European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 11, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday december 11, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 3 Vince Crawley with the 24th inf div it is night and spec. Jeffrey Hoffmann sits in the Back of an armoured Bradley cavalry fighting vehicle somewhere in saudi Arabia. He is an observer which Means he does no to get to see where he is going. The Turret hides his Forward View the opened top Hatch covers the View behind. Facing backward All he can see clearly is the desert off to either Side and overhead the stars. The autumn Milky Way snakes along the Western sky like a glowing Cloud of cigarette smoke. Near the horizon lights from arabian villages compete with the Starlight. Sometimes soldiers in the Deserf can see satellites after dusk. They look like Bright stars moving at a steady rate through the constellations. A being out Here is about the Best thing there is a says Hoffmann 20, who is with the 2nd so 4th Cav regt. Maybe not the Best thing in the world he goes on but the Best thing in the desert. Out on patrol in the Dusty Ocean of night you get away from Alt of what Hoffmann Calls a the  the Bradley called a Alpha Tavvo six a. Rattles across the desert for about half an hour then stops. A you know where you Are a Hoffmann s voice asks in the Starlight. I not  remember that feeling a he says. A ninety nine percent of the time you done to know a Quot a the people up in the Turret usually know. But Down by the Back Hatch sitting backward and seeing Only the sky Hoffmann is usually just along for the ride. When his scr Grant gives the command he a supposed to jump out and run like hell Forward looking for enemy troops to observe. That More or less is what cavalry scouts do for a living. Along with five men and All their stuff Alpha two six also carries a full Load of ammunition 30 to 50 Gallons of drinking water about a dozen cases of Are Field rations five cots and a bedouin tent All this in a space roughly the size of a family station Wagon. Hoffmann spent his first month in the desert living in the Back of the Bradley. After a few weeks he and a Friend dug a Hole in the Sand lined it with rain ponchos and filled it with some water. That show they took a Bath. A if in a sitting Here like this a Hoffmann says covered with dust from the driving a i done to want my family thinking in a Over Here in air conditioned billets drinking Down Gator Ade. And i know the rest of the Squadron feels the same  a t he Isnit angry. Just stating a fact his voice is actually rather polite and quiet. Among his personal effects Are some letters an at amp to desert fax from his Mother and some snapshots of his pickup truck his dog some friends and his trip to London last Spring with his German Fiancee Manuela. His Mother also sent a portable cassette player a Book called �?o101 puzzles in thought and logic and a Sketchbook. He a Only made two drawings a one of a a a typical Shrub one called a dusk on the arabian  a \ he follows the Battle strategies in the news magazines and he says he  mind fighting if it comes to that. V whenever the Bradley is moving it slams and rattles like a perpetual air plane crash. The Only Way you can be heard is by shouting the air in Back tastes like diesel. Dust Rains in. A a a a Quot sometimes without warning the sergeant up front orders a Stop this happens now. And Hoffmann who a been looking at the sky says a this is a Good  Good he explains for two reasons first because there is no Moon. The enemy Isnit Able to see him and his night vision devices work better under Starlight than Moonlight. With the one mounted on his Rifle he can see a cigarette at two Miles. V he is getting ready to give the second reason when the Bradley lurches Forward again. The sounds of the air plane crash resume. A a a  looking through night goggles the darkened desert suddenly turns into a Cloudy Day  looks like weird Green Snow. The stars and there Are suddenly thousands of them a become motionless snowflakes. The crashing lasts 20 minutes while Hoffmann watches the sky. Then it stops again. A the second reason a Hoffmann says a is because i know my parents and Girlfriend Are looking at the stars too. It makes me kind of miss  a ,. He says this also without emotion again stating a fact. Now the Crew is lost. The Bradley tramples across the Sand for another hour until a half Moon rises to sigh the Way Home the company commander later says it is of to get lost on training missions like this. Better to Hap pen now than during the heat and darkness of Battle. But for now Hoffmann puts his feet up against the Back Hatch and covers his face with his hat to help hold off the dust As the vehicle hammers across the desert. Soon he is is a a my Sunrise silhouettes a an m1a1 Abrams tank and a cobra gunship break the run. The troops Are from the 2nd so 3rd army Cav stillness of the saudi desert sunday during a Sunrise regt based at fort Bliss Texas. To stay by Randy Pruitt Middle East Bureau in saudi Arabia a americans who work for Aramco have grown  to the White Robes worn by saudi men Quot the Black Bayas that hide the women