HeavyStick
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Subject: A MARINE'S SITREP FROM KUWAIT
19 February 2003
Well, it has been almost a year since I last sent out a SITREP (Situation Report) to everyone. My last couple of SITREPs seemed to have gotten around. My address book has grown steadily over the years from a direct result of forwarded emails from friends of friends and other people I have not personally met. I have corresponded with many of you numerous times and feel fortunate to call you friends. If you have been forwarded this and don't know the drill, here it is; this is an insight into a small part of what is going on with your deployed Marines in the Persian Gulf. There is no format and I just write as events and ideas come up. You may get some history thrown in because civilization started in this region and to be here and not have an appreciation would be negligent. Politics, current events and my own personal observations are all twisted in together. My intent is not to justify why we are here or to try to get you to agree on military action in Iraq if you are opposed. Politics and international intrigue aside, knowing what your Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen are experiencing might shed a new light on to the media deluge you are probably suffering back home. This is also a good time to update you because I have a feeling in the next couple of weeks events are going to happen quickly. I usually put in a disclaimer to let you know that I have had plenty of downtime so I have had a lot of opportunity to write a very detail account. If you get bored, Ctrl+Alt+Delete&
I went back and reread last year letters to get some continuity. If you remember I was deployed to Camp, Doha, Kuwait a month after the 9/11 attack. My six-month tour was interesting with a lot of official travel through out the Persian Gulf region. One of our underlying objectives was to begin preliminary searches for areas to base Marines and equipment if we were required to go into Iraq. The Kuwaiti government did not want an obvious build up that might provoke the Iraqis or disconcert their fellow Arabs. The area we obtained was an isolated portion of a Kuwaiti Commando training facility. Last year we contracted to start pouring concrete slabs, rudimentary plumbing, drainage and stockpile building materials. From the ground the casual observer would not notice anything out of the ordinary. However, from the air one could see a massive outline of a premeditated Command base.
My tour was up around May of last year. I was asked to extend until September. I could see the writing on the wall and opted to go back to Camp Pendleton to enjoy the summer in Southern California. By May, Black Flag (highest heat index rating limiting outdoor physical activities) days were the norm. The tanks & vehicles get so hot to the touch that their crews can't work on them. They can only work from 4am to 10am and then again at 6pm until they hit the rack. You drink liters of water a day but rarely use the bathroom because your body immediately coverts the water to sweat to cool itself down. I had a pretty good idea I would be back in the fall so surfing in the Pacific Ocean was much more appealing way to spend the summer.
As I write this it is in the earliest hours of my 92nd day in Commando Camp. My predictions came true. I am in a command tent raised over one of the concrete slabs I witnessed being poured last winter. This tour is drastically different than last year. When I boarded the aircraft last year to deploy to Kuwait the world was still swaying in shock from the World trade center attacks. We wanted to strike out but were unsure of what direction we needed to focus our efforts. Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) had just accomplished a previously unthinkable 450-mile inland assault from the sea to secure Camp Rhino and Khandahar Airport in Kabul. Others, like myself were being sent to strengthen our position in the Persian Gulf.
When I arrived in Camp Doha, Kuwait things were tense but there was not a sense of immediate danger. I didn't carry a weapon or gas mask unless I went out into the desert or training areas. I was able to go into Kuwait City and enjoy a meal in any of the local restaurants. Family and friends received lots of gifts because we relentlessly unleashed all our tax-free cash into the ancient shopping markets. This time around things are not tense but there is a definite sense of impending danger in the air. It sounds contradictory but if you are prepared for the worst, you have accepted it and are then able to deal with it when it comes.
Commando Camp is a fortress carved out of the sand. The most import thing we do is protecting ourselves from becoming targets. It is called Force Protection and it begins with the individual. Everyone carries a weapon and full combat load of ammunition at all times. Everyone carries their gas mask at all times. I have a great story later on highlighting the importance of gas masks. The gas masks come with a standard issue of three sets of Atropine and Pralidoxime Chloride injector kits. They are two large needles capable of penetrating your chemical protection suit and uniform. If you are exposed to nerve agents you jam the injectors into your thigh. You have to keep injecting yourself until you can receive proper medical treatment. It is not required but most people carry a go-pack with them. Inside you keep anything you might need in case of an extended stay in a bunker. We have all had every vaccination know to man. My smallpox scar has finally healed and I have had the crucial 3 of 6 Anthrax shots required to be in the theater. The West Nile virus, Yellow Fever, Meningococus shots and the other ones I can't spell all get blurred together. Every time I roll up my sleeve to receive another shot I wonder if this will be the final ingredient that pushes my system over the edge. I doubt they have inter-tested all the combination of shots specifically for B+ blood. The medics soften you up by showing videos of victims from the various diseases and chemical-biological attacks. Believe me, the price of not being internally protected is not worth it. Even with all that going on inside my system I managed to get hit by a bad cold that razed the camp back in January.
