U.S. Army Engineers in the Gulf War
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Soldiers of the 72d Engineer Company, 24th Infantry Division, test a mine
rake attached
to an M-728 combat engineer vehicle.
(U.S. Amy photo by SPC Henry)
with the corps focused on breaching minefields and other obstacles, detecting
and clearing mines, and constructing prisoner-of-war camps.
Observations
Ultimately, 141 Army engineer units deployed to the Gulf including an
engineer command, 3 engineer brigades, 6 engineer groups, 32 engineer
battalions, and 99 separate companies and teams. There were 19,453 engineers
from the active component, 2,275 from the Army National Guard, and 1,953
from the Army Reserve, for a total of 23,681 engineers.45
This engineer force, however, was slow to evolve. Because of the late
arrival of engineer units and the lack of engineer planners, the Army engineer
force did not reach the appropriate strength until late in Operation DESERT
SHIELD. The shortage of engineers led to a greater reliance on contractors; so
much so that the CENTCOM engineer expressed concern that U.S. forces
risked becoming overly dependent on contractors.
Wherever a large force deployed, General Mulcahy warned, engineer
requirements would inevitably exceed capabilities. "The Gulf War," he wrote,
"showed that the effective organization and management of engineer resources
in the COMMZ is essential to the successful deployment of combat forces."
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