Sunday, January 14, 2001

By Scott Schonauer
Bosnia bureau

Ivana Avramovic / Stars and Stripes Sandbags used in bunkers in Bosnia and Herzegovina are being covered with a material resistant to ultraviolet rays and water.

EAGLE BASE, Bosnia and Herzegovina — The Army’s old sandbag-shielded bunkers are in for some reinforcement.

Defense contractors are wrapping 75 bunkers with a new, heavy-duty waterproof tarp to prevent wear and tear.

The military hopes the black, woven fabric will add three more years to the life of the typical bunker, saving base camps across Bosnia time and money.

The practice of giving the bunkers a tarp skin soon could become the standard at temporary base camps.

"We’re always looking for ways to save money," said Maj. Skyler Hornung, executive officer of the 464th Armor Battalion, based in Fort Stewart, Ga. "And this seems to be a pretty good cost trade-off."

Many of the bunkers throughout the U.S. peacekeeping sector are wrought with torn sandbags that could use an overhaul. A few of the bunkers have had to be replaced immediately because they were dangerous to soldiers.

At Point Sapper, a sandbag wall more than 10 feet high has bags split open with grass and weeds growing from the overflowing sand.

"You could grow a garden in these," Hornung said.

Sandbag bunkers are a simple and relatively inexpensive method of protection, but the bags quickly degrade under ultraviolet light and harsh weather conditions. After two years, they usually have to be replaced.

At between $15,000 and $20,000 per bunker, the cost of maintaining them rises as deployments get longer. However, stretching a tarp over a bunker costs less than $1,000 and eliminates the need to continually replace sand bags, Hornung said.

As NATO enters its sixth year in the region, U.S. Army units are revamping and reorganizing base camps. In addition to the bunkers, soldiers also will refurbish some of the old Yugoslav buildings now used by American troops.

The Army has looked at several ways to prolong the life of the bunkers, including spraying concrete over the bags. But that method proved to be too expensive, Hornung said.

Soldiers are hoping the tarp will help.

Army units have used sandbags for decades to bolster hardened areas to protect troops. But building the walls can be a back breaker.

"It’s a task nobody wants," said 1st Sgt. Leroy Smalls, based at Camp Dobol, about 35 kilometers from Tuzla.

The tarps also may have an added benefit: helping conceal bunkers to make it difficult for a sniper to find a weak spot, Smalls said. The enemy can’t tell what is under the black tarp, whether it’s wood, metal or a sturdy wall of sand.

It also is aesthetically more pleasing.

"It gives it a better look," Smalls said. "After a while, the sandbags get beat down and get all raggedy."

Brown & Root, the U.S. contractor responsible for routine maintenance at American base camps in Bosnia and Kosovo, is performing the bunker overhaul.

First, workers build a wooden frame around the sandbag wall. Then, they nail the tarp to the beams to hold it in place.

The Army has bought 270,000 square feet of the tarp, made by Fort Worth, Texas-based Geo Tex Plastics.

The project is expected to be finished within the next three months.

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