Tightly-packed U.S. camp in Philippines is buzzing with preparation By Mark Oliva, Okinawa bureau Pacific edition, Monday, February 11, 2002
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines - It's a tightly packed camp surrounded on one side by urban slums and shantytowns and by the Basilan Straits on the other.
Fifteen miles away, and clouded in haze, is Basilan island, the stronghold of Abu Sayyaf terrorists and the battleground between them and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Most of the U.S. troops, more than 650 in all, who will participate in annual Balikatan exercises here and assist the Philippine military in fighting Abu Sayyef, will be based here at Camp Navarro or at nearby Malagutay.
A maze of new wires crisscrosses the base. Septic tanks have been repaired and new roads have been built. At the Philippines' Edwin Andrews Air Base, cement pads are poured and runway improvements in the works.
Nearly 160 Special Forces will be stationed on Basilan island. They'll accompany Philippine forces on patrols and advise on techniques to fight the Abu Sayyaf.
The island's mountaintops cut through the cloud cover, but the fog that surrounds the lower elevations suggests the struggle going on there. One week earlier, five guerillas were killed by Philippine Army Scout Rangers. The Philippine military is pressing its pledge to recover two American missionaries and one Philippine nurse held hostage.
During the same week, a Philippine reporter, Dela Cruz, who videotaped an interview with the Abu Sayyaf and the hostages in November, was listed as missing and is feared taken hostage or killed. Spokesmen for the Philippine military said they actively were searching for Cruz.
On the east side of the strait, behind-the-scenes work is keeping the U.S. military busy. They are charged with training the Armed Forces of the Philippines in counterterrorism techniques and using high-tech equipment, such as thermal imagers and night-vision goggles. Some of the equipment already is in the hands of the Philippine soldiers.
Most U.S. troops here are logisticians and engineers, beefing up the infrastructure of the base camp and making it a viable home for the U.S. task force. This will be their home for at least the next six months, said Air Force Master Sgt. Michael Farris, spokesman for Joint Task Force 510, the U.S. special operations contingent at Camp Navarro.
"We're working on a fairly small base," Farris said. "And we're bedding down a sizeable contingent."
Farris said there's no definite size or shape the bases will be built. All work being done will support the exercise, he said. Improvements to the bases go toward the six-month training mission, but will remain to benefit the Philippine troops.
Future plans for more improvement are possible.
"That will be dictated as we go along," Farris explained. "We may see things that might help improve the level of training or find needs for different equipment that might need to be flown in."
U.S. troops stay confined to this base or nearby Edwin Andrews Air Force Base. U.S. transport planes land, bringing more and more gear and supplies. Very little goes out. Large steel containers at the base are stocked with supplies, including prepackaged meals, ready to eat.
At Camp Navarro, the perimeter is surrounded by concertina wire, a razor-sharp barbed wire. The strands are stacked head-high in some locations. At the main gate, Philippine soldiers man posts, armed and ready to shoot.
"Nobody goes off base for anything routine," Farris said. "Everybody is so busy, you usually don't have time anyway."
Food and laundry service is contracted out, eliminating soldiers having to leave base. Farris said it's because of the threat to U.S. forces outside the gates.
The street in front of Camp Navarro hums with motorcycles with sidecars, taxis, jeepneys and open-air buses that cram the roads. Garbage lines the roads and trash fires burn, filling the air with an acrid mix of choking smoke, dust and exhaust fumes.
Inside the base, there is order. The main parade area, about the size of a football field, dominates the upper portion of the base.
To one side is the grandstand, and underneath is the growing nerve center of the task force. Antennas sprout like saplings, reaching at odd angles into the sky. They link the soldiers on the ground and the planners in Hawaii at U.S. Pacific Command.
"There's a lot of equipment behind that laptop," said Air Force Staff Sgt. Charles Sutherland, a computer network support technician. "That laptop is like the tip of the iceberg."
Beyond the laptops, Sutherland and others are working to get communications up and running where phone lines outside the city are rare and cell-phone users send text messages because of the chance of getting cut off while talking.
There are two Internet cafés in a town of nearly 600,000. Electricity is spotty. The U.S. contingent here brought trailer-sized generators because smaller generators weren't putting out enough juice.
"Communications is about 90 percent of what's going on right now," Sutherland said. "A lot of the planning that's being done is on computers."
This sort of pace is expected for at least the next couple weeks. The headquarters group is firmly on the ground, but training between the U.S. and Philippine forces isn't close to starting. Interaction between the two forces is limited to security for now. Within weeks, though, the posture will change.
U.S. forces will begin using mock-ups at Camp Malagutay to train Philippine forces on counterterrorism techniques. New night-vision and thermal-imaging equipment will be tried and tested before it goes to Basilan with some U.S. soldiers.
Still, Farris reiterated that the entire mission is aimed at improving the level of training. The construction and the subsequent training will continue for at least six months. The hope is, when the U.S. military leaves, the equipment will stay and the threat of Abu Sayyaf will be gone.
