For GIs in Saudi Arabia, It’s Dig, Dig and Dig

Military officials said Thursday that U.S. troops on the ground in Saudi Arabia are establishing “defensive positions and perimeters” at their assigned posts, which the officials refused to pinpoint.

But as veterans know, to U.S. military officers, setting up defensive positions means primarily one thing: digging and more digging.

They dig foxholes. They dig anti-tank trenches. They dig latrines, trash pits and machine gun emplacements, in addition to setting out “aiming stakes” so that each gunner knows exactly what piece of terrain he’s responsible for covering. They also sight possible lines of attack and register mortars, anti-tank rockets and artillery pieces.

All of these jobs are described in the Army’s pocket-sized “Soldier’s Manual of Common Tasks.”

“It’s taught in basic (training), refreshed in AIT (advanced individual training); they’re all tested yearly on it,” said Army Maj. Pete Keating. “These are the basic things that all soldiers need to know--whether he’s a cook, an infantryman or an aircraft mechanic. They’re expected to know these basic things because they’re necessary to survival in the field.”

The troops will be camouflaging all their gear, guns, vehicles and command posts with hundreds of yards of light-colored desert camouflage netting. Telephone ground lines will be laid, weather stations set up, ammo stores built and concealed, infantry officers said. In addition, basic Army “fieldcraft” calls for constructing decoy positions to throw off enemy surveillance efforts.

The troops will survey the work at each stage from several different vantage points to ensure that there are no obvious vulnerabilities.

Establishing a perimeter often entails stringing barbed-wire fences and always requires a system of challenge and password to assure that no unauthorized persons enter the post.

And when they’re done with this, experienced officers said, the troops will start all over again with alternate and supplementary positions in case their first line of defense is overrun.

In their spare time, Army veterans said, the soldiers will fill sandbags.