Camp Buehring
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| Also known as | Camp Udairi (name until May 2004); Udairi Landing Zone; OKDI (ICAO) |
|---|---|
| Location | Northwestern Kuwait, Udairi Range Complex, about 15 miles from the Iraqi border |
| Type | Staging camp and Army airfield |
| Category | Theater staging and support |
| Opened | Construction began November 2002; opened January 2003 |
| Closed or transferred | Not closed; still in use |
| Coordinates | 29.69778, 47.42639 (29°41′52.0″N 47°25′35.0″E) |
Overview
Camp Buehring, called Camp Udairi until 2004, is a U.S. staging camp in the largely uninhabited Udairi Range Complex of northwestern Kuwait, about 15 miles from the Iraqi border. It was planned in the summer of 2002 as the permanent hub of Army aviation in the Middle East. Construction began in November 2002, and the camp opened in January 2003.
In the weeks before the 2003 invasion, Udairi was the northernmost of a cluster of Army camps that also included Camps New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It was about 1.5 miles square and ringed by sand berms and barbed wire. Its airfield drew V Corps aviation units, among them the Germany-based 11th Aviation Regiment and the Apache-equipped 2nd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment. The expected arrival of 101st Airborne Division elements was set to bring the number of helicopters there above 200.
On March 30, 2003, a civilian contract worker drove a pickup truck into a group of U.S. soldiers at the camp and wounded more than a dozen. On May 8, 2004, Camp Udairi was renamed for Lt. Col. Charles H. Buehring, the senior psychological operations officer in Iraq, who was killed in Baghdad on October 26, 2003.
For the rest of the war, Buehring was the last stop in Kuwait for units heading into Iraq. Units arriving from the United States typically spent two to three weeks there drawing their final field equipment, zeroing weapons and acclimatizing. They then moved north by road along Route 1 or by air. Aviation units, Navy medical evacuation detachments and Marine Expeditionary Unit elements also staged there. In 2005 the Army named Buehring as one of two bases that would absorb personnel from the closing Camp Doha.
Timeline
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| Summer 2002 | The camp was conceived as the permanent hub of Army aviation in the Middle East. |
| Nov 2002 | Construction began. |
| Jan 2003 | Camp Udairi opened as a staging base for troops heading into Iraq. |
| Feb 2003 | V Corps aviation units, including the 11th Aviation Regiment and 2nd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, were based at the camp, and 101st Airborne Division elements were expected to arrive. |
| 30 Mar 2003 | A vehicle-ramming attack by a contract worker wounded more than a dozen U.S. soldiers. |
| 8 May 2004 | The camp was renamed Camp Buehring in honor of Lt. Col. Charles H. Buehring. |
| Apr 2005 | The Army announced that Camp Doha personnel would be divided between Camp Buehring and Camp Arifjan. |
| 2007 | The 2515th Naval Air Ambulance Detachment and the 26th MEU's Combat Logistics Battalion 26 operated from Buehring. |
| 2008 | The 34th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade was at Camp Buehring. |
Units stationed at Camp Buehring
Units documented in public sources as based at or operating from Camp Buehring. This list is not complete; units rotated frequently and many smaller elements were never reported. Veterans can add their unit on the message board below.
| # | Unit | When | Role at the base | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11th Aviation Regiment (V Corps) | Early 2003 | Germany-based aviation unit that landed at Udairi's airfield before the invasion. | link |
| 2 | 2nd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment | January – February 2003 | Apache helicopter unit that moved to Camp Udairi before the invasion. | link |
| 3 | 101st Airborne Division (elements) | Early 2003 | Expected to arrive at Udairi in early 2003; the camp's third aircraft ramp was built for them. | link |
| 4 | 2515th Naval Air Ambulance Detachment (from HSC-21 and HSC-23) | 2007 | Navy helicopter detachment flying medical evacuation missions. | link |
| 5 | Combat Logistics Battalion 26, Maintenance Detachment (26th Marine Expeditionary Unit) | April 2007 | Maintained the 26th MEU's vehicles and gear while it was in Kuwait. | link |
| 6 | 34th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade | 2008 | Army National Guard combat aviation brigade at Camp Buehring. | link |
Notable events and facts
- The camp is named for Lt. Col. Charles H. Buehring, one of the highest-ranking U.S. casualties of the Iraq War, who was killed in Baghdad on October 26, 2003.
- Before the 2003 invasion, Udairi was expected to host more than 200 helicopters.
- On March 30, 2003, a contract worker drove a pickup truck into a group of U.S. soldiers at the camp; Wikipedia counts 16 people wounded.
- Units bound for Iraq typically spent two to three weeks at Buehring before moving north.
- Actress Scarlett Johansson met nearly 600 service members at the camp's USO building during a January 2008 tour.
Photographs
Roll call: who served at Camp Buehring
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Message board: Camp Buehring
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Sources
- Camp Buehring - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Buehring
- Camp Udairi: Massive U.S. military compound rises in Kuwaiti desert (Stars and Stripes, Feb. 15, 2003). https://www.stripes.com/news/2003-02-15/camp-udairi-massive-us-military-compound-rises-in-
- Camp is renamed to honor victim of hotel rocket attack (Stars and Stripes, May 14, 2004). https://www.stripes.com/news/camp-is-renamed-to-honor-victim-of-hotel-rocket-attack-1.1989
- Camp Doha - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Doha
- Wikimedia Commons: Camp Buehring 2006. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camp_Buehring_2006_03150082.JPG
- Wikimedia Commons: USMC-070425-M-2740R-061. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USMC-070425-M-2740R-061.jpg
- Wikimedia Commons: USMC-080120-M-1226J-008. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USMC-080120-M-1226J-008.jpg