46                          HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS IN NORTHERN IRAQ, 1991:


h;D)


Unexploded ordnance was a maior prnbThm in nortl~ern iraq. Here members of an explosive
ordnance demolition team remove live mortar shells from an iraqi military compound at Zakho.
This compound later became the 24th MEU (SOC) Headquarters, named Camp Somners to honor
the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps.

convoy entered Zakho, it slowed to a crawl because il~e non~ally busy streets
were deserted except for a single mangy dog. Finally, Camp Sommers was
reached without incident and the Marines breathed a collective sigh of relief.
However, this incident was not actually a false alan~. The Marines at Camp
Sommers reported that a mob of Kurds had just overrun the local Iraqi police
station in retaliation for an early morning shooting incident. A similar scare
occurred on 30 May when a two-vehicle convoy was engulfed by a mob of about
1,000 Kurds demonstrating in front of Joint Task Force Bravo Headquarters. it
turned out the demonstrators were pro-American, however, the unexpected sight
of what appeared to be an unruly mob created rapid pulse rates among startled
Marines who did not understand what was going on.54
    The Landing Support Platoon (First Lieutenant Christopher A. Arantz),
called the "red patches" because of their distinctive scarlet emblems worn on
trousers, jackets, and utility caps, was a major part of the initial CSSD sent to
Silopi. After arrival, the detachment was controlled by Joint Task Force Bravo.
It single-handedly operated the flight line for the first two weeks, servicing
helicopters from all American services and six nations. The detachment's forklifts
were the only heavy material handling equipment (lIME) available and were
critical to helicopter offloading. They also unloaded more than 900 commercial
trucks. During the first three weeks this detachment unloaded 16 million pounds
of supplies. The Red Patches manifested and loaded 2.3 million pounds of relief
supplies Onto 442 helicopters. The helicopter support team conducted 91 separate
lifts without a mishap. These loads included the external lift of a disabled Cll-53,