Fact Sheets
Balad, Iraq
Oct 14, 2007 - 11:29:13 AM

Balad (Arabic) is a city 50 miles (80 kilometres) north of Baghdad in Iraq. It is located within the borders of the so-called Sunni Triangle; however, Balad is a primarily Shiite town of approximately 100,000.

Military Camps

Located within the municipality of Yethrib, the installation is known officially as LSA Anaconda. The Saddam era military base also hosts several U.S. Air Force units and small attachments of U.S. Navy personnel. The Air Force refers to LSA Anaconda as Balad Air Base. The base is also unofficially called Camp Anaconda.

As of early 2007 the base is the central hub for airlift and U.S. Air Force operations in Iraq, it is also a major transshipment point for US Army supply convoys.

It is probably best known for having the only Army & Air Force Exchange Service 35mm projection screen movie theater in Iraq and for having a full-size swimming pool. Known colloquially as "Mortaritaville" by some of its residents, it is also derogatorily called "Pogadishu" by combat arms soldiers in reference to the large number of non-combat arms soldiers--or the "Pog" (Personnel Other-than Grunt)--stationed there.

Broadcasting infrastructure

Balad has a shortwave relay station SED.

SED's transmission capabilities

    * 16 x 500 kw shortwave transmitters
    * 26 HR type curtan arrays

SED has similar transmission capabilities to RCI's Sackville Relay Station, and DW's Wertachtal Relay Station.