The View from the Tower

Camp Kalsu, my home for the foreseeable future, is very small (less than 2km square), but there is a lot going on. It can all be seen from the airfield control tower.

Kalsu is located south of Baghdad along the major north-south highway from Basra. All night long American convoys travel this route, convoys composed of Humvees, trucks, and tractor trailers. During the day, the traffic is mainly Iraqis. Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) here at Kalsu man traffic checkpoints on this highway. It is a thankless job for those on the checkpoints, for they are shot at and confront IEDs on a daily basis.

Besides US forces, this base is home to several Iraqi security elements, mainly police and National Guard, being trained by a U.S. Army MP company. Given the level of infiltration of the security forces by insurgents, often when I see a group of them I wonder where their loyalties lie. Some of the Iraqi units participate in security operations with our Marines, and from what I’ve heard they can be quite helpful in identifying insurgents trying to blend in with the local populace. This includes several former members of the security forces.

Kalsu is also home to a detention facility temporarily housing detainees captured during MEU operations in the area. From what I hear they are treated well, eating and living much the same as we do. Periodically they are transferred to Abu Ghraib prison for interrogation.

For the past few weeks, we have hosted some British soldiers from the Black Watch regiment. They operate their helicopters out of here in support of their troops in nearby FOB Dogwood. It is interesting having them around, with their distinctive uniforms, equipment, and accents.

The part of the FOB where I work, of course, is the airfield. It is essentially a large flat area covered in gravel and surrounded by dirt berms (much like the rest of the FOB); it is home to part of the MEU’s Air Combat Element. There are several U.S. attack helicopters permanently based here, as well as the British Army and RAF "hellies." Our helos have permanent parking spots, and there is a road "runway" for the British and transient aircraft. The transient aircraft are helicopters that transport people and cargo among all of the FOBS and main bases. Our airfield is too small for fixed-wing aircraft, although a Harrier could land here in a pinch. Once.

Besides the parking areas for the helicopters, the rest of the airfield consists of aviation support activities. There are fuel bladders and fueling points, a very small "passenger terminal" known as the A/DACG (not even the Marines who work there know what the acronym means!), a Ready Room tent for the resident pilots, maintenance and administrative tents, lots of generators and vehicles, and, of course, the control tower.

The tower is the highest point on the FOB, and from it one can see everything there is to see at Camp Kalsu. From the highway on one side, to the detention facility on the other; from the MEU command post to the living areas to the trash dump, it’s all laid out below. Kalsu’s small size belies the large impact of the Marines, soldiers, and Iraqi security forces who live here. It is a microcosm of the entire country, where relatively few American troops have a disproportionately large effect on the infrastructure and populace.