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St. Pete Army Reservists Guard Captured Iraqi Airbase

DefendAmerica.mil

18 April 2003

By U.S. Army Sgt. Frank N. Pellegrini
U.S. Army Reserve Public Affairs Office

TALLIL AIR BASE, Iraq - Less than three weeks ago, this small airfield was the site of a thundering tank and artillery battle between Iraqi loyalists and the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division forces, which was determined to grab what was one of the coalition's first strategic objectives of the war.

Now, a cardboard sign taped to the gate reads "Bush International Airport." The only Iraqis here are enemy prisoners of war gathered inside, for whom the airport means a 12- to 72-hour layover on the way south to Umm Qasr and the coalition's internment facility there. The only sign left of Saddam's forces in the airfield's crumbling main - and only - building is in a room upstairs, where tattered cutouts of soccer stars dangle from the walls

Of all the airports in all the world, Tallil certainly isn't the most comfortable one to be stationed in. Broken windows, disemboweled ceilings and bullet-riddled walls bear some witness to the fierce fighting that took place here - although it's difficult to tell how much of the disrepair long predates this conflict and how much merely reflects the prewar state of Iraqi maintenance.

" Look at this place," said Sgt. Emiliano Carrero of the 320th Military Police Company, one the Army reservists out of St. Petersburg, Fla., charged with guarding the base. "It's hard to believe anybody would fight for this dump."

But in war, as in real estate, location is everything, and Tallil sits at a perfect halfway point between Baghdad and the Iraq-Kuwait border. It's an ideal way station for EPWs gathered from points north and a still-bustling supply connection to Kuwait for U.S. forces in all directions. With the constant arrivals and departures of cargo planes and troop- and supply-toting Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters, the dusty runways and dirt roads of Tallil are still proving their strategic worth. Operation Iraqi Freedom isn't over yet, and someone's still got to run one of its crucial little hubs.

" We do accountability for the prisoners more than anything else," said Lt. Matt Garcia, the unit's executive officer. "Just counting heads, making sure everybody goes south that's supposed to. We've got some military intelligence guys upstairs in case anyone important comes through, and we help out when the planes and helicopters stop here to refuel or unload. But war-wise, yeah, it's been pretty quiet."

" There was a firefight about a mile beyond the perimeter, just the other night," Garcia added. "A few Iraqis decided to ambush some Marines who happened to be coming in from up north with a load of prisoners." The Tampa insurance salesman laughed, and pointed to some rusty pickup trucks parked in front. "The Marines captured them, and brought the guys here in their own vehicles."

From the roof, Pfc. Theresa Roman's view is pretty quiet. Slumped behind her squad assault weapon, enduring one of Iraq's hottest days so far in Kevlar and flak vest, the accounting student from Lakeland, Fla., watches the arrival of some Special Forces soldiers. With their trademark khakis and shaggy hair, they ask after some presumably high-profile prisoners. Off to the left, some buses wait to take the rank-and-file down to Bucca. Nothing that would be considered a threat to her or the base's security - but you never know.

" Nothing's happened on my watch yet," she said. "But this place is still a target, whether it's the Iraqis or the terrorists, and if this is what they need me to do, I'll do it." She paused, and pulled out a hand-held electric fan. "It's just the heat that gets me - and I live in Florida."

Carrero is the kind of guy who'd normally be dying of boredom in a place like this. The Puerto Rico native and Orlando resident never really intended to be reservist at all - after 8 years in antiterrorism with the Marines, he switched to the Army to get into a Special Forces unit. He had a "slot date" of Feb. 7 until his unit got called up to Iraq. But the active-duty junkie considers Tallil just the kind of place he needs to be.

" With all the EPWs coming through here, I'm getting an education," Carrero said. "In the culture, in the people, the language -- how they live, how they think, . it's the kind of experience that'll help me down the road."

Lt. Judy Hall, 3rd platoon leader for the unit, is looking at the bright side. "Would I rather be at home with my daughter? Sure," says the Clarksville, Tenn., transplant to the unit. "But my country called. This unit needed a lieutenant, and I'm here to do whatever they need," she said.

" Besides, we've got four walls and a roof - in places - and water to drink and food to eat." Hall looked around, and laughed. "Now if they'd only give me a mop, I could do wonders with this place."

http://defendamerica.mil/articles/apr2003/a041803c.html