Article published Feb 22, 2003
Camp Fox Marines fight complacency
Editor's Note: Trista Talton is on assignment with U.S. Marines in Kuwait.
Camp Fox, Kuwait - A map of southeastern Iraq tacked onto Col. Robert Songer's bookshelf is a subtle reminder of the mission the 2nd Force Service Support Group is expected to carry out should the United States go to war.
The chief of staff for the group oversees the estimated 4,000 Marines and sailors that make up the group in this camp tucked in a remote area of the Kuwaiti desert. It is here that Marines a few miles from the front lines will get the supplies they need to carry out a war.
"Anything they need, from food to medical supplies, we provide it to them," Col. Songer said Friday over a cup of hot tea in his tent. "Our job is to get it for the people on the front lines."
Supplies continue to be offloaded from ships that sailed from the state port in Wilmington to a port in the Persian Gulf miles from the camp. Convoys of contracted flat-bed trucks toting containers and military vehicles slowly drive along the gravel-covered sand, churning dust in their wake.
Everything from bottled water, spare parts for repair, fuel trucks and ammunition are being hauled into this camp. If the president declares war, many Marines and sailors here may be pushed north to the front lines.
They have the capabilities to pack supplies in crates that can be dropped from airplanes and parachuted to the battle lines. Marines skilled in the fields of communications, maintenance, medicine and dentistry, security and transportation are based here.
"It's all one effort. If they need support up there, we'll provide the support. That's why we have such a variety of skills," Col. Songer said.
The troops continue to set up tents to be their work places and pull equipment from containers - keeping the Marines and sailors busy as the days stretch into weeks and months. The sense here is to get the job done and return home.
"The Marines here are ready," Col. Songer said. "I think everyone over here is ready to go."
That being said, if the wait for word from the president runs an extended period of time, preventing complacency among the troops will be the goal, Col. Songer said.
"It'll be a challenge. The longer we're here, it'll be a challenge to maintain our peak readiness. We're going to continue to train. Every day we're going to get better and better at it," Col. Songer said.
More tents are a sign of additional services – small, but important conveniences such as a camp store, a gym for weight training and a library full of donated books from a used book store in Jacksonville.
When Col. Songer reported to the area for Desert Storm, he didn't enjoy such amenities. He was the executive officer of a transportation battalion living out of tarp-covered holes.
"It doesn't get much better than this," he said as he looked around his tent.
Beyond the razor wire, past a sand berm setting the camp's boundaries, lies the threat of a possible assault from Iraq and people in this country who do not support the U.S. military presence.
The threat level rises when Marines leave the camp for specific duties. Marines and sailors here will not get liberty - short trips away from the camp. Those who are required to make the nearly hour drive along the sand road to a paved highway travel in pairs of vehicles and carry loaded weapons.
"The odds, I think, if you've got some terrorist who wants to drive up shooting, it's pretty hard to stop that," Col. Songer said.
Trista Talton 343-2070
trista.talton@wilmingtonstar.com
I wish I had a berm.