OPERATION DESERT SHIELD STORM 16 MAY 92

File: 970815_sep96_decls20_0014.txt
Page: 0014
Total Pages: 30
Subject = OPERATION DESERT SHIELD  STORM   16 MAY 92                      

Parent Organization = ARCENT      

Unit = VII CORPS   

Folder Title = SPREAD SHEET SUMMARY-MAP AND HISTORY OF 82 ENG BN TRAVELS 16 MAY 92                             

Document Number =          6

Box ID = BX000301


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      17 Jan 91. At 0045 hre, on advice from the Corps NBC Officer, 7th Engineer
      Brigade units are ordered to start taking PB tablets. At 0150 local, the
      US and Allied Coalition starts air operations against Iraq. A report
      comes over the 2ACR command not stating that we are officially at war. No
      ground activity occurs against Iraqi forces in the Kuwait Theater of
      Operations (KTO). Operation Desert Shield is renamed 'Desert Storm'.
      Stand-to is uneventful. A large shipment of mail arrived the night before
      and soldiers read as they listen to Peter Jennings on AFN. President Bush
      addresses the nation at 0500 local. He reiterates what Iraq hag done, the
      U.S/U.N. objectives, the on-going atrocities in Kuwait, and stresses the
      fact that 28 nations stand against Iraq under U.N. blessing. The rest of
      the morning is filled with euphoria as reports of Air Force successes come
      over the O/I net and AFN. The euphoria abruptly ends as spot reports of
      tanks north of the 2ACR and moving south come in a little after 1300. The
      Battalion is notified by 2ACR to execute the FRAGO 90-16 (defense of Log
      Base Alpha). The Battalion scrambles to move out on order. By 1500, it
      is apparent that the spot reports were actually Egyptian forces moving. In
      the end, it was a good drill. Around 1700 hrs local, about 50 tanks and an
      unknown number of soldiers defect and/or surrendered to Egyptian forces on
      the Iraqi/Saudi Arabia border.


      18 Jan 91: SCUD missiles are launched from western Iraq towards Israel.
      In'itial reports state that nine were launched, four hit Israel, three of
      them in Tel Aviv. The rest reportedly land in Saudi Arabia near Dhahran
      and Riyahd.


      19 Jan 91: Battalion receives warning order to prepare to move west.


      20 Jan 91: At 1100, the 2ACR conducts an orders brief and we formally
      receive the OPORD for our participation in Operation Desert Storm. The
      Battalion also receives a message from 2ACR to expect a possible chemical
      attack between the hours of 0330 and 0800 21 Jan. The Battalion sets out
      M8AI chemical detectors and takes other appropriate actions as the
      situation calls for. B Company sends a SEE out for the day to assist a
      British aviation company in the construction of survivability positions. At
      2200, the staff conducts an orders brief.



      21 Jan 91: The Battalion is given the warning order to prepare movement to
      a forward assembly area in accordance with OPORD. A Company moves out from
      the Battalion and becomes OPCON to 2/2ACR. Battalion moves MILVANS, and
      equipment we do not need to LBE to co-locate with the 249th Engineer
      Battalion.



      22 Jan 91: Early this morning the Battalion receives word of an oil spill
      caused when a pipe was ruptured by a construction team working along side
      of the road, on the south side of Tapline Road, just west of Qaysumah. The
      176th Engineer Group requests assistance and the Battalion sends the dozers
      from C and D Companies. The Battalion completes the movement to FAA
      Richardson (NS 680031) around noon. C Company moves out and becomes OPCON
      to 3/2ACR.



      23 Jan 91: - Battalion C-) (IIIIC. B, AND D Companies) moves to FAA
      Richardson (NS680031). S-4 stays back to police and sanitize old logbase;
      several other units already trying to occupy it.