thedrifter
02-16-03, 05:08 PM
02/16/2003
Marines surprised by desert camp
By PETER WILLIAMS
FREEDOM ENC
CAMP FOX, Kuwait — When deploying to a remote Kuwaiti desert, troops brace for the worst. Members from the 2nd Force Service Support Group at Camp Lejeune certainly did. But what they found at Camp Fox, their new post near the Iraqi border, impressed even the most senior troopers.
Marines and sailors getting off the bus found large new tents with wooden floors and electrical outlets. There were portable toilets instead of trenches. There were showers, complete with hot water, and a mess tent that serves fresh food, not freeze-dried, twice a day.
About the only comforts the troops didn’t find was a gym and an exchange. But word is that those amenities are on the way.
For now, the showers stand as the single biggest morale booster at the camp.
“I went in there this morning, and I wasn’t feeling too hot, and I wasn’t in a good mood, and I came out just smiling,” said one Marine major.
Making Camp Fox more livable resulted from many factors.
One was a Department of Defense issue from Desert Storm. Pictures were aired from that war showing Air Force pilots and crews in creature comforts that most Marines would kill for.
Cooperation of the Kuwaiti government also made much of Camp Fox possible. The massive tents aren’t Marine Corps green. They were made in Pakistan.
Inside the mess tent Saturday morning, Marines found pancakes, french toast, hot dogs, cereal and oranges. Contractors, under the watchful eyes of Navy corpsmen, prepared and served the food and cleaned up afterwards.
On a large-screen television, troops watched a CNN report about a possible war with Iraq and how Marines had deployed to Kuwait.
Some Marines watched the report, but many ignored it.
Many of them had just arrived at the camp over the course of the past week.
One group arrived Friday after a transatlantic trip that began early Thursday morning — and featured plenty of waiting.
The deploying troops met at Camp Lejeune to drop off sea bags and draw weapons. After a few hours, they were loaded on buses bound for Cherry Point.
They waited to board a commercial charter jet. After a quick flight to Maine, they waited while crews refueled the jet in weather that dipped to 20 degrees below zero with wind chill.
Some slept while the plane flew over the Atlantic to Ireland. Others couldn’t sleep.
All ]\realize the seriousness of the job awaiting them.
“Well, I think about when I get back home,” said Chief Petty Officer Bennie Crawford, “but I try and distance myself from that. I try and not think of my family back home.
“While we were in the hangar, I was looking at everybody and thinking that possibly some of the people there weren’t coming on the ride back. So I try and come to grips with that,” Crawford said.
“There is a chance we might not be back, so I figure let me do my job to the best of my ability.”
It was after 3 a.m. Friday (Lejeune time) when the plane arrived in Shannon, Ireland. The terminal was deserted except for a few airport employees.
The third stop was Cyprus, a small island near Lebanon. Security was high, and it turned out that the hour spent in Ireland was the only time the troops were allowed to leave the plane until it arrived in Kuwait.
Gunnery Sgt. Rhea Tapscott left behind a husband and a 15-year-old daughter.
After 18 years in the Corps, Tapscott was ready to deploy but said her departure was tough on her young daughter.
“I just got back from Okinawa in July,” she said, “but I have been stationed at Lejeune for 10 of my 19 years.”
“My thoughts are more emotionÂ…,” she said. “I am not so much scared as just anxious.”
At Camp Fox on Saturday morning, Marine Lt. Col. Craig Crenshaw explained to the troops that just because the facilities were nice, they shouldn’t let down their guard.
“When you first got here a lot of you may have expected to sleep in the dirt, no hot showers, eating MREs, etc., but that’s not the case. But what happens with that may be a bit of false security.
“We are still in a dangerous business,” Crenshaw said. “We have a job to do, and right now you understand our purpose is still undetermined, but as Marines we have to be ready.”
Marines riding into the base wore their body armor and helmets.
From the time they left the States, they were required to have their gas masks handy. In camp, that means they’re either slung over their shoulder or worn on their hip.
“Every time you walk out of your hooch, make sure you have your weapon and your gas mask,” Crenshaw said.
As good as the Camp Fox accommodations are, they could be even better in a few weeks.
“We are going to have a postal service coming, the exchange coming and get a gym facility here as well,” Crenshaw said. “This is going to be home for a while.”
Peter Williams is on assignment in Kuwait for The Daily News and Freedom ENC. He is editor of The Liberty, a Jacksonville-based weekly newspaper that covers military life.
