European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 1, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A a a the stars and stripes monday october 1,1990 a amps Gay Miller Fernando a a Fred Orciani left chief of the general Supply division at Camp Darby Italy does whatever it takes to quickly move supplies to troops in saudi Arabia. Even at 11 ., warehouse workers right Are loading up 98,000 cases of meals ready to eat at the general support Center  working nonstop to deploy supplies by Gary Miller Mediterranean Bureau Livorno Italy a the Eye of a logistical storm hovers Over an army Supply depot at Livorno. Operation desert shield the storm has meant never ending shifts for the depots staff of 20 warehousemen and 10 clerks and Docking control specialists. A recent visitor found 10 depot warehousemen working under the Light of portable spotlights. They drove forklifts car tying pallets of boxes from a warehouse into cargo containers. It was 11  And the forklift Drivers had been working since Early morning. They would continue until Dawn when the 10 other warehousemen would take Over. Fernando a a Fred Orciani moved from worker to worker talking cajoling and sometimes arguing a whatever it took to get 98,000 cases of meals ready to eat loaded and on their Way to saudi Arabia in 48 hours. A this Isnit the Only work we re doing right now a Orciani said. A a we re shipping protective masks out of another warehouse medical Materiel out of another and making All the regular Small High priority shipments such As the desert  Orciani is chief of the general Supply division. He is responsible for the warehouses belonging to the general support Center leghorn of the 8th support group at Camp Darby. The base is on the outskirts of Livorno on the Northwest italian coast. A this is a fast operation a he said referring to loading the res a but As far As we re concerned its not a big operation. A few Days ago we had a Complete aviation brigade that came through  in route to saudi Arabia the helicopters of the 12th aviation brigade recently flew to the leghorn support Center while the units vehicles Ana equipment travelled by train from the brigade s Home station in Wiesbaden West Germany. The air Force 7319th rapid engr deployable heavy operations repair so engr from Aviano a Italy also deployed from Livorno. Orciani and his warehousemen joined troops from the two deploying units and Camp Darby commands in preparing the vehicles and equipment for shipment by sea to the Middle East. A the same shift of people who Are now loading res unloaded 480 vehicles from the rail cars and lined them All up in a Convoy. That was in addition to their regular work. A a we re talking about 3,000 tons of wheeled vehicles. It took three shifts a Orciani said. A a in a very proud of my work Force a he said. A they realize Why they re doing this. Its not just for the salary because when you work a Man for More than 24 hours the Money ceases to mean  it is their dedication not the extra pay that motivates them Orciani said. The 59-year-old native of Pisa has worked at the support Center since 1952 when he and his colleagues loaded semitrailers by hand and helped ship supplies and equipment for the korean War. Orciani has used the lessons he a Learned during his nearly 40 years at the depot to make More efficient use of the 12.4 million cubic feet of storage space in the dozen warehouses. One warehouse contains rows of a Mored personnel carriers parked under four wheel drive combat Utility cargo vehicles perched atop shelves made of yellow girders. Orciani designed the vehicle shelving system. Those vehicles could be shipped to saudi Arabia in the weeks to come As could much of the rest of the depots inventory. A at the same time we re shipping out these 98,000 cases of res we be already heard rumours Well be getting 200,000 More cases from the states a he said. A there we re in the Middle of the Eye of the storm. A we Are on Alert a Orciani said. A we expect  . Military refitting choppers for desert duty by the los Angeles times saudi Arabia a the . Military acknowledging that helicopters have been damaged by blowing Sand and that pilots have been confused by the featureless terrain has ordered the installation of special equipment on choppers deployed to the saudi desert officials said. The Hasty adaptations which include new filters and protective coatings Are designed to help shield the sophisticated helicopters from the relentlessly corrosive effect of the Fine desert Sand that wears Down vital engine parts and strips the surface from Rotor Blades. Some of the choppers assigned to . Forces in saudi Arabia will also of fitted with new satellite linked equipment to help guide pilots across the faceless desert landscape that has made conventional navigation techniques difficult the officials said. The refitting program using equipment shipped from the United states follows a couple of crashes and emergency landings involving helicopters assigned to operation desert shield. The causes of the crashes have not yet been determined. The army Sall purpose uh-1 Huey in particular has been a suck my up a lot of Sand a one battalion commander said. And army col. Robert n. Siegle com Mander of All army aviation units in saudi Arabia said the constant a a sandblasting already has worn crucial parts a right Down to the Bare Metal. A there is no doubt that when you operate in the Sand you Are somewhat degraded said it. Col. Michael Mulvenon commander of a Chinook helicopter battalion based at fort Bragg . Military officials stressed that there was no indication that any of the crashes were related to equipment malfunctions. And Siegle commander of the 18th aviation brigade said he had expected the Fine Sand of saudi Arabia to cause More helicopter maintenance problems than the army has experienced so far. The chopper problems experienced in the desert follow a new study by the general accounting office that concludes the army a High tech Apache helicopter expected to be a crucial weapon in the persian Gulf if War comes has failed to meet projected performance standards. The study found the Apache to be unfit for combat More than half of the time with engine components in need of replacement five times More frequently than expected. But army officials on saturday said the report had been based on an Overly narrow Sample and that they remained confident in the capabilities of the Apache the military a Premier Aerial tank killer. They said its combat ready rate in saudi Arabia has significantly exceeded army standards. In an environment hostile to helicopters Siegle credited the acceptable readiness rates to the work of maintenance Crews that he said have been a working their fingers to the Bone to make sure that these Birds Are ready to Fly at a moments  of the four helicopters that have crashed or made emergency landings since the Mission began two were army oh-53 observation helicopters one was a Navy helicopter and the other was a Marine corps ch-53e super stallion. Only one serious injury has been report officials issued a press release saying that the Accident rate during the desert shield Mission to Date has been less than that of Normal military operations. Jute re news however commanders acknowledged that the performance of several types of helicopters Martinii Arlo Tea . A i a a. I. A a duo maintenance Uwi us win As Force feed Pace is generally being fitted to  helicopters at Forward bases