File: aacep_46.txt
Page: 46
Total Pages: 59

                                       46
      
       team from RiYadh AB led by Capt Juan Ibanez, Jr., BQ AFESC, made
       further improvements to the site providing new lat~lnes and more
       eff lclent air conditioning.
       RED BORSE tackled the most challenging post-war project. On
       26 February' General Homer tasked RED HORSE to deny two air bases
       in soutbeastern Iraq to prevent their future use by returning Iraqi
       forces. The work was to be completed before the signing of a
       cease-fire agreement. Working with Explosive Ordnance Deposal
       (EODj personnel, two teams of engineers arrived at the bases on ~
       March aboard C-130s. Within four days' the engineers and EOD
       personnel had completed their work. At Tallil AB' RED HORSE used
       approximately 80~000 pounds net explosive weight of munitions. Ibe
       primary munitions used were 40-pound shape charges and MK-82' 500
       pound bombs. The team made cuts in the runway and taxiway every
       2~000 feet. At Jalibah AB' the engineers denied a concrete runway
       and two parallel asphalt taxiwaYs. A total of twenty-seven cuts
       (seventy-two craters up to forty feet wide and twelve feet deep)
       were made in the pavements. On 10 March, the final members of the
       team were aboard CH-47 helicopters heading for Saudi Arabla. When
       they were finished' the engineers concluded it would cost less to
       build a new base than to clean up and repair the denied bases
       Air Force Engineering and Services had once again proved their
       importance to the flying mission in Operations Desert Shield/Desert
       Storm. The 3~000 Prime BEEF personnel had bedded down 55~000
       people and 1,200 aircraft at nearly thirty sites. They erected
       5~000 tents and constructed 100~0Q0 square feet of buildings- The
       1~200 Prime RIBS personnel had served more than ~ million meals.
       More importantly, they maintained their reputation of getting the
       job done, no matter what. But their work was not done.
      
       Operation Provlde Comfort.
      
       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ am, ~^ Gas
       fleeing into Turkey to escape the Iraqi military. As an
       international relief effort was begun, the allied military was
       called upon to provide security for the Kurds and the relief
       workers. Operation Provide Comfort was created to oversee the
       effort. A Combined Task Force at Incirlik AB coordinated the
       operation. Within bourn, food shipments were on their way to the
       Kurds biding in the mountains. The Combined Task Force Commander,
       Lieutenant General J. Sbaliskasbvili, US Army, tasked the Air Force
       engineers to e~tablisb and maintain the various base camps Pnom
       hich the other services and allies could operate. The engineers
       had just dismantled "Pornado ~own" when they received orders to
       rebuild it to support the influx of allied personnel. fit. Col.
       Alfred B. Hicks and his Prime BEEF team from Bitburg AB were
       recalled to Turkey after being home for only a few weeks. Ibey
       were joined by engineers from several other USAFE bases. The
       engineers built a major Humanltarian Service Support Base at Silopi
       that served as the center of activities for the region. Other
       camps were constructed at Yuksekova' Diyarbakir, and Batman,
      

| First Page | Prev Page | Next Page | Back to Text |