Eskan Village, officially named Eskan Village Compound, is a U.S. military compound located 20 kilometers south-east of

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. The base is home to the United States Military Training Mission in Saudi Arabia (USMTM),

Office of the Program Manager Saudi Arabian National Guard Modernization Program An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

(OPM-SANG), the Office of the Program Manager - Facilities Security Force (OPM-FSF), and the Office of the Program Manager Ministry of Interior-Military Assistance Group (MOI-MAG).

History

Eskan Village was built in 1983 during the reign of

Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; 1920, 1921 or 1923 – 1 August 2005) was King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 13 June 1982 until his death in 2005. Prior to his ascension, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 1975 to 1982. He was ...

to house various

bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

tribes. The tribes declined to occupy the housing complex, and Eskan Village remained unoccupied until August 1990. At that time, the Saudi Arabian government authorized the use of Eskan Village for deployed U.S. servicemembers during

Operation Desert Shield , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

and

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

. In 1992, in the aftermath of the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) was formed and headquartered at Eskan Village for the conduct of

Operation Southern Watch Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from August 1992 to March 2003. United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of moni ...

. Eskan Village was home to the region's Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) until it was relocated to

Prince Sultan Air Base Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB, , ) is a military air base located in the closed city of Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia. History There was a large United States presence there during Operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. The U ...

in September 2001. The transition was accelerated after the events of September 11, 2001. After the bombing of the Khobar Towers on June 25, 1996, several U.S. military offices and housing facilities located in Riyadh and Dhahran were also moved to Eskan Village and Prince Sultan Air Base to mitigate possible future attacks.

Force Protection and Operations Support

On September 5, 2005, the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

activated the 64th Air Expeditionary Group to assume security, law enforcement, and operational support for Eskan Village from the United States Army. After nearly nine years, the Air Force inactivated the 64 AEG on May 1, 2014, and transferred these duties to the 879th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron. Later, on September 25, 2017, the 379 Expeditionary Mission Support Group facilitated the transfer of security and law enforcement operations from the 879th ESFS to the 341st Military Police Company and inactivated the 879th ESFS.

References

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External links

Eskan Village
at GlobalSecurity.org Installations of the United States Air Force in Saudi Arabia

History

Force Protection and Operations Support

See also

References

External links