Virgin Island Reservists Serve in Afghanistan

Defend America News ^ | Nov 4, 2005 | Spc. Laura E. Griffin

[SandRat]

A small piece of the 'American Paradise' can be found in Afghanistan, as Virgin Island reservists bring their distinctive island music to their deployment.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE ANED, Afghanistan, Nov. 4, 2005 — Land-locked Afghanistan, with its dry, mountainous, dusty climate, in no way resembles a tropical island, yet Reggae and Calypso music and that certain accent associated with small islands in the Caribbean can be heard drifting from one room in the barracks on Forward Operating Base Aned, Afghanistan.

That room is the temporary home away from home for eight members of the 652nd Engineering Detachment, a reserve unit from the U.S. Virgin Islands.

"It's the music, the Reggae, Calypso and Soka, that keeps us close to home," said U.S. Army Spc. Dwight Dunwell, a heavy equipment operator with the unit, who was also deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom IV in 2004. "But I'm still not used to the cold here."

At an elevation of over 7,000 feet, Forward Operating Base Aned is considerably cooler than St. Croix (pronounced Croy), one of the three islands that make up the Virgin Islands and home to seven of the eight reservists stationed at the base. The eighth lives on St. Thomas.

"It's the music, the Reggae, Calypso and Soka, that keeps us close to home."

U.S. Army Spc. Dwight Dunwell

These eight engineers, along with a single attachment from Ohio, are at Forward Operating Base Aned to help build new sloping roofs for the flat-roofed buildings that dot the base. This will help with drainage issues commonly associated with flat roofs and will help to keep the winter snows from accumulating to dangerous levels on the roofs.

Despite the extreme environment change, they're taking life here all in that same island stride.

"There's no beach and it's not green like home, but I can't complain," said U.S. Army Sgt. Melvin Jeffers, an interior electrician with the unit who owns his own construction business back on St. Croix. "The work we do here reminds me of home. I spent my two weeks of leave framing the roof of my house," he said with a smile as he sat on one of the roof frames the group was working on.

The unit arrived in Afghanistan in February and has other troops assigned throughout eastern Afghanistan, with the majority of the unit stationed at Bagram Air Field. When the men at Forward Operating Base Aned are finished with their work, they will head back to Bagram to begin preparations for their return trip home, something they're all looking forward to.

"I'm looking forward to the winter," said Jeffers. "That means it is close to time to go home. The first thing I'm going to do when I get there is drink a rum and coke."

U.S. Army Spc. Tommy Bumbico, a carpenter attached to the unit who lives in Bellaire, Ohio, was recalled from his inactive ready reserve status to serve in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom VI.

"When I was called up, I didn't know who I was being attached to," said Bumbico, who shares the barracks room with the Virgin Islanders at Forward Operating Base Aned. "At first, it was hard to understand them because their accent is so different. It's kind of like Jamaican, but not. Now I can understand them just fine."

"When I first found out that they were from the Virgin Islands, I was like, 'Is that even part of the U.S.?'" he recalled. "I was surprised when Chief Jones gave me the history."

As it turns out, the Virgin Islands are one of four territories of the United States.

"The U.S. bought the islands from Denmark in 1917," said U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Dalton Jones, the Officer in Charge of the detachment. "The U.S. wanted to use the deep water ports for submarines to keep Germany from having clear access of that area."

"Now the Virgin Islands are called the 'American Paradise,'" he continued. "These days tourism is the primary industry on the islands of St. Thomas and St. John. St. Croix is the largest of the three islands and manufacturing and refineries are its main industries. It has the largest oil refinery in the western hemisphere."

Living on a small tropical island is comparable to living in "small town America" in some ways: Most of the faces there are familiar to one another, but there are still a few surprises.

"Living on an island, most everybody knows everybody," said U.S. Army Spc. Hilroy Williams, an interior electrician with the unit.

"Yeah, but being on this deployment, you get to meet a lot of new interesting people, like Lionel," said Dunwell of Spc. Akimo Lionel, a carpenter in the unit. "We live on the same island but had never met before."

For Lionel, the greatest reminder of his small island home is the very voice with which he speaks.

"Our language is a little piece of home that we take with us everywhere," he said.

[SandRat]

From Paradise to Hell for Duty, Country, Honor!

[E.G.C.]

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