Military bases across the United States are welcoming tens of thousands of Afghan refugees, fashioning what amount to “small cities” on-base to address housing, food, medical care, sanitation, and other vital needs.
As of Friday, over 25,000 Afghan evacuees were being housed at eight U.S. bases, Air Force General Glen VanHerck, head of the U.S. Northern Command, told the Associated Press.
At Fort McCoy, the only Army installation in Wisconsin, between 8,000 and 8,800 refugees were on-site at the start of the weekend. A State Department official said that number would increase by Sunday; right now the base has a capacity to host up to 13,000 people. The effort is part of the Department of Defense and U.S. State Department’s efforts to support what has been dubbed Operation Allies Refuge.
“As more and more people arrive, there are people who know each other,” the official told the La Crosse Tribune. “People are finding out who are here and are connecting.”
Arrivals are being housed in two-story buildings, 30 people per floor, in recently renovated buildings typically used as housing for the 150,000-plus recruits a year who arrive at Fort McCoy for training.
Outdoor spaces have been set aside for recreation, with soldiers playing pickup volleyball games with children. While language and cultural barriers have created obstacles, neither COVID-19 nor security have proven major issues so far.
As VanHerck said, they’re “building eight small cities, [so] we’re going to have challenges.”
A young Afghan refugee in Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.
Specialist Joseph Igo, who hands out Red Cross comfort kits, toys, and other items, says the families have been incredibly grateful for the support.
“When the kids come through and some of them are waving flags, they’re always really happy,” Igo told News 8000. “It makes everything that we’re doing here just work and make sense.”
Each base has an officer designated as “mayor” of the housing units, according to the AP, with an Afghan counterpart who can communicate about any ongoing issues.
“We’re starting to call them neighborhoods,” the State Department rep told the Tribune of the refugee housing. “They’ve built a community together, and they’re processing what they went through together. Our response is to prepare them to move on and help them transition to the next chapter of their lives in America.”
American soldiers play with Afghan children.
The biggest ask among the new arrivals, unsurprisingly, is better Wi-Fi. Officials say they working on it—and trying to find more linguists who can work as translators.
Fort McCoy, about 180 miles from Milwaukee, has the largest number of refugees. As of September 3, the remainder were being housed at Fort Bliss in Texas (6,200), McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey (3,700); Virginia’s Fort Picket (3,650), Fort Lee (1,700), and the Marine base at Quantico (800); New Mexico’s Holloman Air Force Base (650) and Indiana’s Camp Atterbury (65).
At least 123,000 people were evacuated from Afghanistan after the Biden administration ordered U.S. troops to withdraw last month. Some already had connections in the U.S., but others need more help adjusting.
VanHerck said the eight “cities” could house at least 50,000 Afghan evacuees. Exactly how long they’ll be there is undetermined, but Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the government’s commitment “is an enduring one.”
“This is not just a matter of the next several weeks,” Mayorkas told reporters. “We will not rest until we have accomplished the ultimate goal.”
Team Rubicon, a nonprofit supporting Afghan arrival is requesting donations of gently used clothes, diapers, bottled water, and other goods.