WITH THE 1ST MARINE DWISION IN DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM            121

   From 28 Febn~ary to 5 March, division units remained at the Kuwait
~nternational  Airport in positions occupied near those established  on  26
February. Beginning 1 March General Myatt directed the withdrawal of his
units to Saudi Arabia. Task Force Shepherd departed first, followed by Task
Forces Ripper, Papa Bear, and Taro, on successive days. The initial stopping
point for most units was the port of Ras Al Mishab, where they unloaded
ammunition and began preparing vehicles for going back on board ship. The
1st and 3d Tank Battalions and their M60Als were transported to Jubayl by ship
and completed their preparations there. The remainder of the division moved
from Mishab to the division support area at Manifah Bay, where it awaited
transportation to home bases in the United States, most to Camp Pendleton,
California.
   Once the movement back to Manifah Bay ended, Major General Myatt
cancelled the task organization of division units on 6 March. Two days later,
the advance party for 7th Marines; 628 Marines from 3d Battalion, 3d Marines;
and 588 Marines from 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, departed Saudi Arabia. The
1st Battalion,  1st Marines, conducted  a tactical recovery  of aircraft and
personnel (TRAP) mission 10-12 March to find the wreckage of an OV-10
aircraft shot down in mid-January. Other units conducted sweeps of all live-
fire ranges in Saudi Arabia. The division's main effort during the retrograde
period was on recovering equipment from Kuwait and reconstituting equipment
for the Maritime Prepositioned Force. Whether occupied on those tasks or
engaged in making personal preparations for departure, all Marines waited
impatienfly for their flights to the United States.187 By the end of March, more
than half the division had departed Saudi Arabia. The division completed
redeployment on 24 April 1991.188