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Eating sand and G.I. chow

Jun-30-2004 » Filed Under: Iraq News

TNT reporter Adam Lynn has an interesting article describing the living conditions at LSA Anaconda. You can read an archive of his articles regarding the 81st BCT here.

[Link to Full Article]
ADAM LYNN; The News Tribune

BALAD, Iraq - The heat is bad. The bugs are bad. The dust is just plain awful.

But the men and women of the U.S. military assigned to Logistical Support Area Anaconda, including about 1,400 members of the Washington National Guard's 81st Brigade Combat Team, are doing what they can to make themselves comfortable during their deployment.

About 50 miles north of Baghdad on Highway 1, Anaconda is a former Iraqi military installation that was occupied by coalition forces last year.

It covers about 13 square miles and includes an airfield and several bunker complexes built by Saddam Hussein's military. The U.S. military has taken over the airfield, but most of the bunkers - some of which rise out of the ground like small versions of the Egyptian pyramids - have been abandoned.

It hasn't rained at Anaconda since April, and temperatures exceed 115 degrees during the day in early summer. They are expected to top 125 as the height of summer approaches.

Still, some members of the 81st Brigade say they'd rather be here than in other areas of Iraq occupied by brigade soldiers, such as Camp Kalsu, which brigade public affairs officer Lt. Col. Harry Gonzalez describes as "primitive."

"You'll see worse," said Staff Sgt. Leigh Toland of Yakima, who drives trucks for the 181st Support Battalion at Anaconda. "There are guys out in the field without air conditioning, with limited water and not much hot chow. It's not all that bad here."


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