War Stories (17 page)

      
Northern Kuwaiti Desert

      
Thursday, 20 March 2003

      
2000 Hours Local

The sun was just setting as the eight CH-46s from HMM-268 landed an hour ago at this remote British base just a few kilometers from the Iraqi border. Shortly after we touched down, dozens of other helicopters landed around us, until all that could be seen were helicopters—U.S. Marine CH-46s, CH-53s, UH1Ns, and Cobras, and a handful of British Pumas and CH-47s, all dispersed on the desert floor.

As we flew here, at twenty-five feet off the ground and 120 knots, from Ali Al Salem Air Base, the highways below us were crowded with convoys of military equipment, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery pieces, trucks, and Humvees all racing north toward the border with Iraq. Approaching our landing point, I could see up north of us batteries of 155mm howitzers deploying in firing order. The war has been “on” for fourteen hours, and yet for us it has been a strangely surreal day.

This morning, at about 0930 local, the “Great Giant Voice” announced that a missile raid was inbound and we once more raced for the shelters with our gas masks. Once again, Griff couldn't find his. About the time that the Patriot batteries opened fire on the incoming Iraqi missiles, he found it and came dashing into the bunker.

Deadly as it could be in a chemical weapons attack without it, Griff constantly losing his gas mask has become something of a joke within the squadron. So is a photo of Griff curled up asleep on a bench in the ready room, stuffed in a large yellow mailbag. One of the lieutenants took the picture early one freezing cold morning after we had decided that we were too tired to walk back down to the
squadron billeting area. I had my poncho liner, but Griff had left his down at our tent. Thus the “U.S. Postal Service Issue sleeping bag.”

We're not lacking any gear tonight. Right after the morning missile attack, we loaded all our cameras, satellite broadcast equipment, and personal paraphernalia aboard two of the CH-46s in preparation for tonight's mission—carrying the Royal Marines of Four Two Commando in a heloborne assault on Al Faw Peninsula. HMM-268 will be the first birds in the assault, with the squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jerry Driscoll, flying lead for two four-plane divisions full of troops.

While we wait for the signal to lift from Ali Al Salem, we all gather once again around our little TV and learn that the United States and Great Britain had increased their security alert status in anticipation of terrorist attacks, and that in the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security had increased its terrorism alert level to orange, the second-highest level. Americans overseas were warned of possible terror attacks in retaliation for the start of war against Iraq.

While British Tornado jets roared past us loaded with bombs to soften up Iraqi defenses in our landing zones, the news from the United States was all about the Department of the Treasury freezing all nondiplomatic Iraqi government funds that were on deposit in the United States and urging all other governments to do the same with Iraqi funds deposited in their countries' banks.

After hearing this piece of news, one of the pilots sitting on the ground beside me commented, “Gee, I'm sure glad we didn't forget that item on the checklist. I wouldn't want to get shot at by some Iraqi anti-aircraft gunner who hadn't had his assets frozen.”

It is now dark—except for some oil well fires burning to our north. Through my NVGs I can see the British Royal Marines who will be riding into combat with us within a few hours. Our “stick” of eight
men is sitting on the ground just aft of the lowered helicopter ramp, resting on their rucksacks talking quietly. I crawl up on one of the stub wings to eat an MRE, drink some water, say a quiet prayer for safety, and catch a little nap before the final briefing and the assault. I've learned in five prior gunfights—Vietnam, Central America, Beirut, Tehran, and Afghanistan—that you had better eat, drink, sleep, and pray when you can, because once the shooting starts, you may not have time to do any of them.

But unusual for me, sleep won't come. Instead, the words of President Bush to those gathered here on the desert floor keep going through my mind: “The peace of a troubled world and the hopes of an oppressed people now depend on you.” The words themselves did not convey a particular sense of foreboding, yet something keeps me awake. I climb back off the bird and go inside the aircraft to get the Bible I carry in my pack—not knowing that within hours, twelve of the men around me will be dead—the first American and British casualties of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

CHAPTER FOUR

HELICOPTER DOWN!

   
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM SIT REP #10

      
TAA Gibraltar, Vic Iraqi-Kuwaiti Border

      
Friday, 21 March 2003

      
0300 Hours Local

T
he silence immediately around us is almost eerie. But now that the last of more than fifty helicopters has landed and shut down, the sound of 155mm artillery and multiple rocket launchers can be heard firing off in the distance. With darkness settled in around us, the flash of the guns and occasionally the arc of rocket-assisted projectiles (RAP rounds) can be seen on the horizon. Lying or sitting on the ground, one can feel the concussions, which prompts one of the British Royal Marines to comment, “Pity the poor bloke who's on the receiving end of that.”

