GyG1345
01-29-03, 07:19 AM
Washington Post
January 29, 2003
Marines Are On The Front Line, And Now So Is Their Equipment
By Jonathan Finer, Washington Post Staff Writer
SOUTH OF THE IRAQI BORDER, Kuwait, Jan. 28 -- At a vast desert supply depot
with columns of armored vehicles stretching across the horizon, newly
arrived troops from the 1st Marine Division today began drawing the gear
they would use if ordered to invade Iraq.
For the past week, about 500 Marine logistics specialists have worked around
the clock, unloading, repairing and assembling enough equipment to supply a
division of 17,000 for a month-long operation. This phase of the U.S.
military buildup in Kuwait, although unglamorous, is among the most
important should the troops be sent to war, Marines here said.
"We have a saying that amateurs talk tactics and professionals talk
logistics," said Maj. David Nathanson, 33, of Newark, a logistics officer
for the 7th Marine Regiment who is supervising the equipment assembly line.
"The work often falls outside the spotlight, but behind the scenes is a huge
effort that can make all the difference. Without all the right parts, a tank
is just 70 tons of steel."
Hundreds of Marines, many of whom arrived in Kuwait just three days ago,
spent the day testing their gear and taking inventory to make sure
everything they will need is in place. They are joining several thousand
Marines already in Kuwait from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based at
Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Many of the Marines seemed excited about getting their hands on the
equipment for the first time. "It's like getting a new car," said Lance Cpl.
Brandon Hillenbrand, 22, from San Diego, as he sat on the front of his M1A1
Abrams tank, tearing through sealed packages of tank tools and brand new
.50-caliber machine guns. "Having newer stuff should mean it's more likely
to work."
The Marines have staged thousands of tons of equipment in areas where it can
be more quickly transported to deploying troops than if it were stored at
bases in the United States. Civilian container ships loaded with such
pre-positioned equipment steamed into the Persian Gulf from the
Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean and arrived at a port near Kuwait
City early last week. Marine logistics specialists met the ships and hauled
away the cargo, which included: stuffed shipping containers and steel mesh
"shark cages" for bundling in smaller equipment, Abrams tanks, Amtrak
Amphibious Assault Vehicles, seven-ton trucks, M-198 Howitzer artillery
pieces and hundreds of Humvee four-wheel drive vehicles. They brought the
equipment to this staging area, called the Arrival Assembly Operations
Element, in the northern Kuwaiti desert.
The Marines had dipped deeply enough into their stores to include green
camouflage gear, better suited for use in Europe or Africa, in addition to
desert tans more appropriate for the Persian Gulf region. By the time units
arrived today to pick up their gear, most of the vehicles had been inspected
and marked with chalk as "good to go" or, in a few cases, as needing new
parts.
This marks the first time the Marines have made use of pre-positioned
equipment in a non-training operation since the invasion of Somalia in 1993,
Nathanson said. Under a program started in the early 1980s to make them more
mobile, the Marines maintain three pre-positioned squadrons, numbering four
to six vessels each. One squadron is based in the Indian Ocean on the island
of Diego Garcia, one in the Mediterranean and the other in the Pacific Ocean
at Guam. The pre-positioned gear goes to Marines deploying far from their
main bases on the East and West coasts of the United States and in Okinawa,
Japan. Logistics specialists have unloaded equipment from one squadron and
have begun work on a second.
Logistics officers said that because the pre-positioned equipment is
regularly upgraded but less frequently used than gear Marines train with at
home, it is generally in impeccable condition. Nathanson said that of the
gear that has been offloaded over the past week, more than 96 percent was
found to be in full working order.
As the new troops arrived, the assembly point was among their first stops
and a precursor to any major training. Today, two companies from the 1st
Tank Battalion, comprising 64 Abrams tanks, carefully inspected their
armored behemoths and swapped parts before driving them off to their posts
in the desert.
Overseeing the 16 tank crews of Delta Company was Gunnery Sgt. Scott Martin,
36, of Manhattan, Kan., who was last in Kuwait as a tank commander in the
1991 Persian Gulf War. "The tanks we bring into battle are the best in the
history of warfare," he said. "But to get the most out of them, this period
of checking them and testing them is critical. We go over them backwards and
forwards."
Once all the Marines from the 1st Division have collected their equipment,
the logistics specialists' job changes. In the event of an invasion, they
would be responsible for working with each unit to ensure it has enough
equipment as the operation unfolds. "We'd be involved all the way through,
providing support for the frontline units," Nathanson said. "We figure out
where is the best place to deliver things, so that when a unit says 'we need
this,' we're right there to hand it to them."
During the Gulf War, U.S. forces spent months in the desert preparing to
expel Iraqi soldiers from Kuwait. But many of the Marines drawing gear today
said the massive offloading of equipment was a sign that this time they
might see action sooner, rather than later.
"The Marines don't uncoil all their gear lightly," said Alpha tank company
Staff Sgt. Alfonso Davis, 41, of Mobile, Ala. "Once we lay it all out like
this, things tend to get going pretty quick. We're hoping a decision is made
soon, so we know our course of action."
