European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 31, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday a no pc Erncr 31. 1990 the stars and stripes a a a a Pacio 3 crisis in the Gull she s watching for True grit shamans by Joseph Owen Middle East Bureau Eastern saudi Arabia . Troops May be ready to repel a military invasion from Iraq but they can t do much about another kind of assault originating there a dust storms known As shamans. Such storms Only occur every four or five years but they can last several Days. They ground air traffic because of reduced visibility and blow Sand hard enough to strip paint off cars according to an air Force meteorologist capt. Judy Dickey of the air forces 1st Tae fighter Wing. The Jan 15 deadline the United nations set for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait Falls in the midst of the five month season when shamans and lesser forms of turbulent weather Are the most common near the persian Gulf coast she said. Watching for such storms is one of Many duties the 25-year-Olj native of Anaheim calif., performs As a forecaster at a coastal saudi air base. Shamans occur when a Strong Low pressure front or cold front moves out of the Mediterranean sea across Syria and into Iraq. The wind accelerates and picks up dust As it moves Southeast across the hard featureless saudi arabian desert a a there a a Large of surface heating to give it Energy r kind of like a Hurricane gets the heating from the Ocean a and All that dryness Quot Dickey said a and then there a no a obstruction it just comes sweeping Ovyn the Peninsula towards us. A a basically it would shut Down operations at any base that was  wont be Able to detect a Shamal any sooner than three Days ahead of its arrival she said. Although such a storm is not As Strong As a Hurricane it could Force postponement of military assaults. . Military meteorologists know that shamans have the greatest Impact in Bahrain and in saudi Arabia near the persian Gulf coast. They reach wind speeds of up to 50 Mph blowing strongest in the afternoon and can create Haze up to 18,000 feet. They subside before reaching the Southern part of the arabian Peninsula. Beyond that data  Are scarce. Saudi briefs night crash damages copter but no one Hurt Eastern saudi. Arabia a 2nd army Cav regt scout helicopter was severely damaged dec 26 when it crashed during a night training Mission according to Central come officials. There were no injuries. The 011-58 Kiowa observation helicopter assigned to the regiments 2nd so lost its Tail Boom in the crash. The names of the soldiers involved Are being withheld until their families have been notified 4 a. "i1 ton va., before operation desert shield says new in helps protect Rifle ammo new Yorks amps until now . Ground troops in saudi Arabia have had to resort to putting their rifles in trash bags and stowing their ammunition in zip Loch bags to keep them Safe from the saudi Sand. But. A retired Arney lieutenant colonel and a group of friends have teamed up to develop and manufacture a plastic by bag that they say is just the right size for a weapon and a Magazine of ammo. A i waited to get something Over there in a hurry Quot said John Mennig a Veteran living in nor. Man okla., w Hose son is serving  shield troops who have been buying their own zip lock bags and trash bags will still have to pay $5 for Menniges solution. Interested soldiers can write Bagit Box 722107, Norman okla., 73070. Capt Judy Dickey a amps Joseph Owen collecting saudi weather data a we just done to have enough inh mation on what would  one. We thought Christmas Day was going to be the Onset of one inn it was too weak Quot Dickey said. The Christmas storm was  Stop air it a like at her base however another dust storm  is ability to a mile near the coast and a half mile Inland preventing takeoffs and landings for an hour and a half Dickey who holds Bachelor s degrees in aerospace engineering and Melco Rolo go is familiar with saudi weather patterns because she began studying them As pail of her duties at  fab in Hampton v Quot began. In saudi Arabia Slie provides regular reports on Cloud level visibility temperature wind altimeter sellings pressure altitudes and Dew Point to pilots. Patriot missile Crews and units involved in defense against nuclear biological and chemical weapons. During bad weather she updates those reports every 20  weather officials provide some help with measurements in the upper atmosphere but they refuse to transmit coveted wind data by teletype Dickey said. A anything that Coines Over these circuits is open. It s not classified or pro tested in any Way. So if they were to Send it to us they d be sending it to everyone Quot she said adding that die information might help Iraq decide whether to launch a chemical attack. The saudis Don t collect much weather information anyway she said. Quot the weather Here 300 Days a year is ,&Quot-.Dickey, explained. A they have no weather problems at All. So they just Don t have that Many weather  also she said although the saudis bought sophisticated equipment to track weather a shortage of technicians prevents them from being Able to fix it when it Breaks. . Meteorologists still can anticipate wind patterns by studying major weather systems however and they collect data from weather balloons and Pitot observations different service branches share weather data through the regional army and air Force Headquarters. Mail by Deedee Arrington Doke Middle East Bureau Eastern saudi Arabia Well intentioned mail clerks Are unwillingly slowing the Pace of some mail leaving the persian Gulf by trying to avoid Tim consuming sorting according to a top postal official in saudi Arabia. Air Force maj. Mike Whitaker the postmaster of the 44 j 1st-air postal so said such a bogus mailing systems occur when unit mail clerks think they can streamline the process by not cancelling mail heading out of the desert shield area. A its not malicious a said Whitaker who oversees about 100 . Military postal operations in the Middle East and North Africa a they just think they can get the mail moving quicker than we  As a result letters must be sorted and cancelled once they Are out of the Gulf Region. Since Only letters posted in desert shield areas Are eligible for free postage the a a bogus mail no longer qualifies. Each letter then undergoes the time consuming process of being stamped a postage  a v troops deployed to operation desert shield say they re receiving mail regularly from Europe and the untied states with packages arriving in about a week and letters within two weeks but Many complain that mail sent to loved ones at posts in Europe and the unite states is Takin Mueh longer. Incoming letters and packages also arrive faster because the military Airlift come dedicates certain flights to desert shield mail Whitaker said. Outgoing mail travels by commercial planes and delays occurred in Early december when some carriers were tapped to ferry troops to desert shield. Whole loads of mail were left at unplanned destinations. In Europe snowstorms also complicated mail delivery. Bad weather arid bogus mailing aside the biggest Challenge to Whitaker a workers is mail shipped to the a any service me Inbert zip codes. Many letter writers address their communications to u specific person at those zip codes. A it does no to mean any serv inc member that they know. Its for any Servie member that they done to know a who take said it he problem forces postal workers to scour trays of tetters to find those with specific addressees. Whitaker suggests that letter writers who done to Juicy a flow to Cun Tael specific desert shield troops Contact the family or friends to track Down an address. A the Squadron it Ibsen. Slogan is. A we deliver Quot now manages the largest military postal operation in the  the Squadron moved about b million pounds of mail a week to desert shield troops during the seasonal Rush which began around halloween a for the first time in americans Histo America decided to mail christinas packages Early. People were pushing package real fast a Whitaker said. The Squadron is now a gearing up for a second Christmas Quot he joked As families in Europe flood the mail with letters and packages for just deploy cd v1 corps troops re