European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 13, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday a january 13,\ 1991 the stars and stripes Pago 3 Jug a crisis in the Gulf saudi briefs phone Center available to troops on the move from wire reports Washington a Sci communications corp. Has established a Mobile calling service so operation desert shield troops can Call Home from the Field. A Telephone Center and a Mobile Earth station have been set up near the saudi kuwaiti Border and can be moved with troops through the desert Sci said. A the Telephone company said the new facility and Mcie a new service a a Sci operation stateside a became available on Christmas eve. Callers using the phone Center and Sci operation stateside automatically reach an Sci operator in the United states who completes the Call. Calls can be made collect or can be charged to an Sci calling card or a local Telephone company card. The phone Center is open 24 hours a Day and holds 120 telephones connected to the Earth station in saudi Arabia. The Center is used Only for outbound Calls. Sci also said it provides free emergency Lon distance Telephone service to . Troops in saudi Arabia through the american red Cross. A to make available 25,000 Hospital Beds Washington a the department of veterans affairs is preparing to provide up to 25,000 Hospital Beds within a month to treat the wounded if War Breaks out in the persian Gulf a department spokeswoman said. The Beds Are being made available under legislation passed in 1982, which authorizes the department to supplement the number of Beds available in defense department hospitals pub lie affairs officer Donna St. John said. At the armed forces medical regulating office at Scott fab 111., it. Col. Nicholas Didio said the armed forces now have about 16,000 available Beds. At the end of world War ii they had about 500,000. A a if we Are filling up Dod Beds then obviously we will need More a Didio said. St. John said veterans affairs is reporting to the armed forces daily on the number of Beds it has available. The department has been doing so since aug. 29, when Secretary Edwin Derwinski ordered a contingency plan put into effect in accordance with the 1982 act. The plan Calls for vans 80 primary hospitals and 79 secondary centers to provide 9,200 Beds within 24 hours after the outbreak of War 18,300 Beds within 72 hours and up to 25,000 Beds within a month. South Africa offers help to . In event of War Pretoria South Africa a South Africa would permit . Forces involved in a persian Gulf War to use its air bases and harbours but no request has been made said foreign affairs minister Pik Botha. South african officials have previously backed the .-led Alliance against iraqis invasion of Kuwait. A r a. A Quot a preparing for Gas attacks is no Tea party workers find by Ron Jensen Middle East Bureau Dhahran saudi Arabia a a the line of several Hundred Aramco employees that doubled around in the company parking lot had a surreal Quality Tor Dianne Dickinson. A a i look around. These Are my friends. These arc my neighbors. They re All standing in line to get Gas masks a she said saturday. A last week we were having Tea together.�?�. A a a a a a a a a a a a. A a a a a a. A a but the Long line reflected the mood. The tension among Aramco employees that followed the invasion of Kuwait in August had subsided in october and november she said. Now As tuesdays . Deadline Tor a to Pili \ anti set set it i a ,64 a a a Jikky fat a. A a a is amps Ron Jensen Aramco employee Muhammed Ali checks Gas mask. Iraqis withdrawal  approaches Quot even body is at  Aramco began distributing the chemical Poi action devices to its  their families on fluid Day handing out As Many As it ,000 in one Day. I he masks gathered by saudi civil defense wot sets Aio a mixture of makes and models. Masks Tor infants ate also available. A company spokesman said that everyone who wants a mask should have one by the end of tuesday. For Many of the employees the   a minor hassle that eases the wot tics of family members and friends. For others the Gas masks Are considered necessary As the Shadow of War Falls across these shores of the persian Gulf. A nobody says at this time there is going to be a peace a said a. 35-year-old saudi employee who declined to give his name. A nobody is optimistic. Saddam i ins. Sein has used chemical weapons Many times belie so Why Stop a Mahdi Al Qahtani picked up the masks Tor his family even though he believes they will not be needed. A a in a not afraid but we have  precautions Quot the saudi said. A i think nothing will  Mohammed Ali,.