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| Iraq |
| Marines speed up supply line |
| 2003-03-17 |
| CAMP BOUGAINVILLE, Kuwait, March 17 â U.S. Marines poised to spearhead an invasion of Iraq say they have devised a new âslingshotâ supply strategy to speed up the advance and reduce their casualties. Engineers, medics and ammunition specialists plan to give closer support to combat troops than in previous operations, providing the extra logistics muscle needed for a rapid campaign. "WHATâS UNIQUE is that we can move with them,â said Col. John Pomfret, who heads a battalion providing support for a division of U.S. Marine tanks, troops and artillery. âIf you look at past history, logistics forces always followed behind combat forces, we move with the combat force,â he said at Camp Bougainville, part of a vast sprawl of U.S. military bases in northern Kuwait. U.S. forces aim to drive some 300 In as little as five days, or so I've heard miles to Baghdad, stretching logistics lines far further than in the 1991 Gulf War, when a U.S.-led coalition freed Kuwait from seven months of Iraqi occupation. âItâs a bit sexier to have your picture taken next to a tank; whatâs not so sexy is having your picture taken next to a tank when itâs broken down,â Brig.-Gen. Edward Usher, in charge of logistics for over 50,000 troops in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, told reporters. His command even includes a dental battalion. BATTLEFIELD LAPTOPS The new supply strategy used by the Marines, a major column of U.S. forces in Kuwait, may have an Achillesâ heel. Being able to deploy ammunition or fuel more rapidly brings a bigger risk of sending it to the wrong place, officers say. The system is also more reliant on technology. Since the 1991 Gulf War, the U.S. Marines have learned to exploit the Internet, adapting civilian software and encasing it in what they say are secure computer systems. For many Marines, laptop computers placed on folding tables in windswept camps are more important than their M-16 rifles â but a lot more fragile. DOCTORS CLOSER TO ACTION The new logistics strategy is aimed partly at saving the lives of Marines by bringing better medical facilities closer to the fighting â a crucial political consideration for U.S. leaders anxious to avoid fuelling anti-war sentiment at home. âPeople wonât have to go behind the line to get care, weâll give them life-saving care initially,â said Andres Ruiz, a U.S. Navy hospital man first class. Some of the troops a few miles back from the tip of the advance appear more at ease supplying what they dub âbeans, bullets and band aids,â than actually fighting, but few are under any illusions about their ultimate task. âWe kill people and break things, thatâs what Marines do,â said 1st Sgt. Gonzalo âButchâ Vasquez. âWhat logisticians do is support the guys who kill people and break things.â WATER, FUEL NEEDS As for getting fresh water on the road, the military has purifiers that can produce several hundred thousand gallons of drinking water a day should they reach a large water source such as the Tigris or Euphrates rivers inside Iraq. For fuel to keep the thousands of tanks, armored vehicles, trucks and Humvees running, Kuwait has laid pipelines to dumps of rubber containers â each holding 210,000 gallons â at sites scattered around the desert. About 8 million gallons is stockpiled now, Pratt said. Tanker trucks run the stuff from the âbag farmsâ to the front line. British troops â whom the British press have dubbed âThe Borrowersâ because of their requests for American gear â are still awaiting some of their desert combat equipment, including camouflage. Lt. Col. David Paterson, commanding officer of Britainâs First Fusiliers Battle Group, wore black boots at a meeting with reporters this week and conceded that desert boots in his size had not arrived yet. âWe flowed the best part of 20,000 troops into theater in six weeks,â Paterson said. Considering where the troops are, supply âtakes a little more time.â |
| Posted by:Domingo |
| #3 Damn straight,Kathy. |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-03-18 08:45:32 |
| #2 I won't. If we want equal rights, we should take equal responsibilities, and equal risks. There may be some things my sex may not be physically as good at (in general), but I consider the ban on combat to be stupid. There are a few women who would be good on the front lines (not many, but a few). If they can do it, they should be allowed to. If they can't they shouldn't. That should be the ONLY test. |
| Posted by: Kathy K 2003-03-17 18:53:11 |
| #1 Water, Fuel Needs. Just so everyone is aware, that this is the eschelon that you start having the female members show up in numbers. The line between combat and combat support quickly disappears and regardless what the law stipulates restricting females from ground combat positions they are going to be in the chaos that constitutes the combat zone. Just don't be surprised about what you're going to see live from the front lines. |
| Posted by: Don 2003-03-17 11:48:16 |