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Life returns: Airmen breathe new life into old base

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. David Salanitri
  • U.S. Air Forces Central Command combat correspondent
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Taking a base that has been dead for several years, and breathing life back into it was the objective here at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia.

The once lifeless base has a new mission -- to absorb forces from Iraq, as the transition and withdrawal moves forward. In order for the base to accept this new mission, Airmen not only had to clean hard, but set up mandatory functions a base needs to operate.

Walking around a base that was once alive has a strange feeling to it. Each road is lined with painted concrete t-walls from units previously assigned here. The canvas of concrete shows that life was once abundant here.

It's like a ghost town that is being brought back to life, as offices look like a moment frozen in time.

Walk into any building here last week, and several things would stand out. Pushing open the front door, a cloud of dust erupts as if this is the first time in years someone's entered the room. Sand and dirt nearly one inch high covers the insides of most buildings. There's even dirt on the cleaning supplies. You can tell if someone has recently been in the building before you by looking on the floor and seeing their footprints.

Did you know dirt and sand have a smell? They do. The odor is a cocktail of must, dirt and old air that has marinated in the same area for years. It will wake up even some of the most dull of smell senses. Handprints on a table will catch the light like a mirror in the sun.

Now walk into that building this week. Just about any building you want to. The floors are not only swept, but appear to be clean enough to eat off of -- not recommended though. If there's any sort of stainless steel in the room, it will be polished. Even the vehicle hangar is clean and bright, but only after countless hours of uniform-drenching sweat was put into it.

Within 24 hours of arrival, a joint communication support element from MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., has established basic internet and phone capabilities. Working with the Crisis Response Element from Travis Air Force Base, Calif., entry control points are established along with roving patrols on the installation to secure the runway, which is now accepting U.S. aircraft. Leased government vehicles arrive on base and more people are inprocessing through the one man deep Personnel Support for Contingency Operations team.

A services technical sergeant is the main person in charge of feeding the base while at the same time preparing the dining facility for future operations. "When I first saw the dining facility that I was supposed to set up, the building had near a half an inch of dirt and sand in it. Critters were running around in here," said Tech. Sgt. Reginald Morrison, command food services manager for U.S. Air Forces Central Command and native of Fayetteville, N.C. "Within four days, we took this place and had it ready for service. My goal is that when our follow-on forces arrive, they won't be able to tell how this place looked before we got here."

As life is brought back to this base, Airmen here are going outside of their primary duties in order to get the base up and running.

"Regardless of someone's Air Force Specialty Code, when opening up a base you have to be willing to help out a fellow Airman." said Lt. Col. Adam Shirriff, 332nd Air Expeditionary Group deputy commander and native of San Antonio. "We all have to step outside of our comfort zone to get the job done."

Shirriff hit the nail on the head. Every Airman here is doing what they can to help out their brethren.

"I like to help my fellow Airmen," said Morrison. "My first day here I operated a forklift to help the guys from trans. It's not in me to not help out someone."

Within one week, a base that was lifeless is now receiving CPR as life is breathed back into it.