1 - The Black Vault

the next day (8 August) for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
While the ADVON team was en route, Saddam
Hussein announced that Iraq had annexed
Kuwait. The AFSOC ADVON team’s mission
was to find a suitable airfield that would accommodate
SOF aircraft and then determine what
was needed to support SOF operations. On the
ground at Riyadh, Weaver went to US Central
Command (CENTCOM) headquarters and con -
tacted the US Air Forces, Central Command
(CENTAF) representative responsible for airfield
allocations. Weaver ran into Maj Gen Tom
Olson, who was the vice commander of CEN-
TAF. Both officers had been assigned to
CINCPAC in Hawaii a few years earlier, and
Weaver had served under General Olson while
stationed there. During the course of the con -
versation, General Olson mentioned that there
was a base under construction near Dhahran
and recommended that Weaver take a look to
see if it was close enough to completion to serve
SOF needs. The general also asked Weaver to
look at the possibility of placing an A-10 wing at
the same airfield. Procuring two cars for their
use, Weaver and his five-man team departed
Riyadh for Dhahran. Once in Dhahran the team
linked up with US Embassy personnel, who coordinated
permission to visit the new airport.
Northwest of Dhahran was King Fahd International
Airport (KFIA), and from the first time
that the ADVON team laid eyes on the facility,
they knew that it was the place to beddown
SOF. It had dual runways that could accommodate
both A-10 and SOF rotary- and fixed-wing
aircraft. A couple of days before the ADVON
team’s arrival at KFIA, the last concrete slabs
had been poured for the runways, but the runway
lights had not yet been installed. KFIA had
partially constructed terminals for passengers
and their king and an unfinished control tower,
runways, and parking ramps. About 5,000 con -
struction workers were employed across the
sprawling complex. As the ADVON party entered
the airport area, about 1,000 construction
workers were walking out the front gate and
making their way to Dhahran for departure
from the country.* 20
The ADVON team met with the manager of
Bectal Corporation (the general contractor responsible
for the airport’s construction) and discussed
beddown requirements. A tour was hastily arranged,
and the team was shown around the facility.
The first area visited was the control tower,
which was not finished but had running water,
electricity, and ample room in the building at its
base. The control tower itself did not have any
equipment installed and was completely gutted,
but the CCT representative felt that it could be
made operational within hours by installing portable
radios for communications. The next stop on
the tour was the MABCO compound, which consisted
of 16 trailers that had been occupied by
some of the departing construction workers.
There were air-conditioned bed spaces for approximately
400 personnel and ample room for
additional tentage adjacent to the trailers. The
Bectal general manager was cooperative and offered
all of his facilities at KFIA if approved by
the Saudi government. Satisfied that KFIA was
the place to be, the team drove back to Riyadh to
confer with General Olson and with the SOC-
CENT commander, Colonel Johnson. Olson gave
tentative approval for the use of KFIA, with the
USAF A-10s using the east ramp and SOF aircraft
using the west ramp. Conferring with Colonel
Johnson, Weaver recommended that SOC-
CENT colocate with AFSOC forces at KFIA, and
plans were made for the joint headquarters to begin
moving forward the following day. 21 Almost as
an afterthought, General Olson mentioned that
the 1st SOW initial echelon had arrived in-theater
and were, he thought, already in Dhahran. Saying
a quick good-bye, the ADVON team hit the road
again for the five-hour drive to Dhahran to link
up with the 1st SOW element.
At Hurlburt Field Gray had been extremely
busy since his telephone call to Weaver. The wing
had mobilized and had processed its initial elements
for deployment to Southwest Asia. In the
first several days after alert, there was much confusion
as CENTCOM prioritized forces needed to
defeat an invasion of Saudi Arabia by Iraq. General
Schwarzkopf, commander in chief, Central
Command, anticipated a fierce fight with considerable
US combat air losses. Consequently, he included
SOF elements in the initial deployment to
serve in the combat search and rescue role. The
MH-53H Pave Low, MC-130E Combat Talon, and
HC-130P/N were, thus, part of the initial SOF
cadre. Thom Beres and the 8th SOS were alerted,
and four Combat Talon aircraft and five crews
were prepared for departure. The MC/HC-130
package would self-deploy from the United States
to Southwest Asia by way of Europe, while the
Pave Low helicopters would be shipped by way of
C-5 aircraft. With initial actions completed, 1st
__________
*The Iraqi army was poised a few hundred miles to the north and was threatening to invade Saudi Arabia at any time.
DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM
343