Inside Camp Bastion.

[Gerald]

Camp Bastion, a sprawling, well-fortified British-run base in the desert in southern Afghanistan, is the size of the UK town of Reading and home to almost 30,000 people. Bastion - with its own water bottling plant, hospital, police force and even Pizza Hut - is widely regarded as a safe haven for troops. However, a Taliban attack breaching the perimeter and resulting in the death of two US Marines has shown it is not impregnable.

What's it like inside Camp Bastion? Explore the graphical representation of the base below to find out.

Note: For security reasons, the main image and video tour of Camp Bastion are graphical representations of the base and not accurate plans

Published: 24 September 2012 Last updated at 16:17 GMT

http://imageshack.us/a/img705/3070/graphic1348482431.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/705/graphic1348482431.jpg/)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-19635544#panel7

[Stealhead]

I like these kinds of articles because they show civilians just how few troops are actually combatants.

It is funny what you see and don't see in the military in my old job I saw only people that either flew or worked on aircraft sometimes we used to joke "What the hell do all the others do all day" when you never see them it seems like nothing.Of course it really is something even the "desk jockies" if they did not do all that paper work/PC work someone else would have to it in addition to their regular duties.

I think that military cooks(not the contracted ones) are unsung heroes honestly it cant be easy to prepare even a half way decent meal for several thousand people four times a day it was not always the best but it beat the Golden Corral any day of the week.

[Jimbuna]

I like these kinds of articles because they show civilians just how few troops are actually combatants.

It is funny what you see and don't see in the military in my old job I saw only people that either flew or worked on aircraft sometimes we used to joke "What the hell do all the others do all day" when you never see them it seems like nothing.Of course it really is something even the "desk jockies" if they did not do all that paper work/PC work someone else would have to it in addition to their regular duties.

I think that military cooks(not the contracted ones) are unsung heroes honestly it cant be easy to prepare even a half way decent meal for several thousand people four times a day it was not always the best but it beat the Golden Corral any day of the week.

I take your point and I presume it to be the same in the US army but in the Brit army everyone is a soldier first and their trained position comes as a secondary role.

Don't see much of that now of course because of the size of the conflicts we are usually involved in but friends who currently serve say that doctrine stands to this day.

[eddie]

If you haven't seen it, here's a video of the attack on that base. Heck of an explosion!

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/07/24/video-chilling-play-by-play-of-deadly-taliban-attack-on-us-base-in-afghanistan-that-left-two-americans-dead/

[Jimbuna]

If you haven't seen it, here's a video of the attack on that base. Heck of an explosion!

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/07/24/video-chilling-play-by-play-of-deadly-taliban-attack-on-us-base-in-afghanistan-that-left-two-americans-dead/

I wonder what happened to the Taliban that was captured?

[Herr-Berbunch]

I think that military cooks(not the contracted ones) are unsung heroes honestly it cant be easy to prepare even a half way decent meal for several thousand people four times a day. . .

It always amazed me that two RAF chefs on an Op or an Ex with a couple of gas rings and some ration packs, working in a dark green tent in 45C ambient temps, can produce some fine food. Bring them back to the UK, put them in a multi-million pound kitchen and they can't cook an egg!

[eddie]

Well Jim, if the Afghans have him, he's probably in the Afghan Army already!:doh: As far as I'm concerned , if we have him, they could tie his butt to the bottom of an Harrier and drop him off at home. Hopefully from around 20,000 feet!:haha:

[Jimbuna]

Well Jim, if the Afghans have him, he's probably in the Afghan Army already!:doh: As far as I'm concerned , if we have him, they could tie his butt to the bottom of an Harrier and drop him off at home. Hopefully from around 20,000 feet!:haha:

I thought they destroyed all the Harriers in the attck :hmmm:

I do agree with your sentiments though :yep:

Will always be a sore point the way we got rid of ours but that had nothing to do with our American cousins :03:

[Stealhead]

I take your point and I presume it to be the same in the US army but in the Brit army everyone is a soldier first and their trained position comes as a secondary role.

Don't see much of that now of course because of the size of the conflicts we are usually involved in but friends who currently serve say that doctrine stands to this day.


Oh don't get me wrong in a place like Afghanistan anyone could wind up in combat and I agree that every one in the military should be trained well enough to at least be able to fend off attacks but there is still a big difference between an infantryman or a combat engineer who are in constant combat and it is their profession and anther military member whose primary profession is not combat related.

It happens though someone rear echelon getting killed by a mortar or something of that nature or an IED.Friend of mine worked in Coms for the USAF during Vietnam his job was fairly safe yet twice he nearly got killed once
it was a Viet Cong raid against the chow hall(clever bastards) in the morning he just happened to skip breakfast that day.Another time it was a 155mm rocket during the Tet Offensive in 1968 it blew away his Quonset hut with him inside it sleeping he got his sinus crushed some airmen where not so lucky and got killed.

[Stealhead]

It always amazed me that two RAF chefs on an Op or an Ex with a couple of gas rings and some ration packs, working in a dark green tent in 45C ambient temps, can produce some fine food. Bring them back to the UK, put them in a multi-million pound kitchen and they can't cook an egg!


The best cooks I ever had the pleasure of meeting where RAF cooks.One that lived in the RAF section of the dorms in Germany we called "Quality" because he loved to have cook outs
and he would talk about the meats he had selected and say "now that's quality" he'd say the same about the final product and it was true.Quality probably has some nice little eatery some place in the UK by now I'm sure.I cant say though what the name of the place might be though I lost contact with him years ago.Quality cooked for the British Officers Club alot though so I think they discovered his talent and stole him.

