European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 16, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes wednesday january 16,1991 3r crisis in the Gulf by Deedee Arrington Doke a a staff writer. A a an air base in Qatar a they Call themselves a the forgotten 1,000,�?� the men and women who also Are known As the 401st tac fighter Wing provisional. Qatar pronounced a a Cutter Here is an unfamiliar locale to most americans. But . Forces have been there since August building most of their base from the ground up and training hard for War. _ the a a forgotten part comes in because of their location. Outsiders usually consider saudi Arabia the one and Only potential Battleground. But Qatar a Small Sheik Dom on a Peninsula jutting into the persian Gulf a lies at the outer Edge of iraqi scud missile Range and few Here believe that iraqi Leader Saddam Hussein will exempt Qatar from his fury. The persian Gulf portion of the 401st deployed from Torrejon a Spain with f-16 Jet fighters and pilots and maintenance workers among other personnel. About 60 other bases Are represented Here including roughly 20 in Europe. A the Challenge. Is to get them All to have loyalty to our organization Here and not just loyalty to the folks Back Home a said col. Jerry Nelson the provisional wings commander. A t a a a a. A a pilots Here match their f-16s in training against the fighters they a meet in an air War with Iraq. Qatar a air Force and French troops assigned nearby Fly the French made Mirage Al iraqis fighter of Choice. A a it a one of the greatest advantages of being in Qatar a Nelson said. Training in Qatar has other benefits. The airspace is less crowded than at Torrejon where civilian aircraft in and out of Madrid a Busy Airport compete with military traffic for room. The added space also Means that pilots can practice certain missions closer to their Home base thus saying fuel. A a. A a t a a it Sas Good a training As you la Ever see a said maj. Jon Ball a 401st Pilot. The 401 St s aircrews Fly six Days a week and holidays while they re in the Gulf. At Torrejon they Only flew five Days a week and holidays were  a they re probably the most fired up ready Bunch in be Ever seen a Nelson said. A by ready i done to mean childish glee and All this kind of stuff. I mean they re mature they re very Well trained. They be got a look in their Eye that realty ought to worry somebody if they re on the other Side of the Border.�?�. A. Y a a a a a  a y a a a . A a. F-16s need More cleaning in the desert than they do in Spain. So a a water Buffalo was crafted out of a munitions trailer a fibreglass Bathtub and other Odds and ends to handle each aircraft a fresh water rinse every 15 Days. Jets also get full washes once every 30 Days now instead of at 90 Days. A they look better now than the average Jet does at Torrejon a said capt. Gary Lane the officer in charge of the 614th Aires Alt Maint unit. That a just one of the challenges maintenance Crews have had to tackle. Another is having fewer hangars for maintenance work. In Qatar a a a is amps Teedee Arrngton Doko a service member wearing a Gas mask stands in front of an f-16 during a chemical weapons exercise in Qatar. But the environment is right forgetting Down to work said staff sgt. Leslie Johnson. A your mind is More on your work and less on your off duty life a Johnson said. A. Quot a. A v a v v a a. A. Winning a War in the persian Gulf will depend on reliable communication As much As on heavy artillery and High powered aircraft. That a Why the 11th combat communications so has More than $15 million Worth of sophisticated equipment in Qatar. The Squadron part of the 1st combat communications group based at Lindsey air station Germany provides the bases inside and outside communications system. Camouflaged tents conceal vans with High tech equipment and protect it from Sand and  who staff the systems Are More than glorified Telephone operators. In peacetime they play War in one and two week exercises with aggressor teams to practice keeping the lineups Safe from enemy hands. Communications is High tech warfare with a Down to Earth and sometimes Down in the Earth approach. Advances in communications technology alone would make a War with Iraq different than the Vietnam conflict a a a a by. A. A Vietnam was fought with manual typewriters and without computers. If a War has to be fought i think people will be surprised with what we can do a said capt. Leo Buko Slu an officer assigned to the unit. Rising Mounds of dirt around the base show that berm building leads the civil engineering Crews priority list y a a a a  a a a berms Are Steep Man made ridges that the air Force uses to store weapons when buildings Arentt available. A when you done to have any place to store weapons you go Back to Mother Earth said maj. . Hunt who deployed from Nellis fab Nev. The combined civil engineering Squadron has offices atop a amount c.e.,�?� a Mound of dirt above the bases tent City. Unit members include workers from Nellis fab and units from air bases in Germany Pitburg Hahn and Span  the techniques they use to work common construction problems reflect a blend of ideas from each unit. A a a a a you get More tools in your Toolbox. You go Back with 100 percent More knowledge a Hunt said. For instance using Concrete slabs for rapid runway repair the most common practice at . Air forces in Europe bases has been put aside in favor of a technique involving fibreglass and crushed Stone. It takes less than half the time required with the Concrete slab method Hunt  War erupts base won t be a secret for Long by the stars and stripes an air base in the persian Gulf a the rulers of the country in which this base lies have refused to publicly acknowledge the facility a existence. But . Military personnel assigned Here since mid August understand that should War begin their Job is to make their presence known to the iraqis. A when the Call conies to go to combat if you re not willing to go then your life has absolutely no meaning a said col. Merrill r. A a Ron Karp commander of the 35th Tae Fighte r Wing. If it sounds like Tough talk it is because the Marine and air Force units stationed Here believe they have a Tough Mission. They will seek out and destroy the radar systems that support iraqis array of surface to air missiles and anti aircraft batteries. They also will participate in High Altitude duels with iraqi pilots As they try to gain control of the sky in the first few Days of a War. Karp said his unit of f-4gs, known As wild weasel was selected for the Challenge of Mission from four air Force wings. A we picked the Best Quot he said. A we graded them on How they would react and now Well they would prosecute a  those thought to be a timid and Laid backs were rejected. Karp chose those w i t h a a a a Amo Pattilu d  and Karp knows the difference. During three Tours in Southeast Asia from 1970 to 1973, he saw plenty of. Combat. Pilots today have an advantage he did t have. A when i went into combat for the first time 1 thought. I had a lot of training a he said. A but it was nothing like the Guys have  elements of the 3rd Marine aircraft Wing Are also assigned at the base which is Home to More than a third of the Marine corps Fleet of aircraft. A a it is probably the largest modern Day Marine air group put together under a single command a said it. Col. Steve King executive officer of Marine Wing ii at the base. Row after Row of Fa-18 hornets a-6e intruders and ea-6b prowlers fill the Tarmac at the base. Kings biggest worry he said is the surface to air missile capability on the other Side of the Border. Those launch Sites will be some of the first targets for pilots from this base. A King said tension increased among pilots and Crews in the last Lew Days before the . Deadline. Everyone knows the possibility of casualties is High. A when you go out and Start shooting at people you can to say for sure you wont have some go Down a he said. Quot it would be naive to say  King has aircraft in the air at All times and his pilots have noticed that the iraqis also keep patrols airborne almost constantly. A air activity from Iraq is pretty stable pretty constant with the  when there a bad weather a King said. A then their sortie rates curtail dramatically a. King surmises that the iraqi pilots Are trying to save spare parts or Are not very proficient at bad weather flying. Fortifications Are still being built at this base. Sandbags Are being filled. Wire fences Are being built. It is All to help prepare this secret base for an important Mission during what Karp said would be an important War. A what we do in the next three or four Days will set the Agenda for the next 40 or 50 years in the Middle East a he said. Staff writer Ron Jensen wrote this report from information gathered by Media pools in the persian Gulf