From the S&S archives:
Games, food help airmen in Somalia fight boredom

MOGADISHU, Somalia — The wind never stops at the edge of the airstrip where grew the Air Force compound labelled "Somali Sands Resort" on a hand-lettered sign.

That's bad, because the wind blows sand and beats the canvas walls of the tents in a never-ending cacophony.

But the wind is good, also. It makes a successful sniper shot from the city on the high ground beyond the airport highly unlikely, said Lt. Col. R.H. "Dick" Robison, commander of the 463rd Tanker Airlift Control Element (Deployed).

It would also play havoc with a mortar round fired at the 85 or so personnel who live here, Robison said reassuringly.

The compound looks like early Tombstone, Ariz. The boardwalks leading from here to there keep feet out of the sand. The buildings — tents — are substantial, but temporary.

Spoiling the mood is the satellite dish that dispenses Cable News Network 24 hours a day in the mess hall. And the videos and video games on a big-screen television. And the washer and drier that operate several hours every day except Sunday. And the latrines with the flush toilets. And the hot showers. And the two hot meals each day — breakfast and supper. And, most obviously, the air conditioners that roar constantly as they cool tents in a tropical climate.

Other than that, Wyatt Earp would be at home here.

"I can tell you we have the best living conditions in Somalia," said Senior Master Sgt. Richard Ellin, of March AFB, Calif., chief of the security police at the compound. "The Air Force takes care of its people. The Army tells us that."

Ellin has been in the Air Force for more than 19 years but is on his first deployment.

"I've been under (Strategic Air Comd), and SAC doesn't deploy people," he said.

"I'm very happy to be here. You train all your career to be here. It took me 19½ years."

The Air Force mission, Robison said, is to support the Air Mobility Comd flights that arrive and depart with some frequency.

Nobody said it has to be horrible duty.

"It's not bad at all, not bad for field conditions," said Senior Airman Joan E. Cigrang of MWR Services, normally stationed at Travis AFB, Calif.

As she spoke one windy afternoon in mid-June, she was washing clothes at the field laundry unit, which can handle six net bags of laundry at a time.

Not far away was the airstrip where the roar of aircraft was a common sound. Beyond that, the blue waves of the Indian Ocean crashed against the rocky shore, sending white salt spray exploding into the air.

Meanwhile, Sgt. Lamont Burton, a postal squadron member deployed from Langley AFB, Va., was tallying his latest harvest of rats.

"Got another one today," he said. "I catch about one every two days."

One rat scrambled up his arm while he slept one night.

"I woke up screaming. All the guys thought it was Somalis," he said. "I showered for about an hour."

Burton isn't complaining about the living conditions, but he does want to go home.

He was married three days before deploying.

"Food's pretty good," he said. "Sometimes we get steak, lobster, mashed potatoes, corn. You name it, we get it."

Of course, good food doesn't rule out complaints. During one meal, an airman griped that there was too much salt in the barbecue sauce on his ribs.

Most of the Air Force personnel are deployed for 60 days, which is 119 days fewer than the normal Army deployment.

"Sixty days is about right," said Robison. "It's long enough that people can settle into their jobs. It's short enough that it's not forever."

But 60 days is 60 days. Columbus traveled only 33 to discover the New World. Boredom can be a problem.

Outside the tent used by the communications squadron — which is topped with a handmade sign reading "Hard Rock Cafe, Mogadishu" — tiny Tabasco bottles found in MREs have been converted into chess pieces. Horseshoes clang against the stake in another part of the compound.

Some people sunbathe. Others rake the sand around their tent.

But all in all, life here is eminently bearable, perhaps even plush when the geographic location of the Somali Sands Resort is considered.

"I like it," said Airman 1st Class Kirk Kolodziej — "rhymes with No Logic" — of the 52nd Combat Comm Sq. "Like I told my wife, I might extend for 30 days."