Indiana National Guard – SFOR 15 Eagle Base

Eagle Base was once a major Yugoslav air base for MIG and Sukhoi fighter planes. MIG bunkers are scattered around the perimeter. Most now are broken open and covered with scrub trees. Many of the “roads” were once taxiways from the bunkers to the flight line. I knew some of what to expect before we got there in March 2004. I was able to find some brief accounts on the internet. We also received some information when CH Jenkins from SFOR14 visited us during our training exercises at Camp Atterbury. I appreciated his information because it meant I did not have to bring extra gear when I went over. Being part of the staff for the CG (Commanding General) means having computer equipment, field manuals and other administrative material. I also did not have to bring extra religious materials. All of that was waiting for us upon our arrival. I did take my lap-top because it contained my library, preparatory training material and hours of music I’d converted to mp3 from my CDs. This meant that Mozart, Beethoven, The Rolling Stones and others went with me.

Being a well-established base meant that Eagle Base had grass, trees and flowers. Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo was mainly barren sand and clay and gravel when I was there in 2001, so I was pleasantly surprised. There is one drawback to using a preexisting base. During the war with NATO the ammo dump blew up, vomiting shells and mines all over the base. We call the stuff “Unexploded Ordinance” (UXO). At Camp Bondsteel they had solved the mine problem by just bulldozing off the topsoil. Leaving the trees in place meant it was harder to find all of the UXOs at Eagle Base. Many of the danger areas were right up against our housing. There were some cleared “Parks” where you could walk on the grass or play softball. Everywhere else you had to walk on raised sidewalks or roads. A reminder of the danger was a sign at the park next to our hooch. It said the park was dedicated to a soldier who was killed when he stepped in the wrong spot there. Even eight years later the stuff was a real problem. One day my favorite jogging trail along the perimeter fence was closed because a heavy rain had washed a mine onto the path. I had trouble finding wood for my Easter fire because all the dead branches were in UXO areas. I hope some day to get to heaven, but I would prefer later to sooner and old age to an old artillery shell. I finally found a branch that had fallen on the safe side of the fence.

Americans added many new buildings including prefab housing units. We lived in semi trailers, literally. A typical “semi” rig you see going down the interstate is 40 feet long. You may notice that many of them now have removable containers that latch on the trailer’s bed. We call them “Connexes”. Someone decided to use these as the basis for military prefab housing. A basic unit is 7 feet high, 7 feet wide and 20 feet long, so two can fit behind a semi. Each is manufactured at the factory then transferred to truck, then train, then boat and back again to be used at their destination. Most are living units made with internal linoleum, paneling, a window, a door and an A/C – heater unit. The bed barely fits from one side to the other, as you can see from this picture of my hooch. At the top, outside corner of the unit is a giant “plug in” that connects the cell to central electricity. The units can be quickly bolted together into prefab housing buildings. Bathroom units could be included in the structure or clumped together in separate, central locations. Our building had the bathroom unit included with units bolted together in two rows with a hallway separating them. In Kosovo I’d had to cross gravel lots to find a bathroom, which was a real pain in the middle of the night as winter set in. Our bathroom was built in, but there was still one problem in the winter. The only way to heat the hallway was to use the exhaust from the bathroom unit. Warm meant bathroom aromas. We chose a cold hallway. A few of the buildings were freshly refurbished, but most of the buildings had a “lived in” look.

The base was stretched out along the airport runway, so many of us used bikes to get from one place to another. Other soldiers preferred the long walk to the “Longhorn” dining facility (DFAC) because it helped them burn off the calories they would eat there. As in Kosovo, the food was plentiful and very good. Regular meal hours were set, but there was a side room that always had soup, sandwiches and beverages 24/7. Prior deployment groups had a higher number of young soldiers, so the cooks learned to serve mainly American teenager fare (the four main food groups, burgers, ice cream, chips and pop). They responded to our requests and we gradually got more adult type fare (fried chicken, french fries, pie and cake). If you were not careful, and had an office job, it was very easy to gain weight. Each DFAC had rotating display cases with desserts. Many of the soldiers called them the “Wheel of Death” for the high cholesterol or the “Wheel of Misfortune” because the calories messed up your chances on the physical fitness tests. There was plenty of good wholesome low-fat food (rice, beans, fresh fruits, juices, green veggies and water). The people who cooked and served the meals were Bosnians and they were very friendly. One worked to teach us a new Bosnian word each day as we came through the check-in.

If you got tired of eating too much food at the DFAC there were “American” stores. These included a PX, Burger King, Taco Bell and Anthony’s Pizza. MWR (Morale Welfare and Recreation) ran several gyms, movies at the big tent and many sporting events. There were also several stores selling crafts made by the Bosnians. My favorite was a lace shop. The lace was hand-made by the “Widows of Bosnia.” The proceeds went to helping them live. I sure hope my family liked all of the lace that I bought for them for Christmas and birthday presents. Unfortunately, as it became clear that we would be the last SFOR in the Peace Accord, the shops, USO and activity areas were gradually removed. Some were taken to Iraq or Afghanistan where the need was greater, but our soldiers missed having those little bits of “America” to remind them of home. Our last months there were pretty barren, but even then I could not complain, not after I’d seen the pictures of the tents and mud that the first SFOR units called “home.”

