European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 31, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday March 31, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 9moron answered Bell during Ward serf shield brought tiny air base to life  Mediterranean Bureau for decades mor6n Afi sat under the Spanish Sun hoping for a Wake up Call. That Call came in Early August of 1990 during the first Days of operation desert shield. A i was getting ready to go on leave when we got the word aircraft were coming in a recalled Carl Hudson an american employee in charge of the bases transient Alert and ground support. A we had three hours from the time we started until the first planes  the first planes air National guard Kc-13s strato tankers from Milwaukee began Landing around 11 15 . On aug. 7, 1990, remembered John Thomas the ases chief of services. A we started processing their Crews in four to a room a Thomas said. Not Many people have heard of mor6n a approximately 35 Miles Southeast of Seville and 80 Miles Northeast of naval station Rota and because of a wartime news embargo imposed by the Spanish government fewer still appreciate the major role Moran played in the conflict. A it would have been very difficult to do desert shield and storm without mor6n and Torrejon a said . Air Force it. Col. Dan Ortiz commander of Moran a a 7120th air base flight a unit of the 16th air Force. Torrejon a near Madrid was a Linchpin in the american War Effort. Its critical role in the War has subsequently been revealed. Because of political sensitivities Spain let Little news of its enormous Aid to the War Effort emerge until the conflict ended. In March of last year Spanish president Felipe Gonzalez disclosed that at the height of deployment to the persian Gulf 60 percent of All air cargo traffic bound for the multinational War Effort came through Spain and that his country provided support for More than 20,000 round trip flights to the Gulf. Additionally according to Gonzalez . Air Force b-52 Strat fortresses flew 294 bombing missions to the Gulf from Moron. Spanish air. Force c-130 cargo planes ferried More than 1.76 million pounds of Materiel to Moron from Torrejon and Zaragoza air bases Gonzalez said adding that the Spanish army flew 140 helicopter flights to move ammunition from Rota to Moran. More than 2.6 million tons of ammunition and sup Ortix Thomas plies flowed through mor6n during the War with Iraq. Now More than a year after the end of the conflict War supplies Are still being crated and shipped from Moran to other bases in the United states Ana Europe. Mor6n had an Active duty population of several thousand Back in the 1950s and 1960s when it was a Busy strategic air come bomber base but the base was virtually put on the shelf in the late 1960s when it was designated a standby dispersal base. Maintenance was reduced and the work Force shrank. Later Moran hit Rock Bottom when it was assigned to modified caretaker status and Torrejon was designated As Moran a a primary support base. In 1976, Moran a a future brightened a bit when det 2 was established and standby status restored. The Mission of det 2, which proceeded the 7120th air base flight was to keep the base ready to accept augmenting forces. There Are no . Air Force aircraft permanently operating from Moran a Spanish air base with an american sector. However the Spanish air Force operates a Squadron of f-5 fighters there. When the Wake up Call came Moran had an Active duty population of about 100. A this was an awesome operation in the War a said master sgt. Randy Lee As he led visitors on a tour of wartime maintenance facilities at Moran. Lee 31, deployed to Moran in the Early Days of the War Effort from Sac he a a logistics office at Offutt fab neb. Lee deployed As part of the initial team that set up an intermediate maintenance facility for aircraft at Moran. Huge tent cities soon Rose at Moran to House the thousands of folks flooding in. A total of 187 tents housing 10 people apiece were erected. Moran is at the heart of Andalusia a land of whitewashed villages and a fierce Sun. In summer Moran broils. A the temperature hit 120 degrees inside the tents in August a recalled Lee a resident of Bellaire Mich. Moran a a base population rocketed from. 100 to 3,100 people. A your dining facility never closed. We hired 50 additional people in the services division. Four of them worked at one Long table making Only meals to go. They made 1,000 of them a Day a Thomas said. A we had people sleeping in gyms and Day rooms a said John Taylor Moron s billeting officer. The contract for base maintenance at Moran is held by Pacific architects and engineers inc. Its Spanish and american work Force there went from 300 to 500 during the buildup according to Frank Hinecker a Ampey a site manager. Initially Moron was used mainly As a support base for fleets of Kc-135 and Kc-10 tankers. They were soon joined by c-130 and c-141 cargo planes. The first f-117 stealth fighter bombers bound for the Gulf transited through Moron Ortiz said. Later approximately 20 massive eight engined b-52s from Barksdale fab la., were based at Moran. A the b-52s took off twice a Day to bomb iraqi targets said Ortiz 42, a native of puerto Rico. A two thousand transient aircraft stopped at Moran each month a recalled Charles Shepherd the bases fuels manager. The desire to make Moran a stent City As Homey As possible led to some property being a a borrowed at lord. A there were no More shelters at the bus stops but some of the tents had Nice verandas Quot said capt. Nat Barnett Moran a a Supply officer. The surge of people into Moran was so great that at one time 70 . Air bases had people deployed there. Ortiz said. A your Security police Force went from two people to 64,�?� said master sgt. Jorge Mitchell the head of Security at Moran. Currently Moran is Back to its prewar staffing strength and is shipping out the last of its excess War supp hcs. A packing team from the air forces 2954th combat logistics support so from Kelly fab Texas is crating 280 tons of surplus equipment for shipping. The gear runs the Gamut from calibration equipment to b-52 Tail gun fire control systems according to master sgt. Homero Solz chief of the five member team. A for 20 years Moran sat waiting for something to happen Ana then the installation proved its capability a Ortiz said. A it was a very Wise decision to keep the base in readiness. We should be proud we kept it at such Little Cost and with such Small numbers of personnel. The Money spent was Worth it a said Ortiz adding a plans do work. A / k Huttt term x Ltd t a is \ \ o \ \ a amps Jan Dert efm the people who helped swell Moran Abs population during the War left behind calling cards in a workshop. 846 pm dwt wlm tech. Sgt. Jerome Perkins left and tech. Sgt. Doug Edmonds prepare some of the excess equipment from operation desert storm for Transfer from Moran a Spain