European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 13, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Camp Monterey o v a it it is \ a a. A in inv  v a s Xiv Voct. A a. A a. Just outside Camp Monterey but inside the perimeter Fence Are the rusting hulks of War a graveyard of iraqi commandeered vehicles task Force 3-77stays on track in the desert c Sas maps amps photos by Dave did 10by Dave Didio staff photographer it s a tepid moonless night in the Northern Kuwait desert months after the end of the Gulf War. The Barren wasteland once marked by the violent clash of combatants appears devoid of life save for the occasional scorpion or Snake moving silently across the warm Sand. But tonight something else is moving around out Here it s noisy mechanical and of unknown origin the Driver is churning up the Sand rambling from Bunker to Bunker scavenging for brass rockets bombs. Whatever. He thinks he a alone out in the blackness. A couple thousand meters away atop a Little Knoll sits a personnel Carrier with three soldiers from the 108th military intelligence in. They re a Long Way from Home in Wil Flecken Germany one is on top of the track with a 50-caliber machine gun. The other two Are inside watching the Little blip1 move around on the ground surveillance radar screen. They radio the coordinates to set 1 is class Thomas Loper commander of Ari Abrams tank prowling nearby. The Little Blip turns out to be not so Little we re moving around and All of a sudden out of nowhere comes one of these huge huge cranes a a soviet recovery vehicle Quot says Loper a and the Crane is big enough to Hook onto a tank and lilt in up and put it on a Low boy trailer 1 the Driver of the recovery vehicle keeps chugging across the Sand unaware of the Abrams trailing turn he goes right and the tank goes right he slops and the tank stops the Abrams matches him Zig pm Zag the scavenger roams the desert Lor a while pursued by the Abrams it s Black As Pilch As the Crane pulls up beside a Bunker the Abrams gears Down and settles into the Sand a bit. Then crawls right alongside the recovery vehicle still the intruder does t know to has company for a moment the two machines just sit there in the Bleak nothingness then the Crane of orator jumps out maybe to pick up something of value that he has spotted and while standing there in the Sand a sixth sense tells him to turn around and look Over his shoulder when he does he s staring Nghil Down the barrel of the 120mm Cannon startled by the sudden appearance of the Behemoth the scavenger throws his arms straight up into the air he could t stretch any Larther it he were shackled to a medieval rack "kuwaiti1 kuwaiti1 he yells into the muzzle of the. 120mm maybe he is and maybe Fie in t the Crew of the Abrams intends to keep him until a kuwaiti army patrol can arrive to whisk him away but the Crane Driver has different plans while Loper s tank is herding the recovery vehicle Back toward the Road to the kuwaiti patrol the monster Crane picks up Speed and vanishes in the dark Quot i figure he could t be too hard 10 find Quot oppor says later a Quot he s out on the Highway and he s As big As a continued an Page 4 november i to /99i the stars and stripes 3