WIrH THE I MARINE ExPEDrrIONARY FORCE IN DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM     59

as breaching gear directly into "Khanjar International," the two dirt airstrips next
to the support base.  To overcome a scarcity of tank transporters, the Saudi
military  loaned a  number      of its double-winch,  60-ton heavy  equipment
transporters (HETs) to move some of 2d Marine Division's MiAl            tanks
forward.
   The SeaBees finished up major airfield expansions at Mishab and Tanajib in
January after overcoming delays in some of its projects because of material
shortages and sluggish delivery,     especially at Sites in the north. Central
Command and host nation policies regarding acquisition of materials were slow
and complicated and the limitations on the numbers of available line haul
vehicles  didn't help matters.     Recently redesignated   as the Third  Naval
Construction Regiment, with Captain Mike Johnson as its commander, SeaBee
units moved west with the force to engage in the repair and maintenance of the
Kibrit main supply route and to undertake parts of the construction effort at
Khanjar including its airstrips.  They also built an enemy prisoner of war camp
at Kibrit to accommodate 40,000 personnel.
   One logistical problem at Khanjar was water. Drinking water sustained life,
but almost as importantly, it was the medium for decontaminating personnel and
equipment from chemical attacks. The SeaBees began drilling a well at Khanjar,
but an around-the-clock operation failed to yield water. Reverse osmosis water
purification units (ROWPUs) at Mishab converted sea water from the Gulf to
fresh water.  These worked well despite the presence of blobs of oil from a
large oil spill created by the Iraqis.   The 170-kilometer one-way run from
Mishab to Khanjar put an immense strain on the available water trucks,
however.    A lucky discovery on the gravel plain solved part of the problem.
While Marine engineers were building a road northwest from Khanjar to the 2d
Marine Division tactical assembly area, they came across a mysterious pipe and
valve sticking out of the desert.  It turned out to be a water well, or perhaps a
failed oil well, and it yielded about 4,000 gallons per hour.   General Krulak
named it the "Miracle Well."
   To bring medical support closer to the battlefield, one of the two fleet
hospitals at Mishab displaced to Khanjar.   Its 14 operating rooms made it the
third largest surgical organization in the service.  The unpleasant prospect of
mass casualties from both conventional and chemical weapons was the major
concern of the I MEF Surgeon, Captain Jerry R. Crim, USN. To maximize the
number of medical caregivers, the dentists and technicians of the force's dental
detachments under command of Captain Thomas Carlsen, USN, trained in triage
procedures, anesthesiology, and intensive care of patients. To counter a threat
of biological warfare, specifically, anthrax, Crim initiated preventive measures
throughout the force.  To mitigate the possible effects of nerve agents, all
members of the force began taking tablets of pyridostigmine three times daily
in mid-February.
   On the spiritual side, the force's senior chaplain, Captain H. Thomas Hiers,
welcomed I MEF's first female chaplain, Lieutenant Pamela E. Davis, USN,
into theater on 12 December.     She was followed in January by Lieutenant John
Cutler, who may have been the first rabbi to minister in the kingdom in many