Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Sunday, December 05, 2004
Section:Front Page- Page:1

DISPATCH Kuwait

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait — The 278th Regimental Combat Team’s first desert home here may not resemble a fivestar beach resort beyond the abundance of sand, but soldiers say they have few complaints about their temporary Middle East digs.

"The chow is a lot better, we have heating, air and wood floors in the tents," Spc. Gary Armstrong, 22, of Milan, Tenn., said. "We’ve just got cold water, but when we were (training) in California I barely got to shower."

The soldiers don’t even have to wash their own clothes here. A free drop-off laundry service takes three days to clean their dirty uniforms, but soldiers may have an hourlong wait in line to pick up the clean clothes.

"It has all the comforts of home, but you just have to stand in line for a long time," said Staff Sgt. Carmen Halcomb, 47, of Crossville, Tenn.

Officials said long waits are common here because Camp Buehring houses 13,500 soldiers — five times as many people who will be at each of the Iraqi bases in the 278 th’s sector. Camp Buehring, near the Iraqi border, acts as a gathering station for troops coming from and going into Iraq.

The nearly 4,000 soldiers with the Tennessee-based 278th arrived at Camp Buehring last month to prepare for a two-day convoy into Iraq. Officials will not release the exact travel date for security purposes.

The soldiers must contend with cold temperatures, often dipping into the low 40s. Full facial masks are a common sight as soldiers bundle up against the almost daily dust storms.

Adjusting to the weather, many are suffering from flulike symptoms dubbed the Kuwaiti crud. Cold water also forces the troops to master the art of showering while turning the faucets on and off and on again to lather and rinse.

"I’ve never heard of freezing in the desert before," said Sgt. Eric Byrd, 37, of Ducktown, Tenn., as last week’s steady rain added to the challenges by knocking out power and turning the sand into a quagmire.

PLENTY TO EAT

A mess hall provides hot meals four times a day, including a popular one at midnight. All-you-can-eat salad bars proffer fruits and vegetables, while a dessert table offers four to five different cakes and pies. Coke and Pepsi products are plentiful. "The food is fattening," said Sgt. Richard Gonel, 25, of Clarksville, Tenn. "Weight gain is a definite here."

Soldiers feeling a little extra soft in the midsection after eating a meal here can walk a few dozen yards from the mess tent to the camp’s gym. Housed in an oversized tent, the gym sports exercise bikes, free weights and Nautilus equipment.

Soldiers willing to brave the cold also can exercise by challenging one another in games of beach volleyball or basketball at outdoor courts.

If soldiers grow tired of the camp cuisine, they can plop down their own cash at the base’s small outdoor food court with a Burger King, Subway and Pizza Inn.

The food trailers are set up around a square also offering a post exchange, an Internet café with Web access for $5 an hour and a barber shop doing military cuts for $5.25.

At the always-packed post exchange, or PX, soldiers can buy everything from a $14 case of nonalcoholic Beck’s beer to a $1,899 Sony big-screen TV. Souvenir T-shirts, showing a buff cartoon soldier climbing out of a Humvee under the words "Who’s Your Baghdaddy?" come in various colors.

At a gift shop next to the PX troops can haggle prices with shopkeepers for a $168 guitar, a $60 chess set and 18-karat gold jewelry starting at $10.80 a gram. Spc. Mickey Scroggins, 23, of Cleveland, Tenn., said he already has sent a $30 marble tea set to his mother, Teresa, as a holiday gift.

A nearby alteration shop sells a desert-camouflaged sand cover for weapons, an item which soon cloaked a vast majority of the 278 th’s M-4 rifles. Many added a patch on the dust cover featuring an Operation Iraqi Freedom logo or a design involving characters from the "South Park" cartoons. Store operators also will stitch a soldier’s name in Arabic on the back of desertcamouflaged hats.

But Sgt. Byrd said he will never get his Arabic name placed on his cap. He said the writing looked exactly the same on the hats of several soldiers in his tent who had it done.

"You can’t know what they are writing," he said. "They could be putting ‘idiot’ on the back of your hat."

Despite the abundant food, wide shopping options and easy Internet access, Sgt. Byrd said he still misses the humid days in Mississippi where the unit spent the summer training.

"A s m u ch as I hated Camp Shelby, at least it was still the United States," he said. "I knew my family could make the fivehour drive to see me."

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com 278

TH TIMELINE

June 25 2004: Soldiers leave Tennessee to start training at Camp Shelby, Miss., the first step in an 18-month journey with the active Army.

Sept. 27 2004: Soldiers arrive at Fort Irwin, Calif., for about four weeks of training at the National Training Center in the Mojave Desert.

Nov. 9 2004: Soldiers start returning to Camp Shelby.

Nov. 19 2004: Soldiers start leaving Mississippi for Camp Buehring, Kuwait, where they are preparing to travel into Iraq. Officials will not release the exact departure date for security purposes.

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