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File: aacad_10.txtresponded to the accident before we got there and were all over the place before we even arrived or established an on- scene commander. Col Vanmeter became the on-scene commander luckily or those remains wouldn't have been marked on a grid or completely recovered, they wanted the big pieces and the Army physicians wanted to get an ID from the guy immediately. I almost screamed when I arrived and we immediately yanked those folks away and let our team do the job we were trained to do, even though the Army fought us. Those docs, including some Air Force reserve docs with no SAR backround still picked up pieces after we told them not to. It was like a zoo, we really had to get hostile but finally they all left and we recovered approx 130 lbs of remains back to the morgue. The grid map was completed, remains inventoried and sent to Daharan. No other Air Force fatalities occurred in our region during our presence. Lessons Learned -Tell the boss about your job in Mortuary early- Every commander we had at KKMC had no clue about Sesrch and Recovery or war time mortuary. They weren't going to ask either. The Army should have been briefed that all Air Force fatalities were Air Force responsibility as briefed to us by HQ Mortuary in Daharan. They should have steered clear of the A-10 accident and let us do our job. We didn't have a morgue tent for about 4 weeks but eventually convinced CES they better give us one soon, despite the severe need for billeting tents. We used a dining hall refer and supplies that were delivered to us from Daharan Mortuary. -Take mortuary supplies with you - As mentioned before, I took a Search and Recovery bag and used every item in it. We eventually received body bags, baggies, tags etc...but not initially and not soon enough. We also received three transfer cases to hold us over but we were located near the Army Casualty Collection Point and they had plenty. Take supplies even though not in PRIME RIBS team kit they will be used. Take ice chests if possible, they came in very handy in the hot climate to keep parts cool. G. Laundry was an item everyone complained about constantly. The Hirvest Falcon laundry units arrived but we didn't have the power or water supply to run them the entire time we were there, much less the manpower. Thus handwashing was the order of the day Even if we bad had a Contracting office initially, we were too isolated for service so we hooked on to the Army laundry plant. They agreed to clean and dry uniforms only and fold them if we provided labor. We certainly didn't have the manning in SVS so we took it to the other units and they turned it down saying it wes our problem, thus we had no service. Eventually the Army gave in and cleaned it for no cost and we dropped it off and packed It up with a four day turnaround. I put our 645x0 in charge of laundry exchange since there wasn't a supply function on the base at that time. Our 702x0 became the camp postal clerk since he didn't posess any admin skills and we certainly did not need a 702 in
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