42                                    U.S. MARINES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, 19901991

deployed the 2d Marine Division just to the northwest of them.   Both divisions
remained there until moving into their tactical assembly areas in mid-February.
At the same time,     General   Moore moved his 3d      Marine Aircraft Wing
headquarters to NAF Jubayl.     Moore also began displacing his two helicopter
groups north, but not until going through some travail regarding airfields.
    Even though the displacement of General Yeosock's ArCent units westward
began in December, it was not completed for some time due to logistical
constraints.  A number of Army enclaves remained in the expanded MarCent
area of operations near training areas and ranges.  The main effect of this was
to impinge on the ability of the 2d Marine Division to train. The last enclaves
dissolved on 17 January.
    Along with the generals there came a final influx of staff to flesh out the
force headquarters staff. The first of these was Colonel Billy C. Steed, who
arrived on 14 December.   Steed cut short a tour as commanding officer of the
25th Marines at the personal     request of his former commander,          General
Boomer.     He was a ruddy-faced 34-year veteran with a Mississippi drawl who
had attained the rare distinction of a battlefield commission in Vietnam as a
sergeant.   Boomer had valued his counsel in combat before and made Steed his
assistant chief of staff for operations, G-3.
    At Safaniyah, General Boomer instituted an evening operations briefing to
supplement his morning staff meetings.    The daily morning meetings began at
0800 with Boomer striding into the quonset-style briefing tent and giving his
usual greeting:   "Morning, folks, please sit down."   Others present were his
deputy, the principal and special staff members, liaison officers, senior staff,
and the force's senior enlisted Marine, Sergeant Major Rafe J. Spencer.        The
group typically numbered 30 to 40 or more and was inclusive rather than
exclusive.    Contrary to a current trend of compartmentalizing and over-
classifying information, Boomer wanted no pieces withheld from his staff that
could help them in their duties.  He also desired that the meetings help forge
bonds within his staff which had at last reached its wartime strength.
    Boomer's fastwitted and articulate chief of staff, Colonel Eric Hastings,
conducted the meetings.    Hastings was fully capable of either stimulating
give-and-take exchanges among the staff or metaphorically yanking them up by
their necks, depending on the situation.  The unruffled and fluent senior watch
officer of the combat operations center, Lieutenant Colonel Max A. Corley,
invariably gave the current operations brief followed by principal and special
staff reports. After this, Hastings offered the staff a final challenge:  "Anymore
Oh-by-the-ways?"    and then turned it over to his commander.             Lieutenant
General Boomer talked in measured words that reflected his current state of
mind and perspective.    On occasion he could be sharp, but, mindful of the
continual pressure on them all, more often he was solicitous.    As mentioned
earlier, General Boomer usually met at least once a week with his generals for
frank  discussions  of   issues affecting  the  command,     particularly    future
operations.   Out of meetings at Safaniyah over the next five weeks came funda-
mental decisions that changed the course of the force's campaign.