24                         HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS IN NORTHERN IRAQ, 1991:


supplies, and battery chargers. The MSSG enabled the 24th MEU (SOC) to
"shoot and scoot,', feed itself, repair broken equipment, get paid, heal the sick,
and send mail. If one imagined the 24th MEU (SOC) as a mobile village, MSSG-
24 provided all the civic services for its population.

                 24th MEU Forward Command Element

    After receiving the warning order for movement to Turkey, Colonel Jones
formed the 24th MEU (SOC) Forward Command Element (FCE), composed of
Lieutenant Colonel John J. Hogan III (BLT 2/8), Major Charles V. Mugno
(MSSG-24), and Major David T. Kerrick (HMM-264). This team departed the
Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, for Incirlik on 10 April. At Incirlik, the FCE
reported to Combined Task Force (CTF) Provide Comfort Headquarters and met
with Brigadier General Anthony C. Zinni, USMC. Zinni was the senior Marine
assigned to Operation Provide Comfort. He had been Deputy J-3, United States
European  Command   (USEUCOM),    but was  detached to become Deputy
Commander, JTF Provide Comfort on 6 April. He was later named chief of staff
when Provide Comfort expanded and became a combined task force. A stocky
ex-football player from Villanova University, Zinni's credentials included the
U.S. Army Special Warfare School, the Naval War College, and two master's
degrees. He was a veteran of two combat tours in Vietnam, where he had
commanded the 2d Battalion, 8th Marines, and the 9th Marines. His-staff duties


                                                    -6- `4


                                Photograph couflesy of MajOen Anfliony C. Zinni, U5MC
BGen Anthony C. Inni, CTF Provide Comfort chief of staff poses with Marines assigned to CTF
headquarters at Incirlik Air Base, Adana, Turkey.