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The US military is currently closing down operations on several forward operating bases and handing them over to the Iraqis. It’s not an easy task. Millions of dollars have been put into building dining facilities, gyms, pools, housing, headquarters, bunkers and the ubiquitous T-walls on FOBS. The Logistics Brigade at FOB Q-West, south of Mosul in northern Iraq, is currently figuring out what to keep and what to leave behind. They’ll be the last Americans to leave the FOB this summer. Ben Gilbert reports. (Photo: Ben Gilbert)
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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston. President Obama has pledged to remove U.S. combat troops from Iraq by August. The withdrawal will be, among other things, a logistical nightmare. Millions of dollars have gone into housing, dining halls, gyms, and swimming pools. The military is already packing up and preparing to hand over what remains to the Iraqi military. At the Contingency Operating Base, Q-West, near Mosul in northern Iraq, the last U.S. service members to leave will the Logistics Brigade. Ben Gilbert reports.
BEN GILBERT: There’s a hug gravel yard here at Contingency Operating Base Q-West that’s about the size of a football field. On the perimeter of the yard are dozens of shipping containers. In the middle sit white cardboard boxes, about a square yard wide and tall. They contained the detritus of seven years of war. Sergeant Damaris Van Zandt is a soldier with the Logistics Unit responsible for sorting through everything here.
SERGEANT DAMARIS VAN ZANDT: We’re taking all excess stuff, we’re bringing them here to the yard and basically what happens in the yard is we separate it into five categories.
GILBERT: Those five categories pretty much break down into two big ones. Stuff keep and use again and stuff to throw out. In preparation for the transfer of this base to Iraq control, all the U.S. military units are cleaning out their storage rooms. Everything they don’t need they drop off at this yard to be sifted through by the military logistics team. Basically, Sgt. Van Zandt and his crew are dumpster diving. A huge olive green forklift moves the white boxes, filled with just about anything imaginable. There are phones and fax machines, tires, uniforms, antennas, ammo clips and orange traffic cones. Sergeant Rob Strain is the public affairs officer for the U.S. Army’s 15th Sustainment Brigade.
SERGEANT ROB STRAIN: This is like the precursor to transferring the base. Getting everything that we have here so we know what we have and we get it out of here as much as possible before we actually transfer the base over. Trying to get ahead of ourselves, basically.
GILBERT: The 15th Sustainment Brigade will oversee the handing over of this base in the fall. Q-West is currently home to 8,000 troops.
LIEUTENANT COLONEL PAULA LODI: Q-West is essentially a small city.
GILBERT: Lt. Col. Paula Lodi commands the unit responsible for turning off the lights at Q-West. She’s currently trying to figure out what to do with the miles of concrete blast walls that snake nearly 10 miles around the base. One thing she’s sure of is that the fire trucks and ambulances must stay until nearly the last day. One of the biggest challenges is inventorying and transferring thousands of shipping containers that have been converted to sleeping quarters, called CHU’s which stands for containerized housing unit.
LT. COL. LODI: Right now we are in the process of accounting for how many CHUs we have here and then sending that list up to U.S. Forces Iraq so that it can be sent to the Department of State, Department of Defense. They all get to look at the list and see what’s available and determine if there is a need elsewhere.
GILBERT: Lt. Col. Lodi says the key to closing down the base is ensuring there is no interruption to the combat units that will have to operate out of here until the last day. She says there is a basic blueprint for how to close down a base. Q-West isn’t the first to close in Iraq, but she says each base does have its own challenges.
LT. COL. LODI: We’re ending this mission with pride. We’re not leaving in a hurry. We’re not leaving in a state of chaos. We’ve got a plan and we’re executing that plan.
GILBERT: And as bases like Q-West in Iraq are closed down, the bases in Afghanistan are being built up. At this base in Kandahar a Navy construction battalion was building a new command center and barracks for an American unit’s expansion. Ensign Richard Hendricks directed the construction.
ENSIGN RICHARD HENDRICKS: We’ll build offices, living quarters, there will be everything.
GILBERT: So how long do you estimate that will take to build on this piece of land right here?
ENSIGN HENDRICKS: Probably two months, yes sir.
GILBERT: You guys are working from sun up to sun down?
ENSIGN HENDRICKS: Yes sir. Ten, or about 11, 12 hours a day.
GILBERT: Many of the items being shipped out of Iraq will end up on bases like this. Already air assets and vehicles have been sent to Afghanistan from Iraq to provide for the 30,000 U.S. surge troops arriving this spring. For The World, I’m Ben Gilbert.
WERMAN: You can see some of Ben Gilbert’s photos of Q-West base at the world dot org.
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