Engineers are building a new $932,000 passenger terminal that will expand operations at this base.

Twenty-four Airmen from the 1st Expeditionary Red Horse Group, deployed here from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., began laying the terminal’s foundation earlier this month. The group expects to finish the 7,750-square-foot facility in early 2006.

“Once this project is complete, military and civilian travelers will see be a more spacious facility,” said 1st Lt. Megan Leitch, the construction project officer. She said the new building is “better designed for the potential flow of more than 300 people traveling through Afghanistan’s busiest hub at any one time.”

The lieutenant said the terminal will offer a secure waiting area and give administrators the chance to better manage flights in and out of the country. On an average month, 8,000 people through the terminal.
Lt. Col. Walter Fulda, 455th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron commander, said the new passenger terminal will ensure mission readiness.

“Our existing passenger terminal is undersized and does not meet the operational requirements of today’s war fighters,” said Colonel Fulda, who is also deployed here from Davis-Monthan. “This new passenger terminal will be the hub of a larger passenger services campus at Bagram that includes a new customs facility and the newly opened USO.”

Lieutenant Leitch, from Fairfax, Va., said the completion of terminal, along with a new post office and customs office for the base, will way for the construction of a cargo ramp here in the summer of 2006.

Colonel Fulda said his passenger services section keeps war fighters on the move as they pursue peace throughout the country and region.

“Our role is to rapidly and accurately move people within the Afghanistan and the U.S. CENTCOM (Central Command) area of responsibility,” said colonel, who is from Charleston, S.C.

He said the terminal will ensure troops “get much-needed rest and relaxation time while deployed.” And, he said, “Our passenger terminal staff gets the right people to place and the right time.”