The waters surrounding Diego Garcia are home to a vast variety of sea life, with more than species recorded. Wildlife on the island consists mainly of coconut, land and warrior crabs; small lizards and geckos; feral donkeys; a myriad of tropical birds and many insects. All residents make every effort to maintain the ecological integrity of Diego Garcia, as a result- all life forms on island, including live shellfish, are protected by British law.
Entry into Diego Garcia is restricted requiring area clearance by U. Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia. Only active duty, unaccompanied military personnel, or authorized contractors can be assigned to the island. The Russian Navy started showing its flag in the Indian Ocean, partly to fill the naval vacuum, partly to counter the American Navy and partly to demonstrate to the littoral states that the Russian Navy was a force to contend with.
Overall, there was a steady increase in the presence of American and Russian naval ships. America started heavily arming both countries under the Nixon Doctrine.
In , the Russians became active in the Dhofar rebellion in Oman, which was a Persian Gulf choke-point. These moves towards militarisation of the Indian Ocean triggered countermoves to make the Indian Ocean a Zone of Peace. And both these moves and countermoves had to take into account the overall American hyper-sensitivity regarding West Asian oil supplies.
Until , Diego Garcia's main source of income was from the profitable copra oil plantation. At one time, copra oil from here and the other "Oil Islands" provided fine machine oil and fuel to light European lamps. During the roughly years of plantation life, coconut harvests on Diego Garcia remained fairly constant, at about four million nuts annually.
The plantation years ended with the arrival of the U. On 23 January , a nine man advance party from NMCB landed on Diego Garcia to initiate a preliminary survey for beach landing areas. Fifty additional Seabees from Amphibious Construction Battalion Two landed on the island and marked underwater obstructions, installed temporary navigational aids and cleared beach areas for landing additional personnel and materials.
Construction for U. The Seabees also started construction of an interim runway - to support the Communication Facility. NMCB 1 built the transmitter and receiver buildings and placed the base course for the permanent runway and parking apron. During December , a Pre-commissioning Detachment arrived to prepare the Naval Communication Station for operations. On 20 March, U. Naval Communication Station, Diego Garcia was commissioned. The setting was sparse, but communications have been "UP" ever since.
This project, however, was contracted to a Taiwanese firm. Seabees continued to work on support and personnel facilities in the cantonment area at the northern tip of the atoll. The second major area of construction was the airfield and its supporting facilities. Revised requirements called for the extension of the original 8,foot runway to 12, feet and additions were made to the parking apron and taxiways.
New hangars and other support facilities were also built. During and , Seabee units worked on all these projects. Because the final mission of Diego Garcia was still evolving, it was clear that still more construction would take place in the years to come. Additional projects were undertaken in World events in and , however, forced a reevaluation of the U. It was decided to further expand the facilities at Diego Garcia in order to provide support for several pre-positioned ships, loaded with critical supplies.
Thus, what began as simply a communication station on a remote atoll became a major fleet and U. The work the Seabees completed on Diego Garcia since represented the largest peacetime construction effort in their history. Diego Garcia was the major Seabee construction effort of the s and they acquitted themselves well under the difficult and isolated conditions that exist here.
When the Seabees arrived they lived in tent camps, when they departed they left a fully-developed, modern military facility, capable of supporting thousands of U. Known as the "Footprint of Freedom," it plays a primary role in support of U. The island's only occupants are NSF personnel and tenants. Most of the approximately 3, people are third country nationals working under the large base operating support BOS contract. The Air Force and Army also maintain support elements on the island. A major change to the island organizational structure occurred with the establishment of the Navy Support Facility NSF on October 1, All billets, other than those dedicated to communications support, were transferred to CO, NSF, who is responsible for maintaining and operating facilities and providing services and materials in support of several tenant shore activities and units of the operating forces.
Following the overthrow of the Shah of Iran in , Diego Garcia saw the most dramatic build-up of any location since the Vietnam War era. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait marked the most intense operational period in Diego Garcia's history. Provides facilities, munitions, vehicles, Aerospace Ground Equipment, supplies and aviation fuel to sustain deployed bomber and tanker sortie operations.
The team left Andersen seven weeks ago to complete some construction work as part of the Air Force's Bomber Forward Operating Location initiative. Members from Pacific Air Forces Headquarters and 36th CES identified five requirements for the team, including: constructing a land mobile radio repeater facility, constructing supply and maintenance secure storage rooms, repairing tent city electrical system, constructing a generator pad and testing grounding points on the south ramp.
Get the latest on the Coronavirus outbreak for the military community on Military OneSource. Entry into Diego Garcia is restricted, requiring area clearance by U. Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia.
Only unaccompanied military and DoD civilian personnel, or authorized contractors may be assigned to the island. Neither military nor DoD couples are allowed concurrent assignments to Diego Garcia.
As a British territory, all military and civilian personnel residing on the island come under BIOT law and administration. These laws differ from those in the United States. Tours in Diego Garcia are one year long. Extensions may be available for both officer and enlisted personnel. Some civilian personnel have been in DG for as long as 15 years. The Diego Garcia Ombudsman Family Support Program's mission is to facilitate communications from the Command and the Island of Diego Garcia to family members and vice versa, passing along information so that family members are kept well informed.
Family members will be able to reach out to the Command by contacting the Education Services Facilitator to be connected to the Command Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will provide a direct link to the Command and Commanding Officer on family issues and concerns.
The Ombudsman can also refer family members to resources, programs, and services in the area where they live. Basic Allowance for Housing BAH Difference - Payable to single members who are paying court-ordered child support and support being paid is verifiable.
Hardship Duty Pay -- for all members stationed in Diego Garcia. Only members with dependents are entitled to BAH when assigned government quarters. British environmental protection laws prohibit scuba diving and spearfishing in the waters of Diego Garcia.
Snorkeling is permitted and offers an excellent way to see the fabulous marine life and beautiful coral formations in the lagoon. There are more than varieties of fish in the water. Fins, mask and snorkel may be checked-out at the Marina or purchased from the Ship's store. Every installation has a special DSN number and the numbers vary by world-wide location.
In order to place a call using DSN, the caller must be using a military phone on an installation. Cell phones cannot dial DSN numbers. The operator can be reached at commercial Please note that long distance charges may be incurred.
For immediate emergency assistance, call the BIOT police at or contact the Security Office at non-emergencies. The mission of the U. Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia is "To provide logistic support to operational forces forward deployed to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf area of responsibility in support of national policy objectives.
0コメント