wITH THE I MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE IN DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM      47


The Iraqi beach defrnses looking sea ward from a mortar emplacement. Striped rods are aiming
stakes. There are three lines of barbed wire entanglements: one is in chest-deep water near top
ofpicture and two more are at the edge of the water, with mines in between. in the middle is part
of an interlocking trench line network built with concrete blocks and highway K-rail. Adjacent
bunkers contained antitank rockets and grenade launchers.

and the recently arrived 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade under command of
Major General Peter J. Rowe).   This eliminated the need for a link-up with
amphibious forces.  General Boomer approved the change to his plan on 16
January, the day before the start of Operation Desert Storm's air campaign,
discussed later.
   As noted earlier, there was no established doctrine for corps-size Marine
forces with two or more maneuvering divisions.  Because he envisioned a fast-
moving ground campaign, General Boomer decided to have supporting arms be
coordinated at the lowest possible levels to save time.  The senior and final
coordinating authority was the I MEF fire support coordination center under
Colonel William H. Schopfel II!.  Each division retained its own fire support
coordination center primarily for its artillery and air strikes.   Both division
centers were linked by voice and wide-area data networks.       The fire support
coordination  center located at  the  I MFF     command     post     assumed  a
"deconfliction" role to coordinate and sequence supporting arms fires on given
targets and to prevent friendly fire incidents.
   In air support, the plan assigned Bell AH-i Sea Cobra attack helicopters to
be in general support of the divisions for close-in fire support.  The plan had
Cobras on strip alert for immediate employment from forward landing zones.
The control of fixed-wing aircraft within the MarCent high-density air control
zones (HIDACZs) was through a single direct air support center located at the
force command post or aboard a Lockheed KC-13O Hercules aircraft.           The
concept for fixed-wing employment involved two stacks of attack aircraft which