European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 13, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday october 13, 1991 the stars and stripes c Page 3 a amps j. Eng Cruger Berlin brigade soldiers Combine to create a stack of poles As part of the dismantling of the tent City in silo i. Tents have been going Down at the rate of 30 a Day. Unit pitched in so site could fold ups amps j. Eng Cruger Mary Drake of the red Cross adds to a pile of goods destined for kurdish refugees. By j. King Cruger Mediterranean Bureau silo i Turkey a when turkish merchants slashed prices to unload their rugs Allied troops residing in silo in a enormous tent City knew they finally were headed Home. Late in the first week of october scores of tents still covered a former wheat Field near the iraqi Border. Today nothing remains on the site. Since the first tent City was hastily erected on the site in late april to House Allied troops aiding the beleaguered kurd the Field has been Home to thousands of military members of the combined battalion task Force in support of operation provide Comfort. In the first tent City the shelters baked in the Sun. Living conditions were barely tolerable. Then when Allied forces were withdrawn from Northern Iraq in july and provide Comfort ii started things began to look up for the troops. Elements of the air forces 86th civil engr so from Ramstein a Germany arrived at silo i on july 4, greeted by temperatures of More than 120 degrees. They came to help provide Comfort to troops that had Long been doing just that themselves. Forty nine members of the 86th civil engr Sqq a prime base engineering emergency Force prime beef aided by battalion troops set about taking Down the old tent City and replacing it with a facility eventually dubbed a silo i Heights by its 2,500 residents. Prime beef members a carpenters plumbers electricians a replaced the old tents with More than 250 temperature controlled tents hooked up to individual air conditioning units. The prime beef team put in Power water and sewer lines and also set up an Exchange a mess tent and other morale welfare and recreation facilities. A a it a definitely easier to tear Down the tent City than it was to put it up a said senior airman Karl Johansen 22, a prime beef electrician. A we just have to unzip and fold Down tents rather than Hunting for the various parts a said Johansen of Barre it. The dismantling teams took Down tents at the rate of 30 a Day. A a we be been getting a lot of help from the Berlin brigade in taking the tent City Down. Everybody is motivated to get out of Here As fast As said airman 1st class Brian Searles 21, a prime beef electrical Power production specialist. Spec. Marshall Mack 30, and sgt. Bobby Keener 31, both members of Bravo co 6th in 502nd inf regt Berlin brigade helped to erect a set of tents Ana late last week they were helping to take them Down. A a in a very glad to Sec the tent City come Down a said Keener a resident of Texarkana Texas. A the worst part about being Here was being away from our families and not knowing when we were going Home. The Good part of the deployment was being Able to mix and mingle with the other nationalities living at silo i a said Mack a native of Richmond . Correctly scheduling the order in which the City was to be taken Down was a vexing chore according to capt. A1 thai 33, the officer in charge of the prime beef team. A we did no to want to take Down Power showers and latrines too Early said thai a resident of Wichita Falls Texas. Allied military leaders urged Camp residents to save reusable items such As blankets air mattresses pillows and flashlights for donation to kurdish Rufu might s. Me gees. Mounds of donated gear quickly piled up beside tents. Drainage ditches and holes once crisscrossed and dotted the tent City. Now they have been filled and the area levelled. And the tents they Are being trucked nearly 400 Miles to in Ciurlik a Turkey where they Are needed to shelter Many of the More than 2,300 task Force members taking part there in the air Effort to protect the kurd
