Kandahar builds ahead of troops surge

[unhappycamper]

Kandahar builds ahead of troops surge
By Heath Druzin, Stars and stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, December 19, 2009

KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — Amid the model-plane buzz of unmanned aircraft and the roar of F-16 fighter jets, another sound can be heard at this expanding southern base: the knock of hammers on 2-by-4s.

The military is furiously building for an influx of troops after President Barack Obama’s announced he will send an additional 30,000 to Afghanistan, many of them to the south. The first Marines have already started arriving, though the full escalation could take up to 11 months, according to The Associated Press.

In contrast to the mega-bases of Iraq, which sometimes feel like small cities complete with fast food joints and strip malls, conditions for troops across Afghanistan are not decadent. Tents without heat are the norm, and some soldiers still bed down outside, setting up a cot in the dust and huddling in their sleeping bags in the creeping cold as the Afghan fall turns to winter.

In the south, including the city of Kandahar, the spiritual stronghold of the Taliban, a building boom is already under way. By the time each tent, portable toilet and wood-frame building is installed, the price tag is expected to exceed $2 billion in Regional Command South alone.

Army Col. Paul Oettinger, who is in charge of expansion for Regional Command South, which includes Kandahar Air Field and dozens of other bases, makes a modest promise to the incoming troops.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66765