European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 23, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday october 23, 1994 persian Gulf the stars and stripes Page 3 avy pilots hound Iraq s military a a a.  i \ a a  of Carrier s jets help keep tabs on troops7 movements by Vince Crawley staff writer aboard the Carrier George Washington in the Squadron ready room of America s newest and most sophisticated aircraft Carrier Navy fighter Pilot Scott Jethro Kelly rooted through a battered Metal Footlocker until he found a to shirt emblazoned with the logo world famous Pukin  until a few months ago this was the vf-143 so official nickname. Then someone higher up decided the phrase did t really sound politically Correct in the Kinder gentler Navy of the 1990s, so it was told to drop it. Now they re just the dogs. And some of the Pilot pronounce dogs with a catch in their voices sounding like they d much rather be Pukin. Their rival Squadron vf-142, has had no such difficulties. The nickname ghost riders remains firmly in place on their name tags and f-14 tomcat jets. And it is the ghost riders and dogs Pukin or otherwise who Are patrolling the persian Gulf the latest world hot spot. Enforcing last weekend s  949, they Are ensuring that iraqi Republican guard tanks stay North of the 32nd parallel line that also Marks the Boundary line for iraqi air Force planes. After Midnight thursday in the persian Gulf timezone Pentagon officials reiterated that future ground Force movements into Southern Iraq would be oppose with military Force. M one of those Guys Lucky enough to be doing exactly what i wanted to do since i was 16. Your Job kind of hinges on what s going on on can Navy fighter Pilot Scott Jethro Kelly Theodore Roosevelt it s not by Accident that the firs question that comes to everyone s lips is where s the nearest Carrier " still most stereotypes contain a shred of truth an Kelly knows he s the tip of the Arroy of american diplomacy. He s honest about his work. I m trained to kill people Kelly said he s a fighter Pilot and his Job is to shoot Down air planes. It s hard to always be a polite gentleman when your Job is to Wax people at Mach 2. Toward Midnight the movie  pin in drifter began on the shipboard Channel for the second time. Kelly spoke of being struck by the Lush Beauty of former Yugoslavia As he flew High Over the mountains of War torn Bosnia. Now a map showing the air routes to Iraq is taped on the Bulkhead  his desk. For a would be enemy the George Washington is a floating Hornet s nest. Day and night it is circled by fighter and surveillance planes ready if necessary to project american policy with the pull of a trigger Ordrop of a bomb. A few weeks ago the 6,000 sailors aboard the Carrie Rhad finished a stint As watchdogs on Southern iraqi airspace and were returning to the Adriatic sea to resume patrolling the no Fly zone Over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Then Iraq massed tens of thousands of troops and two Republican guard divisions on the kuwaiti  the Carrier about faced through the Suez canal and raced at the nuclear powered equivalent of full Stramback to the Northern Gulf. When a word of crisis Breaks out in Washington president Clinton said last year aboard the Carrier Scott Kelly 28, from Lancaster pa., is a Navy lieutenant and Academy graduate. When he meets people he said the conversations Are always the  do you do i m a  so who do you Fly for Piedmont Delta the  you mean you Fly on and off ships Well yeah like Tom cruise in top gun Well , you re not  the soft spoken fighter Pilot said it s a hard stereotype to live with when people expect him to ride fast motorcycles and act disgusting around women. Your friends Are a lot nicer than i expected Girlfriend confided before he sailed. And despite the Jethro on the name tag of his uniform he bears a healthy resemblance to actor cruise much More so than Jethro Clampett of the Beverly Hillbillies. Jethro was a High school nickname that stuck he explained. Yes he said he was a member of Talhook. No Heddin t attend of Jaf Talhook association convention. And it was t such a bad organization. There was symposium where rank was ignored where anyone even a lieutenant who looks a Little like Tom cruise could walk up to the admirals and Bitch Abonit flying Ari air plane built for the Vietnam Era a Quarter Century. I m one of those Guys Lucky enough to be doing exactly what i wanted to do since i was 16," Kelly  Job kind of hinges on what s going on on  and he is fascinated with being part of the huge choreographed chaos that keeps 80 aircraft ready to launch where a Hundred or More deck Crew members continually perform a Well rehearsed Jet fuelled Ballet. Some of those Guys up there Are 19 or 20-year-oldkids a year or two out of High school Kelly said with genuine emotion. 