Tech Orders,

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      in the development of basing equipment designed to operate in a
      bare base environment and by establishing prepositioning alter in
      the region.
      An Air Force deployment to a bare base required significant
      numbers of vehicles' equipment' and facilities. The Air Force had
      stored vehicles such as fire fighting vehicles' heavy equipment,
      and Harvest Falcon basing assets for just such a contingency at
      several sites in SEA. The Air Force had recognized that this type
      of heavy and bulky materiel would compete for transportation during
      the early days of a deployment while at the same tine be required
      at the bases on Day One. The only practical method of ensuring its
      arrival at the bases when needed, was to preposition it. By
      placing it at strategic locations in theater' the Air Force could
      use ground transportation or airlift to move the assets to beddown
      locations quickly. However' this placed the Air Force at the mercy
      of host nation restrictions to allow the materiel out of storage
      and distributed. At least one Middle Eastern country did not
      permit the movement of assets out of their country during Operation
      Desert Shield.
               Contractors' with an Air Force Quality Assurance Evaluator at
      each site' operated the propositioning sites. The contractor was
      to ensure the equipment was maintained' packaged' and in the
      marshaling yard ready for shipment when required. Although the
      equipment was kept in environmentally-controlled structures, some
      equipment and vehicles suffered deterioration. The contractors
      were also to maintain the technical orders (TOs) and ship them with
      the item.
                The Air Force Logistics community was responsible for the
      prepositioning sites and the materiel stored there. They
      maintained an inventory of the items at each site. They were also
      responsible for the release and distribution of the assets to the
      sites. E & S forces at the sites were the primary user of all the
      assets' yet they had almost no control over how and when the
      equipment was parceled out or shipped. They could only state a
      requirement for certain items and wait.9
                  The responsibility for the planning and oversight of air
      operations in the Southwest Asia theater fell to CENTAF' the air
      component of us Central Command. The Engineering and Services
      Directorate (CENTAF/DE] planned and exercised the basing support
      for Air Force operations in Southwest Asia. CENTAF/DE was also
      responsible for planning Engineering and Services training and
      support for exercises in SEA such as Bright star. Beginning in
      1980' this exercise was held every two years to practice the
      deployment and beddown of aircraft and people and produce sorties
      in SEA. These exercises provided excellent training for Air Force
      E & S personnel in the areas of bare base beddown and the operation
      and maintenance of the base.  handful of units' including the
      363d Civil Engineering and Services Squadrons, Shaw AFB, South
      Carolina' had also participated in SEA exercises in the years
      before August 1990. CENTAF/DE sponsored bare base training at
      Holloman AFB' New Mexico. The first class was held in May 1989 and
      attended by members of the Langley AFB Prime BEEF team. In August