Soldiers of the 69th Signal Company pull a telephone cable from a manhole at Camp Anaconda. From front they are Pvt. Byant Dew, Spc. Jonathan Luke, Sgt. Vicor Camacho, Spc. Cameron Hamilton and Sgt. William Lawson. (Bill Hess-Herald/Review)
Posted on 10/29/2005 8:49:44 PM PDT by SandRat
CAMP ANACONDA, Iraq — Work occasionally stops at this former Iraq air base near Balad, where mortar rounds land as insurgents try to disrupt soldiers’ jobs.
But even though shelling is a major concern, what really bothers some 69th Signal Company cable dogs is going down manholes into water-filled concrete tunnels where rats, lizards, snakes, wasps and mosquitoes abound.
The section is working two shifts a day to complete the task requiring a portion of the company’s 3rd Platoon to run telephone cable for a new area.
“Anaconda is growing, and more people means more phone lines,” said Sgt. Victor Camacho, who heads the day shift.
Since arriving in Iraq slightly more than five months ago, the 69th’s missions have grown, with the company’s soldiers scattered around the nation.
The air base, which formerly was a major facility for the Iraqi air force, a fairly modern complex that includes hardened aircraft bunkers, is now where mainly U.S. Army and Air Force units are located.
Running cables is hard work, but even more so when it requires doing most of it underground.
The soldiers sometimes have to punch a hole through the lower part of the concrete manhole after digging a trench to lay lines in some of areas not served by utility tunnels.
While Camacho and his team have the daylight to work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the tunnels are hardly bright spots.
When Sgt. Mark Hendricks and his group comes on duty at 5 p.m. and works through 1 a.m., there is no light at the end of the tunnel, which can be claustrophobic for some.
“We’re the vampires,” he said.
But it seemed the real vampires Thursday night were mosquitoes, which temporarily drove Hendricks out of one of the tunnels.
With cooler weather, work is going faster.
“We’re getting a lot more done,” Hendricks said.
For Camacho, the heat was unbearable when he and his team of seven worked during the daylight hours.
The night part of the work also was hot, Hendricks added about the conditions his team of six faced.
The telephone cables are heavy. Soldiers do a lot of pulling to get them from one manhole area to another.
The end of the cable sometimes is hooked up to the back of an Army vehicle to help, as was done Thursday night.
By time the current job is done, Camacho estimates the two shifts will run about a mile of cable.
Since arriving at Anaconda, the 69th’s 3rd Platoon has run more than 30 miles of different communication lines — fiber and copper.
Like many GIs, bravado is part of the 69th’s makeup.
Although they profess that the mortar firings do not bother them, they are aware that around 5 p.m. is when rounds start coming in.
“Just about now,” Camacho said, knowing it was close to 5 p.m. because the night shift crew was arriving.
“Last night (Wednesday), we got mortared and we had to go into a bunker,” he said.
Most of the mortar hits are not close.
“It’s unusual when you go two or three days without being mortared,” Camacho said.
HERALD/REVIEW senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
69th puls their weight in Iraq.
Maybe they should drop some animals that prey on these pests into the manholes a few days before they enter. I think badgers eat all of them; so tag about twenty badgers with GPS, drop them in the holes for a week or two of feasting, then snuff the badgers and get the cable work done in peace.
I worked pulling phone/optic cable for a while and it is NOT easy in the best of conditions!
Add mortars, critters and the heat and you are working in hell dragging a mile of bundled wire the size of your arm or larger at times.
These folks are not getting paid enough to do this work under those conditions.
BTTT
Or, they could just install a 3rd generation GSM wireless system and have everybody talking in less than a month. We don't need no stinkin' cables.....
LOL, you got my vote.
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