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U.S. Army Engineers in the Gulf War
A contractor and Dave Greenwood, Corps representive, inspect the pavement thickness at the
Camp E a g l e II paving project. Located near King Fahd International Airport, Camp Eagle II was the
base camp for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).
completed the project with remarkable speed and MEAPO staff saved time by
m a k i n g a major design change - c u t t i n g t h e amount of base course
r e q u i r e d - d uring construction.47
As with the dust palliative contracts, the benefits of helipad, heliport, and
apron construction contracts far outweighed the costs. Colonel Cargill observed
that million was not unreasonable for a helipad that would hold 100 Apache
helicopters, each worth million. The 101st Aviation Brigade spent
million between August and November on rotor blades and engines for its
helicopters. Comparatively, paving a helipad at King Fahd International Airport
cost only million.48
Well Drilling
Contract construction also involved drilling water wells. Initially planners
assumed that the Saudi Arabian government would provide enough bottled
water, but as they developed plans for offensive operations, they realized that
they would have difficulty transporting bottled water to the forward areas.
Officials granted permission to drill wells near the Iraqi border.
The Army deployed seven engineer well drilling detachments (including
one for command and control) to the theater. Four active component
detachments arrived in September, and three reserve detachments followed in
January. The three reserve detachments were used initially to support the
facilities engineering mission of the 1030th Engineer Battalion at Dhahran and
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