WITH THE 1ST MARINE DrvlSION IN DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM


battalion, one light armored infantry battalion, one reconnaissance battalion, and
one combat engineer battalion. The unit deployment program and contingency
force requirements tied up six battalions of the eight infantry battalions that
remained following the buildup of the 7th MEB. With the brigade's departure
to Saudi Arabia the division temporarily lost most of its deployable combat
units.
   Brigadier General James M. "Mike" Myatt would lead the division through
its deployment and actions in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Forty-
nine years old, he took command of the division on 8 August and would
establish his command post in Saudi Arabia within a month's time. Already
selected for his second star, he would be "frocked" to major general at the end
of the year. He previously directed the personnel division of Headquarters,
Marine Corps, but brought a wealth of recent operational experience from his
service as a colonel in the Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic, during the period when
the Commandant had been its commander.
   General Myatt's plan for carrying out the mission concentrated on getting the
division in theater. An initial priority, however, was the establishment of a light
mobile command post in order to assume operational control over forces already
in Saudi Arabia. Myatt divided deployment of the division into four phases. In
Phase I, he attached all available ground combat units to Regimental Combat
Team 7,    the reinft~rced 7th Marines. Next, in Phase II, Myatt assumed
operational  control over   arriving units to include 3d Marines, Division
Headquarters, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, and 11th Marines. The division's
deployment concluded with establishment of a direct support area in Phases III
and IV. Myatt estimated that he needed six weeks to accomplish the mission
assigned to the division.l?
   To compensate for the transfer of one tank and four infantry battalions to 7th
MEB, the division drew units from Okinawa and Hawaii. Division headquarters
began arriving in Saudi Arabia on 26 August and on 6 September General Myatt
established the division as the ground combat element of I MEF
   Normal personnel attrition and the periodic drafts to fill out units deploying
to Okinawa during the first half of 1990 had already rendered some battalions
far short of their authorized strength when the division received orders to move
to Saudi Arabia. General Myatt quickly accepted Category 2 unit strength as
sufficient for deployment. Yet, even so, throughout August battalion staffs
adopted such expedients as consolidating companies and transferring personnel
from non-deploying battalions in order to reach even that level.~8
   There were two distinct phases to the reconfiguration of the division.  As
already mentioned, the first deploying element was the 7th Marine Expeditionary
Brigade stationed at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine
Palms, California. To complete 7th MEB ground units, the brigade drew 200
Marines from Headquarters Battalion, 400 infantry Marines came from the
(initially) non-deploying  1st Marines and the 1st Light Armored Infantry
Battalion, and 1st Tank Battalion's TOW company received personnel from the
5th Marines TOW Platoon. The 1st Battalion,    11th Marines, provided 135
artillerymen to the deploying 3d and 5th Battalions, 11th Marines.t9