CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo (Army News Service, Aug. 30,
1999) - Engineers in Kosovo have built two bustling base camps
in just three months -- moving tons of earth, building housing
and supplying 2.8 gallons of water to soldiers each week.
        More than 1,700 military engineers are in Kosovo - the
largest single deployment
of engineers since the Gulf War.  With partners from the private
sector and the local
workforce, they are building two base camps: Camp Bondsteel,
near Urosevac,
is rising from a former wheat field while Camp Monteith, in
Gnjilane,
incorporates a former Serb Army post.
        The goal is to afford U.S. peacekeeping forces livable
conditions
for as long as the mission lasts, officials said. In Kosovo,
that means providing a safe
water supply, a sewage system, indoor living space, and basic
support
facilities - chapels, a hospital, recreation tents, a post
office, and more. Work is being fast-tracked to make sure
soldiers are inside before
winter, officials said.
        The team assembled in Kosovo includes engineers from the
Army, Navy and
Air Force working with civilians from the Army Corps of
Engineers, Brown and
Root Services, and Kosovars (both Serb and Albanian).
Integrating these
assets brings the best talent to bear on the mission at least
cost to
taxpayers, officials said. Where the expertise exists in the
Engineer regiment, it's being
exploited, officials said, while other requirements are served
through contracts.
        In only 3 months, engineers will have:
construction - enough to bury Chicago's Wrigley Field under 32
feet of dirt.
than enough to fence in both sides of a marathon route.
Boston to New York City.
Olympic-size swimming pool 1-1/2 times.
344-home subdivision of 2,000 square foot houses at a rate of
three houses per
day, seven days per week.
two-lane road from Kansas City to St. Louis.
rebuild the local infrastructure.
        (Editor's note: Dana Finney is a member of Task Force
Falco Public Affairs)