Major General James G. Blunt

Camp Arifjan is a United States Army installation in Kuwait which accommodates elements of the US Air Force, US Navy, US Marine Corps and US Coast Guard. The camp is funded and was built by the government of Kuwait. Military personnel from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada,[2] Romania and Poland are also forward-deployed there. Camp Arifjan is located south of Kuwait City, and west of the Shuaiba Port (Military Sea Port of Debarkation/Embarkation, or SPOD) and Kuwait Naval Base (KNB). Camp Arifjan is divided into 7 zones.

Camp Arifjan is a US military installation used as a forward logistics base, Aviation Classification and Repair Activity Depot (Task Force AVCRAD) for the entire Southwest Asian Theater (through Patton Army Air Field), helicopter ground support base, and as a motor pool for armored and unarmored vehicles. U.S. military vehicles that did not receive new additional armor plating in the United States prior to deployment to U.S. Central Command–tens of thousands–received their "up-armoring" at Camp Arifjan.

Additionally, many thousands of service members and contractors pass through Camp Arifjan either on their way to or from countries in Southwest Asia. The service members deployed to Camp Arifjan are in a variety of different statuses. Many are on active duty and come on a one-year Permanent Change of Station (PCS), while some active duty come in a Temporary Change of Station (TCS) status. Additionally, there are many Guard and Reserve units that support a variety of functions in the SouthWest Asia [SWA] theater that come on varied length tours.

Units

History

Because of the Khobar Towers bombing of 1996 in nearby Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Army decided to replace Camp Doha near Basrah with a base more protected from terrorist attacks. In July 1999, the Kuwaiti government began constructing Camp Arifjan south of its capital.[5]

Patton Army Heliport

A US Army AH-64 Apache prepares to land at Patton AHP in 2015

Patton Army Heliport (LID: OK2A)[1] is the United States Army airfield located within the camp boundaries. Patton Army Airfield is run by elements of the Army National Guard's Aviation Classification and Repair Activity Depots (AVCRADs). Organizational (AVUM), Intermediate (AVIM) and limited depot maintenance support is available via Patton Army Airfield and its corresponding AVCRAD elements to many United States military aviation assets within the Southwest Asian Theater (SWA). The airfield is named in memory of General George S. Patton.

Facilities

Opening of Chili's on Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, by Al Ghunaim Trading Co. and Gulf Civilization.

The base has undergone many changes within the past several years, including the construction of half a dozen barracks, hundreds of "temporary" or transitional barracks, known as PCBs (Pre-Fabricated Concrete Buildings), three dining facilities, and the establishment of three base exchanges (AAFES), as well as a major addition of paved roads throughout the Camp. There are approximately 9,000 personnel stationed at Camp Arifjan. In addition, a number of foreign nationals also work at the base.[6] The facility is primarily staffed by US Army Contractors.

The base leadership continues to allow local and Third Country National vendors to set up small shops within the main PX lobby. In addition to the permanent vendors, certain vendors are also allowed to set up large Arab-style bazaars on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Camp Arifjan has many fast food restaurants on site, such as: Pizza Hut, Charley's Subs, Hardees’s Burgers, three Subways, Burger King, Pizza Inn, Taco Bell, KFC, Baskin Robbins, Panda Oriental, Green Beans Coffee, two Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and Cinnamonster. There is also a large Chilli's restaurant[7] with 250-person seating capacity, as well as three Military Dining Facilities (DFACs), some of which serve four meals daily.[8]

The camp is colloquially known by the initials "AJ", or as Camp Afri-jail.[9]

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ LID assigned by the NGA, not ICAO code

Citations

  1. ^ a b DoD Flight Information Publication (Enroute) - Supplement Europe, North Africa and Middle East. St. Louis, Missouri: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 2021. p. B-402.
  2. ^ Stephenson, Mercedes. "Troops serving in Kuwait lose major tax exemption". CTVNews. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Task Force Provider transfers authority to the 36th Sustainment Brigade". DVIDS. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Task Force Phoenix Transfers Authority to Task Force Hellfighter in Kuwait". DVIDS. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  5. ^ Johnson, Chalmers A. (2004). The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic. p. 243. ISBN 1-85984-578-9.
  6. ^ "Contractors Supporting Base Operations in Kuwait" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2016.
  7. ^ "Area Support Group - Kuwait - Photos | Facebook". facebook.com. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  8. ^ Local 21 News (11 July 2013). "Passing the time in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait is not much different than us". Archived from the original on 10 December 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Anderson, Kelly (2011). ABU: The Story of the Prison Abuse at Abu-Ghraib Iraq. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-4620-0475-1.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Arifjan