Plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Iceland gets icy reception from base workers

By Ben Murray and Bryan Mitchell, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, March 18, 2006

RAF MILDENHALL, England — Sigurjon Hafsteinsson is mad. Not to mention worried about his financial future.

Days after the U.S. government announced plans to withdraw its military forces from Iceland, Hafsteinsson is one of nearly 900 locals employed by the American military who wonder about their job prospects.

“What we are mostly concerned about is that it was such a surprise,” Hafsteinsson said. “They said there were going to be ongoing discussions.”

On Thursday, U.S. officials informed Icelandic officials about the plan to withdraw its forces, which make up the only military presence in the country.

The decision affects around 3,000 U.S. military members, dependents and civilian employees at Naval Air Station Keflavik, home to a helicopter rescue squadron, a hospital, various support units and a rotating quartet of fighter jets from England.

The move has left a raft of unanswered questions for both Americans and Icelandic locals who live in, work at or depend on the northern outpost. A lack of official information has only exacerbated the problem.

“Nobody let us know nothing,” Hafsteinsson said. “They are just telling us that they are leaving and that we are going to be unemployed. It’s just not the right way to do it.”

Fridthor Eydal, spokesman for the U.S. military contingent in the country, the Icelandic Defense Force, said no specific decisions have been made on exactly who would go, or when.

Eydal confirmed that “the fighter unit and the helicopter rescue unit will be withdrawn,” before October, but said potential talks between the two governments about the final status of the base have prevented the announcement of specifics.

The fighters that patrol the skies above Iceland are based out of the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, England. Those planes will cease to rotate into Iceland, according to 48th spokeswoman Capt. Beth Horine.

The impact of the drawdown will fall on the more than 700 members of the Air Force’s 85th Group and 540 Navy personnel at NAS Keflavik, plus the nearly 100 U.S. employees and around 1,700 family members.

Eyedal said he did not have a breakdown of how many personnel in some affected units would be moved, such as the 56th Rescue Squadron, home unit of the station’s rescue helicopters.

Those helicopters, since their arrival in the early 1970s, have helped save the lives of about 310 people in the icy waters and rugged terrain around the base, according to Eydal.

The base could not say how many of the 592 local hires or 250 Icelandic contract workers would be retained after the withdrawal, leaving some employees to fear the worst: a total shutdown and across-the-board firings.

“I think it will be a catastrophe,” said Gudbrandur Einarssor, chairman of a Keflavik trade and office workers union with about 120 workers on the U.S. base.

Keflavik, a community of about 11,000 people, can’t accommodate nearly 900 unemployed workers on such short notice, he said.

“It was a complete surprise,” Einarssor said of the American announcement. “We thought that it would be coming, but not this fast.”

Given two years’ notice, the community might have been able to find work for such a large number of people, but six months is not enough, he said.

“They will not have any work when they come back to town,” Einarssor said of his workers.

Two schools in Iceland to close amid troop cuts

By Scott Schonauer, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Two Defense Department schools in Iceland will close at the end of this school year due to plans to withdraw U.S. forces from the country.

The Department of Defense Dependents Schools-Europe has recommended the closure of the Alfred T. Mahan Elementary and Alfred T. Mahan High schools in Keflavik, said Dennis Bohannon, a DODDS spokesman in Germany.

Diana Ohman, director of DODDS-Europe, made the recommendation to the Department of Defense Education Activity after the U.S. State Department announced last week that the military would remove Air Force fighter jets and a rescue helicopter squadron from the military base in Iceland this fall.

DODEA is expected to approve the request, according to a news release. Bohannon said a final decision could come in about two weeks.

The closure of the schools adds to the growing list of Defense Department schools shutting down after this school year. Earlier this year, school officials announced plans to close Gelnhausen and Sportfield elementary schools in Germany at year’s end, and combine grades six through 12 at Hanau High School next year. Babenhausen and Bad Nauheim elementary schools also are scheduled to close at the end of the year because of troop cuts and transfers in Germany.

In Iceland, there are currently 509 students — including 349 pre-kindergarten through 6th grade students — enrolled in the two schools. All of the students will transfer out of the Keflavik area with their families as part of the troop changes.

School teachers and administrators will be eligible for similar positions within DODDS-Europe or other DOD schools across the globe, a release said. The two schools employ 40 elementary teachers, 26 secondary teachers, two principals, one assistant principal and 15 support personnel, according to DODDS-Europe. The Keflavik schools opened in 1951.

Shocked at Iceland decision

I am a firefighter/emergency medical technician for the U.S. military at Keflavik, Iceland. I have been working for the U.S. military for more than 11 years as an employee and for a contractor on the base for 15 years.

It was strange hearing the news when the Icelandic foreign minister announced that the military was pulling the fighters and rescue helicopters out of Iceland. The presence of the military here reflects in many ways our economy, but I understand that the need for the planes is more in other locations such as Iraq. However, I am disappointed in the way things were done.

There were ongoing meetings among Icelandic and U.S. officials. It was the Icelandic people’s understanding that ongoing talks were scheduled and it was up to us to come up with some kind of conclusion.

But U.S. officials announced the final decision had been made by the Pentagon, and the planes and rescue squadron will leave.

My understanding, after having read the defense agreement, is that the two nations have an obligation to each other, and that the United States has broken that obligation after 51 years of good relations. The Icelandic people find it hard to believe that a great friend and ally could do such a thing.

My hope is that President Bush will take action and change this so we can forget this ever took place.

May God bless America.

Sigurjon Hafsteinsson
Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland

President Bush pulls US forces out of Iceland

IcelandReview - Online:

Sadly 2006 will be the last graduating class at A.T. Mahan High School.

Well I can't really say I'm surprised that Bush would drop a bomb like this. That’s his diplomatic style - my way or my way. President Bush continues to alienate our foreign allies and with only a 34% approval rating in the United States he’s also on bad terms with most Americans.

In the 1951 Iceland - US Treaty the basic agreement said that Iceland would not to form their own military force and that the United States will defend the Icelanders by maintaining an armed force on their land.

The cold war has been over for years and Iceland is no longer a strategically important to the United States. I agree that an American forces downsizing in Iceland was inevitable but I think to completely pull out of Iceland is wrong because it breaks this longstanding treaty.

Iceland doesn’t have an armed force or an air defense with little hope of being able to maintain one and for Bush to pull the plug during negotiations is viciously undiplomatic especially with Iceland poised to pay a bigger share of money to keep the US military there.

The main reason Bush gave for breaking the treat was the US forces were "stretched" and required elsewhere. Perhaps if Iceland had a big oil reserve his thinking would be different.

Our website has new look!

It was time for an extreme makeover, well at least the home page. I hope you like the new look.

I also made some other less conspicuous changes. The message board was deleted because it was rarely used by anyone and I got tried of continually deleting the spam accounts. I did install an internal shout box that doesn’t require registration.

Also I deleted the outdated photo album. I also removed most of the photos to free up space. I have many of these photos hosted at webshots.com see them here. I installed a new album. If you have photo to share contact me and I’ll assign you an account.

Lastly I have plans to upload the 1973 and 1974 yearbooks in the near future. These will be in scanned and save as a PDF file. I’ll let you know when I get these uploaded.