Tech Orders,

File: aacep_36.txt
Page: 36
Total Pages: 59
     





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      all units' including the U.S. Army, on bow to construct personnel
      bunkers. Apparently' troops had used plywood or a 436E pallet
      covered with sandbags as a roof. The weight collapsed the bunker
      and suffocated the individuals.
      Services personnel prepared their people and functions for the
      ever-increasing possibility of war. They inventoried the
      stockpiles of MREs to ensure an adequate number were on hand to
      feed the base personnel if necessary. The sites that had relied on
      contract services for food and laundry evaluated the reliability of
      the continuation of the service upon the outbreak of hostilities.
      Obey were also increasingly concerned over the security of the food
      being purchased and prepared on the local economy and the potential
      threat from contractor personnel on base. The possibility of
      contractors not reporting for work, or not being allowed on base
      once the war began, came at a time of increased demand upon the
      Ser~lce~ functions as the operations began to surge.
      Mortuary Affairs people had been preparing for the war
      Lhroughout the deployment. They continued to acquire refrigerated
      tra11ers, transfer cases' human remains pouches' fingerprint kiter
      and other related materials. Major Howell and his staff assisted
      the sites in their preparations. They visited twenty of the sites
      to provide training, answered questions' and distributed mortuary
      supplies and equipment. Major Howell was kept busy with
      preparations for the Army Lo assume executive agency. He arranged
      for the shipment of transfer cases and human remains pouches to the
      Army and Navy~s collection points. By 15 January' the CENTAF
      Mortuary Asslstance Team had processed forty-nine remains.
      The one issue that was never satisfactorily resolved in the
      minds of many Prime RIBS people, was the disposition of nuclear,
      biological' or chemically (NBC) contaminated remains. In case of
      an NBC attack' the proper authorltles were to determine that the
      area was safe to enter before a Prime RIBS search and recovery team
      could recover the remains. Mllltary Al~llft Command policy stated
      that contaminated remains would not be transported on MAC aircraft.
      Therefore, limited processing locludlng fingerprinting, inventory
      of personal effects' ldentlflcatlon information coIlection' and
      temporary burial would be accomplisbed as soon as possible. At some
      later time' the remains would be disinterred and moved to Dover
      after they were decontaminated, checked, and air transport became
      available. Planning for this procedure was complicated by the
      Saudi prohibition against the burial of non-Muslims on Saudi land.
      Despite guidance on the matter from CENTAF, Prime RIBS personnel at
      the alter remained uncertain about the handling of contaminated
      remains81
     
      Operations Outside Southwest Asia.
     
      Air Force ~ & S personnel in SEA represented only a portion of
      their overall role in the conflict. They also deployed to
      locations in Turkey, Spaln, the Indlan Ocean, England, Germany,