home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
TIME: Almanac 1990s
/
Time_Almanac_1990s_SoftKey_1994.iso
/
time
/
012191
/
0121556.000
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-03-25
|
3KB
|
64 lines
<text id=91TT0167>
<title>
Jan. 21, 1991: Sending In The Specialists
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1991
Jan. 21, 1991 January 15:Deadline For War
</history>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
GRAPEVINE, Page 19
Sending in the Specialists
</hdr><body>
<p>By DAVID ELLIS/Reported by Sidney Urquhart
</p>
<p> War is a complicated operation calling for more than just
soldiers, sailors and pilots. The Pentagon has deployed many
units, mostly from the reserves, that are entrusted with
specific support functions:
</p>
<p> BATTLEFIELD HISTORIANS. Military History Detachments from
all the services have been sent to the gulf to collect and
preserve maps and other documents that will eventually become
the official history of Desert Shield for the National
Archives. Also on deck: service members with artistic talent
to do sketches documenting troop life in the sand.
</p>
<p> COMBAT PHOTOGRAPHERS. For more immediate history, special
ists have been sent to the region to provide stills, film and
video images that will be handed over to press pools after
passing military censors.
</p>
<p> BODY RECOVERY. This unit is trained to deal with the most
gruesome aspect of war: the recovery and identification of
bodies. Heavy fighting could force soldiers to bury corpses
temporarily in the Saudi sands to await exhumation by the unit
and shipment home. In the event of a chemical or biological
attack, the specialists would have to cleanse the bodies by
washing them with decontaminants.
</p>
<p> PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE. Another unit will attempt, primarily
through radio broadcasts and air-dropped leaflets, to "alter
the psychological environment of the battlefield and affect
audiences far beyond the confines of the battlefield area."
Translation: spread disinformation among the enemy. This unit
would also start a free newspaper in liberated Kuwait. If
hostilities are carried into Iraq, PSYOP will discourage the
civilian population from supporting Saddam's army.
</p>
<p> CIVIL AFFARIS. If Kuwait is retaken, a battalion of workers
will use Stateside skills in such areas as public health,
safety and finance to begin restoring the country's
infrastructure. A team of lawyers will begin sorting out
international-law matters, and engineers will supervise
reconstruction of destroyed areas. They will be helped by
members of the Army's Special Operations Force who speak Arabic
and know the region.
</p>
</body></article>
</text>