Third-country nationals build the frame for a floor that will be used as the foundation for Force Provider tents. (photo by Bob Whistine)
Tent cities spring up across Kuwait
by Bob Whistine
CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait - (Army News Service, Feb. 25, 2003) - Six tent cities in Kuwait now have space for 15,500 soldiers and officials said more requests arrive daily.
Camp sizes in Kuwait range from 500 to 6,500 personnel, officials said. Dining facilities have increased their capacity to feed up to 10,000 per day with projected increases to reach 20,000 per day.
Joyce Taylor of the U.S. Army Materiel Command's Program Management Office for the Logistic Civil Augmentation Program, know as LOGCAP, arrived in Kuwait in September. She then helped develop plans to construct six Force Provider modules to provide bedding for nearly 3,500 personnel.
Today the number has more than quadrupled for soldiers housed and it continues to grow, Taylor said, explaining that both Force Provider and Festival Tent communities have been built under the LOGCAP contract.
Force Provider modules provide climate-controlled billeting, dining facilities, hygiene services and morale, welfare and recreation, or MWR facilities capable of supporting more than 550 personnel.
Force Providers are containerized for shipping by land, air and sea. A typical camp requires about five to 10 acres of land, officials said. Site preparation takes about three to four days, they said, with an entire camp becoming fully operational in 14 days or less.
"I believe the most important aspect of a Brown and Root contract to construct Force Provider units is that it drastically reduces the military logistics footprint on the battlefield," said Lt. Col. Rod Cutright, the senior LOGCAP planner for all of Southwest Asia.
"We can quickly purchase building materials and hire third-country nationals to perform the work," Cutright said. "This means a small number of combat-service-support soldiers are needed to support this logistic aspect of building up an area."
More than 1,800 Brown and Root contractors support the LOGCAP missions in Kuwait, Cutright said, along with nine officers from the Logistic Support Unit, or LSU.
Force Provider modules come complete with water and fuel storage, power generation and distribution, and wastewater collection systems. The basic building block is the Tent Expendable Modular Personnel, or TEMPER, each of which has an environmental control unit, officials said.
Force Providers have been used in Haiti, Bosnia, Guatemala, Honduras, Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) and various locations in Kuwait in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Missions for Force Providers include: theater reception; intermediate staging base; rest and refit and base camps for military operations such as humanitarian/disaster relief; and peacekeeping missions.
Modernization plans for the Force Provider include increasing its efficiency while decreasing the logistical footprint, operations and maintenance costs, according to officials of the Assistant Product Management office.
The APM office was tasked to develop, build and assemble a total of 36 modules by fiscal year 2005. Thirty-one modules were already completed by June, officials said, adding that five are still in production. Current storage plans call for 12 to be kept aboard preposition ships; eight in CONUS; one at Fort Polk, La., to be used for training and testing; six in Europe, six in the Pacific; and three in the Central Command area of responsibility.
All modules will be under AMC management, officials said. Production will be completed at the Defense Distribution Depot, Albany, Ga.
"Last year there were no Force Provider units here," said Taylor in Kuwait. "Now there are 10 modules, which means we are now supporting over 6,000 coalition forces."
"I get a great deal of personnel satisfaction in knowing I'm supporting the soldiers by meeting their personal needs like a place to sleep, a shower and a place to eat," Taylor said. "My job is to provide them a better life support system that allows them to go out and do the job they are trained for."
(Editor's note: Bob Whistine is the AMC-Logistic Support Element Public Affairs Officer.)
