7TH ENGR BDE COMMANDER REPT VOL 18A

File: 970815_sep96_decls58_0016.txt
Page: 0016
Total Pages: 49
Subject = 7TH ENGR BDE COMMANDER REPT VOL 18A                             

Parent Organization = ARCENT      

Unit = VII CORPS   

Folder Title = 7TH ENGR BDE-COMMANDER REPT-VOL 18A -FORWARD AND COMMANDERS PERSPECTIVE                         

Document Number =          1

Box ID = BX000313







           Mornings were marked with black smoke as I,atrine Details burned
           with diesel the previous day and night's bodily waste. Everyone
           quickly learned to stay upwind of the "burning detail".
           Occasionally Mother Nature beat us and the Camp was saturated
           with a pungent malodorous smell. Soldiers continued to adjust.

                 Living areas were fixed up. Clothes lines appeared. Wet
           clothes freshly washed were hung out to dry, usually preceding
           the sandbag truck which stirred up clouds of dust.      Everything
           became the same color - dust color. In the evening Headquarters
           Company operated a TV and VCR. Movies were shown in the dining
           facility tent as long as the generator was running.     Training
           continued with frequent chemical attack drills, land    navigation,
           weapons cleaning, and emergency first aid. Everyone     was working
           toward Christmas and morale was exceptionally high.     The never
           ending sandbag filling continued.

                It is winter in Saudi Arabia. The days are very bright,
           warm -- not hot, but very warm. The evening, night, and early
           mornings are very cold. Just after Christmas we had several
           nights where all outside water froze. As soldiers lined up for
           breakfast, icicles were clearly visible on the water bag.

                More Engineer Battalions arrived and after brief days of
           digging in and getting settled, were ready for work. For
           countless miles around there were great dust clouds as giant
           engineer equipment began to prepare the way for the Jayhawk
           Corps. Bull dozers were pushing up protective berms. Backhoes
           were digging foxholes, fighting and survivability positions,
           large cranes were unloading massive amounts of equipment, graders
           were clearing roadways, bucketloaders were digging out bunkers,
           ground was leveled for hospital and holipads, areas were dug to
           protect huge fuel storage areas and countless tons of ammunition.
           Engineers were laying airfield matting and fighting the constant
           dust problem with oil based soil treatment. Rocks were hauled
           for fill material and training ranges were quickly constructed.
           The Engineers were totally committed before the.main force
           arrived, would be kept busy during the deployment, and would, no
           doubt, be in demand once this record force departs. Combat
           engineers continued their day and night battle drill training.
           No sappers were idle.










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