European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 10, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 2 b the stars and stripes sunday March 10, 1991in the Gulf a s \ x v a n Vvs at a glance v it a a it a v a air Force capt. Paul Merlack with the 1st tac fighter Wing is greeted Friday by his wife Kim As he returns from the Mideast to Langley fab a. Media Star army it. Gen Tom Kelly found Fame As the Man who represented the defense department at most of the daily Pentagon news briefings during operation desert storm. A Page 4 kuwaitis recall horror one by one the first kuwaiti hos Ages released by Iraq spoke with horror of their Captivity under Saddam Hussein. A Page 5 Rhode Island closes shop no welfare checks were written Friday in Rhode Island no criminals were prosecuted and no Drivers licenses were issued. State government Rhode islands largest employer was virtually shutdown. A Page 6 dutch to slash forces the dutch government plans to trim its armed forces by almost one third because of the diminished military threat from the soviet Union and former East bloc. A a Page 8 casualty of War jitters Over terrorism Are keeping civilians and service members away from nightspots in Europe. A a Page 15 Index Abby Ann Landers. 14 commentary. A. 13 letters .12 Money matters. 15 Mutual. 16-17 sports. .18-24 to listings. 18 weather. 11 military proved it can move mountains a of equipment Washington apr the . Military carried More equipment and supplies to the persian Gulf in the first three weeks of operation desert shield than it moved to South Korea in the first three months of the korean War. More equipment was moved by air in six weeks than during the entire 65 weeks of the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49. Going to War Halfway around the world gave prot of to the military s monumental ability to move people and machines. Quot it was a textbook operation virtually flawless Quot said adm. Francis Donovan commander of the military sea lift come. But the deployment to the Gulf also showed weaknesses that must be addressed in preparing for future wars. It was troubled by Reliance on commercial aircraft and foreign ships too few fast ships and an aging Reserve Fleet. The military also knows that next time it probably wont have six months to get All its troops and guns in place. Among the More dazzling numbers 5.8 billion pounds Worth of tanks trucks howitzers and other equipment were transported by the Navy. It carried another 1,8 billion pounds in Container cargo and 12.2 billion pounds of fuel. The Airlift command at its Peak had 127 planes a Day Landing in the Gulf one every 11 minutes. A never before in history has any nation transported so much so far so fast Quot said Gen Hansford t. Johnson commander of the . Trans come. But retired it. Gen. William Odom a Hudson Institute military expert and former director of the National Security Agency said the operation also showed the military is a tragically Short in sea lift capability. Odom said iraqi Leader Saddam Hussein could have altered the course of the War if he had moved into saudi Arabia capturing vital ports and airfields in the first months following his August take Over of Kuwait. A the blew it. We were Lucky a Odom said. A a. A a a. Donovan said the Navy a eight fast 1 never before in history has any nation transported so much so far so fast a Gen. Hansford t. Johnson sea lift ships converted Container vessels that can travel at More than 30 knots 34.5 Mph transported the 24th inf div Meeh and the first marines the 8,700 Miles to saudi Arabia in less than 13 Days. A. A a a. a a a a a a. A a a a a a a a he said 17 Olbon Roll off vessels which do not require cargo handling equipment at port were quickly deployed from the ready Reserve Force a Fleet of. 96 cargo vessels called to service during National emergencies. Beyond that the operation faced numerous problems. Only 67 of the 96 ships in the ready Reserve were put to work partly because Many were aging steamships that had t been used for a decade or More and took too much time and Money to put to sea Johnson said five ships from the Fitnet which has an average dec of 24 years a ship had to be recalled for repairs. Some 30 percent be added missed their activation targets by 10 or More Days. The government can appropriate commercial ships under a sea lift readiness program but chose not to because of the sorry state of the . Shipping Industry. Johnson noted that maritime Industry manpower has dwindled almost 60 percent since 1970 to a current level of 27,000 and that Many of the Crew staffing ready Reserve vessels were in their 60s and 70s. Two were in their 80s. Chartered foreign ships accounted for nearly 40 percent of the More than 200 vessels involved in the sea lift carrying one Quarter of the cargo. The Navy had no figures on chartering costs but said it a was More economical than re outfitting mothballed ready Reserve ships in the air defense Secretary Dick Cheney made use of the civil Reserve air Fleet plan to order 20 commercial airlines to provide aircraft for ferrying . War supplies. Commercial planes carried 64 percent of the 484,000 passengers and 27 percent of the 1 billion tons of cargo airlifted to the Gulf. But even with this aging transport workhorses such As the c-5 and c-141 were pushed to their flying limits. Johnson said the Airlift could have moved from 20 percent to 35 percent faster if the air Force had use of the c-l-7, a replacement for its Fleet of 234 pm 4 is. The air Force has outlined a $35 billion plan to build 120 c-17s by the end of the decade with the first 12 planes to go into service in 1994. Trans come officials also suggest that the military buy some of the foreign ships it now Charters or consider a merchant marines Reserve to ensure american Crew members for future Long distance deployments. But those options and others such As faster cargo ships and More pre positioning Cost Money. And logistics specialists have always had difficulty competing for funds with proponents of High tech big weapons systems. A it s a real snoozer of a subject unless you Are at War a one military official said of air and sea lift issues. Donovan said the Navy budgeted $7.3 billion during the 1980s for sea lift a sum advocated by a visionary the budget this year is $ 1.3 billion still Well a below the $4.6 billion the military has requested for the strategic defense initiative or the $4.8 billion for four b-2 bombers. In Ai Washington up the United states lost almost $1.5 billion in Jet fighters bombers transports and helicopters in the persian Gulf War and the months before it but the coming cuts in the military make it unlikely there will be any race to buy replacements. Military authorities said that if a decision is made to buy replacements in All likelihood each service will seek to get the most recent upgrade for lost planes and helicopters. The huge Price tags on the most modern weaponry �?thef-l5e Eagle fighter bombers f/a-18 attack jets and huge c-5a transports one of which crashed in Germany on its Way to the Gulf a will drive up the Cost for replacing the equipment. There were 1,800 fixed Wing . Aircraft and 1,700 helicopters in the Region when the War started. During the Gulf buildup and later the War a total of 76 aircraft were shot Down crashed or suffered major damage. A handful of others Ion crisis suffered some damage in the buildup period. Some 32 planes and helicopters were lost in combat. The army lost four of its Vietnam Era. Uhl Huey Utility helicopters during the War and two during the buildup. Maj. Pete Keating an army spokesman said that it the army decided to replace the losses a we would not go Back and buy the older ones. We d buy the newer one the replacement Black Hawk uh-60 and not on a one for one Keating the army has 100 personnel in the Gulf scouring helicopter crash Sites for any useful equipment to fold Down Overall costs. The air Force took the biggest Etnan. Cial hit of the War losing no less than $411 million in planes during combat and about $265 million during the buildup including the costly c-5a, which was carried on the Hooks As a $140 million asset. Also contributing to the High tally was the loss of a $74 million eh-111 Raven loaded with electronic equipment. In up air by the new York times Brenda Schwarzkopf the wife of Gen h. Norman Schwarzkopf commander of the . Forces in the persian Gulf stepped into the limelight Friday and pondered what might be ahead for the couple alter the general retires this year. Asked on the Abc program a Good morning America to address the various suggestions that Gen. Schwarzkopf could choose from among Many possibilities in politics or business because of the popularity he gained during the War mrs. Schwarzkopf answered Quot you know we have never discussed it. He has never mentioned an interest in politics but we always decide everything together and did t know what he was going to be going after the military.�?T1