One of his less experienced mates asks no one in particular, “Is that ours or theirs?”

When no one responds I reply, “It's ours. That's the 11th Marines, firing a Regimental TOT [time on target] on Safwan Hill, clearing the way for the 5th and 7th Marines to cross the berm into Iraq.”

Safwan Hill is a pile of sandstone that dominates the terrain just north of the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. It appears on the aviation chart I'm carrying simply as “466” but it is believed to be an Iraqi observation post. From the hill, just west of the Iraqi border town of Safwan, the Iraqi army can undoubtedly observe and bring fire to bear on any of the 1st Marine Division's 22,000 troops and several thousand combat vehicles as they break through the berm along the demilitarized zone on the attack north.

According to the scuttlebutt among the troops, Maj. Gen. James Mattis, the division commander, has ordered that the hill be “a foot shorter” before the first Marine crosses into Iraq. The 11th Marines' artillery and strike aircraft from Navy carriers in the Persian Gulf and Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base in Kuwait are trying to comply by dumping tons of high explosives on the target.

Before combat operations commenced, Mattis; his boss, Lt. Gen. James Conway, the commander of I-MEF; and Maj. Gen. Jim Amos, commanding the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Reinforced) all issued guidance to those they were leading into battle. Copies of the 1st Marine Division commander's eloquent message were widely distributed to all hands:

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For decades, Saddam Hussein has tortured, imprisoned, raped, and murdered the Iraqi people; invaded neighboring countries without provocation; and threatened the world with weapons of mass destruction. The time has come to end his reign of terror. On your young shoulders rests the hope of mankind.

           
When I give you the word, together we will cross the Line of Departure, close with those forces that choose to fight, and destroy them. Our fight is not with the Iraqi people, nor is it with members of the Iraqi army who choose to surrender. While we will move swiftly and aggressively against those who resist,
we will treat all others with decency, demonstrating chivalry and soldierly compassion for people who have endured a lifetime under Saddam's oppression.

           
Chemical attack, treachery, and use of the innocent as human shields can be expected, as can other unethical tactics . . . Be the hunter—not the hunted. Never be caught with your guard down. Use good judgment and act in the best interest of our nation.

           
You are part of the world's most feared and trusted fighting force. Engage your brain before you engage your weapon. Share your courage with each other as we enter Iraq. Keep faith in your comrades to your left and right and in the Marine Air overhead.

           
For the mission's sake, for our country's sake, and the sake of the men who carried the Division's colors in past battles—“who fought for life and never lost their nerve”—carry out your mission and keep your honor clean. Demonstrate to the world there is “No Better Friend—No Worse Enemy” than a U.S. Marine.

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At the MAG-39 Forward Ops Center, set up beside a UH1N about 150 yards behind our helicopter, one of the communicators confirms that all is going according to the modified plan, even though the H-hour for the ground attack had to be advanced twelve hours because of the unscheduled “decapitation” strike on the Dora Command Center. Until March 19, Gen. Franks's plan of attack had called for a simultaneous air and ground strike, designed to deceive the Iraqis who were anticipating another prolonged air assault like the thirty-eight-day bombardment that had preceded the ground attack during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Officers at CENTCOM had taken to talking
openly about the “shock and awe” of an air campaign as though it would go on for days before any ground troops crossed the border.

Instead, Franks had agreed that coincident air and ground attacks would take place just before dawn on March 21. But once Baghdad had been hit, waiting longer for the ground attack seemed to the Marines like an invitation for Saddam loyalists to start destroying the country's oil infrastructure. So at 2030 hours local, on March 20, RCT-5 (Regimental Combat Team) was given the order to blast through the berm west of Safwan and head north, making it the first ground combat unit to put “boots on the ground” inside Iraq.

It wasn't, however, the first contact with the enemy. Earlier in the afternoon, at about 1600 hours local, elements of the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance (3rd LAR) Battalion, serving as a screening force for RCT-7, had engaged several Iraqi APCs south of the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. FOX News Channel correspondent Rick Leventhal, embedded with the 3rd LAR, reported that the Marine LAV 25s had promptly dispatched the enemy vehicles using TOW anti-tank missiles and the 25mm chain guns mounted on the LAVs.

Now the big guns have fallen silent. In the darkness, all but invisible from less than three kilometers away, there is the sound of hundreds of armored vehicles and trucks, moving without lights, echoing across the desert as RCT-7 moves up for the attack. The first mission for RCT-5 and RCT-7 is to drive straight past Safwan, and north to seize the vital Rumaylah oil fields, gas-oil separation plants (GOSPs), and pumping stations near Az Zubayr before the Iraqis can destroy them.