We even had a USO which loaned out movies and books and was operated by a wonderful lady named Linda. She worked long hours and was also the proud companion of “Sasha the wonder dog.” Sasha looked like a white shag rug wrapped around a beer keg on four spindly legs. When we asked the previous soldiers if Sasha bit, they said, “Only if you open her mouth, put your hand in and close it for her.” Sasha’s natural tendency to relax, and the soldiers’ tendency to feed her, accounted for her unique physique. Sasha has the distinction of being the only pet allowed on post. Several times when I scratched her belly, Sasha rewarded me with a hearty licking. Probably half the post found a similar emotional lift from Sasha the wonderdog. This made it all the more interesting when Linda informed us one week that Sasha had worms.

Some of us got lucky and “inherited” the room of our predecessor. Prior Task Force Chaplains had created a custom of passing on their room’s contents for $50. My predecessor, CH Johnson, is an honorable man and kept up the custom. His room had a TV with VCR (for USO movies), dresser, sheets, pillow and blanket, nice chair, rugs, and several electric 220v transformers. The expectation was that I would add one nice item and pass it all on for $50, which I did from fear my chaplain predecessors would rise up and smite me with the unrighteous.

As Task Force Chaplain I had a penthouse office on the top floor of the central command building, called the “White House”. It took me several weeks to get in the habit of ducking when I went to my desk because the roof took up most of my head space. Next door were the Staff Judge Advocate (JAG) offices. Any bad guys attacking us would have had to go by them to get to me, so I felt pretty safe. They also were a ready source of poor souls that needed to talk to a Chaplain. Actually they kept confidentiality very well so we had to find poor souls the hard way, by looking for them. Space was tight, so the office also held a desk for my assistant SFC Lee and a desk for visiting chaplains. That meant I had to kick SFC Lee out whenever I did counseling. The Air Force weather guys were across the hall, so I got early warning if the CG would request a weather prayer.

There was plenty to do with free time at Eagle base. There was a movie tent on base, but many also got their movies as DVDs or VCR tapes from Linda at the USO. We also had intramural sports. Spring and Summer had softball and Fall brought Football. The one cleared field was reserved for softball and the other for football and soccer. Probably the most popular sport is what I call “Calvin Ball” volleyball. Bill Watterson, in the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes” gave us “Calvin Ball” where rules change and are made up as the game goes along. There was always a good argument to enjoy when the Calvin Ballers played against the volleyball purists who liked to play by the rules. The key was to have fun and get some exercise, so in most cases Calvin Ball was on the sand courts and purist ball was in the gym.

There was also the time honored military past-time of critiquing our superiors and politicians and solving all of the Army’s and America’s problems in bull sessions. These discussions took place in common areas, porches and coffee shops. There were plenty to choose from and you quickly learned which persons and topics dominated in each spot. You could choose your place based on what you wanted to chew about. It was democracy in action, the sessions were lively, and each one of us walked away with a happy glow knowing, “The world would truly be a better place if people would just let me tell them how to run things.” If all else failed there was the trip to the PX to see if they’d finally gotten some running shoes that would fit or souvenir shirts that weren’t pink.

We could go jogging pretty easily. There was a running loop next to the football field, or you could run along the perimeter on the security road. If you went all the way around the base it was a five mile jog. I only did that once because I misread a sigh and ended up jogging by the airport control tower where I got picked up by Air Force security. So I stayed in the section of the perimeter away from the airfield. There was more chance of finding a mine, but less chance of getting arrested. That stretch also had only the wire and fence between the runner and the Bosnians. During the year I watched the changing activities at the local basketball court. They actually played soccer inside it and I watched one time when a young lad went fishing in our concertina wire for a stray soccer ball. I guess he was perfect for the task because of his small size. He looked at me, smiled, and dug out the ball without once catching on a barb. I also monitored the progress of a local farmer’s haystack as he built it up in the Spring and Summer and it then dwindled in the Fall and Winter. I left Bosnia just as he was about to once again make hay. The Indiana Guard of SFOR 15 had helped him have peace for another year.

As I’ve gotten to the end here I find I’ve left out so many important events. We celebrated the Transfer of Authority, Army Birthday and Disestablishment of SFOR. MAJ Girdley organized the first ever Satellite Indianapolis 500 Mini-Marathon in Bosnian. There was the visit by Senator Richard Lugar, Representative Brandt Hershman, MG Umbarger, MG Vadnais and Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient Sammy Davis Jr. There were the athletic contests between the multinational troops and the MASCAL exercise (which fortunately we never had to implement in a real situation). And then there were the visits by the cheerleaders and a variety of bands which MWR brought to Eagle base. I could go on, but I think it is time to say, “finis”.

Let me leave you with a glimpse of the four seasons at Eagle Base, Bosnia Herzegovina in 2004.

Fr. Stang Bosnia page