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

     




             site to ensure a successful operation had not been agreed upon prior to
             deployment. As a result, the host country arbitrarily set them.24
     
            		 Hindsight also showed that combat support packages, including civil
             engineering, services, and security, needed to be in place prior to the arrival
             of personnel and aircraft. Many of the problems the unit encountered on
             arrival might then have been avoided. The table on page 8 shows Sharjah
             personnel assignments just prior to the 94th's return to the United
             States. 25.
         
	Living and Working Conditions
     
             		Most of those deployed to Sharjah worked 12-hour shifts.
             Supervisors tried to schedule a "down day" when it was possible. Some
             worked and slept in the same area. Others were assigned to "hooches,"
             usually accommodating 12 persons. Colorful names such as "Heartbreak
             Hotel" were selected and outstanding hooch contests were held each week.
             Criteria included creativity and pride in the new "homes" and outside areas.
             "Extra points were awarded for a well-trimmed lawn." 26
     
            		Living and working conditions gradually improved. The airport
            caterer provided food service three times each day at 0700, 1200, and 1800
            in the lower hangar. Following the arrival of the 63d Transportation
            Squadron, a shuttle bus operation began to operate daily every 15 minutes
            between the upper and lower bases from 0600 to 2300. Laundry service
            began on 30 August. Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) and Trans-
            portation personnel provided "liberty trips" to the nearby city of Dubai,
            including the Chicago Hotel Beach and a shopping mall. MWR also
            provided catalogs for those who wanted to order gifts. Sports equipment
            was available as well as a frisbee golf course. A base inter-hooch
            tournament was played "under the lights." Volleyball tournaments were also
            held. Movies were shown in the Enlisted Club and Protestant worship
            services were also held there. A Catholic priest also visited the base
            periodically to provide services for Catholics.27
     

-----------------------
               24  Blair Intvw.
     
               25  Blair Intvw; Cameron Intvw.
     
               25  Blair Intvw; Intvw, P.R. Stone and D.G. Lanfear with MSgt Shirley
            Smith, 700 TAS/Ops Supv, 31 Jan 91 [hereafter cited as Smith Intvw];
            Desert Shield News, 3 Sep 90.
     
               27  Smith Intvw; Desert Shield News, 1 Sep 90.
     
	
					7

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