WrrH THE I MARINE ExPEDrrIONARY FORCE IN DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM    21

       When directed by USCinCCent, USMarCent conducts USCentCom
   supporting     attack to fix and destroy Iraqi operational  reserves in
   southeastern Kuwait to preclude their employment against USCentCom
   main attack in the west; isolate Kuwait City for EPAC [Eastern Province
   Area Command]/multinational     MOUT [military operations in urban
   terrain] operations.   Be prepared to continue the attack north to support
   USCentCom offensive operations 12

   In fact, this was precisely the mission assigned to MarCent.    During the
second week of November, the battle staff planning group began to develop
courses of action and rough estimates of their supportability.  Most of these
involved a penetration of the heel of Kuwait and link-up with an amphibious
assault somewhere along the Kuwaiti coast by the 4th Marine Expeditionary
Brigade under command of Major General Harry W. Jenkins, Jr.       The MEF
planners briefed and consulted with Jenkins and his operational commander,
Vice   Admiral    Henry H.  Mauz,  Commander,   U.S.  Naval    Forces Central
Command (NavCent), as the concepts evolved.

                             Manning the Force

   In  early  November    1990,  General Schwarzkopf asked     his component
commanders to determine what numbers and types of forces they would need to
prevail  in an    offensive scenario.  General Boomer   instructed   Lohman,
Majchrzak, and his G-1 for manpower, Colonel Robert K. Redlin, to work up
an appropriate force list to achieve sufficient force ratios for an assault into
southeast Kuwait.    On 8 November President Bush announced the impending
reinforcement of Central   Command by 200,000 American personnel which
included a large number of Reserve units.
   The reinforcement of I MEF committed nearly all of East Coast-based II
Marine Expeditionary Force, including the 2d Marine Division, the 2d Force
Service Support Group, and nearly all of the 2d Marine Aircraft Wing. Smaller
units would come from III MEF in the Western Pacific.   When this happened,
I MEF became the largest Marine force assembled since the Vietnam War,
approximating three-fourths of the regular Fleet Marine Forces.      Plans in
mid-November called for the flow of about 25,000 reinforcement personnel to
begin about 10 December at the rate of 1,000 Marines per day.    To house the
reinforcements, SeaBee battalions began construction of six 2,500-man tent
camps.   In Washington, Headquarters Marine Corps established a manpower
stop-loss program: Marines who would be in permanent change-of-station status
or released from the service from November 1990 to May 1991 were retained
in their stations. This included many already with I MEF.
   A major additional reinforcement under Boomer's tactical control was to be
the British Army of the Rhine's 1st Armoured Division, commanded by Major