January 29, 2003
Marines Are On The Front Line, And Now So Is Their Equipment
By Jonathan Finer, Washington Post Staff Writer
SOUTH OF THE IRAQI BORDER, Kuwait, Jan. 28 -- At a vast desert supply depot
with columns of armored vehicles stretching across the horizon, newly
arrived troops from the 1st Marine Division today began drawing the gear
they would use if ordered to invade Iraq.
For the past week, about 500 Marine logistics specialists have worked around
the clock, unloading, repairing and assembling enough equipment to supply a
division of 17,000 for a month-long operation. This phase of the U.S.
military buildup in Kuwait, although unglamorous, is among the most
important should the troops be sent to war, Marines here said.
"We have a saying that amateurs talk tactics and professionals talk
logistics," said Maj. David Nathanson, 33, of Newark, a logistics officer
for the 7th Marine Regiment who is supervising the equipment assembly line.
"The work often falls outside the spotlight, but behind the scenes is a huge
effort that can make all the difference. Without all the right parts, a tank
is just 70 tons of steel."
Hundreds of Marines, many of whom arrived in Kuwait just three days ago,
spent the day testing their gear and taking inventory to make sure
everything they will need is in place. They are joining several thousand
Marines already in Kuwait from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based at
Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Many of the Marines seemed excited about getting their hands on the
equipment for the first time. "It's like getting a new car," said Lance Cpl.
Brandon Hillenbrand, 22, from San Diego, as he sat on the front of his M1A1
Abrams tank, tearing through sealed packages of tank tools and brand new
.50-caliber machine guns. "Having newer stuff should mean it's more likely
to work."
The Marines have staged thousands of tons of equipment in areas where it can
be more quickly transported to deploying troops than if it were stored at
bases in the United States. Civilian container ships loaded with such
pre-positioned equipment steamed into the Persian Gulf from the
Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean and arrived at a port near Kuwait
City early last week. Marine logistics specialists met the ships and hauled
away the cargo, which included: stuffed shipping containers and steel mesh
"shark cages" for bundling in smaller equipment, Abrams tanks, Amtrak
Amphibious Assault Vehicles, seven-ton trucks, M-198 Howitzer artillery
pieces and hundreds of Humvee four-wheel drive vehicles. They brought the
equipment to this staging area, called the Arrival Assembly Operations
Element, in the northern Kuwaiti desert.
The Marines had dipped deeply enough into their stores to include green
camouflage gear, better suited for use in Europe or Africa, in addition to
desert tans more appropriate for the Persian Gulf region. By the time units
arrived today to pick up their gear, most of the vehicles had been inspected
and marked with chalk as "good to go" or, in a few cases, as needing new
parts.
This marks the first time the Marines have made use of pre-positioned
equipment in a non-training operation since the invasion of Somalia in 1993,
Nathanson said. Under a program started in the early 1980s to make them more
mobile, the Marines maintain three pre-positioned squadrons, numbering four
to six vessels each. One squadron is based in the Indian Ocean on the island
of Diego Garcia, one in the Mediterranean and the other in the Pacific Ocean
at Guam. The pre-positioned gear goes to Marines deploying far from their
main bases on the East and West coasts of the United States and in Okinawa,
Japan. Logistics specialists have unloaded equipment from one squadron and
have begun work on a second.
Logistics officers said that because the pre-positioned equipment is
regularly upgraded but less frequently used than gear Marines train with at
home, it is generally in impeccable condition. Nathanson said that of the
gear that has been offloaded over the past week, more than 96 percent was
found to be in full working order.
As the new troops arrived, the assembly point was among their first stops
and a precursor to any major training. Today, two companies from the 1st
Tank Battalion, comprising 64 Abrams tanks, carefully inspected their
armored behemoths and swapped parts before driving them off to their posts
in the desert.
Overseeing the 16 tank crews of Delta Company was Gunnery Sgt. Scott Martin,
36, of Manhattan, Kan., who was last in Kuwait as a tank commander in the
1991 Persian Gulf War. "The tanks we bring into battle are the best in the
history of warfare," he said. "But to get the most out of them, this period
of checking them and testing them is critical. We go over them backwards and
forwards."
Once all the Marines from the 1st Division have collected their equipment,
the logistics specialists' job changes. In the event of an invasion, they
would be responsible for working with each unit to ensure it has enough
equipment as the operation unfolds. "We'd be involved all the way through,
providing support for the frontline units," Nathanson said. "We figure out
where is the best place to deliver things, so that when a unit says 'we need
this,' we're right there to hand it to them."
During the Gulf War, U.S. forces spent months in the desert preparing to
expel Iraqi soldiers from Kuwait. But many of the Marines drawing gear today
said the massive offloading of equipment was a sign that this time they
might see action sooner, rather than later.
"The Marines don't uncoil all their gear lightly," said Alpha tank company
Staff Sgt. Alfonso Davis, 41, of Mobile, Ala. "Once we lay it all out like
this, things tend to get going pretty quick. We're hoping a decision is made
soon, so we know our course of action."