The physical layout of the camp is approximately 2 miles around the perimeter and surrounded by concertina wire and fences. On the inside of the perimeter is a seven-foot berm that encircles the camp. This is an anti-RPG (shoulder fired rocket) precaution that makes it difficult to get a direct shot into the camp. All the key points have guard towers with very focused young Marines manning them 24/7. Most of these Marines graduated from your local high schools last year. I don't know what their friends back home are doing but these guys are motivated and honestly feel lucky to be in a position to face down the bad guys. No weapon or technology will ever overcome a military with self-motivated people bristling with esprite' de corps. Yes, having the best stuff on your side helps and we have great gear right down to our warm fleece liners and body armor.
In the center of the base is a seven-story tower the Kuwaitis use for repelling training. We have deployed a sniper team at the top of the tower. No matter where you are on the camp you can always see a .50 caliber sniper rifle sticking out of that lofty, sand bagged bunker. With night vision goggles and infrared sights they can see and take out any bad Hadjis coming a mile a way day or night. This all might seem excessive to some people but most people have never felt the focus being a target before. There are two types of targets for a terrorist or saboteur, a soft target and a hard target. The two American contract workers that were attacked last month just outside of Kuwait City were soft targets. They were unarmed, they were going back to their hotel the same way they had for the past month and worst of all, they didn't consider themselves targets. The terrorists did. The contractors were ambushed at a stoplight and torn up by two gunmen with AK-47s. One died and the other was seriously wounded. In 1983 we lost over 300 Marines in Beirut because they thought their Force Protection measures were adequate enough. A suicide bomber managed to plow through the front gate with a truck full of explosives and blow up a barracks full of Marines on an early Sunday morning. You want to be the hardest target out there so the bad guys will pass you up for an easier target. Fortunately, we have a lot of Air Force people running around the country. Their command won't let their airmen carry weapons inside their compounds because they are afraid they might shoot themselves. Soft mentality, soft targets.
We do have weak points. We have to let local contract workers into provide services like delivering water, building supplies, food and cleaning out the port-a-potties. All the workers are searched and their trucks cleared by bomb dogs. It would still be easy to do some damage if you had a mind to& we just try and make it as difficult as possible. The workers are called TCNs or Third Country Nationals. Kuwaitis do not do any manual labor so they import their labor from Pakistan, Yemen, Bangladesh and other poor, regional countries. Most of our threat comes from the TCNs. The local Kuwaitis are U.S. friendly and will always wave at you. The Kuwaitis are passive in their official support of the U.S. Military but the locals on the street remember our liberation force in 1991. Al Queda members enter the country as a TCN and clean out the toilets and deliver supplies in order to gain intelligence. The guards routinely arrest TCNs taking notes or even pictures of security areas. The Kuwaiti government will promptly deport them but you have to wonder who we do not catch. It all comes back to being a hard target. I mentioned early about bad Hadjis. A Hadji is not necessarily a derogatory term. In literal Arabic it means someone who has made the Hadj or pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which a devout Muslim makes during his lifetime. The Hadj is one of the pillars of Islam. It is a convenient term to call the locals, both good and bad. However, I think most Marines use it because Johnny Quest's best friend in the old cartoon was called Hadji.
Through out the camp there are concrete bunkers wrapped in sand bags. Everyone has an assigned bunker but as past drills have demonstrated, it is every man for himself. You just grab the closest one, mask up and wait it out. I promised you a gas mask story. Last week I was in a briefing with 15-20 people from different commands and agencies. There were two OGAs (Other Government Agencies read CIA). They are on their own agenda and don't follow any force protection rules. We were all around a large table in an open-sided tent when the siren went off declaring some sort of chem-bio attack. We all assumed it was another drill until there was a declaration that it was not a drill and to don your gas masks. Everyone remained fairly calm and thought, Well, here we go. Once we masked up we noticed that the OGAs were just sitting there with worried looks on their faces. One of them asked if it was in fact a real alarm. A Lt. Colonel next to me, yelled through his mask in all seriousness "Well, we will know for sure when you two fall over dead!". Then all the dark humor began to pour out of everyone wearing the protective gear. Most of the comments consisted of "Sucks being you Spook!" Our special government friends tend to be a bit aloof so we were not going to let them off that easy. Apparently, a bulldozer ran over some unexploded ordinance left over from the war and a white plum of smoke was dispensed. It ended up being nothing serious. It was a real wake up call how exposed you can feel if you are caught out in the open with out your gas mask. It can hit at any time.
