7th Personnel Group
The 7th Personnel Group, VII Corps' newest major command, provided a variety of services to corps soldiers in Southwest Asia.
The group deployed an advance party to Saudi Arabia in November to begin preparations to receive the corps, followed by the main body in December.
The unit managed personnel strength in the corps' non-divisional units, opened a replacement center and oversaw postal operations for VII Corps.
Growing in size
The group's pre-war strength of 600 grew to almost 2,000 as National Guard and Reserve units came into theater to augment the personnel group.
The 194th Personnel Services Detachment, Lake Charles, La., opened a replacement center, first at the Corps Rear Headquarters, then near Log Base Echo. Soldiers fresh from advanced individual training or gathered from other units went through the replacement center on their way to corps units. Weapons systems replacement operations placed vehicle crews as groups, rather than individuals.
To handle the tons of mail coming into VII Corps, the group received a number of National Guard Postal detachments.
Mail initially came in to Dhahran Intemational airport, and postal units sorted the mail on an open lot at the airbase. Crews worked day and night, sorting and sifting through mail. "Any Servicemember" mail contributed to the workload.
Postal operations move
In January, postal operations moved to Log Base Alpha. Mail was flown into country at King Khalid Military City, and trucked to Log Base Alpha. Once sorted, units picked up their mail for delivery forward.
At the beginning of February, postal operations moved once more, this time to Log Base Echo. Mail competed with ammunition, food and other logistical items needed for the upcoming VII Corps offensive. As a result, mail delivieries slowed.
After the ground war, mail operations caught up with the backload. Postal operations finally moved to KKMC in April, where it remained until the end of the corps' deployment.
Before the war, the group planned for the possibility of large numbers of casualties. The swift and effective ground campaign, however, eliminated the need for mass-casualty reporting.