• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Iron Soldiers move to Camp Pennsylvania

USAREUR Public Affairs

Release Date: 5/14/2003

CAMP PENNSYLVANIA, Kuwait - At first glance, Camp Pennsylvania looks like a barren desert expanse surrounded by concertina wire with a few tents, vehicles and shipping containers inside. But a deeper look shows that there is a community inside that wire. And inside the larger community, there are several little communities.

Thousands of soldiers have made a temporary home at the camp during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now, soldiers of the 1st Armored Division are calling Camp Pennsylvania their home away from home. "Old Ironsides" soldiers began arriving at the camp in late April and the last members of the 13,000-soldier division are expected to arrive my mid-May.

"We are proud of our little city," said Maj. Mike Eggers, the division's representative at the Camp Pennsylvania mayor's cell. "Everyone in the division has worked hard to make this as comfortable as possible while still completing our missions."

Life on the camp is Spartan. Sand is everywhere and the sometimes gusting winds ensure that it gets everywhere. But under the coating of dust, soldiers can find almost everything they need to make the most of challenging situation.

"Life is tough here," said Pvt. 1st Class Derrol Fulghum, a public information specialist in Headquarters and Headquarters Company. "Getting things done is a lot harder in the heat and with the sand, but we get things done."

While this mini-city lacks formal infrastructure such as stores restaurants, schools, water, electric and sewer systems, these and other services exist at Camp Pennsylvania.

This city's infrastructure comes in different forms. Water comes in bottles or in tank trailers. Generators rumble around the clock providing power. The sewer system consists of portable toilets located near soldiers' living areas.

Although it is in a tent, Camp Pennsylvania's restaurant serves more than 15,000 hot meals a day.

The Army and Air Force Exchange Service may not be running a mall, but soldiers can purchase snacks and essentials in a mini-PX located in a trailer near the dining facility. Soldiers can call their loved ones at nearby telephone bank.

There is also a chapel that provides a variety of religious services and comes complete with air conditioning. Chaplains and Unit Ministry Teams from every unit support the chapel - working as a team to ensure that every soldier's religious and counseling needs are met.

The school system is run by the division's NCOs. Soldiers train daily in desert survival and their military skills.

"We make sure they are ready for the desert and for what ever missions we are assigned," said Sgt. 1st Class Johnny Pippin, acting first sergeant for the division's headquarters company. And those missions never stop. Weapons must be cleaned, supplies loaded and maintenance conducted.

"The sand and wind never really stop us," said Sgt. Pedro Campoverde, an ammunition team chief, C Battery 1st Battalion, 4th Field Artillery. "We just put on our goggles and knock it out."

In addition to individual training, soldiers will train together with crew-served weapons. They will learn how to man a check point and travel via convoy through potentially hostile territory. They will know how work as a team in their new surroundings in Iraq, Pippin said.

Like the soldiers who have already passed through its concertina-wire gates, soldiers of the 1st Armored Division will leave Camp Pennsylvania well prepared for what ever mission they are asked to handle. They have trained in the hot sun and lived under tough conditions.

These Iron Soldiers are ready.