European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 13, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Camp Monterey task Force 3-77 continued from Page 3 House. Anyway As we re heading in the Gate we pass the Kuwait patrol going out to find him. But 20 minutes later they come Back and they Haven to seen him. You Tell me where he  scavengers Are regular but unwanted visitors to the bunkers and berms surrounding Camp Monterey 20 Miles Miles North of Kuwait City and a bit farther South of the Iraq Border. The Sand surrounding the base is polluted by thousands of pounds of unexploded iraqi ammunition As Well As an occasional american bomb lethal remnants of the recent War. The scavengers roam the area nightly to retrieve what can be sold or turned into a useful product. So every night tankers from task Force 3-77 Roll out of the motor Pool and into the still night air searching for the Scro ungers. Camp Monterey originally was a kuwaiti army base. It was seized and held by the iraqi army until a severe pounding by coalition air forces drove them out and nearly levelled the base. Now it serves As the northernmost . Outpost in Kuwait. It is Home to the 1,000 soldiers who make up task Force 3-77 Armor a composite of . Combat personnel from Germany and the United states. The americans and a Small kuwaiti army Force share the base with a handshake being their local status of forces agreement. Camp Monterey is the end of the read an Island in the Middle of an inhospitable desert littered with explosives. It sits on the Northern end of the Quot Valley of death Quot where coalition air forces pummelled the retreating iraqi convoys. It s so far away from Home for members of task Force 3-77 that it might As Well be on the Moon. It. Col. Michael Kirby commander of the task Force has Only one admonition for those who set foot in Camp Monterey Quot if you did t drop it Don t pick it up Quot it s advice Well heeded especially by Charlie company 10th engr in combat which Kirby credits a along with the explosive Ord disposal team a for making the base Safe for habitation. The engineers from Kitzinger Germany were one of the first to arrive at the base in mid August. They were scrupulous in their efforts to Clear live ammo from work areas. A from sunup to Well after Sundown the engineers worked More like construction engineers than combat engineers repairing structural damage to buildings making partitions in Barracks stringing concertina wire and erecting guard towers. Occasionally they even got to blow something up just to keep in practice. Between jobs they took a Little time to build an above ground swimming Pool for the base. Gathering behind their Barracks for their usual evening volleyball game the engineers discovered that the shifting Sands had served up a Cluster bomb a one which had lain Only inches beneath their feet during their games. The sudden appearance of such unexploded ordnance keeps the team Busy. Sgt. Chad Letellier spec. Carl Lowary and staff sgt. Vincent Swendsen All from the 20th Ord det Eod in Kaiserslautern. Germany rotate in and out of Camp Monterey with other teams destroying explosives such As the bomb found by the engineers. Not every danger confronting the explosives team can be anticipated. While the team was in the desert a kuwaiti army unit mane vering nearby spotted a vehicle they though suitable for target practice unfortunately the target was the humvee belonging to the disposal team. Quot the Only trouble was we were sitting in it at the time Quot says Swendsen. Quot we Weie taking a break sitting in the truck drinking some water and the first round impacted about 15 Teet from the truck it did t take us very Long to get behind some cover Quot sgt. Jimmie Peacock he co 3rd in 77th army regt talks to a bedouin youth herding sheep outside the Camp. Pfc. David Bauder a medic with 3rd in 77th army regt from Mannheim Germany works on his Tan left while other soldiers hang laundry near the Sandy soccer  of life in an inhospitable land the kuwaitis quickly realized their mistake making it just one More High adrenaline Day Tor the americans. The directorate of engineering and housing at Camp Monterey trucks in 80 000 Gallons of water every Day from a water Point about 21 Miles away the unit Aiso is responsible for maintaining the two Gigantic generators that Supply electricity across from the engineering and housing office in a maintenance facility shared by the 3rd in 77th Armor regt and the 202nd support in. Mechanics bring vehicles left behind by wartime units up to operational standards to Date the Mannheim Germany based units have serviced and repaired More than 370 tracked and wheeled vehicles since arriving in late August. Each Day at Camp Monterey from the 4 a m efforts of spec Hector Cario Che and his dining Hall Statt to the late night sleuthing of the Tanker patrols is dedicated to bringing the facility up to standards suitable for permanent occupation by a military Torce regardless of whom the tenants might be Kirby hard pressed to name a departure Date for his people says Only. Quot we will leave when our Mission is completed until then. Loper and ins Abrams will be lying in wait m the dark desert hoping for the return of the monster Crane engineers build a replica Castle the Engineer Symbol. Task Force 3-77 Armor has just 1,000 soldiers but it symbolizes the daily grind for All 30,000 americans still serving in the persian Gulf. The makeshift unit is composed mostly of Germany based troops from the 8th and 3rd inf divisions. But there also is a sprinkling of National guardsmen from across United states. Structurally it is much like a miniature division with virtually All of the elements of a self supporting combat unit. The 4th in 8th inf the 5th in 77th Armor and the 4th in 3rd air defense arty Are among the units at Camp Monterey. Life in the Field especially Here near the iraqi Border demands a curious blend of human traits fortitude ingenuity humor and a cast Iron stomach. Just getting through one More Day can be taxing especially when you re working in one the world s bigger ammo dumps. Each Day at Camp Monterey begins with the Clatter of knives and Forks in the dining Hall at Daybreak after the usual "0-dark-thirty&Quot it of course and ends with the late night tapping of a basketball on the Concrete floor of the maintenance shops in Daylight another mile of concertina wire is Strung along the ammunition holding area by Charlie co. 10th engr while the ground surveillance radar team from 108th military intelligence in catches up on sleep after an All night Vigil in the desert. German built chemical detection vehicles from the 25th chemical co rumble in and out of the compound Gates All Day. Most All the comforts available Back in Germany or the states Are missing and troops Are forced to solve even the simplest problems by whatever Means available. Wet  is draped from anything Strong enough to hold a clothesline. The volleyball court is defined by rows of sandbags. The Post game showers Are cold unless the water in the rooftop tanks has been there Long enough to be warmed by the Sun. The engineers tired of filling endless stacks of sandbags by hand have created a wooden device to Speed the process. Pour the Sand in the top tie a bag at the Bottom and Presto a a sandbag. A satellite phone Bank is the Only Telephone communication system available for Calls outside the Camp but a Mars radio station is in full operation and its free message service is in Sharp contrast to the $27 for 10 minutes on the satellite phone but then there is Little else for troops to spend their paychecks on other than the few necessities continued on Page 6 Randy Bellinger works on a Black Hawk. 4 the stars and stripes november 13, 1991 november 13, 1991 the stars and stripes