-29,. Falls somewhere in bet Gen. There might be an attack on this area he said but not front chemical weapons. �?o1 done to think lies going to use any Gas a the. Saudi worker said As lie sorted through a Box of masks Tor his family. Quot its not to his  _ a a this Region is crisscrossed by Oil pipelines lie said. An attacker would try to disrupt those lines which chemical weapons will not do. A it lie wants to attack this area he will use conventional missiles to Cut off the fuel a lie said. But still lie took the masks. A Owen Keiser an american who iras Woi cd Here Tor 10 years planned to get masks Tor himself his Wile and their 5-year-old daughter. He Hopes they will be nothing More than a collectors item some Day. A a a a. A we were on vacation when the invasion occurred a he said. Quot we watched it on the news in the states Loi a month before our  Many american families at Aramco the kaisers decided to stay together. V a we thought about it staying in the United states a he said. A we prayed Long and hard about it. We Felt we should return. And in a glad we returned As a family. A lot of friends Are Here and Quot their families Are in the states and its hard on them.�?�. Dickinson said some of the Aine Picans at Aramco have invited service members into their Homes during the past few months and the visits have had a chilling effect on them. A live hosted More than 170 military. People in my Home a she said. A any one  them with few , could have been my son. We be grown attached to some of the kids that Are Over  Kuwait thanks . Troops Eastern saudi Arabia a amps a the government of Kuwait expressed its gratitude to the . Military saturday for the a courage. And compassion it has shown in the 5-month-old standoff in the persian  a. In an open letter to american troops and other members of the multinational Force in the Region Bader Al Yaqoub the kuwaiti minister of information said he wished to thank those who a have so diligently prepared to assist us in liberating the kuwaiti  a we know that America will not let the world fall victim to the brutality of the iraqi president Quot said the letter which was provided to the stars and stripes. A we Hope and Pray for a  to this crisis but we have also prepared our kuwaiti forces to fight alongside you if we should be forced to drive the iraqis out of  a Yaqoub went on to thank . Troops for their efforts in trying to win the return of the kuwaiti Homeland which was invaded by Iraq on aug. 2. . Stockpiling res water for expected pos by Cox news service in saudi Arabia a american forces Are stockpiling water and pre packaged meals to handle a possible influx of iraqi prisoners of War the . Army disclosed Friday. Maj. Aurelius Williams of port Gibson miss., a logistics expert said his office received orders a within the last seven Days. To get ready to receive Large numbers of prisoners should War break out. A basically they will be fed pretty much the was we feed our soldiers a said Williams. A they will probably get three res a Day and  one foil wrap Ped Are a or meals ready to eat a contains High carbohydrate freeze dried foods totalling More than 3,000 calories. Maj. David Berczel of Wayne mich., a truck transportation planner said iraqi pos would be gathered by the military Eolice and trucked Back to the rear in . Military vehicles. A once off the Battlefield they would be held by the military police at pow detention Camps in what he said the army refers to As pow  until they Are repatriated they would be Given food water and places to sleep under the terms of the Geneva convention. The army a 1st corps support come which is charged with providing for prisoners declined to say How Many pos Are anticipated. But officers were clearly putting aside enough res to feed Many tens of thousands . A if the entire iraqi army decided to surrender at some Point in time they probably would get one or two res per Day instead of three a said it. Col. Wayne Rettig 40, of Haven Kan. The support command which also funnels fuel food and ammunition to american soldiers has been tasked to prepare for mass surrenders anywhere along a Battle front that could be 200 Miles wide. A no one knows where the prisoners would be captured so we would never be quite sure where they will be assembled a Berc Elsaid. Officers at the support command said they Are also preparing for a mass exodus of saudi civilians and other expatriate work ers fleeing South from the Border regions the army a 330th Frans Center has made joint plans with saudi authorities to keep the southbound lanes of the two largest highways in the Listern province open for refugees Berczel say id