Ever Alert, Camp Rhino Marines Keep Supplies Rolling

WITH THE MARINES IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN — 

There is a feeling of sameness here as each day unrolls just like the one before. It has become a joke among the Marines that their lives imitate the movie “Groundhog Day.”

Of course, there are some important differences: Rather than waking up in a cute inn, people here sleep in tents or on concrete slabs and receive a daily bath of fiercely blowing desert dust. And they carry pistols and M-16s.

Welcome to Camp Rhino, a heavily armed piece of America transported to this vast wasteland 70 miles from Kandahar, Afghanistan. As the central Asian sun begins to warm the air, the latest shipment of supplies is quickly unloaded under the protection of the diminishing darkness. For the Marines standing guard, the morning light means a rest for eyes strained by looking into the night for possible attackers. Soon, the early prayer meeting will start.

Marine Sgt. Chris Smith, 24, of Sacramento is sitting in a trench, shaving with cold water before grabbing some sleep.

“It’s a discipline thing,” he explains. “You learn in boot camp to keep a shave on your face regardless of where you’re at--even when in places like this.”

Smith and his crew have spent the night unloading the cargo planes that land on a runway so slippery from the dust that the Seabees call it the Gold Bond Highway in honor of the popular anti-itch powder.

In the middle of the camp, Sgt. Edmon Akhteebo, 27, of Chicago works on the loading docks, making sure the water bottles, Meals-Ready-to-Eat and vehicle parts are sent in the right direction. Marines closer to the Taliban and Al Qaeda’s former stronghold of Kandahar depend on Camp Rhino for new supplies.

Akhteebo said the camp terrain is similar to the Marines’ training facility at Twentynine Palms.

“We’re doing the same amount of work, but it means a lot more here,” Akhteebo said. “We’re used to this climate and the dust is nothing new to us, but it’s more important now.”

The work is quick and done in the dark to minimize the time as a possible target. Marines know that the Afghans specialized in night attacks on Soviet compounds during that long and bloody conflict in the 1980s. Legend holds that Afghan fighters would sometimes send camels laden with explosives toward the sleeping Russians or that warriors would hide in holes for days waiting to take a sniper shot at a sentry. But staring through the night exacts a price on the Marines.

“We know from Twentynine Palms that the desert can play tricks on your perception at night,” said Cpl. Eric Bellard, 21, of Marietta, Ga. “Out here you hear whispers and see shadows and then you throw on your [night-vision goggles] and there’s nobody there.”

One nonstop activity is runway repair. Without paved roads, Camp Rhino, which has served a task force of about 1,300, is dependent on airlifts for the ammunition, food and equipment.

Since the Marines seized the area Nov. 26, there have been 800 fixed-wing sorties on the unpaved, dusty airstrip. Six Marine Corps C-130s and KC-130s have brought in more than 2 million tons of cargo, more than 1 million pounds of fuel and 4,000 people.

Never completed by the Taliban, the compound consists of a dozen buildings around a central square. Captured documents suggest that it was meant to be a hunting lodge for wealthy Arabs, but when did a hunting lodge need enormous warehouses, gun towers and walls with rifle positions? And what could possibly have been hunted?

Navy Seabees from Gulfport, Miss., use bulldozers and graders to keep the 6,800-foot runway free of the piling dust. “Our goal is to stay ahead of the damage,” said Senior Chief Petty Officer John Lemmond, 38, of Pennsylvania.

The Seabees may be the most popular troops at Camp Rhino. When they arrived, one of their first tasks was to build toilet facilities.

Troops exist on bottled water that arrives on huge pallets each night. The most popular brand, Tanuf, is a product of Oman. Food is strictly Department of Defense-issued Meals-Ready-to-Eat, pouches whose contents heat easily when moistened and shaken.

The Seabees, who have several experts at digging wells, said they are confident that water can be found within several hundred feet. But digging wells might suggest permanence, and U.S. officials worry about the political impact of anything that could be interpreted as a sign that the U.S. presence is long-term. So, no wells, no showers.

Which is not to say that hygiene is ignored. Marines have been lectured that the Soviets suffered more casualties from bad hygiene than from battle wounds.

All through the day, Marines--and personnel from other U.S. military units--can be seen washing their feet with bottled water and small bars of soap.

“It’s the history of warfare: The side with the best hygiene wins,” said a Navy doctor, one of 10 medical specialists who have set up a makeshift hospital.

Each morning a small group of Marines meets in the middle of the compound for prayer and Bible readings. Their words are often drowned out by the whir of the CH-46 and C-53 helicopters ferrying supplies and personnel to an outpost closer to Al Qaeda’s former stronghold of Kandahar.

When the wind stops blowing, sunning and reading are popular for off-duty Marines who have finished cleaning their M-16s.

One helicopter pilot from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego is devouring Beat Generation novelist William Burroughs’ “Naked Lunch”; another is working through “Osama bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America.” The mother of infantry Lt. Patrick English, 27, of New York sent him “Caravans,” James Michener’s novel about Afghanistan.

“According to Michener, this country hasn’t changed in 2,000 years,” English said.

Because Camp Rhino is a military post, rumors are rampant that the Marines are about to do this or that. A commonly overheard sentence begins, “Heard anything?”

“They say rumor control is important, but the problem is that you can’t control rumors,” said Sgt. George R. Jones, 26, of Houston.

One rumor held that Britney Spears would visit on a USO tour. Another was that Hugh Hefner has invited any Marine who serves in Afghanistan to visit the Playboy Mansion.

Two things common at military posts are missing here. A flagpole was considered a security risk, possibly a target for enemy snipers. Reveille is not considered necessary--these are Marines.

“My recruiter mentioned ‘honor, courage, commitment’ [the Marine code], but he never mentioned Afghanistan,” said Lance Cpl. Kevin Ihm, 20, of Brandon, Fla. “Life can be pretty unpredictable. I guess that’s why we need Marines.”

When night returns, the tankers and cargo planes begin arriving. This night, a KC-130, home-based in Cherry Point, N.C., arrives to stand by in case there are casualties needing evacuation.

In the clear desert air at 3,250 feet, the night sky is deep black with sharp pinpoints of starlight.

Staff Sgt. Allen Doubles, 33, the plane’s flight mechanic, says the sky reminds him of home in rural Michigan. But with one eerie exception: The Little Dipper seems to be upside-down.

Staff Sgt. Jimi Fischer, 33, of Philadelphia, the flight engineer, seems to know why. “‘It’s a sign of distress,” for Afghanistan, he says.