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"Saddam must have realized from past experience that moving his troops against Kuwait's border would be a fruitless exercise, so he didn't bother He seemed to have learned from 1994 and 1996 that the United States would win any 'race for Kuwait.' This time, he merely dispersed his armored and mechanized forces throughout Iraq to protect them from air attacks. It was at this point that American ground forces began to arrive in Kuwait. Saddam Hussein probably wondered at the purpose of this deployment of land power, for he was not directly threatening Kuwait with his ground forces. We can't know for sure what conclusions he drew from this development, but shortly after Third Infantry Division and First Marine Expeditionary Force units began taking up residence in Kuwait, he struck a deal with UN. Secretary General Kofi Annan. The crisis was over." Third Army Staff Member
A series of Iraqi provocations against Kuwait in November 1997 resulted in a crisis that lasted until March 1998. Defending Kuwait was the responsibility of Coalition Task Force-Kuwait (CTF-K), commanded by the U.S. Army Central (USARCENT) Commander. CTFK consisted of units from all service components as well as representatives from 10 other countries. The United States responded also to help deter Iraqi aggression and reassure the coalition partners-or defend Kuwait should that become necessary. More than 11,000 U.S. personnel and 35,000 coalition personnel participated in this operation, which came to be known as Desert Thunder.
Engineer Mission
The USARCENT Assistant Chief of Staff, Engineers was the C7 of CTF-K. He and his staff simultaneously deployed forces; provided facility support for reception, staging, onward movement, and integration; supervised engineer operations and planning; and supported intelligence planning with topographic supplies.
The CTF-K C7 engineer mission was to establish and manage the commander's engineer policies and guidance. This included staff supervision of combat, combat support, and combat service support activities. Construction contracting assets and other activities in the areas of combat, civil, electrical, and topographic engineering; force protection; and real estate planning also required intense management.
Deployment
The deployment process began with an analysis to determine engineer requirements to ensure mission success. Since this was a short-notice deployment, a crisis action planning cycle was used. With only a few days to...