JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq — Everything from helicopters to printer cartridges is being wrapped and stamped and shipped out of Iraq. U.S. military bases that once resembled small towns have transformed into a cross between giant post offices and Office Depots.
Soldiers who battled through insurgents and roadside bombs are now doing inventory and accounting. Their task: reverse over the course of months a U.S. military presence that built up over seven years of war.
“We’re moving out millions of pieces of equipment in one of the largest logistics operations that we’ve seen in decades,” President Barack Obama said in a speech Monday hailing this month’s planned withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from Iraq.
The orderly withdrawal is a far cry from the testosterone-fueled push across the berm separating Kuwait and Iraq, when U.S. Marines and soldiers pushed north in the 2003 invasion, battling Saddam Hussein’s army while sleeping on the hoods of their vehicles and eating prepackaged meals.
“I think it’s probably more challenging leaving, responsibly drawing down, than it is getting here, because you just have to figure out where everything is and getting it out of here. Are there enough airplanes, ships, containers, and do we have enough time to do that and meet the president’s mandate?” said Col. David Demartino, who is responsible for infrastructure and support services at Balad, which is home to 25,000 troops and civilians.
In essence the drawdown has been happening since late 2008. That’s when the U.S. started to reduce its numbers after the surge, which raised the U.S. presence to about 170,000. Now, the U.S. has just under 65,000 troops in the country, and the withdrawal is reaching a more furious pace as the August deadline approaches.
Only 50,000 U.S. service personnel will remain after August. All troops are supposed to leave and all bases close by the end of next year, unless Iraq asks the U.S. to renegotiate their agreement to allow a continued U.S. presence.
In mid-July, JSS Mahmoudiya — once a U.S. position just south of Baghdad in one of Iraq’s most dangerous areas — was a ghost town. Tents were abandoned, covered with foam to retard fire, and the white-walled cafeteria was barren except for a few refrigerators holding drinks. The joint operations command was stripped of almost everything, including the big-screen TVs on which military personnel once watched operations.
The next day, it was handed over to the Iraqi government to become an army facility.
Each handover involves a painstaking process of inventorying everything on the base that the soldiers aren’t taking with them. Every item is assessed to see if it can be moved and if so, whether it is needed anywhere else in the country. Many of the materials — water tanks, generators, and furniture — are eventually donated to the Iraqi government. As of July 27, $98.6 million worth of equipment has been handed over, most to the Iraqi army and Interior Ministry.
More than 400 bases are being closed or handed over to the Iraqi military. By September, the U.S. military will have fewer than 100 bases in the country, down from a high of 505 in January 2008.
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