the Iraqis — whatever that turned out to be — would be dealt with later.
When Pagonis called, Franks had no idea who he was; they had never met. In fact, the name did not register; what Franks wrote down on his pad was 'Bagonas.' After all that was cleared up, Pagonis welcomed Franks and the corps to CENTCOM, and then got down to business.
'Right, Gus, thanks,' Franks said in response to the welcoming words, and then asked, 'And so what advice do you have?'
'That's what I called about,' Pagonis said. 'The theater is strapped for transportation, and for tents and cots for your troops. We were just getting up to speed in supporting XVIII Corps, and now we have your corps coming.'
'How can we help?'
'First, you can front-load your deployment with as much support infrastructure as possible. I know you'll want to get your combat units in first. Don't do it.'
As it happened, Franks was planning to send logistics in first, with most combat units to follow. That way the combat units could train as much as possible on the sophisticated training facilities in Germany. Pagonis's advice confirmed that plan.
'What about ports?'
'We'll bring you in through Dammam and Jubayl.' Dammam and Jubayl were major ports on the Gulf, in northeastern Saudi Arabia. They had recently been upgraded and modernized with U.S. help and advice. As a result, Dammam and Jubayl became world-class seaports. Without them the enormous Coalition deployment would still have been possible, but not in a workable time frame. 'I can't emphasize enough,' Pagonis went on, 'that you need to bring as many HETs as you can from Germany. Otherwise we will have your troops stacked up in ports waiting for trucks. You also need to bring as much tentage and as many cots as you can find. We do not have any for you here. XVIII Corps bought all the Saudis had.' HETs — Heavy Equipment Transporters — were used in Saudi Arabia mainly for transporting heavy tracked vehicles the 400 to 500 kilometers from the ports to the Tactical Assembly Areas — TAAs.
'Right, Gus,' Franks replied in closing. 'I've got it. Appreciate the advice. Look forward to joining the team and working with you.'
It was a good phone call, Franks thought then, direct, candid, and to the point. In a few minutes he got the picture of what they were up against in this deployment. There were going to be shortages. It was going to be a lean theater, not at all like Germany, with its relatively luxurious logistical base. No use fighting it, he thought. That's the way it is. Deal with it.
Meanwhile, Gus Pagonis had been direct and forthright, true, but he'd had his own agenda as well. Pagonis was just getting his head above water with XVIII Corps. He was just about able to meet their requirements. And now VII Corps was coming down from Europe and the States, and he had very little left for them. He couldn't very well go to Gary Luck and ask him to give it back. Meanwhile, VII Corps was leaving a giant warehouse (in Pagonis's view) that was full of material that he could use in theater. And so, as soon as it was announced that VII Corps was going to the Gulf, the first thing he did was put leverage on Franks to bring some of that material down: cots, tents, fuel trucks, tank transporters, and much, much else. It was a normal request.
Pagonis took his needs to Franks. Other CENTCOM and ARCENT requests were going to Washington to the Department of the Army and the Joint Staff. EUCOM, with USAREUR as the land component, was one source of supply. Yet Saint proved in no way eager to raid all the warehouses of Europe and pull all of his stocks down to where he didn't have enough for his own mission. His mission remained large and CENTCOM had other sources of supply. At that point, CENTCOM was to be the supported command; it was the main U.S. operation in all the world, and General Powell had directed that they could have anything they asked for. What Butch Saint wanted was for Pagonis — and CENTCOM in general — to go to the Department of the Army and the Joint Staff and get them to support the theater. He wanted balance. He wanted Washington to look worldwide and task the Army all over the world to contribute to the Gulf forces, in ways that preserved mission accomplishment. He didn't want USAREUR to be forced to become CENTCOM's automatic supply source, simply because USAREUR was closer to the Gulf than everyone else. He wanted to supply VII Corps, but not the whole theater.
As it turned out, VII Corps got all the support they needed from Europe. Saint
The conversation with John Yeosock was more wide ranging than the earlier one with Gus Pagonis. Franks and Yeosock were friends and fellow cavalrymen.
'Fred, welcome to the team,' Yeosock said as soon as they were connected on a secure line.
'John, thanks for calling. Proud to join the team. Bringing a lot of combat power with me. Think I can get an airplane and come down on a leaders' recon on Sunday.'
'That's perfect. We'll set up some briefings and get you around the area. Plan to stay through Wednesday, as the CINC wants a meeting in Dammam down through division commanders.'
'Right, I'll do that,' Franks said, then went on to summarize his conversation with General Pagonis.
'What Gus told you is accurate,' Yeosock replied after he'd finished. 'We were just about out of the hole with XVIII Corps, and now we are back to square one.' And he went on to reinforce Pagonis's emphasis on logistics, especially trucks, tents, and cots, adding that they would also need units in early who could build an infrastructure — rough base camps, sanitation, communication, and the like. The desert was like nothing they were used to, he told him. You had to look hard in the States for anything that harsh and empty. Both men had served in the southwestern desert, at the 3rd CAV at Fort Bliss. But that was a tropical rain forest compared to the Saudi desert, Yeosock said.
He was exaggerating, but not much. One of the VII Corps troops remarked later that looking around the Saudi desert truly proved God rested on the seventh day.
'Going in first with logistics makes sense,' Franks agreed, 'and that is what we'll do. But I know the deployment order is your call' — as commander of Third Army, VII Corps's new next higher command. 'What I have in mind is to send the 2nd ACR first for security. Then I'll send infrastructure. I'll have a recommended complete TPFDL for your approval when we come on our leaders' recon.'
The TPFDL — Time Phased Force Deployment List — lays out the order of deployment for each unit to go into a new theater. The commander in theater must approve this schedule before it can be set in motion. That happened early in Franks's visit to Saudi Arabia a few days later.
'Go with that plan,' Yeosock said, 'and we can look over your detailed list when you get down here.'
They moved on to other matters.
'What about assembly areas?' Franks asked. 'And any word on employment?' — mission.
'Right now, I see you to the west of XVIII Corps, with your 2nd ACR maintaining contact on the east with XVIII's 3rd ACR and on the west with the Arab Corps' — with the Arab part of the Coalition armed forces. 'Then you can place your divisions behind the 2nd ACR.'
Franks and some of his commanders would look over some of these Tactical Assembly Areas the following week during the leaders' recon.
'For employment, it is hard to read right now,' Yeosock continued. 'I suspect we'll get something from the CINC next week. It looks to me like you'll be the main attack and that you'll attack up the Wadi al Batin. You'll head north from Hafar al Batin with the corps deployed from that town east to Al Qaysumah.'
Hafar al Batin is a Saudi town that lies near the junction of the Wadi and the major highway known as the Tapline Road, which runs north and west from the coast in a virtually straight line parallel to the Saudi-Iraq border. The town of Al Qaysumah lies on the Tapline Road about thirty kilometers from Hafar al Batin, and the entire area is approximately four hundred kilometers northwest of the ports on the Gulf coast. At the time, Fred Franks had only the vaguest notion of this geography, and the names he spelled out phonetically — and incorrectly. His ignorance was not destined to last for long.
'Thanks, John,' he said, signing off. 'That gives me enough to get the corps moving. See you Sunday night.'
