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Published: October 17th 2011
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The committees trips to Iceland was prompted by the refusal by most countries in the committee to grant further exceptions to the International Competitive Bidding rules that allowed sole source procurements through the Icelandic Prime Contractor for all NATO funded construction in Iceland.
As the U.S. represented Iceland on the committee (Iceland has no armed forces; their Foreign Ministry was only a dozen individuals located in offices above the Reykjavik Fire Station), we decided that it would be best to take the committee to Iceland to hear first had from the Icelandic authorities why it was in NATO's and Iceland's mutual interest to continue as usual.
We also would take this opportunity to show the committee the results of their extensive funding of airfield facilities at Keflavik, POL facilities at Helgavik and the radar installations under construction on the four corners of Iceland.
The U.S. navy commander in Iceland supported this visit and provided transportation for the committee using the command's P-3 aircraft. Rather than flying the plane empty from Keflavik to Brussels to pick us up and empty on the return trip after dropping us off, he made the flight a Moral, Welfare, and Recreation flight so
Interior of the air passenger terminal at Keflavik
Partially funded by NATO as a reinforcing forces reception facility that those active duty forces stationed at Keflavik and their familes could take a weekend of R&R to Brussels.
So on Friday, 2 September 1988, the committee watched as the P-3 unloaded the military families at Melsbroek Air Base in Brussels, and then we climbed aboard taking their places. The P-3 was a propeller driven passenger version of the maritime patrol aircraft used by the U.S. Navy. So we had normal seats, but it was still a long flight.
Upon arrival in Keflavik we went to the offices of the IPC to receive a briefing on the construction capabilities in Iceland. After the briefing and extensive discussions, the committee boarded buses for the hour long drive to Reykjavik where we checked into our hotel for the next three nights.
On Saturday morning we returned to Keflavik for a tour of the hardened aircraft shelters, rapid reaction facility, ammunition storage and other airfield facilities and then Helgavik to see the new POL harbor under construction.
Then we boarded an Icelandair commuter plane for a fly over of two radar sites on our way to an airfield near a third site that we would visit. Upon landing we
boarded buses for the short drive to the top of a mountain on a promontory jutting into the North Atlantic. It was very foggy with off and on rain. But the saying in Iceland is if you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes and it will change. They don't have weather forecasts in Iceland because every day you get the full range of weather. We had lunch, a breifing, and a tour of the concrete tower upon which the radar would be installed.
Following the tour we returned to our plane and flew back to Keflavik and then by bus back to Reykjavik. We had the evening free to explore the town and find a good restaurant. We enjoyed both the town and the seafood.
Sunday morning was our day of touring the cultural and geographical wonders of that corner of Iceland. We stopped to get a group picture at the building where Reagan and Gorbechov held their summit two years earlier. As a result of that summit, we dismantled all our newly constructed Ground Launch Cruise Missile and Pershing bases in Europe. I strongly believe that all the construction we funded led the Soviet Union
to eventually collapse...they just couldn't outspend us on military capabilities.
Our first stop was at Thingvalir, which was the location of the first Iceland Parliament over one thousand years earlier, and was perhaps the first parliament in the world. It is in a fault in the earth that has cracked open. Then we visited the nearby geyser fields with man geothermal pools, like at Yellowstone National Park, although Iceland was created by the separation of the tectonic plates in the middle of the Atlantic. We visited the Gulfoss Waterfall. We returned to Reykjavik via the coastal road. This was followed by another pleasant evening exploring the town.
Monday, bright and early, we returned to Keflavik for our flight back to Brussels. Awaiting us were all the military families who had enjoyed Brussels for the weekend.
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