28                                     U.S. MARINES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, 199~1991

Proceedings: The desert has few terrain features--how did that affect you?

Hopkins: We had enough GPS gear as the operation developed.      There were a
few problems with maps in terms of adequate numbers.     Then, of course, when
you're along the coastline it doesn't present the problem that you would have if
you were in the middle of nowhere.     We didn't want for anything logistically.
We unloaded those ships; we got the ammunition into our positions; and then
we trained as best we could.       Colonel Fulford conducted combined arms
training, working the artillery and air hard.

Proceedings: But until the 25th, were you depending a great deal on air?

Hopkins: Yes.  If they had come down on the 25th, of course, we would have
had a hasty defense instead of a more deliberate defense.  We would have used
Air Force air, and kept on unloading the ships, getting stronger each day.

Proceedings: When did you give up the brigade as it was absorbed by I MEF?

Hopkins: Between 3 and 6 September. The 7th MEB command element and the
headquarters were absorbed by the MEF.

Proceedings: You run the Marine Corps training at Twentynine Palms in
addition to commanding the brigade.    Were the troops prepared for what they
went up against? Do you plan to change any of the training?

Hopkins: With the commitments the Marine Corps has, every summer we're
rotating about one-third the outfit. We were in the middle of that when the call
came. Fulford assessed the state of training of his battalions--li? [1st Battalion,
7th Marine Regiment], 2/7, 3/7, and 3/9.   The MEB had been scheduled to go
to Turkey on Exercise Display Determination in September, and I used the cover
of that exercise to get moving a little bit, because even before we were officially
notified on 8 August, I thought maybe we would be involved.
    We used a little operational security to good effect.  On the West Coast,
everybody said, "Hey, they're going out of the 1st Marine Division." Nobody
said anything about Twentynine Palms.    So it was a good thing. We got out of
town without a lot of publicity.  We set up an eightAay program--a minimum
program--and a 14~ay program, because when you deploy in echelon, you
don't all go at the same time.   Whatever training units needed, they got. We
went 24-hours-aday; we worked the Combined Arms Staff Trainer (CASI),
command and control, and battalion and regimental operations.
    The 7th Marines were at Twentynine Palms and 3/9 was on its way up to
Canada to work with the Princess Guards.    We brought them back.    That was
Fulford's best-trained battalion because it-had been together the longest.