Sempers,
Roger
Marines surprised by desert camp
By PETER WILLIAMS
FREEDOM ENC
CAMP FOX, Kuwait — When deploying to a remote Kuwaiti desert, troops brace for the worst. Members from the 2nd Force Service Support Group at Camp Lejeune certainly did. But what they found at Camp Fox, their new post near the Iraqi border, impressed even the most senior troopers.
Marines and sailors getting off the bus found large new tents with wooden floors and electrical outlets. There were portable toilets instead of trenches. There were showers, complete with hot water, and a mess tent that serves fresh food, not freeze-dried, twice a day.
About the only comforts the troops didn’t find was a gym and an exchange. But word is that those amenities are on the way.
For now, the showers stand as the single biggest morale booster at the camp.
“I went in there this morning, and I wasn’t feeling too hot, and I wasn’t in a good mood, and I came out just smiling,” said one Marine major.
Making Camp Fox more livable resulted from many factors.
One was a Department of Defense issue from Desert Storm. Pictures were aired from that war showing Air Force pilots and crews in creature comforts that most Marines would kill for.
Cooperation of the Kuwaiti government also made much of Camp Fox possible. The massive tents aren’t Marine Corps green. They were made in Pakistan.
Inside the mess tent Saturday morning, Marines found pancakes, french toast, hot dogs, cereal and oranges. Contractors, under the watchful eyes of Navy corpsmen, prepared and served the food and cleaned up afterwards.
On a large-screen television, troops watched a CNN report about a possible war with Iraq and how Marines had deployed to Kuwait.
Some Marines watched the report, but many ignored it.
Many of them had just arrived at the camp over the course of the past week.
One group arrived Friday after a transatlantic trip that began early Thursday morning — and featured plenty of waiting.
The deploying troops met at Camp Lejeune to drop off sea bags and draw weapons. After a few hours, they were loaded on buses bound for Cherry Point.
They waited to board a commercial charter jet. After a quick flight to Maine, they waited while crews refueled the jet in weather that dipped to 20 degrees below zero with wind chill.
Some slept while the plane flew over the Atlantic to Ireland. Others couldn’t sleep.
All ]\realize the seriousness of the job awaiting them.
“Well, I think about when I get back home,” said Chief Petty Officer Bennie Crawford, “but I try and distance myself from that. I try and not think of my family back home.
“While we were in the hangar, I was looking at everybody and thinking that possibly some of the people there weren’t coming on the ride back. So I try and come to grips with that,” Crawford said.
“There is a chance we might not be back, so I figure let me do my job to the best of my ability.”
It was after 3 a.m. Friday (Lejeune time) when the plane arrived in Shannon, Ireland. The terminal was deserted except for a few airport employees.
The third stop was Cyprus, a small island near Lebanon. Security was high, and it turned out that the hour spent in Ireland was the only time the troops were allowed to leave the plane until it arrived in Kuwait.
Gunnery Sgt. Rhea Tapscott left behind a husband and a 15-year-old daughter.
After 18 years in the Corps, Tapscott was ready to deploy but said her departure was tough on her young daughter.
“I just got back from Okinawa in July,” she said, “but I have been stationed at Lejeune for 10 of my 19 years.”
“My thoughts are more emotionÂ…,” she said. “I am not so much scared as just anxious.”
At Camp Fox on Saturday morning, Marine Lt. Col. Craig Crenshaw explained to the troops that just because the facilities were nice, they shouldn’t let down their guard.
“When you first got here a lot of you may have expected to sleep in the dirt, no hot showers, eating MREs, etc., but that’s not the case. But what happens with that may be a bit of false security.
“We are still in a dangerous business,” Crenshaw said. “We have a job to do, and right now you understand our purpose is still undetermined, but as Marines we have to be ready.”
Marines riding into the base wore their body armor and helmets.
From the time they left the States, they were required to have their gas masks handy. In camp, that means they’re either slung over their shoulder or worn on their hip.
“Every time you walk out of your hooch, make sure you have your weapon and your gas mask,” Crenshaw said.
As good as the Camp Fox accommodations are, they could be even better in a few weeks.
“We are going to have a postal service coming, the exchange coming and get a gym facility here as well,” Crenshaw said. “This is going to be home for a while.”
Peter Williams is on assignment in Kuwait for The Daily News and Freedom ENC. He is editor of The Liberty, a Jacksonville-based weekly newspaper that covers military life.
Sempers,
Roger