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Wednesday, April 02, 2003

By Burt Herman, The Associated Press

SHUAIBA PORT, Kuwait -- The U.S. Army's most lethal and modern heavy division is weeks away from joining the fight in Iraq, a top division officer said yesterday.

The first three ships carrying the 4th Infantry Division's equipment -- a force that will encompass more than 30,000 troops, 500 armored vehicles and 18 attack helicopters -- arrived yesterday in this Kuwaiti port for unloading.

A total of 30 ships carrying some of the world's most sophisticated military hardware will arrive in the coming days, but it won't face immediate battle: The port can handle only five ships at a time, and each ship takes two to three days to unload. Helicopters have to be reassembled, and weapons need to be tested before being certified combat-ready.

"We could be on the battlefield in a matter of weeks," said Brig. Gen. Stephen Speakes, assistant division commander for support.

Speakes said parts of the division could go into battle without waiting for all its troops and equipment to arrive. Already 5,000 soldiers from the division have arrived by plane to Kuwait in recent days. The equipment made a detour to Kuwait after Turkey's government refused to allow passage of U.S. ground troops.

Ships that had been waiting for weeks in the eastern Mediterranean Sea sailed for 10 days, passing through the Suez Canal to bring cargo here that had been loaded as long as two months ago.

The division's equipment isn't worse for the wear despite its long sea voyage, Speakes said. He said soldiers from the division -- based in Fort Hood, Texas -- were ready to fight from the southern front through the Iraqi desert, as opposed to the more mountainous terrain its tanks and infantrymen would have crossed if they had passed through Turkey into northern Iraq. "We're a central Texas-based force. The hot desert is nothing new to us," Speakes said.

The 4th Infantry Division is the Army's first "digitized division," boasting the latest tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and Apache attack helicopters.

The vehicles are all equipped with computer systems that let soldiers see friendly forces and enemy forces on a map, to minimize the hazards of friendly fire. This war will be the first time the systems are tested in battle.

At Shuaiba Port yesterday, a white shrink-wrapped Apache helicopter was rolled off one ship while soldiers across the port supervised the unloading of support equipment from another.