris Corporation has been asked about why the work never materialized.