Jalibah Southeast Air Base

Jalibah Southeast AB

Location of Jalibah Southeast Air Base, Iraq

Jalibah Southeast Air Base is a former Iraqi Air Force base in the Thi Qar Governorate of Iraq. It was captured by Coalition forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

Iraqi Air Force base

Jalibah Southeast Airbase is located in southern Iraq approximately 370 kilometers south of Baghdad, and about 65 kilometers south of Nasiriyah. It is an unoccupied airbase is served by a main runway measuring 9,800 feet and an alternate runway/taxiway measuring 8,500 feet. Jalibah occupies a 21 square kilometer site and is protected by a 19 kilometers security perimeter. According to the "Gulf War Air Power Survey", there were 24 hardened aircraft shelters at Jalibah Southeast in 1991. At each end of the main runway are hardened aircraft shelters known as "trapezoids" or "Yugos" which were built by Yugoslavian contractors some time prior to 1985.

The base was heavily attacked by Coalition air power during Operation Desert Storm in January 1991, and seized by U.S. Army ground forces (2nd Brigade, 24th Infantry Division) on February 27, 1991, in the Battle for Jalibah Airfield. It was abandoned by the Iraqi Air Force after the cease fire in late February. General Chuck Horner tasked USAF Red Horse Civil Engineers to deny the air base in southeastern Iraq to prevent future use by returning Iraqi forces, and the work had to be completed before the signing of a cease fire agreement. Working with EOD personnel, two teams completed the job within four days.

Camp Viper

During Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, the United States Marine Corps set up Camp Viper as a Logistics Support Area at the former Iraqi air base. After an exhausting night moving its entire fleet from Camp Coyote in Kuwait, the Army Reserve Unit spent its first day on Iraqi soil March 23 at Camp Viper, a base in American-controlled territory deep in southern Iraq. Sailors from the Naval Hospital Beaufort set up and staffed a hospital well inside the war zone. Theirs was the first hospital set up in a combat zone during the fight. A perimeter of well-trained Marines encircled the camp, called Camp Viper, at all hours. The hospital treated them all, Iraqis and injured Americans alike. Fleet Hospital Three is a 9-acre, 116-bed facility, which is manned by more than 300 medical service support and Construction Battalion personnel from around the nation. The Pensacola, Florida-based command is an Echelon Three facility. Considering that FH-3 went to Iraq with 166 trucking containers filled with more than $12 million in medical equipment and supplies, ensuring the availability of that equipment at the end of the supply chain was vital.

HMN161 was stationed at Jalibah Air Base, Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Charlie Surgical Support Company, Health Services Bn (HSB), 1st Marine Logistics Group was deployed to Logistics Support Area Viper. Health Services Battalion, 1st Force Service Support Group established a triage at Jalibah Airbase. Combat Service Support Battalion (CSSB) 18 put sandbags on a bunker outside of the Combat Service Support Operations Center (CSSOC) for CSSB 18, 1st MLG, Logistics Support Area (LSA) Viper, Iraq. CSSB-18 sent daily vehicle recovery convoys to pick up numerous vehicles broken and stranded along the roads. The fast pace of the operation and the sand and dust were a contributing factor to maintenance problems.

Marines with 6th Engineer Support Battalion kept vehicles rolling during Operation Iraqi Freedom. At the battalion's main camp - Logistical Supply Area Camp Viper in the southern Iraqi desert - mechanics managed to keep an 85 percent vehicle readiness under difficult supply conditions. 6th ESB's northern shop at Logistical Supply Area Camp Chesty maintained a 92 percent vehicle readiness. Designated as 1st Force Service Support Group's bulk-liquids battalion, 6th ESB was charged with fueling coalition forces as they raced northward through Iraq. They also supplied purified water to the Corps' desert and urban encampments. In fact, the battalion established a dozen fuel and water points across southern Iraq, including sites in or near Baghdad, Nasariyah, Kut, and Diwaniyah. The British forces from 2/1 Battery, 16th Air Assault Brigade, were co-located at Camp Viper. They are working between Basra and Camp Viper, providing Force Protection for Intel gathering.

A detachment of Marine Corps CH-53E Heavy lift helicopters from HMH-465, as well as Huey and Cobra's also used Camp Viper as a forward base for support of the invasion force.

Current aerial imagery shows that the operational structures around the airfield appear to have been demolished and removed. Today the concrete runway and series of taxiways remain exposed and deteriorating to the elements, being reclaimed by the desert.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.