diff --git a/ec2/retry_decorator.py b/ec2/retry_decorator.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 1a2f79ae844f7043671ea9b2e60fddc83df60e88..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/ec2/retry_decorator.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-import time
-from functools import wraps
-
-def retry(ExceptionToCheck, tries=4, delay=3, backoff=2, logger=None):
-    """Retry calling the decorated function using an exponential backoff.
-
-    http://www.saltycrane.com/blog/2009/11/trying-out-retry-decorator-python/
-    original from: http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonDecoratorLibrary#Retry
-
-    :param ExceptionToCheck: the exception to check. may be a tuple of
-        exceptions to check
-    :type ExceptionToCheck: Exception or tuple
-    :param tries: number of times to try (not retry) before giving up
-    :type tries: int
-    :param delay: initial delay between retries in seconds
-    :type delay: int
-    :param backoff: backoff multiplier e.g. value of 2 will double the delay
-        each retry
-    :type backoff: int
-    :param logger: logger to use. If None, print
-    :type logger: logging.Logger instance
-    """
-    def deco_retry(f):
-
-        @wraps(f)
-        def f_retry(*args, **kwargs):
-            mtries, mdelay = tries, delay
-            while mtries > 1:
-                try:
-                    return f(*args, **kwargs)
-                except ExceptionToCheck, e:
-                    msg = "%s, Retrying in %d seconds..." % (str(e), mdelay)
-                    if logger:
-                        logger.warning(msg)
-                    else:
-                        print msg
-                    time.sleep(mdelay)
-                    mtries -= 1
-                    mdelay *= backoff
-            return f(*args, **kwargs)
-
-        return f_retry  # true decorator
-
-    return deco_retry
diff --git a/ec2/spark_ec2.py b/ec2/spark_ec2.py
index aa2d360fbbcafe7b10cf711733ee17641988dcca..9f2daad2b632333b9dc288493d5ec52d908531db 100755
--- a/ec2/spark_ec2.py
+++ b/ec2/spark_ec2.py
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ from __future__ import with_statement
 import logging
 import os
 import random
-from retry_decorator import retry
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 import sys
@@ -541,12 +540,24 @@ def scp(host, opts, local_file, dest_file):
       (opts.identity_file, local_file, opts.user, host, dest_file), shell=True)
 
 
-# Run a command on a host through ssh, throwing an exception if ssh fails
-@retry(subprocess.CalledProcessError, tries=3, delay=30)
+# Run a command on a host through ssh, retrying up to two times
+# and then throwing an exception if ssh continues to fail.
 def ssh(host, opts, command):
-  subprocess.check_call(
-      "ssh -t -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -i %s %s@%s '%s'" %
-      (opts.identity_file, opts.user, host, command), shell=True)
+  tries = 0
+  while True:
+    try:
+      return subprocess.check_call(
+        "ssh -t -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -i %s %s@%s '%s'" %
+        (opts.identity_file, opts.user, host, command), shell=True)
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
+      if (tries > 2):
+        raise e
+      print "Error connecting to host {0}, sleeping 30".format(e)
+      time.sleep(30)
+      tries = tries + 1
+    
+    
+    
 
 
 # Gets a list of zones to launch instances in