from head to toe the prayer times that prompt shops to close at Odd  Many Haven to got used to Are the new foreigners a other  american employees of the huge saudi Oil company the stranger in town is their own countryman the . Soldier. / a v a the Prospect of War has not Only disrupted a Way of life for the Aram cons As they Are called but has also polarized Many in this expatriate enclave. A the dilemma of whether to return to the United states or to stay in saudi Arabia has weighed heavily on far pipes some employees resigned shortly after Iraq invaded Kuwait on aug. 2, said one company official who asked not to be identified. Others stayed but sent their wives and children Back to the states. Some families later returned. Some never left. September school enrolment plummeted at the Aramco residential compounds for foreigners at Dhahran a quiz and Ras Tanura. Seventy five percent of the expected 3,000 students in grades kindergarten through nine did no to show. About half were american. Tom and Kathy Owen the parents of two preschool ers Are among those who chose to remain. To them this is Home. A. V i Quot. A. Quot. Owen a buyer for Aramco was born Here 37 years ago the son of a career Aramco employee and profi a event in arabic he holds a degree in Middle Eastern studies from the University of Arizona except for the conversation drowning Roar of military aircraft Over their House and the absence of people they knew life is relatively Normal. Others though were unable to Deal with the  a. A. A a a a a. A a a a Quot. A it panic initially gripped the Community mrs. Owen said. A during the first few Days people were talking about which was they were going to drive off into the desert a she said. / a a there a a division of feelings a and at some point1 there a a very Strong division a people feeling very strongly about the families that did no to leave and the families that  v a a in Man Optimist a her husband said a i think every thing will probably turn out All right and i think the whole world May Benefit from this ordeal in the end a mrs. Owen said saudis watched the frantic americans in  a from the viewpoint of the saudis they wondered a Why is it that you americans feel the need to panic and run away when hundreds of thousands of your troops Are pouring in a a she said. Petie Bergfield another second generation Aramco found shed traded one fear for another when she took her three sons to the it states. She landed in Gainesville fla., to find a terror stricken College town crawling with the National guards police and the press. \ five College students had been slain. A it sure got my mind off Arabia a said the american who went to Gainesville to be near her Mother until then Bergfield had never lived in the United states. A people were buying guns like you buy Hairspray a she said. V a a a. Bergfield said she was glad to return to saudi Arabia about a month ago. Now she a made it a Point to make . Servicemen bars feel Welcome hosting u women soldiers in her Home at different times _ a a it a like an extended family a she said. A a in a very impressed with the military.�?�. The War scare has done More than break up families it has also fragmented the Hometown baseball team. Mark Tucker vice president of the Aramco Little league baseball team that won the european Little league tournament in 1987, 1988 and 1989, said the a team will be Hurt. A. A a a we la be weaker than we normally would be a he said. Tucker said it was too Early to Tell How Many West Ern players would not he returning to the multinational team., a a a a a a Tucker whose wife also left said the absence of so Many women and children made the compound seem a like a ghost  tempers flared in the beginning sometimes pitting those who planned to leave against those intent on stay ing residents said. One woman said a Man became upset when he Learned that the Mother of a Newborn intended to remain. _ a they were Good friends but he called her a baby killer a said the woman who did not want  id Nti geologist Lorn Keith said he sent his wife and two daughters Back to the states on one of the first Aramco sponsored evacuation flights Aramco was slower than some major Oil companies to offer flights out of the country he said. A quota that caused quite a bit of division a he said. A there was a lot of bitterness toward the  Keith said Aramco was slower to respond because it had thousands of workers from a diverse Range of nationalities to Deal with while other companies had a smaller and mostly american work Force. Keith said his family would remain in the Austin Texas area until he feels it is Safe for them to return. Meanwhile he spends time visiting troops in the desert bring them ice magazines and other comforts. A they the troops ask a what can we do for you a our feeling is a son you re doing it a Quot he said. A on aug 3 we did no to know if there was going to be an iraqi tank in the front Yard when we woke  an Aramco official said the company evacuated 3,500 dependents. About 2,500 were american. Aramco working with the state department is planning to evacuate workers if War Breaks out the official id. Said. He would not elaborate