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CAMP BUCCA, Iraq (March 18, 2008) - Sewers, water, electricity,
trash and fuel are services vital to any city in the United States,
and urban populations simply cannot function effectively without
proper city management oversight.
Approximately 30 members of Oklahoma's 1st Battalion, 160th
Field Artillery, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team face these same
challenges in the middle of a desert in southern Iraq. The Guard
members manage a facility with a population of more than 26,000
soldiers, sailors, airmen, contractors, Department of Defense
civilians and detainees at Camp Bucca, Iraq. The camp sits starkly
in the middle of the desert -- all commodities and goods must be
trucked into the desolate base camp.
"We are running a city," said 160th Rear Area Operations Center
commander, Lt. Col. David Jordan, of Midwest City.
Many of Oklahoma's 45th soldiers work in the Theatre Interment
Facility, which holds about 20,000 detainees. The detainees are
being detained as an imperative threat to the country's security in
accordance with a United Nations Security Council resolution.
In addition to managing services and life support for the camp,
the soldiers will also work to improve living conditions at the
facility. "We're going to increase our gym space to 5,700 square
feet," said Jordan. Other projects include a multi-sport field,
boxing ring, new office space, ice factory, wastewater treatment
plant, improvements to the chapel and a new housing area called
Knoxville.
Among the numerous projects to be supervised and managed by the
RAOC soldiers are 1,000 new beds for service members -- many
soldiers currently live in tents. "The goal is to provide more
containerized housing units on our base," said Jordan.
"We have several couples waiting on the new housing in
Knoxville," said Sgt. 1st Class Mitchell Brickey, of Mustang, who
supervises the housing of all troops in and out of the base camp.
The camp's married couples serve together, but can't live together
due to a lack of married housing.
The Oklahomans work hand in hand with Iraqi contractors to
oversee the construction of all new projects. "We still function on
time, on target in the field artillery; any projects we've got are
focused on time and on target. We will continue to get things done
on time - deliver fire at the right time and right place," said
executive officer Maj. Woody Elmore, of Chandler.
The camp's concrete brick making facility is run by Iraqi
contractors, and the bricks are used throughout the various
construction projects on the camp. "The local Iraqi men are good to
work with, and we have great cooperation with them. They take great
pride in their work; it's their reputation," said Sgt. 1st Class
Rafe Cummings, of Chandler.
"It's very beautiful - a system for everything, we work through
the process and get what we need to do the project with the correct
assets," said Ali Jihad, an Iraqi project manager. The Iraqi
company lacked modernization during Saddam's reign. "Now we are
bringing construction up to new standards," he added.
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