NARRATIVE (An acronym listing/glossary is at Tab B)
Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia is the largest of eight "planned" industrial cities, designed to take advantage of Saudi Arabia’s vast oil resources. The city is located on the Persian Gulf coast, approximately 250 kilometers (km) south of the Saudi Arabian-Kuwaiti border (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Map of Saudi Arabia
The Al Jubayl area was developed as an industrial city in the early 1980s. Prior to that time, the landscape of what now comprises Al Jubayl was essentially an uninhabited and unused desert coastline.
Al Jubayl City consists of an industrial zone and port facilities, (Figure 3). The city also contains a residential area and other non-commercial areas. The industrial zone of Al Jubayl is a nine kilometer by nine kilometer area, located approximately five kilometers inland from the Persian Gulf coast. Jubayl Naval Air Facility (JNAF) lies northwest of the city and is approximately 20 km inland. King Abdul Aziz Naval Base (KAANB) is a Naval Station and airfield complex located on the coast, 20 km southeast of the city.
Figure 3. King Fahd Industrial Port and Jubayl Industrial City
Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia
Housing camps were located throughout the industrial zone to house the hired work force. Several of these camps were used as billeting and administrative spaces for U.S. forces deployed to Al Jubayl. Two Naval Mobile Construction Battalions (NMCB) NMCB-40 and NMCB-24 occupied one of these camps (Camp 13) throughout ODS/DS. Camp 13, which was temporarily renamed Camp Rohrbach,[3] was located in the north central part of the industrial area (Figure 4). NMCB-40 and NMCB-24 were the first tenants of Camp 13. The camp was built some years before ODS/DS but never used. During the Gulf War, Camp 13 was a fenced, two-kilometers-square compound and was surrounded by various industrial plants, including a fertilizer plant, petrochemical plants, and a steel company. An adjacent area, located directly across the street from the main camp, was used as the motor pool. Units of other coalition forces were located near Camp 13. One such unit was British -- probably the British 1st (UK) Armored Division, 7th Armored Brigade "Desert Rats." And, there may also have been a Saudi Arabian military unit located in the area of Camp 13.
Figure 4. Location of Housing Camps and Military Hospitals in Al Jubayl
Al Jubayl played a crucial role during ODS/DS. Almost all Marine Corps personnel deployed through the port city, as well as many Army units. The Navy positioned several Fleet hospitals in the area and the Air Force had units on the ground to support airlift missions and medical evacuation missions. The following section describes two units that are crucial to the significant events reported in this case narrative.
