Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Bases millionaire

There is no city but has a mayor. All U.S. military bases in Afghanistan a certain size have a visible leader in charge of every single detail of the military facility to make life as pleasant as possible, under the circumstances, the soldiers stationed there . The largest U.S. military installation in the province of Wardak Airborne is based, in the eighties and used the Soviet troops.

It is located in Maidan Shar, the capital of Wardak, just 35 kilometers from Kabul, and its 'mayor' is Captain Matthew Wernert. At the base is home to about 1,200 people, said the captain, which, compared to other existing U.S. facilities in Afghanistan, one could say that Airborne is a medium-sized base, or even pulling a small.

However, its performance is a puzzle, and a great investment. Maintenance costs over a million dollars a month (around 770,000 euros), said Wernert. Today in Afghanistan the U.S. has about 90,000 troops deployed, all distributed in different databases. To that number must be added the many employees at these facilities.

In China, therefore, there are dozens of facilities such as Airborne. Airborne base has more than 200 foreign workers, and over a hundred Afghans. A U.S. company, Fluor is responsible for all maintenance, cleaning and catering to the military installation, and another South African, Reed, external security, detailing the captain.

As for security inside the base, there is a police force made up of eight U.S. soldiers patrolling day and night. "The most common crimes are theft and drug possession among local staff," explains Ryan Menebroeker private first class, one of the military police. He says every day is an average of 50 to 60 grams of drugs, especially amphetamines, hidden around the gate of the base.

Most Afghans belong to workers, arising from drugs to see which will be registered to enter. The largest out Kori Trimble, who is the only woman in the police force of the military installation, said that so far in Airborne have been no cases of sexual abuse, but added, all military women have received clear warnings not to walk alone by Airborne or any other military base in Afghanistan as it gets dark because, he argues, "there is no light and most of the soldiers featured are male." Beyond security, electricity is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges in Airborne, and more so in a country like Afghanistan, where even in Kabul, the capital, there are constant cuts in supply.

And also happens to the water supply. "We have about 150 generators," said the captain Wernert, "and water for the toilets and showers we bring in tankers through an Afghan company." Each day enter and leave the military compound an average of fifty trucks, water and other supplies, mostly from Bagram, probably the largest U.S.

base in Afghanistan, 50 miles north of Kabul. As in any city, Airborne also generated a lot of waste each day: about 4.5 tonnes, estimated Wernert. The captain, however, ensures that the garbage does not ever pull out of the military installation, but the deposit on the inside, a kind of landfill, where outdoor burning.

In the coming months will launch an incinerator.

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