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Camp Bondsteel

Camp Bondsteel is the operation headquarters of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) in Kosovo. It is located near Ferizaj in southeastern Kosovo. It is the Regional Command-East headed by the United States Army and it is supported by troops from Greece, Italy, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey. The base is named after U.S. Army Staff Sergeant James L. Bondsteel, who is a Medal of Honor recipient.

Facilities
Joe Biden visiting Camp Bondsteel, May 2009 Camp Bondsteel was constructed by the 94th Engineer Construction Battalion, augmented by A Company, 864th Engineer Battalion and the 568th Combat Support Engineer Company, together with the Kellogg, Brown and Root Corporation (KBR). KBR was also the prime contractor for the operation of the camp. The planning, design, and construction management of the project was completed by the Construction Management Section of the 130th Engineer Brigade and a team from the Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Camp Bondsteel has several facilities on base, all built with US military aid, that are used by both soldiers and civilian employees alike. The base can house up to 7,000 soldiers, making it the largest American base in the Balkans. The post exchange (PX) is the largest military exchange in Southeastern Europe and contains various necessities and luxuries. All of this is housed in the PX's two-story building. The base also has a hospital, two gyms, and two recreation buildings with phones, computers, pool tables, and video games. Camp Bondsteel also has a chapel, a large dining facility, a fire station, a military police station, two bars and three restaurants. There is also a barber shop, a laundry facility employing local nationals, a dry cleaner, a tailor, various local vendors who sell Kosovo souvenirs and products, and sports fields. == Prisoners ==
Prisoners
) looming over Camp Bondsteel Camp Bondsteel is not open to inspections by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), which has the right to visit all "places of detention" of the member states of the Council of Europe. Negotiations with KFOR were underway but were suspended because of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence, which was not recognised by the Council of Europe. The United States Army had been criticised for using the base as a detention facility for suspected terrorists. In November 2005, Álvaro Gil-Robles, the human rights envoy of the Council of Europe, described the camp as a "smaller version of Guantanamo" following a visit. Robles confirmed that the detention facilities belonged to KFOR, not any U.S. government agency, and "..the then KFOR boss, General Marcel Valentin, helped me as much as he could during my visits. There was no attempt to hide anything or hush anything up." The prisoners at the site when Robles visited had been jailed by KFOR under KFOR authority. The US Army denied the accusation that the detention facilities "were a smaller version of Guantanamo" and stated that there were no secret detention facilities in the Camp. == Gallery ==
Gallery
File:Defense.gov News Photo 020918-A-4243O-001.jpg|Airfield at Camp Bondsteel, 2002 File:Ukraine soldiers from the 79th Airmobile Brigade on Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo 2010.jpg|Ukrainian soldiers from the 79th Airmobile Brigade at Camp Bondsteel, 2010 File:German Army Maj. Gen. Volker Halbauer, center, the commander of the NATO-led Kosovo Forces, addresses the audience at the Joint Readiness Detachment-East transfer of authority ceremony May 26, 2013, at Camp 130526-A-ED406-264.jpg|Volker Halbauer, the commander of the NATO-led Kosovo Forces, 2013 ==See also==
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