"If you put me in front of 98% of drilling equipment I would...

"If you put me in front of 98% of drilling equipment I would have no idea. However that is not my job and as I said I would definitely have hired someone whose job it would be to know what they are looking at. It sounds like this is the Wellsite Geo's job? It didn't sound like he did a great job of it. Hence my feelings on having someone else like the Ops Geo on hand. Not checking the inventory seems like a blundering error."

The Wellsite Geologist's responsibilities are as follows:

1) When wireline crew arrives conduct a pre-job briefing along with other parties such as Drilling Supervisor, Rig Manager etc. WSGeo will usually also be present at pre-run rig floor briefings.
2) Go through manifest and check that all primary and backup tools are on site. Some WSGeos will rely on the FEs word as far as the tools being physically present. I tended to do a walk around the baskets and visually check what was in them. This is difficult sometimes as tools are often stacked in multiple layers in a basket. Note I've never had an FE lie to me as far as tools being present or absent from a load out.
3) Check shop calibrations on all tools and pre run rig side calibrations. I usually did a visual inspection of tool strings checking things like packers, standoffs for obvious signs of damage. For formation testers I'd witness loading up of sample chambers and double check physical chamber location no against chamber serial numbers. For some tools I'd ask for service histories from the FE if I had any doubts about the tool's reliability. Other visual checks included the wireline drum (check specs and job history), DWD depth measuring system etc.
4) Supervise running of each tool string with an emphasis on data QC.
5) Post run check after run calibrations (if applicable) and QC end of job data sets and get off to various parties.

As I mentioned previously the best person to check inventories is someone who is familiar with all the tools and spares requirements..ie a QA/QC specialist. Most small operators get away without using them....in this case perhaps we should have...a lesson learned.