Desert Storm Action

Semper Fi y’all, I am an 0311 ground pounder from the Montgomery, AL reserve unit that was deployed to Saudi Arabia and saw action near Kuwait City. Our unit was Hotel Company of the 3rd Bn 23rd Marines (4th Div). Our unit followed behind the 2nd Marine Division when they rolled into Kuwait. I guess we were protecting the rear and eventually taking a position outside Kuwait City where we remained for a month or two after all the other units left Kuwait. It seemed to us that there were a few Iraqis who hid from the 2nd Div but grew brave when they saw us as we had a handful of engagements. There was only one Abram attached to our unit so we appeared less intimidating. I rode in the back of a Mercedes cattle truck we comondered after its driver fled the Iraqis. Our truck was 2nd to last in a column because it would get stuck in the sand. The last six bi would push us along. Approaching a small farm village an Iraqi fired at the front of the column. After taking position along the side of the road, the last two trucks were selected to patrol for the “sniper.” Not in an emotionaly healthy state of mind, I volunteered for point. I walked through a couple of goat pins and stood in the gateway of a sheet metal fence. Twelve feet to my left Corporal Rouse our shortest man had a green tracer pierce the fence above his head. I hugged the dirt and watched a sea of red tracers fly toward the grain silo the Iraqis had fired from. Anyway, mostly the Iraqis were ready to surrender. So, there aren’t a lot of combat stories from Kuwait but there are some Storm vets with combat action ribbons. Corporal Vickers 1991.