U.S. base on Romanian coast bridges Europe, Middle East.

• Author: Tiron, Roxana

CONSTANTA, Romania--Heavy cargo planes have been rumbling day and night over this port city for a couple months, heralding the American presence. The U.S. planes, landing and raking off from a former MIG fighter base of the Romanian Air Force, are moving troops and supplies to the Middle East.

On this afternoon in April, several C-130 planes are resting on the airfield close to the highway. The high fence around the base obstructs the view from the curious eye.

A white tourist bus ferries U.S. soldiers from their hotels about 20 km away, from a Black Sea resort called Mamaia--a ghost town with rows of deserted hotels along the beach waiting to be revived by the masses of tourists that come here every summer.

Toward the far-off end of the resort's main road, the only sign of the American presence is the sight of Romanian security guards in black uniforms, trained to fend off any uninvited guests trying to enter the hotels that lodge U.S. troops.

The U.S. soldiers are under lock-down. They are not allowed to leave their confined spaces or interact with the local population.

"This was not a planned deployment," said Air Force 1st Lt. Chris Watts, a public affairs officer.

The Romanian base became a last-minute substitute after Turkey denied basing rights to American troops invading Iraq through the north. That decision "changed a lot of things," said Watts.

The number of Americans in the Constanta area fluctuates between 1,000 and 3,000 people. The support airmen are in the hundreds, while most of the troops "are just passing through," said Air Force Capt. Patrick Whelan, who runs the morale, welfare and recreation activities on the base. "For the most part, they are waiting for their orders to go further. They hurry up and wait."

At this base, people, supplies and equipment are in transit from Europe to the Middle East, said Air Force Col. Steven Dreyer, the commander of the 458th Air Expeditionary Group. He is a 32-year veteran who came from the Air Force base in Keflavik, Iceland, to run the operations on the "Mihail Kogalniceanu" base in Romania.

"People come in on a daily basis," he said. "They have to go through a briefing to make sure that they have all their equipment and make sure that their bags will get to the right place," he told National Defense. "It does not sound like much, but it is labor intensive."

On average, he said, eight to 10 C-17s land on the base daily to drop off and pick up cargo, and immediately move on. About four...