Quotes of the Day
A production line is at work in Kuwait's bleak western desert. Over the past week 500 marines have built a massive supply depot where they unpack, repair and then distribute the tools of war to the First Marine Division which has begun arriving in this small emirate wedged between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. On the sandy plain — flattened by huge bulldozers which can rearrange the desert-scape in a few hours — sit dozens of M1-A1 Abrams tanks, light armored vehicles, amphibious assault vehicles and howitzers. There is enough equipment, weaponry and ammunition to keep a division of 17,000 marines in the field for a month.
Movies or books rarely capture the prosaic procedure of war, the logistics of transporting equipment half way around the world, matching men with machines and then making sure everything works. But, says Major David Nathanson, a logistics officer for the 7th Marine Regiment who is supervising the equipment assembly line, such seemingly routine organization is vital. "Smooth is fast and we've been very smooth," says Nathanson.
The equipment arrayed in the desert has been shipped in from U.S. Marine storage depots — maritime preposition squadrons in marine-speak — in the Mediterranean and on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. After being off-loaded from ships in a Kuwaiti port, it is trucked to the desert depot in snaking convoys that can stretch to 35 vehicles long. Once the equipment has been unpacked and checked over for damage, machinery is put together and tested. "It's like opening Christmas presents," says Sgt. Robert Navarro, 31, as he helps open a brand new M-16 service rifle. "We love getting new gear."
Like many of the soldiers in Kuwait, Navarro comes from a military family. His grandfather fought in Korea and his father missed service in Vietnam by just a few days. "Since I was old enough to watch TV, I knew I wanted to enlist," he says. Navarro has four girls back in Cathedral City, California, with another on the way. "They're always on my mind. I truly miss them. But I look at it like it's better for me to come and do this now than for my kids or my kids' kids to have to do it later."
Sitting on the top of a nearby tank recovery vehicle, Lance Corporal Antonio Garansuay, 26, says he enrolled in college after school but dropped out twice. "After a while I thought I'd try the Marines. It was a way to see the world." What does he think about the growing anti-war protests in Europe and America? "That's what makes the U.S. special," he says. "I like to see a lot of different views. That's why we're here, to protect their right to protest. I was probably one of them before. I used to make fun of the army guys with their haircuts. Now I get my haircut every week."
Nearby, Sgt. Joshua Hales, 25, is helping assemble an M-198 Howitzer. The sophisticated piece of metal spits 155 mm projectiles up to 18 miles. It can shoot directly at enemy tanks or positions or send up illumination flares to light up the battlefield at night. It can send in projectiles that explode midair and pepper the enemy with shrapnel. Then it can follow that with a white phosphorous "copperhead" that burns when it hits the ground. "Shake and bake", the howitzer operators call it. In a war with Iraq, the Howitzers would suppress enemy fire to allow U.S. troops to maneuver more easily. The massive fire power, the theory goes, will force the enemy to surrender quickly. "We don't want to fight every last guy in that objective," says Captain Joe Plenzler. "We want to break their will to fight." 
- Simon Robinson/Western Kuwait
- U.S. forces are assembling awesome firepower to break the enemy's will to fight