[Chat] Re: Washington Post article

[william.schlegel at us.army.mil]

Jim,

Thanks for this article.  I did not realize things were that bad at BIAP - the airport.  They do have a good PX there, however.  It hit 116 where we are the other day - that is why i like working at nights.

Look for my next newsletter soon.

Brad

----- Original Message -----
From: James Kaper <jkaper at medicine.umaryland.edu>
Date: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 3:45 am
Subject: Washington Post article

> 
> Brad, 
> 
>  Here is an article in today's Washington Post that reminded me of
> your e-mails to the Baltimore Symphony Chorus members. I and the 
> rest of
> the BSC appreciate your e-mails and greatly appreciate your sacrifice
> over there. When I read of U.S. soldiers still dying in Iraq at 
> the rate
> of 1 per day, I hope that the worst you will have to deal with is high
> heat, smelly latrines, and bug bites. 
> Best regards, 
> 
> Jim Kaper
> 
> 
> Comfort Rare in Iraq, Even for U.S. Troops
> Soldiers Swelter in 'Primitive' Quarters
> 
> 
> 
> By Thomas E. Ricks
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Monday, May 26, 2003; Page A01
> 
> BAGHDAD, May 25 -- A large group of people here is going without
> electricity and running water, subsisting on barely palatable food and
> sweltering unhappily under the stunning Mesopotamian summer sun. The
> group, which counts thousands of loyal members in and around 
> Baghdad, is
> heavily armed, but it does not pose a threat to the U.S. Army -- 
> it is
> the Army.
> 
> While poor conditions in Baghdad draw the world's attention, with many
> city residents still lacking basic services six weeks after the 
> collapseof the Baath Party government, U.S. occupation forces are 
> sufferingthrough remarkably similar circumstances, especially out 
> in the dusty,
> treeless environs of the city's international airport, home to a large
> contingent of U.S. troops.
> 
> "It is primitive," said Army Capt. Chanda Mofu, a staff officer in the
> 1st Armored Division, which is moving into Iraq to become the core of
> the U.S. occupation force.
> 
> Mofu sleeps in the airport's old terminal, where hundreds of cots fill
> a vast open space, stretching into barely visible corners of the 
> humid,dim building, which has no electricity. At 9:30 one morning 
> last week,
> the temperature inside was already 99. The large, dark room resembles
> the scene in "Gone With the Wind" in which rows of wounded 
> Confederateslie in the Atlanta railroad station, except that the 
> troops here are not
> hurt -- just hot.
> 
> Conditions are even worse at another airport dwelling, dubbed "The
> Crack House" by its residents. "Because it looks like one," explained
> Lt. Col. John McGrath, the 1st Armored's division surgeon. "The dust
> blows through the broken windows. The pigeons fly in and crap on your
> stuff."
> 
> McGrath said he was taken aback the other day when a pigeon would not
> shoo at the wave of his hand. "They're feisty. You have to get up and
> touch them to make them move," he said. "They look at you like, 
> 'You'rein my spot.' "
> 
> The difference between the U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians is that the
> Iraqis are in their own capital and Army troops more or less 
> expect to
> live like this during temporary deployments. But even so, the U.S.
> soldiers have been astonished by the heat of the Iraqi summer, 
> which is
> arriving this month with a vengeance.
> 
> "Our problem is, we don't train in this weather," said Spec. David
> Goodland, a tank crewman, sitting in a tent where the temperature
> hovered at 100 and breakfasting on peanut butter and jelly on 
> crackers."We're based in Germany, and this is the first time I've 
> seen the sun in
> a while. It's a totally different atmosphere, and it takes a while to
> get used to."
> 
> It is worst for those with night duty, who have to try to sleep 
> throughthe midday heat. "Sometimes I soak a towel and lay on it, 
> and that works
> for three or four hours," said Cpl. Victor Schiele, a member of a
> military police unit from Fort Carson, Colo., who has guard duty from
> midnight to 8 a.m.
> 
> With the Pentagon spending $1 billion a day around the world, maybe
> they could send out some air conditioners? "Those are on order," 
> Schielesaid. Fans, perhaps? He smiled wearily. "Those are on 
> order, too."
> 
> What does he have? "Bug spray."
> 
> Outside the old terminal, two members of the 1st Armored Division
> band's brass section shared the meager shade of a small palm tree 
> whilehaving a smoke. They looked on the bright side. "I have a cot 
> now, so
> that's a plus," said Sgt. Thomas Blakely, a trombonist from 
> Ridgefield,Conn. "Before that, we were sleeping on the floor."
> 
> It is important to revel in that sort of small progress, said Sgt.
> Christopher Jackson, a trumpeter. "If you don't," he warned, "you just
> get depressed."
> 
> As they spoke, a cloud of black smoke wafted by from two barrels of
> burning feces, the Army's after-breakfast method of keeping outhouse
> waste from overflowing.
> 
> Sgt. John Heath, a 3rd Infantry Division tank gunner from Cleveland,
> said that on Wednesday the temperature on his M1 Abrams tank, 
> sitting in
> the afternoon sun at a downtown traffic circle, was 126. But Heath 
> saidhis life "is not bad at all, really, considering how people at the
> airport are living." His unit is billeted on the grounds of Saddam
> Hussein's main palace and enjoys air conditioning, showers and 
> satellitetelevision.
> 
> Days dawn hot at the airfield, in part because its buildings are
> surrounded by a sea of concrete runways and parking lots. At 5:30 one
> recent morning it was 95. Well before 10 a.m., people who had to move
> did so by zigzagging from one spot of shade to another. By midday, the
> Army has found, computers start giving up the ghost, even if the
> soldiers do not.
> 
> "The heat in here sometimes gets unbearable," said Sgt. Maj. Carlos
> Alers, who runs the 1st Armored's forward command post, an oval tent
> about the size of a two-car garage. It is chockablock with laptops,
> radios, telephones and other electronic gear.
> 
> Alers, worried about the heat all that equipment was giving off,
> scrounged up five portable air conditioners, installed them, 
> turned them
> on and stood back expectantly. But even with them all going full 
> blast,"it was still 106" inside the tent, he said.
> 
> His solution: "We had to turn off some computers and servers from 1200
> to 1700 [noon to 5 p.m.] so we didn't fry the systems."
> 
> Soldiers are ordered to drink water continuously. Some tote around
> 1.5-liter bottles and aim to empty them every hour while working. 
> Otherswear 70-ounce backpack canteens that look like papooses.
> 
> The officers and troops of the public affairs section for V Corps, a
> higher headquarters, have set up shop on a marble pavilion in the 
> middleof an artificial lake just east of the airport. Even at 
> midday its open
> sides permit a slight but refreshing breeze to waft through.
> 
> "This is an island of paradise here," said one of its residents, Maj.
> William D. Thurmond, standing under the lavish blue and white 
> tiles of
> the palace's domed ceiling.
> 
> Still, the valuable property, which once belonged to Hussein's son
> Qusay, does come with a price. Unlike the airport buildings, it is 
> closeto the U.S. security perimeter.
> 
> "We are subjected very frequently to automatic weapons fire," Thurmond
> said. "It's not aimed fire, but it's close enough to get your
> attention."
> 
> © 2003 The Washington Post Company
>