WrrH THE I MARINE EXPED~ONARY FORCE IN DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM       1! 1


   The 3d Marine Aircraft Wing performed a standdown for maintenance on
1 March after its surge effort of the previous six weeks. Four F/A-18 Hornets
remained on Strip alert for air defense at all times.   Teams from Marine Air
Control Group 38 took over the operation of Kuwait International Airport until
civilian authorities took it over a month later.  Eight squadrons returned to the
U.S. during March, followed by most of the others in April.      General Moore
personally flew a Hornet back across the Atlantic, landing at the wing's home
base at El Toro, California, on 4 April.  The last two line squadrons departed
from Shaildi Isa Air Base, Bahrain, on 17 May 1991.
   The I MEF headquarters staff also began preparations to return home to
Camp    Pendleton in California, but not before its commander and         major
subordinate commanders reported to General Schwarzkopf in person.        During
a debrief at Jubayl on 21 March, General Schwarzkopf was generous in praise
of his Marines.  "(Y)ou absolutely executed superbly.     You did everything I
thought you were going to do, and more."    By assigning I MEF the supporting
attack, he had given them "the toughest mission on the battlefield."  "(W)e had
to throw somebody in against the toughest barriers. We had to throw somebody
in where the enemy thought we were coming, because that's the only way we
could pin the enemy."  He thought the breach operation was "a classic job" that
would be studied for years to come.  On a personal level, he told them "how
very, very proud you've made me to be your commander. "~        The feeling was
undeniably mutual.
   The first I MEF advance parties from the G-1 manpower section departed
Saudi   Arabia on  26  March.   The     force's   combat  replacement  regiment
transferred more than   1,000  Marines to       subordinate commands   and  then
dissolved on 21 March.   Its members also assisted the Marine Corps Combat
Development Command's battle assessment team under Colonel Clifford L.
Stanley from Quantico during its post-combat data gathering activities.     This
information was processed into the Marine Corps Lessons Learned System.
   Lieutenant General Boomer and most of his principal staff left Saudi Arabia
on 16 April 1991 via a Marine C-9 aircraft for Camp Pendleton.         Returning
during the same period were General Brabham and the 1st Force Service Support
Group. The 2d FSSG then assumed all combat service support functions for the
force.  On 21 April 1990 the remnant of I MEF in theater was succeeded by a
new entity called Marine Forces, Southwest Asia (MarForSWA), commanded
by Major General Norman E. Ehlert, the former deputy MarCent commander
in Riyadh.  Brigadier General Krulak succeeded him on 31 May.     The last units
from 2d Marine Division departed on 10 June 1991.       Marine combat power in
the Gulf was now afloat in the form of expeditionary units that were capable of
special  operations.  Beginning in  March,      the 13th, 11th,  15th, and 22d
MEU(SOC)s successively maintained a presence there during the rest of 1991.
   The final   phase of the retrograde was        the reconstitution of Maritime
Pre-Positioning Squadron 2 on 28 July.     It became the "ready" squadron to
support another Marine expeditionary brigade.     Marine Forces, Southwest Asia,
itself dissolved on 10 October 1991, as the last Marine combat service support
unit departed Saudi Arabia.