Patriot missile sites created by soldiers from Fort Blisspost are now guarding the skies of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. More than 500 soldiers with the 5-52nd Air Defense Artillery returned last week from a 12-month deployment to the Persian Gulf countries. They were split between the two countries to establish the Patriot launcher sites, which are designed to shoot down threats ranging from tactical ballistic missiles to enemy aircraft, said Lt. Col. Greg Brady, the unit commander.

By Chris Roberts, for El Paso Times

The missile defense sites were built as part of an open-ended agreement between the United States and the two countries, Brady said. For the foreseeable future, U.S. air defense soldiers will rotate into those locations just as they do to Korea. "It does create another demand for deployments," Brady said. "These heads of state definitely all want Patriots."

The Fort Bliss battalion fell under Gen. David Petraeus who runs U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for Southeast Asia.... [W]hen soldiers in the first batteries arrived, they immediately set up perimeter defenses to defeat ground attacks and activated the Patriot launcher systems.... "This is the first time we've set up an enduring footprint in these countries...."

For now, the launchers are arranged on packed dirt pads. The concrete will come later, Brady said. Workers also had to build water supplies, lay in electrical cable and refurbish a sewage treatment plant in Bahrain that was on a little-used U.S. Air Force base. "It's almost like building a small city," Brady said.

At the same time they were training, the air defenders had to keep the Patriot launchers ready day and night for the entire year. "Usually we're on an established base and we have a hot and cold cycle," Jamison said. "That allows us to do training and maintenance." Being on the hot cycle all the time "kept us busy."