3.18.2

J-1 Section, Personnel and Administration

Augmenting the Task Group with temporary-duty military personnel from various sources
proved helpful in meeting operational requirements with a minimum staff of permanent person-

nel. Since Q clearances are required for ail TG 7.1 personnel in the Forward Area, allowances
will be made in the future for delays or denials of clearance by requesting nomination of temporary-duty personnel somewhat in excess of requirements so that lack of clearance for some
individuals will not hamper operations,

The working space for TG 7.1 on the USS Estes was wholly inadequate for continuous
operation over several months. Space was limited, ventilation was poor, and noise level was
extremely high. If shipboard operations are planned for the future, even as a contingency,
more adequate facilities must be provided.
Airlift of personnel to and from the PPG was not entirely satisfactory. Although the overall support provided by MATS was excellent, mechanical difficulties often made it impossible
to meet published schedules. In scme cases delays of several days were involved, There was
a tendency at MATS terminals to call passengers in too carly and to keep them waiting indefi-

nitely without any-anncuncements whatever as to cause and prebable length of deiays and when
it was expected that Nights would be called. MATS passenger relations should be substantially
improved, It is recommended that a field grade representative of the Pacific Division, MATS,
be assigned to CJTF SEVENas liaison during the operational phase, at least during build-up
and roll-up.
3.18.3

J-3 Section, Plans and Operations

(a) Helicopter Operations, Early in the planning phase TG 17.1 submitted its requirements
for helicopter support. These requirements were computed to fulfill the needs of the Scientific
Task Group in acccmplishing its mission, At Bikini Atoll the number of aircraft supplied by
the Air Force Detachment and Marine Squadron was sufficient to satisfy the needs. This was
primarily due to the fact that there was a minimum of outside requests. The relatively small

Pee

number of K&N requests were easily integrated. However, at Eniwetok the demands of Head-

quarters JTF SEVEN and the requirements of 1G 7.4 and others reduced the availability of
aircraft to TG 7,1 to a point below requirement, To further complicate the problem, as the
operation lengthened the maintenance problems reduced the number of operational helicopters.
Although TG 7.1 is the largest user of helicopters during operational periods, TG 7.5 has
substantial concurrent requirements. The Task Force and each of the other task groups also
have requirements, soine of which occur during the peak TG 7.1 load. In arriving at total Task
Force requirements, these combined needs should be carefully considered. In submitting requirements it is recommended that the number operational be indicated rather than the total
number to be assigned.
During the first half of the operation, the TG 7.1 airlift requirements at Eniwetok Atoll
were arranged directly with the H&N air dispatcher by J-3 Section. This systefunctioned well
for routine requests. However, in most cases, any requests involving nonroutine flights or
missions outside of normal working hours had to be referred to higher staffs, This often resulted in delays. The difficulty was later corrected when TG 7.4 Operations Officers were
siationed at the airport with the authority to act on all requests. Thus the scientific requirements can best be fulfilled when J-3 can place the requirements directly with the supporting

QMe4 &e 8Wenenrws >

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elements,

(ob) Off-site Activities. The support of certain cff-site exp.riments was not satisfactory
in that the support wes irregular and difficult to arrange. Althoush the requirements of this
Headquarters were generally small, they were recurrent and irregular; however, in the interest

of maximum aircraft utilization, attempts were made to integrate them with flights intended for
support of the weather stations whose locations were common to the locations of the off-site

experiments. Because these flights originated from both Eniwetok and Kwajalein, often on short

notice, integration of TG 7.1 requirements with the flights was not always possible.

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