This article is provided
courtesy of Stars & Stripes, which
got its start as a newspaper for Union troops
during the Civil War, and has been published
continuously since 1942 in Europe and 1945
in the Pacific. Stripes reporters have
been in the field with American soldiers,
sailors and airmen in World War II, Korea,
the Cold War, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Bosnia
and Kosovo, and are now on assignment in the
Middle East.
Stars and Stripes has one of the widest distribution
ranges of any newspaper in the world. Between
the Pacific and European editions, Stars
& Stripes services over 50 countries
where there are bases, posts, service members,
ships, or embassies.
Related Links:
Current
Archive
Stars
& Stripes Website
Sound
off in our Discussion Boards
Have an opinion on the issues discussed in
this article? Sound off.
Get
Breaking Military News Alerts
|
|
|
Your service may have earned you great education
benefits. Get over $1000 per month to pay
for your undergraduate, graduate or technical
degree.
Find military-friendly schools today.
|
|
|
|
January 12, 2005
[Have an opinion about the issues discussed in this article?
Sound
off in our Discussion Boards.]
By Juliana Gittler,
Stars and Stripes Pacific edition
 |
|
| (Jim Schulz / S&S) Easier to set up, lighter and more
efficient, the new Base-X expeditionary shelter is replacing
the Marine Corps’ old-style tent. |
|
 |
|
| (Jim Schulz / S&S) Gunnery Sgt. Lee Burket loads a
storage box with water for the new control center in Colombo,
Sri Lanka, which will direct U.S. relief efforts for victims
of the tsunami disaster. |
|
 |
|
| (Jim Schulz / S&S) From bottom to top right, Lance
Cpls. Joseph Palumbo, Monika Battle and Kenneth Mucha secure
the lashings of an old-style tent in Colombo, where the 3rd
Force Service Support Group is setting up a command center to
coordinate relief efforts in Sri Lanka. |
|
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Marines
from Okinawa’s 3rd Force Service Support Group erected a miniature
tent city inside a former horse-racing track in about a day, using
technology that’s been in their hands for less than a year.
U.S. military forces working in Sri Lanka have been operating from
the U.S. Embassy in Colombo. As hundreds more Marines prepare to land
on the island to begin reconstruction, the embassy operation has evolved
into a larger joint entity, called Combined Support Group — Sri Lanka,
in charge of U.S. assets and operations.
The command post at the racetrack will control logistics, communication
and support. It will serve as the headquarters for U.S. commanders
working in Sri Lanka and can coordinate among crews unloading military
aircraft at the airport and Marine and other units working throughout
the country. It also has space for liaisons from other countries and
nongovernmental agencies.
“Really, any kind of support, including air and ground,” said center
chief Master Sgt. Michael Mendoza. “Coordinating movement of gear
and personnel to where it’s needed.”
What makes the tent city unique is its quarters.
The operation is using a new tent system by the company Base-X. The
tents are lightweight, easy to place and modular so they can fit the
needs of the mission. Marines from Okinawa and Iwakuni
Marine Corps Air Station, Japan, who assembled them are singing
the new tents’ praise.
“It’s spring-loaded; you pull it out and it pops right up,” said Sgt.
Kevin Roberts, with the Transportation Support Battalion on Okinawa.
The tents are pre-wired so they make it easier for electricians. Lights
snap into place flush against the wall — Marines no longer will hit
their heads on the hanging light fixtures of older tent models.
The tents have high ceilings and are lined in white so they’re cooler.
Rooms have channeled ducts to create central air or heat, with wide
passages and open areas for breezes.
“It’s a heck of a lot cooler than a GP [general purpose] tent because
you can put AC in it,” said Sgt. JohnPaul Cooley, administration noncommissioned
officer.
The tents have heavy rubber decking to keep water out and to cushion
the tent bottom against chairs.
The tents center around a high-ceilinged central dome with four wings
— making it look like a turtle, Mendoza said.
“It has good lighting, it’s cooler, it’s open,” he said. “The old
GP tents, they’re really limited.”
One of its most attractive features has been simplicity.
The tents can be configured and changed into different patterns or
space, depending on the need. They go up quickly, similar to a camping
tent.
“With the other tents, the same system would take days,” Mendoza said.
“It took me five days to build the old ones with the same number of
Marines.”
One tent now can take three hours to pop up.
It’s held together with Velcro and is supposed to withstand 100-mph
winds. The tents proved some of their strength by weathering a typhoon
during an exercise in South Korea in October, the second time the
Marines used them since the tents arrived in April.
“This is the [third] time we’ve trained with these tents out in the
field,” Mendoza said.
They’re lighter to carry than the oldest style GP tents,which used
wood poles.
“They’re still pretty heavy but they’re a lot lighter than the GPs,”
said Sgt. Christopher David, supply administration noncommissioned
officer from Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station.
The tent village will be ready to house the operations center this
week.
When it’s fully operational, the center will serve as the workplace
for about 200 people including liaisons from several countries and
agencies.
Tens of thousands of dollars worth of communications equipment will
allow officials to hold teleconferences and meetings with the rest
of the world. It will provide units and commanders tactical and secure
communications instead of the cellular phones currently used to communicate
around the country.
But the tents are the highlight for those who built the complex.
“This is the way the Marine Corps is going now,” Mendoza said. “It’s
high-speed and mobile.”
Email
this page to friends
©2005 Stars & Stripes. All opinions
expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily
reflect those of Military.com.
|