19 or 20ryear-ods Are directing that or taking part in  Kelly s tiny windowless living quarters Are decorated with the obligatory Centrefold pictures but there s also velvet Elvis poster he picked up at a turkish Flea Market. He explains it was a joke gone bad. A Vendor was pressuring him to buy landscape paintings and Kelly said he d Settle Only for a velvet Elvis. He did expect the resourceful Turk to actually find one and come running after him. Kelly s rank is comparable to an air Force Captain s. Except that there is no equivalent to a Carrier  steam catapults and Hydraulic arresting wires the Navy compresses an Airport s mile Long runway onto 1,094-foot, 4.5-Acrc flight deck. Sparks Fly and engines glow during the night landings when pilots push the throttle to full Power As soon As they hit the flight deck. That Way if the Hook misses the arresting wire they la accelerate into a climb.  Hooks arc not uncommon. It s better to aim too High and Circle around again than to aim too  slapping the Hook on the Back of the flight deck is an instant ticket to a Pilot review Board for possible dismissal. " " taking cover army spec. Bedford Fletcher of the 3rd in 69th army regt of the 24th inf div Mech out of fort Stewart ga., prepares to set up a camouflage net for an Abrams tank Friday in the kuwaiti desert. From Page 1 began deploying hastily two weeks ago from fort Stewart ga., Are living inside Arr nored vehicles that they can Seal up against the elements. Tank Crews say that even the worst sandstorm does t Rock the 60 tons of their my Abrams. Pfc. Anthony Wiruth 20, Froin san Diego just finished Basic training and tank Crew training and was assigned to fort Stewart a week ago. He was immediately flown to Kuwait to join the Battal Ion in the desert and he said he was so tired that the weather did t bother him. I just slept in the rain and a Sand storm. Outside on a cot with two blankets Wiruth said. When the storm grew fiercer he said he just bundled the blankets More tightly around him. Driving Back to Camp from Dairi gunnery Range recently Foerstel found that the Road he was following had vanished in the Wake of a sandstorm. It was just like Snow had covered it up he said. Instead of looking at landmarks the sol Diers navigate using satellite receivers that Tell their exact location on the planet. Also Kuwait is a tiny country by arabian standards. On Clear nights the lights of Kuwait City Home to nearly All of the Emi rate s 1.6 million inhabitants Shine brightly on the horizon and troops can use this Light to sense their direction. Although the military has imposed no restrictions on reporting troop positions Dur ing the show of Force some of the soldiers themselves said they were concerned about revealing their exact positions. They have deployed to what they Call a tactical Assembly area which Means their vehicles Are spread out in wide combat forr nations while they practice desert tactics. Unit commanders said they have no plans to move closer to the Northern Border which is manned by the kuwaiti army and a few . Troops. The desert is More Barren than in saudi Arabia with Hills and dunes measurable in feet but Seldom in meters or Yards. The Only vegetation is a smattering of Brown dead looking shrubs that have crawled no More than a few inches above the Sand. In some areas of Rock and gravel even these meager bits of life Are absent. Bedouin nomads were herding their Cam Els through the american Encampment one recent afternoon and an army private sat on the deck of his Abrams tank and asked a Friend what the s a Camel Good for anyway another Soldier talked about Camel steaks and opined that the More desert beasts the nomads owned the Richer they were. Some soldiers in other units have bridged the language  enough to per Suade the bedouins to give them Camel rides. Pfc. Shern Miller 20, from Walterboro  straining against the wind As he helped put up a billowing Tan net that would camouflage his tank from a distance. He said he had absolutely nothing to say about being deployed to Kuwait. You re not sup posed to say anything if it in t Good he explained. But he added he hoped that the allies could avoid another War with Iraq even if there s no doubt Iraq would lose. People la lose lives Miller said. That in t anything to play around