CHAPTER IV SERVICE OPERATIONS SECTION | CAMP OPERATIONS GENERAL The engineering and construction effort was self-sustaining during the entire period of facilities development for OPERATION CASTLEat the Pacific Proving Ground. Quarters, living facilities, and camp services were operated by the Contractor tu house and sustain all personnel of Joint Task Force SEVEN, except those men living in Naval Vessels. or at Site Fred, which was the Eniwetok military garrison. The peak supported population of 3398 was reached in February 1954. Life on the atolls was subject to manyrestrictions due to security regulations and the geography. The absence of women, the minimum community, and the sustained tension of a tight construction schedule combined to give the area the atmosphere of a military combat mission. Under such conditions, the quality of the basic essentials of suhsistence assumes great importance and has a profound effect on group morale. Consequently, every cffort was made to provide the highest practicable housing and messing standards. Termination interviews with departing contractual emplovees and Task Force personnel revealed that. in general, these services were considered to he highly satisfactory. It was necessary to establish for OPERATION CASTLE. in addition to the permanent camps at Elmer and Fred. temporary camps at sites Tare. Fox, Charlie and Nan at Bikini Atoii and at site Ursula on Eniwetok Atoll, For short periods, small camps with minimum facities were set up on sites Able and Howat Bikini Atoll. Three houseboats were used, two at Bikini Atoll and one at Eniwetok Atoll. After the Bravo event, camp operations at Bikin: Atoll were conducted aboard ship, primarily in the USNS Ainsworth, since radioactive contamination made it impossible to base ashore. The first beachhead camp for CASTLE on Bikini Atoll was established at site Tare on 6 October 1952. and consisted of a_ portable kitchen, one 150-cubic foot reefer and essential housing and other faciities to sustain 70 men. One cook and a helper were sufficient to provide meais for the first echelon. These facilities were gradually increased to accommodate 250 men by 1 November 1952. A beachhead camp was started at Charlie in April 1953, and at Fox and Nan in Mayof that year. During January 1953, equipment and supplies to outfit a camp on site Ursula to serve 3040 men were assembled at site Elmer at Eniwetok. The cquipment and supplies were crated in numbered boxes, each with its own packing list. This “packaged camp” remained in storage until April and was then set up; actual camp operations were not begun at Ursula until sometime in June 1953, put the effectiveness of this technique was established. In general, the pattern for the establishment of a camp vas as follows: an LCU was used as a houseboat for the initial exploratory phase; a beachhead camp was established with very limited facilities (a portable galley, hous- ing tents without flooring, portable generators, and one or two smal] distillation units); and when land based subsistence was established, the construction of the designed camp with all related utilrties was begun. It was realized that some camps would have to be considered expendable in the testing of nuclear devices, and, due to the short period these temporary camps would be used. they were constructed as simply and as inexpensively as possible. The possibility of damage by blast cffeet, and the crash requirements of evacuation, dictated the selection of the maierials and equipment for these camps. Wherever practicable, the older and more obsolete camp equipment from Eniwetok was used and the newer eqe nent car ent was retained in the perma- At each of the camps constructed, all facilities such as messing, housing, PX store, barher shop, postal outlet, laundry and other necessary facilities were provided. The operation - of these facilities was the responsibility of H&N’s Service Gperations Division. Each Atoll had a camp supervisor who administered the main camps (Etmer and Tare) and supervised the operation of the other camps through an assistant camp supervisor detailed to each camp. The administration of camp operations presented some difficulties due to the fluctuating population uf each camp and the varying working schedules of camp employees. Seven-day-a-week camp service was required, necessitating the use of odd and split shifts in order to keep overtime to a minimum. Extended meal hour periods were needed to provide for two seatings at each i 7 ‘| , Page 4-1 ft i it | y i } i | ' l 1 t ‘ = to ahee sr ate