DESERT SHIELD-STORM INTERVIEW

File: 102896_jun96_decls6_0044.txt
Page: 0044
Total Pages: 64

Subject: DESERT SHIELD-STORM INTERVIEW                                   

Box ID: BX001608

Unit: 101ST ID    

Parent Organization: XVIII CORPS 

Folder Title: DSS 101ST ABN DIV INTERVIEW CDR 101ST SG - C                                                    

Folder SEQ  #:         83

Document Number:          2







          DSIT-AE-103: COL Roy E. Beauchamp


          @ploy as I recall on G-Day as a matter of fact, with the
          combat elements. And we stayed until ... LTC Runyon, as a
          matter of fact, my executive officer, whom you met
          earlier, was one of the last elements of the group to leave
          Iraq, and that must have been almost mid-March, I guess. I
          don't recall the exact date. I'm thinking 12 or 14 March.
          We were up there three weeks or so I guess, about as long as
          anybody in the COSCOM was there.
               But the major challenge of course was in setting up
          that base of operations. A very fluid situation which
          became more fluid as this thing accelerated, as the pace
          accelerated. It moved a lot quicker than anyone expected it
          would when we started. We moved a lot of fuel. We moved a
          lot of water, as a matter of fact. I was supporting then
          POB COBRA, which was the 101st Airborne Division's assault
          base in Iraq. I was moving 25,000, 30,000, 35,000 gallons
          of fuel a day into that, supporting those. And in the
          initial phase, two or three days, we had to go back to Saudi
          Arabia to pick up that fuel. So we were sending convoys
          with 150,000 gallons of fuel at a time to COBRA.

          MAJ HONEC: Did the available hard surface Iraqi roads play
          a key role?

          COL BEAUCHAMP: It made a tremendous difference, that's
          right.

          MAJ HONEC: I know it's an obvious question but I needed to
          ask you that.

          COL BEAUCHAMP: The [M]-915s, our transportation equipment
          that's designed to operate on hard surface roads basically.
          We also had the [M]-931s, the tactical vehicles that we used
          in MSR NEWMARKET, which of course was an unpaved road.

          MAJ HONEC: Yes.


          COL BEAUCHAMP: We sent equipment up that road on the
with the division elements.
          Tremendous support by soldiers, especially in the 541st
          Transportation Company, the fuel-oil transportation company.
          Tremendous support by those soldiers in keeping this fueled
          during those critical stages until we established a fuel
          stock in Log Base ROMEO.
               Wa:ter--delivering water of course was a key issue at
          that time, potable water for the soldiers we Were
          supporting. We set up the operation there and eventually
          moved in our supply and service elements and set up a retail
          supply operation and some food (Class I) operations. We did
          some maintenance; not a great deal. Again things stabilized
          there very quickly and in a relatively short period of time

                                        41

Document 64 f:/Week-22/BX001608/DSS 101ST ABN DIV INTERVIEW CDR 101ST SG - C/desert shield-storm interview:10019616504029
Control Fields 17
File Room = jun96_declassified
File Cabinet = Week-22
Box ID = BX001608
Unit = 101ST ID
Parent Organization = XVIII CORPS
Folder Title = DSS 101ST ABN DIV INTERVIEW CDR 101ST SG - C
Folder Seq # = 83
Subject = DESERT SHIELD-STORM INTERVIEW
Document Seq # = 2
Document Date =
Scan Date =
Queued for Declassification = 01-JAN-1980
Short Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Long Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Permanent Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Non-Health Related Document = 01-JAN-1980
Declassified = 01-OCT-1996