Tech Orders,

File: aacep_44.txt
Page: 44
Total Pages: 59
      





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      additional 159 grounding rods for dispersed aircraft parking and
      fueling points. The aircraft also caused damage to the runway.
      The stress of heavy traffic on the pavements caused cracking and
      failures. The best the engineers could do was make expedient
      repairs and hope for a abort wards
      Two important Mortuary Affairs events occurred with the
      beginning of Operation Desert Storm. Tbe first was the designation
      of the concurrent return program and the Army,~ assumption of
      executive agency. After five months, the groundwork bad been laid
      and the transition from the Air Force went smoothly. Tbe CENTAF
      Mortuary Assistance beam continued to make arrangements for the
      delivery of supplies to Air Force sites and the other services and
      of course' process remains. The number of remains was well below
      the figure the teat had used for planning purposes. During Desert
      Storm, the team began receiving battlefield casuaIties. Tbe first
      large group through the Dbabran faculty was the result of the
      battle for Kbafjl. These numbers increased during the ground war
      and climaxed tragically with the Scud attack on the barracks just
      two miles from the mortuary compound at Dhahran. Personnel from
      the Army' Navy, and the 1st TFW Prime RIBS team assisted in the
      processing of the victims.l�z
      The second important development also occurred on 16 January.
      Within minutes of the official announcement of the onset of
      -filmy ~ Sat ~ plasm
      Mortuary expansion project and a contract was awarded at 1930-
      Members of the 166th' llSth' and 175th CES (Air National Guard) and
      the 201st RED HORSE Flight worked around the clock to complete the
      expansion by 8 February. Tbe expansion increased embalming
      capability from six to thirty-one stations and more than doubled
      the capacity for fingerp~lntlng, dental examination' anthropology'
      full body x-ray' and autopsy/lnspectlon. This gave the facility
      the capability of procesqlng a maximum of 100 sets of remains per
      day.103
      The number of workers at Dover qulekly increased with the
      beginning of Desert Storm. On 14 January, 22 joint command and
      control personnel representing all services were present at the
      Port Mortuary. By the time of the cease fire on 28 February' 527
      personnel were supporting the operation with an addlt10nal 442
      moblll~ed. The personnel were trained not only on procedures but
      ere also prepared for the psychological and emotional aspect of
      the operation. Counselors and chaplalos assisted the workers in
      this area. The Port Mortuary operation was prepared for the
      unexpected. On at least five occasions, ordnance was shipped with
      remains. These were removed and sated by Explosive Ordnance
      Disposal personnel assigned to the Port Mortuary. Tbe Port
      Mortuary operated smoothly throughout Desert Shield/Desert Storm.
      Yet it was not stressed to the numerical limits of what could have
      been demanded of the facility and the people.l04
      CENTAF/DE had not begun planning for the redeployment of
      people and equipment or the reconstitution of Harvest Falcon assets
      until well into the war. Ibe return of the preposltloned materiel
      was pclmarily a Logistics function, yet engineers were responsible