122                                    U.S. MARINES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, I99O~1991

Proceedings: How about maintenance? You had pretty good facilities, from what
we've read, unusual in some respects--at least you had ramps and some hangars.
Did the T-AVB aircraft maintenance ships contribute much under the circumstan-
ces?

Moore: First of all, we did have some fairly good facilities, but we outgrew
them very quickly.    I cannot say enough good things about the Seabees.
They've always been very close to the Marines, especially Marine air.     They
helped us lay in excess of three million square feet of AM-2 aluminum matting
all over the place. The F/A-18s and A6Es had it down at Shaik Isa, and we
housed five AV-8B squadrons plus OV-10s on the mat up at Jabayl.     We built
a spot for a whole helo group. At Tanajib we did the same thing. We went out
to Lonesome Dove, which was 145 miles out in the desert, and we built three
fields for the CH-46s and the CH-53s, and the Seabees and Marine Wing
Support Squadrons and logistics personnel put that together.
   The T-AVBs worked out magnificently.      The concept was right on target.
We had some trouble getting one of the ships there, so the supply packages we
built had to stay on line about three weeks longer than we planned.   Marines
fixed the ship that broke down and the ship's captain sent a great letter to the
Commandant.    We recognized those individuals who did the job.   The T-AVBs
unloaded just what we needed at the air groups, nothing more.    They kept the
rest on board; they can operate 180 maintenance vans. The new concept worked
in fine fashion, and as the second T-AVB came in, we offloaded an enhanced
capability to each one of the air groups and let the ship go on to Jubayl.  We
ended up with one ship in Bahrain and one ship at Jubayl.  The ship at Jubayl
supported primarily AV-8Bs and helicopters, and the ship at Bahrain supported
A6s and F/A-18s.
   Let me just give you the bottom line.  On G-Day, after 38 days of combat--
and I clearly understand that the whole focus of parts and everything was
coming our way--my mission-capable rate was       86%.    That included old
helicopters and new F/A-18s.   You would expect that out of F/A-18s and
Harriers, but this was across the span.  That's an enormous compliment to all
the people--the Naval Air Systems Command, Naval Air Forces Pacific and
Atlantic, Marine Aircraft Wings--who funneled parts to us.

Proceedings: How did the helicopters hold up in the desert?

Moore: Initially we had some problems.     We were trying to fight the desert
until we found some smart helicopter guys in the oil companies.  They told us,
"You cannot fight the desert and win.    First, you have to take care of your
machines.   You have to wash them down, scrub them, keep them at high
readiness.  Most important in our world, you have to operate them off clean
sites."
   We put it this way to the ground commanders: "We'll give 100% direct
support to your Marines. You can use it in a couple of fashions, but here's the
way we recommend using it.   When you truly need it, no kidding, got to get in