Operation Desert Storm
by
Master Sgt. Lee Forester
U.S.M.C.R.

It was just after midnight, New Year's Eve, 1991, and we were about to land at Al Juball Airfield in Saudi Arabia. Our Marine Corps Reserve Infantry Battalion had been called up for active duty one month prior, and now we had arrived, "Happy New Year"!
After loading our seabags onto trucks, we prepared to board busses for our trip north along the coast of the Persian Gulf. It was just prior to sunrise, but we had to wait a bit longer, as our Saudi bus drivers gathered their rolled-up prayer mats, and spread them upon the desert sand for their daily prayers, before boarding the bus.
I was tired after our long journey, but could not sleep, as I sat behind this bus driver, a complete stranger to me, dressed in a robe, talking a strange language to me, all the while, staring at us with deep dark eyes, as we climbed aboard our bus. As we moved north, I remember being uneasy as we passed large signs over the highway that said Kuwait. I was wondering how much longer we would be driving before turning off of this highway.
I felt better knowing that I had live rounds in the magazine of my M-16 rifle, lying across my lap, as we continued on our journey to a location called Manifa Bay, where we disembarked, grabbed our gear, and made our way to a large group of general purpose tents set up on the sandy desert floor. These tents would be home to us for the next few weeks, as we began our preparations for war.
After getting settled in, we began to fill sandbags that would line the bottom of our tents, as well as for lining a series of large, deep holes we had dug at the ends of our tents. These were to be our shelters in the event of any Scud rocket attacks by the Iraqis.
We began to familiarize ourselves with the desert environment, and ran numerous patrols along the coast. It was here that the Marines in my platoon became proficient in land navigation, and patrolling during both daytime and in the darkness of night. We became accustomed to living in the desert, and were awaiting word on Iraq's intentions, in regards to their occupation of Kuwait.
A week or so prior to the beginning of the air campaign in January, we had been moved north to an area about three miles south of the border of Kuwait. We left the busses, grabbed our packs, and were left in the middle of nowhere, with one of the worst lightning storms I had ever seen. We commenced to digging in a company sized perimeter defense, as torrents of rain fell upon us, and lighting bolts streaked across the dark desert sky. We climbed into our water soaked holes, and tried to cover ourselves, and our gear as best we could. As I sat in my wet hole, with wet sand and mud running down my back, I had memories of Vietnam, some twenty-three years earlier.
As daybreak approached, we packed up our wet gear, and moved a few kilometers across the flat desert. At a designated area, we formed another perimeter defense, and began to dig in again, while our gear dried out. While here, it would be a continuum of patrolling and classes. One could now sense the urgency in training, as there was an increased military presence in our area, with helicopters and other aircraft in the air daily, as well as an artillery unit, which happened to dig in its heavy gun emplacements near our perimeter. For the life of me, I could not understand at the time, why, in this vast expanse of dessert, they had to choose their positions in front of my platoon's machine gun position!
After a few weeks, this battery picked up, and moved closer to the border for fire missions, and we were left to look at the huge sand berms that had been dug out for their guns. Not being too comfortable with these obstacles, which looked like mountains in the flat desert, I had small listening posts go out to the farthest mound to spend the nights, as these Marines would be our first line of security if any Iraqi soldiers decided to probe our positions.
It was during this time, that one could look up into the dark desert sky, and watch the strobe lights on allied aircraft as they flew north across the border on their bombing missions. From our positions, we could hear explosions, and watch the horizon light up from these bombing runs. The night sky reminded me of a busy freeway amongst the stars.
One night, approximately twenty Iraqi tanks crossed the border into Saudi Arabia, and were headed in our direction. This was the same night that they also went across the border into the small town of Kafji to our east. We felt pretty defenseless sitting out there in the dark desert, wondering if these tanks would reach our area. At first, the word was passed down that we were to put our Marines into "sticks" for helicopter extraction, if necessary. A short while later, our company gunny and first sergeant, drove up to our positions with cases of AT-4 rocket launchers, LAWWs, hand grenades, and rockets for our Dragon teams. We "got the message", and began to dig in a little deeper.
Sitting there that dark night, I wondered how our lone infantry company would fare against twenty Iraqi tanks? I was glad to have two dragon teams with us, but still felt that we could possibly just be "speed bumps in the desert", if they came upon us.
About five or six kilometers directly in front of us, we watched the sky light up and hear the explosions of battle, as a Marine Light Armored Infantry force intercepted the tanks. All we could do was watch this battle unfold in front of our eyes. Two Air Force A-10 "Warthogs" came on station, and joined in the battle. Tracers from their guns were bouncing off the desert floor, and penetrating the armor of the Iraqi tanks. The dark horizon was glowing red from the burning tanks out there. In a few hours, the battle ended with many enemy tanks destroyed, and the surviving tanks escaping back across the border of Kuwait.
