Iraq living conditions highlight different ways Army, USAF operate
Stars and Stripes | October 18, 2003 | Marni McEntee
TALLIL AIR BASE, Iraq On one side of a sprawling, run-down Iraqi fighter base near Nasiriyah sits a well-guarded compound that a select few U.S. troops can enter.
Inside the thick, sand-filled bastions topped by razor wire are many of the comforts of home: air-conditioned lodging, a base exchange, a gym with aerobic and weight-training equipment, a morale tent with personal computers and DVD players, and a volleyball court.
Soon, the smells of Burger King and Pizza Hut will waft through the air. This is how the Air Force lives here.
One sergeant, among roughly 5,000 soldiers living without air conditioning in old buildings in LSA Adder, the Army base outside the Air Force living area, calls the sequestered compound Camelot.
The 1,500 airmen with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, however, simply call it home.
Tallil Air Base is one of three Air Force bases in Iraq that share vast stretches of land with Army troops, but whose living areas, morale facilities and other amenities generally are off-limits to anyone not sporting Air Force blue.
And therein lies the rub.....
More
Stars and Stripes | October 18, 2003 | Marni McEntee
TALLIL AIR BASE, Iraq On one side of a sprawling, run-down Iraqi fighter base near Nasiriyah sits a well-guarded compound that a select few U.S. troops can enter.
Inside the thick, sand-filled bastions topped by razor wire are many of the comforts of home: air-conditioned lodging, a base exchange, a gym with aerobic and weight-training equipment, a morale tent with personal computers and DVD players, and a volleyball court.
Soon, the smells of Burger King and Pizza Hut will waft through the air. This is how the Air Force lives here.
One sergeant, among roughly 5,000 soldiers living without air conditioning in old buildings in LSA Adder, the Army base outside the Air Force living area, calls the sequestered compound Camelot.
The 1,500 airmen with the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, however, simply call it home.
Tallil Air Base is one of three Air Force bases in Iraq that share vast stretches of land with Army troops, but whose living areas, morale facilities and other amenities generally are off-limits to anyone not sporting Air Force blue.
And therein lies the rub.....
More
