2 U.S. MARINES iN THE PERSIAN GULF, 199O~199I ~.~t~~~~{�:~${;~;; Armed and comhat-loaded ~a~mes of the 7th MEB hoard a charter 747 bound for Saudi Arabia, August 1990. First to depart were 143 Marines of the surveillance, liaison, and reconnaissance party (SLRP). A group of offload preparation personnel departed shortly afterwards with the mission to join MPS 2 before it sailed and prepare the equipment for use upon arrival at Jubayl. MPs 2, stationed at the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, immediately set sail.3 The squadron departed so quickly that it left before 7th MEB's offload preparation personnel arrived. This set the stage for a sequence of delays getting M60A1 tanks, LVT-P7At and LVT-C7Ai assault amphibian vehicles, HMMWVs, trucks, and l55mm M198 guns into the field.4 in addition, because of the initial belief that the brigade might be going into a w)n-permissive environment--the port of Jubayl was within 12 hours of the border of Kuwait and might soon be under direct enemy attack--General Hopkins decided to stage the combat units before the service support units arrived. This put too few service support personnel at the port, which complicated the process of preparing and issuing equipment. Nevertheless, by 17 August 1990, General Hopkins reported all of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, at Jubayl, and he expected elements of d~e 1st Battalion, 7th Marines; the 3d Tank Battalion; the 3d Assault Amphibian Battalion; the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion; and the headquarters of the 7th Marine Regiment (referred to as Regimental Combat Team 7 [RCT 7] in 7th MEB messages) within the fi)llowing 24 hours.5First Page | Prev Page | Next Page | Src Image |