The sub-tropical wilderness surrounding the base made wildlife a daily part of the conditions soldiers lived with. Just like today, the area had snakes, alligators, and insects to deal with. The blotches on the pavement here are old paint, once a painting of a mosquito. Soldiers claimed it was life sized at about a foot long by a foot wide (30 cm on each side). Heat and humidity, heavy rains, and the threat of hurricanes made maintaining and readying equipment more difficult. But this was an upgrade from their original location just outside the entrance to the park. There, soldiers lived in tents with no electricity or running water. Summer rains would turn the ground to mud and flood the tents where soldiers slept and ate.