Reporter-News Archives Friday, September 21, 2001 Military buildup under way B-1s at Dyess waiting for call By Robert Burns Associated Press WASHINGTON — The United States is pouring military firepower into the Persian Gulf area in preparation for President Bush’s promised war on terrorism. The Air Force is sending B-52 and B-1 bombers and fighter jets while mobilizing thousands of reservists, and the Army is readying its commando forces. So far, Dyess Air Force Base has not been asked to send B-1s, base officials said. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday that although the Gulf is the focus of U.S. deployments right now, the coming fight will look nothing like the knockout punch U.S.-led forces delivered in the 1991 Gulf War. “What we’re engaged in is something that is very, very different from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Kosovo, Bosnia, the kinds of things people think of when they use the word ‘war,’ or ‘campaign,’ or ‘conflict,’ ” Rumsfeld said. Among the mobilized reserves are eight B-52s from Barksdale AFB in Louisiana and 30 personnel from a B-1 unit at Robins AFB in Georgia. Robins is one of three bases with B-1s that have received deployment orders. The other two are Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota and Mountain Home AFB in Idaho, base officials confirmed. The two B-1 bases that have not received orders are Dyess and McConnell AFB in Kansas. Spokespeople at Ellsworth and Mountain Home declined to say how many B-1s are leaving, if they have departed and where they are headed. Air Force bases are releasing minimal amounts of information about the military’s movements. Capt. David Honchul, chief of Dyess’ public affairs office, said the Abilene base has not been asked to send B-1s, but airmen are prepared to go if called upon. Dyess has 40 of the nation’s 93 B-1s. Ellsworth has 26, Mountain Home has seven and McConnell and Robins each have nine. Two B-1s are used for testing at Edwards AFB in California. B-1s were last used in combat in spring 1999 to bomb targets in the former Republic of Yugoslavia during Operation Allied Force. Rumsfeld said fighting terrorism will take a long time and, to a degree not seen before, will require economic, financial, diplomatic and political action in addition to military force. It also will require support from the American public, for whom the prospect of war was brought into clearer focus by the Pentagon’s announcement Thursday that 5,131 members of the Air Force National Guard and Air Force Reserve have been ordered to active duty. They are from 29 units in 24 states and the District of Columbia. “No other single action more clearly demonstrates the national resolve than to mobilize the National Guard and Reserve forces of America,” said Craig Duehring, the Pentagon’s chief of reserve affairs. Most of the rest of the activated military units are to be used to strength U.S. continental air defenses. Rumsfeld has said he expects 35,500 members of the Reserve and National Guard to be called up. The Pentagon is repositioning military forces to prepare for action, Rumsfeld said, but would not provide details. Other officials said both active and reserve forces are beginning to move. The Air Force is sending 100 to 130 aircraft to the Gulf region, a senior defense official said. Also, tanker aircraft began deploying from U.S. bases Thursday to establish an “air bridge” for refueling fighters and bombers as they cross the Atlantic. The Air Force has fighter aircraft in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and the Army keeps a virtually permanent presence in Kuwait with soldiers and war materiel sufficient to equip an additional 5,000 troops. The Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters is on the Gulf island emirate of Bahrain, and it normally keeps one aircraft carrier on patrol in the Gulf year-round. It now has one in the Gulf and one nearby in the Arabian Sea; a third — the USS Theodore Roosevelt — left port at Norfolk, Va., on Wednesday en route to the Mediterranean. Each carrier has 75 aircraft aboard and is accompanied by a dozen warships. A contingent of about 2,100 Marines also is in the Gulf, and a similar-size unit is headed in that direction. Army Secretary Thomas White said the Army is playing a part in the buildup of U.S. forces abroad and that the Army is prepared to conduct “sustained land combat operations.” White said a deployment order signed Wednesday by Rumsfeld is only the first step in a bigger plan. “A lot more will come,” he said. The Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., said Thursday it had received a deployment order. Details were not provided. The command has a wide array of specialized units, including the 75th Ranger Regiment, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, psychological operations units and seven Special Forces Groups spread out across the United States and the world. Air Force officials said Minot Air Force Base, N.D., also will contribute B-52s. Air Force refueling aircraft began deploying Thursday, including KC-135s from Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., officials said. Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., with KC-135 refueling planes, also received deployment orders. Officials at neither base would offer additional details. The Bush administration is considering various options, of which a large-scale invasion of Afghanistan is considered least likely by many defense experts. Many believe the insertion into Afghanistan of small teams of special operations forces, such as Army Rangers, is more likely in the effort to hunt down terrorists. 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