Sunday, September 15, 1996

Fort Hood Soldiers Gear Up For Persian Gulf Journey

By JUAN B. ELIZONDO Jr.
Associated Press

FORT HOOD - Thousands of soldiers prepared Saturday for deployment to the Persian Gulf, but officials insisted that orders to depart had not been received.

The U.S. Department of Defense on Friday said about 5,000 troops from Fort Hood, the Army's largest base, would be sent to Kuwait to join training exercises already underway.

President Clinton said the 32,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen already in or converging on the region around Iraq should be enough to keep Saddam Hussein from moving against his oil-rich neighbors to the south.

But Lt. Col. Randy Schoel, a Fort Hood spokesman, said the Central Texas installation had as of late Saturday been ordered only to prepare for such a move. He said the number of troops to be deployed would be closer to 3,000.

"Fort Hood planners continue to receive guidance," he said Saturday. "Fort Hood planners continue to review plans for possible departure of 1st Cavalry soldiers if we receive instructions to deploy. Such instruction has not been received."

One solider preparing for the departure said that while final orders had not been issued, two 3rd Brigade battalions on standby would be ready.

"Right now the morale is very high," said the commanding soldier, who asked not to be identified. "The soldiers are getting ready to do what they are trained to do. They are excited about that."

For many of the troops, it won't be the first journey to the Persian Gulf. The 1st Cavalry Division was on the front line during Operation Desert Storm and has trained in Kuwait several times since.

"There is a tremendous amount of teamwork and camaraderie in our units," Schoel said late Friday. "These soldiers who have been there before mentor and teach those who haven't been there."

The new troops will join some 1,200 Fort Hood soldiers who arrived in Kuwait on Aug. 10.
Soldiers will bring out of storage M1-A1 tanks and M2-A2 Bradley fighting vehicles already pre-positioned in Kuwait and will take part in exercise "Intrinsic Action," a desert war game scheduled to conclude Dec. 15. There's no word if the exercise will be extended.

Fort Hood is home to the Army's tank corps and around 45,000 soldiers. The 1st Cavalry Division and the 4th Infantry Division both are stationed there.