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Dust storms, lack of showers make outpost a real beach

Jul-27-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

Link to Full Article (Subscription) On news stands in the 1 August print edition.
By Matthew Cox, Army Times

RAWAH, Iraq — Living is hard here at this fledgling combat outpost near the Syrian border.

The soldiers of B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, arrived at their new home July 16 to find none of the comforts they left behind at Forward Operating Base Courage in Mosul.

No air-conditioned housing units, no showers, no flush toilets, no running water, no phones and no chow hall — just a barren but defendable stretch of desert sand on the north side of the Euphrates River.

B Company, 3-21, is the infantry portion of 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment’s task force sent here to crack down on insurgent forces coming across the Syrian border about 60 kilometers to the west.

“The whole point is to get some combat power into this area,” said 2-14 commander Lt. Col. Mark Davis. “Nobody likes sucking down dirt, but ... we are certainly willing to endure a few hardships to take the fight to the enemy.”

Spartan living for B Company and the other 2-14 units began right after they left Mosul on July 13.

B Company’s 21 Strykers had no problem traveling the 230 kilometers on the country’s less than perfect roads. But they did have problems when some of the other vehicles in the convoy suffered from overheating, mechanical problems and equipment damage.

The hours of delays resulted in the trip taking more than a day to complete.

“The Strykers can go everywhere, but the heavy equipment trucks and fuelers can’t,” said Col. Robert Brown, commander of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT), parent to the 2-14.

The weather took its toll, too. Back-to-back dust storms took visibility down to less than 50 feet at times.

“We didn’t expect the dust storms to be as bad,” Davis said.

Leaders actually abandoned the original site they had picked for the outpost because the open desert offered no protection from dust storms. The current location is surrounded by several pieces of high ground that provide wind buffers in addition to making the terrain easily defendable. [... ]

The story continues.


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