Document Page: First | Prev | Next | All | Image | This Release | Search

File: aaabm_20.txt
Page: 20
Total Pages: 22

by the deployed Prime Beef engineers, and received high praise from the pilots 
during the course of operations.  This solution was so effective that it was
used again when SAC tankers were deployed to a small airfield at Andravida,
Greece, in March 1991.

But the largest undertaking besides building "Tornado Town" was the
construction of an 800-foot-long by 16-foot-high aircraft revetment.  The 7440
CW leadership deemed that some sort of barrier was needed to protect five
KC-135 aircraft from the civilian population and possible terrorist attack.
The design, made by Captain Larry Peplinski and Sergeants William Sundstrom
and Jeffrey Heath, capitalized on using several 22 year old B-2 revetment kits
found on base.   Using the RRR heavy equipment, Technical Sergeant Kevin Fraher
and his team of equipment operators dug ditches to drain the swampy areas and
constructed a 10-foot-wide by 800 foot long stable base.  Then a structural
engineering team led by Master Sergeant Tommy Turner constructed the concrete
foundation by fabricating forms and pouring 28 truckloads of concrete in two
days.  The structural teams then pinned together the revetment kits and the
equipment operators filled the revetment with over 2,000 tons of soil.  The 
end result was a much more secure aircraft parking area.

A key component of the success of this Prime BEEF operation was the extra
effort expended by some 564 CES Readiness Section people, who on short notice
spent their Christmas 1990 "vacation" reconfiguring the Prime BEEF kit to
accommodate a 100-man team.  Senior Master Sergeants John Wilkins and Douglas
Detter, Technical Sergeant Kenny Williams, Staff Sergeant Brian Kaley, and
Airman First Class Thomas Speigal put forth this special effort on which the
success of the entire deployment was based.  Logistics personnel assigned to
 the 377 CEG (Deployed)  kept accurate accountability, and in the end redeployed
two 1,100 person Harvest Eagle kits to Aviano AB, Italy, and a 3,000-person
kit to Izmir AS, Turkey.  It is this kind of extra dedication and extra effort
that made PROVEN FORCE the resounding success it was.

Incirlik AB's 39th Tactical Air Control Group Services team was reinforced
with Prime RIBS teams from USAFE bases beginning on 19 January 1991.  By 21
January, Incirlik AB Services totaled 95 people.  Services personnel came in
from Aviano AB's 40th Combat Support Group (CSG) Services Squadron (SVS), Hahn
AB's 50th SVS, Spandahlem AB's 52 SVS, Bitburg AB's 36 SVS, Berlin
Tempelhof's 7350 Air Base Wing (ABW), Soesterberg AB's 32nd Combat Support
Squadron (CSS), and Sembach AB's 66 SVS to support the operation.  The super
coordination between the JTF ES&ABO staff, Incirlik AB Services, and the
deployed Prime BEEF and RIBS teams, resulted in a smooth beddown, especially
when the numbers and time limitations are considered.  The Batman FOL was
supported by USAFE Services people form Aviano AB's 40 CSG, Iraklion AS's
7241st Air  Base Group (ABG), Decimonmannu AS's 7555th Technical Training
Squadron (TTS), San Vito dei Normanni AS's 7275 ABG, Berlin Tempelhof's 7350
ABW, and Soesterberg AB's 32 CSS.

The aircraft fuel used in operations at Incirlik AB, Turkey, for Operation
PROVEN FORCE was shipped by tanker to Yumurtalik Terminal, Turkey, and piped
ashore through two 8,000 foot long 12 inch diameter submarine pipelines
leading into the on-shore storage facilities.  From Yumurtalik, fuel was
pumped through an 8-inch diameter, 26-mile cross-country pipeline into
Incirlik AB.  The underwater pipelines and the cross-country pipeline network,
the only facility of such complexity in USAFE, represent an investment of over


Document Page: First | Prev | Next | All | Image | This Release | Search