14                                     U.S. MARINES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, 1990-1991

           "There are four kinds of Marines: th6se in Saudi Arabia,
           those going to Saudi Arabia, those who want to go to
           Saudi Arabia, and those who don't want to go to Saudi
           Arabia but are going anyway."

    It was a point of pride with the Marine Corps that it had completed Phase
I deployments without any callup of the Marine Corps Reserve, except for a few
individuals who volunteered for active duty to fill mobilization billets.  The
President's decision to expand the force changed that.
    On 13 November, for Phase I!, the involuntary callup of Selected Marine
Corps Reserve units began.  These units were drawn from all over the country
from the widely dispersed Reserve 4th Marine Division and 4th Marine Aircraft
Wing.   They were needed to sustain the forces already deployed and to round
out the additional forces that were to be sent.
    A  large-scale amphibious      exercise, with the  foreboding code   name
"Imminent Thunder," was held near the head of the Persian Gulf, beginning 18
November.   Uncertain landing conditions were created by shallow water and
high winds and the amphibious task force commander cancelled the surface
assault because of the sea state.  The media got on to this, chattering about the
fragility of amphibious landings, not accepting the obvious explanation that in
an actual operation the landing could have been made, but that you don't risk
the unnecessary breakup of landing craft and vehicles in an exercise.
    The helicopterborne part of the assault, launched from over the horizon,
went well.  A Marine battalion landing team coming from the sea linked up
with I MEF forces ashore.   Air support was not only Marine, Navy, and Air
Force, but also British and French.
    The 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, numbering about 7,500, sailed from
San Diego on the first of December in the 13 ships of Amphibious Group
Three.26 The last operational deployment of the 5th MEB had been in 1962,
when it went through the Panama Canal to take station in the Caribbean during
the Cuban Missile Crisis.  The ground element core of the 5th MEB was the
reinforced 5th Marine regiment from Camp Pendleton; the aviation element,
MAG-SO; and the combat service support element, BSSG-50.
    Brigadier General Peter J. Rowe was in command.     From Connecticut and
now 52 years old, he had been commissioned in 1962 after graduation from
Cincinnati's Xavier University.    Later he would take a master's degree at San
Diego State University.   In the Vietnam War, after completing Vietnamese
language training, he had commanded an interrogation-translation team in the
battles for Hue City and Khe Sanh.    Before getting command of the 5th MEB,
he had been assistant commander of the 1st Marine Division.
    The 5th MEB's schedule called for it to arrive at Subic Bay on 26 Decem-
ber, for a brief training period.  Then on 1January, it was to proceed so as to
arrive in the area of operations by 15 January.   "Embedded" in 5th MEB was
the 11th MEU(SOC)--meaning that the 11th MEU(SOC) could be reconstituted
for missions such as those being per-formed by 13th MEU(SOC).