Here it is folks; home away from home to 40,000 U.S. troops and contractors for decades to come. Think we're ever leaving Iraq? Think again.
With little fanfare and barely a mention in the U.S. news, Balad Air Base, home to the 332nd Air Force Expeditionary Wing - about 60-miles north of Baghdad - is quickly becoming the largest, most expensive American military installation in the world.
Located smack dab in the middle of Iraq, the super-base is one giant, ongoing construction project; constantly being upgraded with mile after mile of paved roads, sidewalks and living structures going up across the sprawling 16-square-mile fortress, no doubt intended to last for decades to come. Billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent on the improvements.
As for accommodations, Balad rivals your average small American city. It's so large it requires a regular 24/7 bus service to ferry around its tens of thousands of inhabitants, and its myriad of services are commensurate with the size of the base’s population, along with amenities to match.
NPR has the story up at its website:
"The runway has been reworked; it was basically falling apart the last time we were here," said Col. Charles Croft, an F-16 pilot, who has watched the improvements over the years.
And as for the accommodations, Croft said, "Instead of tents we've got modular trailers, which is really nice. I stayed in tents the first couple times I was around here."
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The Subway sandwich chain is one of several U.S. chains with a foothold here. There are two base exchanges that are about as large as a Target or K-Mart. Consumer items from laptop computers to flat-screen TV's to Harley Davidson motorcycles are available for purchase. Those comforts, says Captain Shawn Scott, make life seem a little more like home.
"It's definitely becoming more settled. It's less expeditionary, feeling a lot more like a base back home," Scott said. "We're getting a lot of services here and the food's getting better."
Back in Washington, Pentagon officials say that the U.S. military is in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government, and that it will depart when asked to do so.
But several senior military officials have privately described Balad Air Base, and a few other large installations in Iraq, as future bases of operation for the U.S. military. The term used is "lily pad," a description of the military jumping from base to base without ever touching the ground in between.
Base commander, Air Force Brig. General Burt Field commented that "...the spot is an ideal staging ground."
"It's centrally located, it's a large facility; we've worked very hard to improve the situation," Field said. "So, I mean, it would certainly be one they should consider if we're going to be a long-term presence here."
Every Thursday, a group of Iraqi merchants arrives on base to sell pirated DVD's and knock-off Saddam Hussein memorabilia. The troops call it the "haji mart."
For many of the Air Force personnel stationed here, like Maj. Jeremy Saunders, it's the only time they will ever meet an Iraqi during their deployment. The vast majority of airmen will never leave the base.
Saunders added that when his family back home asks him what Iraq is really like, he has no choice but to answer that he’s really not sure.
"The pictures we see are the same they see," Saunders said. "So really, we don't know much more about it over here than they do over there."
Many of the base inhabitants have noted on more than one occasion; that, seen from the sky at night, on the way into the base, Balad appears more like the Las Vegas Strip than it does a country ravaged by death and destruction for over 4-years running.
While the surrounding Iraqi villages, on a good day, get from 6-10-hours of electricity out of 24 -- the bright, twinkling lights illuminating Balad Air Force Base -- never dim.
The overlords have truly arrived.
Impede, impeach and imprison.
Peace