wrrH THE I MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE IN DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM        31

                        Reinforcements Arrive

   On 10 December 1990, the main bodies of I MEF's reinforcement began
arriving at Jubayl Naval Air Facility at the rate of about 1,000 troops per day.
They flew in via aircraft of the U.S. Civil Reserve Air Fleet, the Military Airlift
Command, and other chartered transports.   Also arriving at Jubayl were British
reinforcements, many of whom came on Soviet Aeroflot Airlines charters.
More than one Marine noted the heretofore unthinkable sight of British troops
disembarking from Soviet aircraft at a Marine base in Saudi Arabia.  On 13
December, Maritime Pre-Positioning Squadron 1 docked at the Commercial Port
of Jubayl carrying equipment for another Marine Expeditionary Brigade.        To
prevent backlog at the port, Marine, British, and ArCent units used a streamline
plan developed by 1st Force Service Support Group to efficiently move their
equipment directly to the field.  By 15 January 1991, all of the reinforcement
personnel and their equipment were in-theater.
   The force's second maneuver element was the 2d Marine Division from
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, under the command of
Major General William M. Keys.       A bluff infantryman with a bulldog look,
Keys had commanded a company, battalion, and regiment over a 30-year career.
He held the nation's second and third highest awards for gallantry, the Navy
Cross and Silver Star Medal, respectively. General Keys temporarily established
his command post at a workers' camp on the outskirts of Jubayl that had
previously been used by the 1st Marine Division. By 28 December units of the
division had deployed to the If~~~~~g~~,tI a 600-square-kilometer area north of
Abu Hadriyah and An Nuayrihah.
   At the same time, most of the East-Coast-based 2d Marine Aircraft Wing
arrived in-theater to reinforce Major General Moore's 3d Marine Aircraft Wing.
The wing now had 32 aircraft squadrons and was nearly as large as the 1st
Marine Aircraft Wing "superwing' of Vietnam of the 1966-70 era.
   To  accommodate his offensive scheme of maneuver,       General  Boomer
organized combat service support into task organizations at the force level. The
1st Force Service Support Group commanded by General Brabham assumed the
general support role for the force from port to combat service support area.
The newly arrived 2d Force Service Support Group under command of Brigadier
General Charles C. Krulak was organized as the Direct Support Command
(DSC).  This command was responsible for direct support of each division and
forward aviation unit from the combat service support area to the battlefield.
To meet the requirements of each mission, there was a certain amount of asset
exchange; for example, the DSC swapped much of its line haul capability with
1st FSSG for its combat engineer assets which would be needed for breaching
and supply route preparation.
   The 1st Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Intelligence Group also received
reinforcements from the 2d SRIG from Camp Lejeune and the Reserve. For the
first time in its history, a major Marine force had non-U.S. military corps-sized
units on both its flanks. Providing the Arab allies with fire control and support-