At daybreak, we sent a squad of Marines north to pick up some surviving Iraqis from this battle. It was there that these young Marine reservists first witnessed the carnage of battle. They picked up the EPWs, and saw an unfortunate site of eight dead Marines wrapped in ponchos alongside their destroyed vehicle that had been hit by one of the A-10s that night. This sight would be a sobering event for our Marines, and they returned to our positions shortly afterwards with a few tired, frightened, Iraqis.
On 22 February, we moved further north towards the border, and during the early morning hours on 23 February, we crossed the minefields at the border with elements of the 1st Marine Division, and into Kuwait.
I will never forget the sights, smells, and sounds as we crossed into Kuwait. It was than that we would see the burning oil fields, set ablaze by the Iraqis, as well as burning, destroyed Iraqi tanks. It looked and felt as though we were entering hell itself, as we got closer to the Al Bergan oilfields, which were burning furiously. Our ears were filled with the deafening roar from these fires. The morning sky was filled with bright orange fire, and pitch black smoke that could be seen for miles.
I felt a great burden lift from my soul that morning, when we noticed that the strong winds from the north, that had been blowing into our positions for weeks, had now shifted from the south, and were at our backs as we moved north. With the concern that the Iraqis had chemical weapons and would use them on us, I felt that they would not use them on us now, as any chemicals used against us, would be blown back into their positions from this southern wind. It did not matter that these southern winds brought black, oily rains with them, I felt that a "higher presence" was helping us in our quest to push the Iraqi army back into Iraq.
Among the burning wells and tanks, small groups of five to ten Iraqis, and larger groups of up to a hundred would be emerging from the black smoke towards us with white rags above their heads in surrender. A large roar startled me, as a Cobra helicopter above, fired a TOW missile at an Iraqi tank in the desert a few hundred meters from us. There was a large explosion and the tank was destroyed.
With the large volume of Iraqi soldiers approaching, word was passed for our company to stay where we were. While at this position in the desert of Kuwait, we did our best to search, segregate, and contain these Iraqi EPWs. We spent a cold, dark, rainy night, and the next day Marine MPs arrived to pick up the group of prisoners from us, and bring them back to Saudi Arabia.
We began to move north again, and ended up at a military airfield, a few miles southwest of Kuwait City, called El Al Jabar, where we encountered more Iraqi soldiers ready to surrender. We had to stop again and gather them up. We were able to find a fenced in location, at this severely damaged airfield, to hold them. While here, we continued to search bunkers and buildings for any "stragglers".
We located numerous explosives and small arms weapons, including a brand new AK-47 assault rifle I found underneath the mattress of a bunk bed in a large underground bunker complex. We would also locate a ZSU heavy machine gun, and an Iraqi BMP troop carrier near one of the bombed out buildings at the base.
It was at this airbase that we really were able take in the magnitude of damage caused by allied air strikes, which occurred weeks earlier. Besides the bomb damage, we were awestruck at the amount of looting that had taken place. There were numerous civilian vehicles on the base which had been stripped bare of tires, engines, and other parts. The "thieves of Baghdad" had even taken away the plumbing fixtures, piping, and valves from the buildings. Anything of value had been taken back into Iraq.
While at this location, we received word of the cease fire. Even though this day would be pitch black and filled with an oily rainfall, there would be smiles all around.
The remaining EPW were picked up by MPs, and taken back into Saudi Arabia, while we prepared to move out. We moved by convoy towards Kuwait City. As we approached the outskirts of the city, we encountered more and more destroyed civilian and military vehicles along side the highway. We also began to see more and more Kuwaiti civilians in the streets, many of which were waving Kuwaiti flags, and cheering us on.
I became concerned about this sudden change in our environment, and told my Marines to be alert for any danger as we moved through the city streets. We paid particular attention to the higher buildings on either side of our convoy, where I told them to be watching out for snipers. I did enjoy watching the reaction to the cheering people from the Marines, and watched the smiles on their faces from the outpouring of gratitude from the Kuwati people. We were fortunate, and it was a pleasant and heartwarming feeling for what we encountered in this city.
Another fond memory of our trip through the city was the fact that we had the opportunity to lighten the load of MRE rations on the truck in front of us. At each stop along the way, our Marines would jump from our truck, scramble aboard, and come back with cases of rations for us. We would eat better on this trip out of the city, than we had during the whole one hundred hour war!
After spending a few more weeks back at our base camp in Manifa Bay, Saudi Arabia, Alpha Company,1st Bn. 25th Marines returned home to our loved ones, and a homecoming that we would never forget...