FOB MacKenzie formerly FOB Pacesetter (Samarra East Air Base under Saddam Hussein) was a
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
Forward Operating Base
A forward operating base (FOB) is any secured forward Operational level of war, operational level military position, commonly a military base, that is used to support strategic goals and tactical objectives. A FOB may or may not contain an airfi ...
that is located in northern
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
approximately 96 kilometers (60 mi) north of
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
, and about 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) northeast of the
Tigris River
The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the P ...
.
History
The airbase is served by a single long runway. FOB MacKenzie occupies an 18-square-kilometer (7 sq mi) site and is protected by an 18-kilometer (11 mi) security perimeter. According to the "
Gulf War Air Power Survey
The Gulf War Air Power Survey is a report commissioned by the United States Air Force in 1993 to document and analyze its performance during the 1991 Gulf War. It consists of five sections each averaging over 700 pages, and a 276-page summary rep ...
", there were 12 hardened aircraft shelters at FOB MacKenzie in 1991. At each end of the main runway are hardened aircraft shelters knowns as "trapezoids" or "Yugos" which were built by Yugoslavian contractors some time prior to 1985.
FOB MacKenzie is named for
Ranald S. Mackenzie
Ranald Slidell Mackenzie, also called Bad Hand, (July 27, 1840 – January 19, 1889) was a career United States Army officer and general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was described by General Ulysses S. Grant as its ...
.
Samarra East Airbase / Al Bakr Airfield
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Current use
See also
* List of United States Military installations in Iraq
The United States Department of Defense has a large number of temporary military bases in Iraq, most a type of forward operating base (FOB).
Depending on their size or utility, the installations were called: Camp, Forward Operating Base (FOB), C ...
References
External links
Soldiers in Iraq Make Comfortable Home at FOB McKenzieFOB MacKenzie soldiers create a recreational oasis in Iraqi desert
*http://www.airliners.net/photo//1906884/L/&sid=fd167d20c8837e804f80e65a2d7b6dcf
Installations of the United States Army in Iraq
Military installations closed in the 2010s
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