GRAPEVINE

By DAVID ELLIS

War is a complicated operation calling for more than just soldiers, sailors and pilots. The Pentagon has deployed many units, mostly from the reserves, that are entrusted with specific support functions:

BATTLEFIELD HISTORIANS. Military History Detachments from all the services have been sent to the gulf to collect and preserve maps and other documents that will eventually become the official history of Desert Shield for the National Archives. Also on deck: service members with artistic talent to do sketches documenting troop life in the sand.

COMBAT PHOTOGRAPHERS. For more immediate history, specialists have been sent to the region to provide stills, film and video images that will be handed over to press pools after passing military censors.

BODY RECOVERY. This unit is trained to deal with the most gruesome aspect of war: the recovery and identification of bodies. Heavy fighting could force soldiers to bury corpses temporarily in the Saudi sands to await exhumation by the unit and shipment home. In the event of a chemical or biological attack, the specialists would have to cleanse the bodies by washing them with decontaminants.

PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE. Another unit will attempt, primarily through radio broadcasts and air-dropped leaflets, to "alter the psychological environment of the battlefield and affect audiences far beyond the confines of the battlefield area." Translation: spread disinformation among the enemy. This unit would also start a free newspaper in liberated Kuwait. If hostilities are carried into Iraq, PSYOP will discourage the civilian population from supporting Saddam's army.

CIVIL AFFARIS. If Kuwait is retaken, a battalion of workers will use Stateside skills in such areas as public health, safety and finance to begin restoring the country's infrastructure. A team of lawyers will begin sorting out international-law matters, and engineers will supervise reconstruction of destroyed areas. They will be helped by members of the Army's Special Operations Force who speak Arabic and know the region.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart