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January 13 -19
Sunday, 13 January 2008
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Operation Desert Storm Begins
Seventeen years ago, on 17 January 1990, began Operation Desert Storm, one of the Army’s most successful operations. During the forty-three days the operation lasted, the 3ID’s Third (Phantom) Brigade would play an important role in its success.
Five months earlier, on 2 August 1990 Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Army had invaded Kuwait, to which it was deeply indebted from the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-88. The next day both the UN Security Council and the Arab League passed resolutions condemning the invasion and demanding that Iraq withdraw from Kuwait. On 7 August, at the direction of President George H.W. Bush, US forces entered Saudi Arabia to prevent an Iraqi invasion of Saudi Arabia; Iraq owed Saudi Arabia 26 billion dollars and Saddam had begun verbally attacking it as soon as his troops conquered Kuwait. On 8 August Saddam showed his contempt for the UN Resolution by declaring Kuwait the nineteen province of Iraq. Obviously more than words would be needed to restore the status quo ante.
In 1990 the Phantom Brigade was stationed in Aschaffenburg, Germany, ready to defend Western Europe from attack by the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact. On 9 November it was notified to prepare for deployment to Southwest Asia, where it would be attached to the 1st Armored Division, VII Corps with the mission to increase the offensive capability of the US forces. Despite some training problems, the 3d Brigade began its deployment to Saudi Arabia on 14 December and completed it on 28 December. It then immediately deployed to the Tactical Assembly Area (TAA) in the Saudi desert, where it continued the desert training it had begun on landing at Jubail. Its training climaxed with a 150-kilometer full-up brigade movement to contact rehearsal.
The UN Resolution had given Iraq until 16 January to withdraw from Kuwait. The deadline having passed, at about 0200 Saudi time on the 17th the brigade’s radio net crackled with the news of the beginning of Operation Desert Storm with the launching of cruise missiles against Iraq and the beginning of the air offensive. That day the brigade moved from the TAA to Forward Assembly Area (FAA) Garcia in preparation for the ground campaign.
When the ground campaign would finally began in February, the 3d Brigade of the 3ID would be the lead brigade for the 1st Armored Division and VII Corps. In the four-day ground war it would engage two Iraqi Army divisions and three Republican Guard divisions, destroy more than 250 enemy tanks, APCs, trucks and artillery pieces, and capture more than 800 prisoners at the cost of one soldier killed in action and thirty wounded. It would add yet more laurels to the history of the Third Infantry Division.
