WITH MARiNES IN OPERATION PROVIDE COMFORT                             45

Kohl lost the services of his executive officer when Major Mugno was retained
at Incirlik with Navy-Marine Liaison Team 10.ii
   The  MS SG  had seven  key functions:    maintenance, supply, medical,
communications, motor transport, landing support, and engineer support. MSSG-
24, as all MSSGs, was created to support a specific MEU and was task organized
for that purpose. The detachments assigned to MSSG-24 were from the 2d FSSG.
Because of space limitations, MSSG-24 sailed short-handed and left some of its
equipment behind. These shortfalls often were made up for by long working
hours and inventive use of equipment.S2
   The Maintenance Platoon (Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kenneth D. Franklin)
established an intermediate maintenance activity at Silopi to repair ground
equipment, provide wrecker service for disabled vehicles, man mobile welding
and fabric repair teams, and man mobile maintenance contact teams. The Supply
Platoon (First Lieutenant Todd L.  Eggers)   warehoused, replenished, and
distributed MREs, dry-cell batteries, fuel and lubricants, LFORM supplies,
military clofl~ing, medical supplies, repair parts, and selected ordnance items.
Medical personnel worked with the Joint Aid Facility, the Joint Dental Facility,
and the 39th Air Transportable Hospital. Hospital Corpsman Arthur W. Angel
ran a small clinic and conducted medical and dental civic action patrols
(MedCaps) to service the refugees and local population. The Communications
Platoon (First Lieutenant Patrick J. Allison) established, maintained, and operated
tactical radio networks, operated camp telephone networks, augmented the Joint
Communications Center, and supported remote communications operations at
Zakho and Dohuk.~3
   The Motor Transport Detachment (First Lieutenant Luke Marsden) ran a
motor pool including organic maintenance,   vehicle dispatching, stationary
refueling, and mobile refueling. Tactical convoys ran twice daily. The first
overland delivery of humanitarian relief supplies to Zakho was made on 22 April.
Security was paramount so each convoy was escorted by armed guards. Trucks
used .50-caliber heavy machine guns on ring mounts for protection. Humvee
(short for High-mobility, Multi-purpose, Wheeled Vehicle) utility trucks usually
carried a couple of riflemen as "shotgun" guards. Every convoy was treated as
a combat mission. The Turkish border was designated the line of departure where
all weapons were locked and loaded. While no ambushes or fire fights involving
Marines occurred, there were several hair-raising incidents.
   On 12 May the occupants of one such convoy were rolling along, enjoying
the bright sunshine and chatting as normal. As the convoy approached Zakho,
Lieutenant Colonel Kohl and his colleague, both of whom had been wounded in
Vietnam, suddenly stopped talking and became abnormally watchful. Each of
them had been alerted simultaneously by a combat-veteran's "sixth sense" that
something was wrong. "If we were in Vietnam, I'd say we were heading into an
ambush," muttered the passenger. Without taking his eyes from the road,
Lieutenant Colonel Kohl nodded his assent and ordered the lead vehicle to slow
down and move forward cautiously. Using this cue, Marines in the trailing
vehicles became restless and hunkered down anticipating possible action. As the