THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603170177
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: OPERATION JOINT ENDEAVOR
BOSNIA
Reporter Jack Dorsey and photographer Martin Smith-Rodden traveled to
Bosnia to report on the drudgery, pain and occasional terror
confronting U.S. troops who are part of a NATO force helping restore
peace after four years of fighting.
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SIGONELLA, SICILY LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
A changing world, now focused on NATO troops in Bosnia and U.N. peacekeepers in the Middle East, coupled with U.S. military cutbacks throughout Europe and Asia, has forced a sleepy little American naval base to become the fastest-growing bastion in the world.
While always considered vital to the Navy - it is in the center of the Mediterranean, off Italy's boot - Sigonella has become the ``hub of the Med'' for all branches of the U.S. military.
Flights leave almost daily from Sigonella into Tuzla and Sarajevo in Bosnia. Three Navy reserve squadrons fly passengers and cargo to four continents.
Munitions for Marines at Aviano, Italy, are held here, in tunnels hollowed out of mountains. Fuel for the Air Force flying to Naples, Bahrain, Turkey and Saudi Arabia is stored here. P-3 Orion patrol planes call this home, flying increased patrols because of cutbacks elsewhere.
Mail for tens of thousands of military members, including the 10,000 Norfolk-based sailors and Marines currently deployed in the Med, comes through here.
Life seemed quieter during the height of the Cold War, according to Capt. Stewart R. Barnett III, commanding officer of Naval Air Station Sigonella.
``With the downsizing of the Army and Air Force in Europe, especially Germany, we are the second-busiest passenger airport in Europe after Ramstein, with more than 80,000 passengers a year,'' he said.
After the closing of Clark Air Force Base and Subic Bay Naval Station in the Philippines, the resupply lines for the Persian Gulf have shifted northwest to Sigonella, making it the shortest route to the Indian Ocean and Southwest Asia.
New commands locating here - one or two a year - plus an expanded mission that makes the facilities an advanced logistics support site have led to the growth. More than 40 commands now dot the military compounds on the island.
The 2,800 active-duty Navy personnel here, plus nearly 3,000 dependents, are beginning to strain base services. There's a two-year wait for government housing, which is 750 units less than what's needed. Base schools for dependent children are loaded to capacity. A 500-unit construction project is under way to reduce the housing deficit.
The U.S. presence in Sigonella is actually at several small bases, spread far apart on this 120-by-180-mile island.
An air terminal and 8,000-foot runway - which Barnett wants lengthened to 10,000 feet with NATO funds - anchor what is called Naval Air Station No. 2, which contains most operations offices and major commands.
The original naval base, called NAS No. 1, is a 15-minute drive north. It holds the commissary, base exchange, elementary school, new hospital and government housing.
Sixty-five miles southwest is a new 1,100-acre communications transmitter site. A NATO pier and fuel facility at Augusta Bay is 35 miles southeast of NAS 2. All are within site of the snow-covered Mount Etna and its 11,053-foot peak.
Sigonella had been a well-guarded Navy secret, according to Barnett.
``But the Air Force, which has been downsizing throughout Europe, found us after Desert Storm,'' he said. Since then, cargo, mail and passenger numbers have climbed.
Major issues facing Barnett and U.S. personnel at Sigonella are increasing staffing requirements and funds.
``Life is good here,'' said Barnett, ``but it's not Kansas. We are at the distant end of the straw for supplies.'' ILLUSTRATION: Map
The Virginian-Pilot
KEYWORDS: OPERATION JOINT ENDEAVOR BOSNIA CIVIL WAR
U.S. NAVY by CNB