National Security

Too Bad Afghanistan Is In The Northern Hemisphere

By Mark Thompson | @MarkThompson_DC | September 28, 2010 | +

U.S. Air Force and Marine construction crews have just begun building 10 shelters for the Marines’ F-18 Hornet squadron now based at Kandahar airfield in Afghanistan. The F-18 warplanes have been at the airfield for the past four months, and suffered through the unforgiving Afghan summer, where temperatures can top 120 degrees.

"Sun shades" going up in Kandahar/Air Force photo

“Sometimes the sun makes the jets so hot that they’re too hot to work on,” Lance Cpl. Drew Petti, a Marine aircraft mechanic, says. “The shades create a great improvement in temperature…the improvement is great.”

The shelters should be finished by November, just in time for the Afghan winter. President Obama plans to begin pulling U.S. troops out of Afghanistan early next summer. Wonder if the Marines will get the 30-degree benefit these sun shades offer the next time that Afghan summer sun rolls around?

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  • stuartzechman

    I’m so happy the United States is spending infrastructure dollars on…where were those airfields, again?
    .
    Well, anyway, it makes me feel very confident in the Federal Government when I hear of all that borrowed, tax-payer collateralized money going to build much needed improvements for everyone here at home, while putting local people to work in local economies –where their wages can be spent on local small businesses– so that our country can get moving again.
    .
    Is “Kandahar” in Minnesota or Wisconsin?

  • afguy

    I’ve worked aircraft in the middle of the AZ desert in the summertime… so been there, done that.
    .
    Suspect that the construction of revetments may have as much to making the F18s less tempting as mortar or rocket targets as a concern for the comfort of the pilots and maintenance crews.

  • stuartzechman

    Great point, Air Force Guy.

  • ohiolibb

    Shutting the barn door after the horse has gotten out. Why am I not surprised?

  • afguy

    On second look…
    .
    Those shelters ain’t blast resistant even slightly…
    .
    However, regarding protection of the aircraft from the elements, the plastic knobs and faceplates on control units (and canopies) are easily damaged in desert heat.
    .
    I’ve seen technicians leave fingerprints in plastic faceplates in heat like that.
    .
    The shelters will at least serve as a big umbrella to keep off the sun.

  • afguy

    What can I say… it’s the American way!

  • apr2563

    http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/09/murdering-afghan-civilians.html
    .
    Instead of building more war infrastructure, we need to get our young men and women out of Afghanistan before more are physically and mentally destroyed.
    .
    Vietnam brought drugs and callousness to many of our troops. As is already obvious, it is doing the same in Afghanistan.

  • theotherjimmyolson

    No one could have predicted it would get hot in the summer.

  • http://erieangel.wordpress.com erieangel

    Wow.
    .
    That’s all I’ve got. Wow.

  • afguy

    For some of these kids, war and death is pretty much all they have known since high school.
    .
    You’re right – you try to get what you were trying to accomplish over with as quickly as possible, before it gets too difficult for them to readjust.

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