Tech Orders,

File: aacep_09.txt
Page: 09
Total Pages: 59

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      from several organizations and commands. Maj. G. Roger Sunada,
      49th Civil Engineering Squadron (CES), Holloman AFB New Mexico, had
      spent two years in Saudi Arabia on an earlier assignment. SMSgt
      Mario Glacometti' Det 2, HQ APHASIC' was intimately familiar with
      Harvest Falcon 9-1 kitchens. CMSgt Hans Finkbeiner, HQ MAC Fire
      Protection, brought years of fire protection knowledge to the
      staff. In all' the staff represented fifteen different units from
      six separate commands. Many of the individuals met for the first
      time at Langley AFB' just prior to departing for Riyadh on 16
      August.13
      When the decision was made to deploy US aircraft to SWA, time
      was at a premium. Reacting to the critical situation in the
      region, Air Force planners decided to put weapon systems in theater
      as quickly as possible as a deterrent. Instead of support
      personnel such as Engineering, Services, Security Police, and
      Contracting deploying a few days before to establish a base, the
      aircraft were deployed first and the Support tail had to catch up.
      In August 1990, E & S teams from across Tactical Air Command
      had gathered at Hurlburt Field, Florida, for the annual TAC
      Readiness Challenge competition to choose a team to represent the
      command _ and in the Air Force-wlde competition scheduled for late 1990.
      As the teams competed in events such as sandbagging' revetment
      construction' Mobile Kitchen Trailer erection' and tent
      hardbacklng, word began to come in across classified lines that a
      deployment of American forces to SEA was imminent. One by one,
      teams pulled out of the competition' packed up and returned to
      their home station, knowing that they were about to put their
      Readiness Challenge skills to good use 8000 miles away and
      wondering if Saudi Arabia was as hot as Florida in August.
      Prlme BEEF and RIBS teams regularly exercised their
      deployments, so there was little out of the ordinary in their
      processing' except the feeling that this was no ordinary exercise.
      Squadron readiness- personnel prepared the team kits' checked
      records, and arranged for last minute lmmunizations. Most teams
      had several days between their initial notification and deployment.
      They used this time to try and gather as much information about the
      proposed deployment location as possible. Engineering intelligence
      data were essential for effective planning. However, the fluidity
      of the situation in the early days of the operation negated much of
      this work. Beddown locations were sometimes changed while the team
      was in the air or even after landing in theater. Captain Marvln
      Wisher' Chief of Operations, 363d CES and some of his officers
      Lilted the CENTAF/DE office before his deployment to gather
      information and photographs of possible bedown sites.
      Unfortunately, their site was changed en route and they ended up at
      Al Dhafra AB, UAE, a location for which they had almost no
      information e 
      only a few of the bases were actually tasked for their full
      Prime BEEF team. Most of the Prime BEEF teams were either 50 or
      100-person teams, plus firefighters (usually deployed in increments
      of twelve' twenty-four' or forty-eight. The single largest Prime
      BEEF deployment wag the I7 6-person team from the 363d CES, Shaw