CF engineers turn seacans into living quarters for ANA
By Captain Susan Magill
Logistics Support Group delivers
Despite the smoldering heat, the soldiers of the Logistics Support Group are fully kitted out and battle-ready, no corners cut, for the short trip to Camp Hero, an Afghan National Army training base located just outside Kandahar Airfield. They take their job seriously.
Members of the MTTF Engineer Squadron install interior walls in a sea container they are converting into a barrack room for Afghan soldiers. When finished, each accommodation seacan has bedspaces for up to 10 soldiers, lighting, electric outlets, an air conditioner, and a base plate to support a wood stove for cooking and space heating.
Two seacans converted into barrack rooms, each complete with an air vent, a door, and wiring designed to connect to a generator by means of a single plug.
Field engineer Spr Alex V. Roy of the MTTF Engineer Squadron cuts studs for wall framing that will help convert a sea container into a portable barrack room for Afghan soldiers.
Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan; 29 July 2011 — Canadian Forces engineers are converting sea containers — “seacans” — into portable accommodations for soldiers of the Afghan National Army (ANA). Nineteen seacans are in the process of being converted into quarters complete with electricity, built-in bunk beds, air conditioning and heat.
It takes a few days to convert a seacan into modular barracks. “It’s designed to be simple. Once it’s delivered you just have to plug and play,” said electrical distribution technician Master Corporal Kevin Conroy.
The CF team includes carpenters, plumbers, refrigeration technicians, an electrician and field engineers, all members of the Mission Transition Task Force (MTTF) Engineer Regiment and most of them deployed from 1 Combat Engineer Regiment in Edmonton, Alberta.
The Seacan Accommodation Conversion (SAC) project began with a sample built by the engineers of Rotation 10, the last combat roto. The MTTF engineers put together a plan based on the sample, and worked together to allocate duties and complete the work. Carpenters measured and cut wooden studs, sills and top plates for the wall framing installed inside the empty seacans. Then plywood sheeting was hung on the framing to form interior walls, followed by double-walled bunk beds built of plywood and 2X4 timbers. Each seacan holds eight to 10 bunks.
Once the interior carpentry was completed, the lighting and power outlets were wired in and connected, and the air conditioning-heating system was installed. “The system both cools and heats,” said refrigeration technician MCpl Standing, “and all the parts are common to the region so it’s easy for the ANA to use and replace parts.” Each seacan gets its power from a generator from one plug.
The finishing touches include an air vent, a metal floor plate to accommodate the pot-bellied stove that Afghan soldiers use to cook their meals and heat their water, and a door set in a frame to give the gaping seacan a proper entrance.
Three additional seacans have already been adapted as ablutions facilities to accompany the 19 accommodation seacans, which, when finished, will easily house 160 ANA soldiers. The entire set of modular barracks will be delivered to the ANA upon completion.
After almost ten years of Canadian military operations in Afghanistan, some 1,000 skilled military tradespeople of all ranks have arrived at Kandahar Airfield with the Mission Transition Task Force (MTTF) to deal with the administrative, supply, communication, material management and movement challenges required to close down Operation ATHENA in Kandahar Province. The MTTF supports the transition to further operations, including the ongoing Canadian Forces commitment to Afghanistan through Operation ATTENTION, our participation in the Kabul-based NATO Training Mission–Afghanistan.
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