thedrifter
03-18-09, 07:42 AM
Washington Guardsmen sent to join tiny Iraqi outpost
By Scott Fontaine
McClatchy Newspapers
AL-NUKHAYB, Iraq — The hot dogs sizzled on a barbecue pit while two Marines wearing camouflage pants and T-shirts soaked up some sun.
Another in workout clothes sat nearby, leaning back in a folding chair and smoking a cigarette.
Al-Nukhayb is miles from just about everything, including catered chow halls and senior officers enforcing uniform regulations back at the Camp Ramadi headquarters in eastern Anbar province, about a four-hour drive. Outside this tiny outpost in southwestern Anbar lie miles of nearly empty desert, save for an occasional village or police checkpoint.
If Al-Nukhayb is known for anything, it is for being the last town before pilgrims cross the border into Saudi Arabia to visit Mecca. It's bare-bones and relaxed. And it's home to about 40 service members, including four soldiers from the Washington National Guard.
"I had a picture in my head of something like this before I deployed," said Sgt. Wayne Thorne of Renton. "Ramadi was not quite what I expected.
"This," he said, waving his hand across the base, "this is what I expected."
The Guard soldiers, a detachment brigade normally based at Ramadi, provide and maintain communications at this small Marine base. The Marines are here to train Iraqi army units.
The Guardsmen — nicknamed the Geek Squad — work eight-hour shifts, six days a week, in their operations center. Like other buildings on this base, it's constructed of unfinished wood with a corrugated metal roof.
A dish just outside the door keeps the base connected with satellites orbiting far overhead. It's the soldiers' job to make sure there's no disruption between dish and satellites.
But on a small post like Al-Nukhayb, work is never quite that simple.
"It's like living in the old days when the whole town helps out to get things done," said Thorne, a 26-year-old former Marine on his fourth Iraq deployment. "One minute we'll be working on the computers. The next we're changing the oil in a generator. You gotta wear a lot of hats to work here. Being out here brings a lot of responsibility."
But it doesn't offer much in the way of entertainment. The post has a small workout room with a few sets of free weights, two stationary bikes and an elliptical trainer. Some prefer to exercise outside; 15 laps around the perimeter of the base equal a five-mile run.
The Morale, Welfare and Recreation area has one table, five folding chairs, two televisions and an Xbox. The soldiers and Marines have networked their laptops, and the shared drive hosts more than 1,500 movies.
The soldiers say things never get too heated despite seeing the same people every day — they'll blow off steam in the gym or by watching a movie — and the ranking officer on base said the Guardsmen fit in well at what's essentially a Marine outpost.
"They're a pleasant group of guys," Marine Maj. Rob Belknap said. "They're a welcome addition to the family."
Hot dogs, chicken wings and steaks fill the shelves of a walk-in freezer, and the service members grill their meals on a barbecue outside the dining facility.
The soldiers' cramped quarters are home to five beds, four of them bunked. Each guy has a little wall space filled with pictures from home.
Sgt. Mike Rydquist of Kent, spent his last deployment, in 2004-05, with the 81st Brigade, launching mortars from Camp Anaconda in central Iraq. That sprawling installation, now known as Joint Base Balad, is home to 30,000 people.
Al-Nukhayb is about as different a setting as one can get.
"This is not bad at all," said Rydquist, 37. "There's solid ground under my feet, food in the chow hall, it's not too hard to get smokes, and the Marines are pretty good to us."
Ellie
By Scott Fontaine
McClatchy Newspapers
AL-NUKHAYB, Iraq — The hot dogs sizzled on a barbecue pit while two Marines wearing camouflage pants and T-shirts soaked up some sun.
Another in workout clothes sat nearby, leaning back in a folding chair and smoking a cigarette.
Al-Nukhayb is miles from just about everything, including catered chow halls and senior officers enforcing uniform regulations back at the Camp Ramadi headquarters in eastern Anbar province, about a four-hour drive. Outside this tiny outpost in southwestern Anbar lie miles of nearly empty desert, save for an occasional village or police checkpoint.
If Al-Nukhayb is known for anything, it is for being the last town before pilgrims cross the border into Saudi Arabia to visit Mecca. It's bare-bones and relaxed. And it's home to about 40 service members, including four soldiers from the Washington National Guard.
"I had a picture in my head of something like this before I deployed," said Sgt. Wayne Thorne of Renton. "Ramadi was not quite what I expected.
"This," he said, waving his hand across the base, "this is what I expected."
The Guard soldiers, a detachment brigade normally based at Ramadi, provide and maintain communications at this small Marine base. The Marines are here to train Iraqi army units.
The Guardsmen — nicknamed the Geek Squad — work eight-hour shifts, six days a week, in their operations center. Like other buildings on this base, it's constructed of unfinished wood with a corrugated metal roof.
A dish just outside the door keeps the base connected with satellites orbiting far overhead. It's the soldiers' job to make sure there's no disruption between dish and satellites.
But on a small post like Al-Nukhayb, work is never quite that simple.
"It's like living in the old days when the whole town helps out to get things done," said Thorne, a 26-year-old former Marine on his fourth Iraq deployment. "One minute we'll be working on the computers. The next we're changing the oil in a generator. You gotta wear a lot of hats to work here. Being out here brings a lot of responsibility."
But it doesn't offer much in the way of entertainment. The post has a small workout room with a few sets of free weights, two stationary bikes and an elliptical trainer. Some prefer to exercise outside; 15 laps around the perimeter of the base equal a five-mile run.
The Morale, Welfare and Recreation area has one table, five folding chairs, two televisions and an Xbox. The soldiers and Marines have networked their laptops, and the shared drive hosts more than 1,500 movies.
The soldiers say things never get too heated despite seeing the same people every day — they'll blow off steam in the gym or by watching a movie — and the ranking officer on base said the Guardsmen fit in well at what's essentially a Marine outpost.
"They're a pleasant group of guys," Marine Maj. Rob Belknap said. "They're a welcome addition to the family."
Hot dogs, chicken wings and steaks fill the shelves of a walk-in freezer, and the service members grill their meals on a barbecue outside the dining facility.
The soldiers' cramped quarters are home to five beds, four of them bunked. Each guy has a little wall space filled with pictures from home.
Sgt. Mike Rydquist of Kent, spent his last deployment, in 2004-05, with the 81st Brigade, launching mortars from Camp Anaconda in central Iraq. That sprawling installation, now known as Joint Base Balad, is home to 30,000 people.
Al-Nukhayb is about as different a setting as one can get.
"This is not bad at all," said Rydquist, 37. "There's solid ground under my feet, food in the chow hall, it's not too hard to get smokes, and the Marines are pretty good to us."
Ellie