Bashur airmen toughing it out

  • Published
  • By Louis A. Arana-Barradas
  • Air Force Print News
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM --  If they did not know before, the more than 200 airmen who run Bashur Airfield in northern Iraq now know what it is like living in austere conditions.

Because if it was not for the cargo that transport aircraft drop off day and night, there would not be much here to write home about.

The only claim to fame this base 255 miles north of Baghdad has is a 7,000-foot runway. There is no running water or electricity. No real showers or toilets. Tents have no heat. There are not even any buildings.

But there is one thing that is plentiful -- work. Lots of it. C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 Hercules aircraft have been dropping off about 1 million pounds of cargo a day to resupply coalition forces. The airfield, once used to fly in oil-field equipment, is today the bustling airlift hub into northern Iraq.

The breakneck speed of the airlift keeps airmen busy and their minds off what they lack.

"We spend 12 hours working hard, going full speed. Then we try to get some rest so we can go out and do it all again," said Master Sgt. David Baldridge, an aerospace ground equipment mechanic.

Baldridge is the day shift mission support team chief with the 86th Air Mobility Squadron, which is part of the 86th Expeditionary Contingency Response Group. The group's mission is to land at a bare base and set up air operations.

Doing that leaves little time for anything else. Even resting can be tough.

The tents where airmen live are less than 50 yards from the ramp where they unload the planes' cargo. No matter what shift they work, troops must contend with the constant noise of aircraft. And they must deal with hot tents during the day and cold ones at night.

Baldridge, from Argillite, Ky., said most airmen do not hit the sack when they finish their shift. Many volunteer to help make the base more livable. They to do things like helping build showers and hand-washing stations around the tent city where they live. It is a characteristic common to a group with members who must know how to do three or four jobs, he said.

Still, the life is not easy.

Airmen get to shower once a week in a four-stall tent. They must hand wash their clothes in big plastic tubs -- with cold water. Toilets are nothing more than huge holes in the ground. And toilet paper is a hot commodity -- so much so that airmen tie it around their necks with parachute cord to keep it from falling in the hole.

"There's a two-man policy when going to the latrine, just in case somebody falls in," said Staff Sgt. Omar Perez-Badillo, a crew chief from Carolina, Puerto Rico. "That's no lie."

The announcement that there are canned soft drinks available sends everyone scurrying to get one. And the only food available, apart from fresh fruit bought locally, are meals ready to eat. So care packages from home -- they can be no larger than a shoe box -- arrive stuffed full of cookies, chips and other snacks. "Pogey bait," as the troops call it. Many packages are full of baby wipes, for the days when the airmen do not get to shower.

Occasionally, an aircrew will drop off cookies and sodas -- even leaving behind the airplane's blankets and pillows for the airmen.

"It's little things like that which help make a difference in the way we live," Perez-Badillo said.

Master Sgt. Paolo DaSilva, of Pawtucket, R.I., is the squadron's superintendent. He keeps an eye on the troops, searching for the first sign of discontent. During the two weeks the group has been at Bashur, he has seen little of that.

"I think most of the people miss their families. That's understandable," he said. "But nobody's really complaining. They all know what we're doing here is important."

Baldridge said the troops are surprisingly upbeat, mainly because they are proud of what they are doing to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. They see it as a personal challenge to all the training they endured.

"We work and live under some pretty tough conditions," Baldridge said. "But everybody is still in high spirits. We all knew what to expect before we got here."