[TLAM Strike]

Oh don't get me wrong in a place like Afghanistan anyone could wind up in combat and I agree that every one in the military should be trained well enough to at least be able to fend off attacks but there is still a big difference between an infantryman or a combat engineer who are in constant combat and it is their profession and anther military member whose primary profession is not combat related.

Considering all the attacks against our troops on their home or allied/friendly soil (The Fort Hood attack, the attempted 2nd Fort Hood attack, the Frankfurt shooting, the Recruiting Station shootings.) the whole world is the frontline today. I think we are going to have to seriously reevaluate our training doctrine and our weapon carrying policies.

[Jimbuna]

The best cooks I ever had the pleasure of meeting where RAF cooks.One that lived in the RAF section of the dorms in Germany we called "Quality" because he loved to have cook outs
and he would talk about the meats he had selected and say "now that's quality" he'd say the same about the final product and it was true.Quality probably has some nice little eatery some place in the UK by now I'm sure.I cant say though what the name of the place might be though I lost contact with him years ago.Quality cooked for the British Officers Club alot though so I think they discovered his talent and stole him.

I'm beginning to wonder if any place is safe...especially in an area of armed conflict and the amount of enemy infiltrations that now regularly take place.

[Wreford-Brown]

...but there is still a big difference between an infantryman or a combat engineer who are in constant combat and it is their profession and another military member whose primary profession is not combat related.

Afghanistan is a little different. There's a female Education and Training Services officer (effectively a teacher) who had to man the walls and kill the enemy when the compound she was working in came under attack over a protracted period. Her primary trade wasn't combat, but she'd been trained to react properly.

There's no such thing as a non-combatant member of the Army any more, except perhaps padres and medics. Even the medics come under attack - just look at the citations for the number of MCs won by army and navy medics over the last few years...

[Stealhead]

You guys are misunderstanding my meaning it is clear.I don't need examples I served and was also in Afghanistan for a TDY.I am fully aware that the "enemy is everywhere" but there is a difference between someone who is only on occasion exposed to actual combat and one whose duty is strictly to engage the enemy and nothing else.So I am sorry to tell you that a combat engineer who must go out every day and seek out enemy IEDs all the while risking getting hit by an IED or getting ambushed by the enemy ans someone who is say a mechanic who might on occasion have to face an attack both deal with stresses this is ture and both are in a combat zone this is true as well but one is exposed far more often than the other and that is different.This is not opinion to me it is fact.In war zones there are differing levels of risk to lump them as all being the same is unfair to the ones at the top of the pyramid (the ones most heavily exposed to
danger IE a direct combatant).

You are sitting here trying to tell me that I was in as great of danger as a person out in the field on a combat mission was in Afghanistan that simply is not correct.The entire time I was there the base I was on was never attacked in anyway what so ever.Yet men in infantry units died or where wounded every single day while nothing happened to myself or anyone else while on the confines of the airbase.

[Wreford-Brown]

I fully agree with you :yep: but...

The Western world generally runs professional armies of volunteers. Everyone volunteers to join the armed services then volunteers to join the particular arm (branch) that they want.

An infantryman tends to be in more danger than an aircraft technician but the infantryman has volunteered to be in the infantry and is trained to be in close combat. In Iraq, the greatest threat was from indirect fire and everyone was vulnerable but in Afghanistan the IDF is a lessened, almost non-existent threat therefore the combat soldier is at greater risk than his non-combat peer.

You also shouldn't dismiss the level of training that individuals receive - anyone who is expected to close with and kill the enemy is trained to do just that, in detail, but they are also cognisant that without the aircraft technician they will receive no aircraft support and more infantrymen will die because of it.

Please don't put me down as a nay-sayer. As a 'direct combatant' we relied on you guys to keep us both supplied and supported in combat and, regardless of your MOS, respected the contribution which you made.

Thank you for your service. :salute:

[Stealhead]

I fully agree with you :yep: but...

The Western world generally runs professional armies of volunteers. Everyone volunteers to join the armed services then volunteers to join the particular arm (branch) that they want.

An infantryman tends to be in more danger than an aircraft technician but the infantryman has volunteered to be in the infantry and is trained to be in close combat. In Iraq, the greatest threat was from indirect fire and everyone was vulnerable but in Afghanistan the IDF is a lessened, almost non-existent threat therefore the combat soldier is at greater risk than his non-combat peer.

You also shouldn't dismiss the level of training that individuals receive - anyone who is expected to close with and kill the enemy is trained to do just that, in detail, but they are also cognisant that without the aircraft technician they will receive no aircraft support and more infantrymen will die because of it.

Please don't put me down as a nay-sayer. As a 'direct combatant' we relied on you guys to keep us both supplied and supported in combat and, regardless of your MOS, respected the contribution which you made.

Thank you for your service. :salute:

I am not sure where you get the idea that I am dismissing anyone persons level of training.:hmmm:

Anyway at least for myself I certainly had a lot of pride in my job but I also had a respect for those that had much more dangerous duties than I did.I also had a lot of respect for what different people did.I just dont want someone to put me on the same pedestal as someone who took far greater risks than I did.I always tell people that they should go volunteer for the Wounded Warrior Project or something similar if they really want to show some appreciation.

The joke we made about "What the hell do the others do" was not a put down it just meant that we where so busy doing our job that we did not see what the others where doing though they where as busy as we where and likely joked about the same thing.