There are currently five brick-and-mortar buildings at Bagram Air Base serving as homes for U.S. servicemembers. Two more are under construction and plans call for a total of 19 of the two-story structures in the next few years. (Kent Harris / S&S)
There are currently five brick-and-mortar buildings at Bagram Air Base serving as homes for U.S. servicemembers. Two more are under construction and plans call for a total of 19 of the two-story structures in the next few years. (Kent Harris / S&S)
The majority of troops stationed at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan will be living in a series of re-locatable barracks within two years. Metal containers are stacked up two or three stories high, as on the left, and gradually transformed into living quarters such as the one on the right. (Kent Harris / S&S)
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan — It’s the beginning of the end for plywood at the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan.
B-Huts — basic structures made of plywood that serve as living quarters and offices — replaced tents several years ago. Now they’re being replaced by more permanent structures.
"Bagram is a boomtown and bursting at the seams," said Air Force Lt. Col. Chris West, commander of the 755th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron and the Facility Engineer Team.
The Army and Air Force have plans to get most of their troops out of the huts and into structures that are more permanent in the next few years. Many of the 18,000 or so people that call the base home will eventually be living in either brick-and-mortar structures or relocatable barracks made of metal containers. All the new facilities will have their own showers and toilets — another big change from the current setup.
Five of the brick-and-mortar structures are already completed. The two-story buildings, which house about 100 servicemembers each, are projected to serve as housing for 20 to 30 years.
Two more are currently under construction, with a projected total of 19.
West said almost a dozen different agencies are involved in projects around the base, ranging from expanding the runway to installing water and sewer lines. They are building the base’s sixth dining facility and a new staging area for large numbers of troops moving through.
The most notable projects for most servicemembers, though, will be the gradual demolition of B-Huts as newer facilities rise from the ground.
"It’ll take two years before we get everyone out of the B-Huts," West said.
Most troops will be living in the relocatable buildings. They’re basically large metal containers that are designed to be easily converted into modular housing blocks.
"We’ll be going two or three stories high," West said.
Two servicemembers will share a room, with each normally having two bunk beds. That extra room would allow for more residents during surges.
The Air Force has already started putting up the structures and the Army will start its versions — with plans to house about 10,000 soldiers in them — in August.
By then, troops will notice some changes to the base’s main road, Disney Drive. Traffic lights will appear for the first time this summer. And all the roads around the base should be paved in the next year, he said.
In order to put in sewer and water lines — and eliminate the trucks that currently supply water to and carry sewage from dozens of shower and toilet clusters around the base — 200-meter stretches along Disney Drive will be torn up at a time. Once the lines are installed, all the water that troops receive will be drinkable, likely reducing the amount of bottled water consumed on base.
West said there are many other projects planned around the base — such as a new Army and Air Force Exchange Service store, but some still need congressional approval. The U.S. is also in the process of expanding the base perimeter to the east and west, adding space to a base that already encompasses 3,800 acres.
