Williston's New Workforce Training Center Completed -- July 12, 2015

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

Williston -- A new $7.5 million, 19,740-square-foot, workforce training facility in Williston is complete, filling a demand for oil industry training that remains strong despite a slowdown in drilling.

The new building for TrainND’s Northwest Center at Williston State College brings the classroom training together with its petroleum simulators and field program, which features a workover rig and other oilfield equipment.

The workforce training program has seen a drop in participants along with the decline in oil activity, but it hasn’t been as significant as some had projected.

For the 2014-15 school year, TrainND in Williston provided training to more than 320 businesses and 14,000 participants, including some who took more than one training course.

That represented a drop in enrollment of about 2,000 people from a year ago, but enrollment was higher than in 2012-13.

Many companies in northwest North Dakota are trying to keep their good employees during the downturn and are using the slow time as an opportunity to take refresher courses or update safety certifications.

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Speaking Of Training

This is so cool. On July 8, 2015, I posted a link to a story about President Obama spending $500 million to train 60 Syrian Army soldiers.  The complete post:

Recruited 60 soldiers.

$500 million / 60 = $8 million /  soldier.

But they have really nice uniforms. I can't make this stuff up.

For those folks who still support President Obama, they simply are not paying attention. 

Now, a week later, the folks over at the Los Angeles Times finally picked up on the story:

Sixty? UCLA has more men on its football roster. That's "not an impressive number," Carter acknowledged.

Skeptics instantly did the arithmetic: If that's all we get for $500 million, it comes to almost $9 million per fighter — and the trainees haven't even made it onto the battlefield yet.

Actually, a Pentagon official said, only $36 million has been spent so far, and some of that includes start-up costs for a program that still aims for 15,000 trainees — just much more slowly than expected.

Still, the story of the Pentagon's amazing shrunken training program — an idea that almost looked bold when Obama first proposed it — could serve as a metaphor for the whole of U.S. strategy in Syria: ambitious in its goals, but so risk-averse in design and so hamstrung in execution that it remains painfully ineffective.

Wow, it's going to take a whole LA Times column to say what I said in less than 35 words.

The real question is how much did the Iraqi government skim off the top of the $500 million? My hunch: not less than $490 million.

$10 million should still be enough for spiffy uniforms. Even in Iraq.

Most of which are probably being worn by ISIS by now.

Let me say it again for those folks who still support President Obama: you are simply not paying attention. 

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Irony: Not Everyone Gets It

The problem with irony, not everyone gets it. -- Ray Wylie Hubbard

Did You Get The Beer?, Ray Wylie Hubbard

Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jerry Jeff Walker

London Homesick Blues, Gary P Nunn, Jerry Jeff Walker