That covers the physical layout and some of our security precautions. What about why I am here and what is my mission? I arrived with 852 Marines last November. The Command had already purchased a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving so they deployed everyone five days before Thanksgiving in order to eat it. Why eat a home cooked, holiday meal with family and friends when one has already been prepared for you by a bunch of Pakistanis in Kuwait? Sorry about that, just some healthy venting. Anyway, we make up the Command Element for 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF). We all work for a three star general. He commands three main elements: 3rd Marine Air Wing, 1st Marine Division, 1st Fleet Service Support Group and the 3rd Commando Group (British Royal Marines). The 3rd Air Wing has all the Marine Aircraft (Jets, Helicopters, etc...). The 1st Marine Division has all the infantry, artillery and tanks. The Fleet Service Support Group (FSSG) does all the behind the scenes essentials like feeding, watering and building. The FSSG also controls all the medical facilities and corpsman. There are numerous other smaller units attached to I MEF as well. The British Royal Marines bring a lot of experience and professional fighters to our arsenal. The Marines Corps was modeled after the British Royal Marines. We have a long history of cooperation and mutual respect for each other.
Each of these commands has a two star general that works for my boss. The purpose of the I MEF staff is to coordinate all the other commands to ensure that they can understand what is intended for the next 48-96 hours. They have to plan their assets in order to help out the other supported commands. For example, if my boss wants to seize a particular bridge, we will calculate if it is feasible and then let everyone know what we want done. The air guys will start to plan the air cover but that will require gas and ordinance so the FSSG guys will have to pre-position fuel and ammunition. The infantry will have to take the bridge but they will require helicopter or vehicle support for the insertion, which will require more planning, and more fuel. Once they take the bridge they are going to hold it so they are going to have to be resupplied. FSSG will have to plan ahead to either truck the supplies in or fly them in& more fuel and on and on. Now, what if Sadam blows all the key bridges in place before we get there? We have to move pre-fabricated bridges to the crossing; install it and provide security while the engineers are working. Every possible situation has to be planned for and rehearsed so that when it comes time to execute the mission it goes smoothly. Now you are ready for the 1,000 things to happen that you didn't plan for. Operations on this level are always about logistics and planning a head.
The original 852 have recently swelled to over 4,500 in Commando Camp. We have 55,000 more personnel spread out over different marshalling areas in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain & Qatar. I MEF will eventual have 20,000+ British forces attached to us. I don't even want to get into the total number of US Army that are in the area. A fully mechanized Army Division is simply mind-boggling. I know I am going to lose some of you with the details but this is your military and it is truly the most formidable force ever fielded by any nation. Power is not in the weapons but the capability of quickly deploying them anywhere in the world. Imagine taking your entire office (the corporate headquarters and every regional office have to go as well) to include all the personnel, furniture, computers, and other necessities required to do your job. You then have to move everything and everyone half way around the world. You must then set up temporary shelters, provide power, run your computer networks, feed all your personnel and provide them with a place to sleep, shower (not a priority) and deal with all of nature s calls. You have to provide your own medical facilities because your people will get hurt. Oh, and by the way, the country you just relocated to doesn't want you there and is going to try and physically put you out of business. You really succeeded if all your personnel are motivated and eager to complete the mission. They don't bitch and complain about not being able to meet their newborn children or missing their families. Yes, you will find plenty of Marines complaining about something but just try and send them home.
Back to the basic Army Division& On our left (western) flank is the 3rd Infantry Division that recently deployed from their base in Germany. Marines are tough but we don't win the big wars. The Army wins the big wars. They do it because they are massive and can bring an incomprehensible amount of firepower to a fight. The premier Army Mechanized Division is 3rd Infantry Division. They have a long history going back to WWII and the Battle of the Marne. They never left Germany after they destroyed the Nazis. Last month they deployed to Kuwait to be the spearhead (along with 1st Marine Division) for any action in Iraq. Here is where I said I would lose some of you with the details. The most important fact to remember is that one Army Mechanized Division has more firepower than most countries. When 3rd ID comes to play they bring 665 combat vehicles. This includes 203 M1A1 Abrams tanks, 54 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, 267 Bradley fighting vehicles and 24 Apache Helicopters just to name a few. Their Division also brings 1215 dismounted infantrymen. This is just the frontline equipment. Right behind them are 4311 support vehicles. This is all the fuel trucks, cargo carriers, hummers, ambulances and anything else required to keep the Division moving. To shed some light on the logistical nightmare that is handled everyday, lets do some fuel math. One main Abrams battle tank inhales 2 gallons of fuel per mile with a 300-mile range. Basically, 600 gallons of fuel per tank until it needs refueling. 600 gal. X 203 tanks = 181,800 gallons to keep the Division tanks moving for a day or two. Most fuel trucks carry 5,000 gallons of fuel so you need at least 25 loads on hand. Average that out between the rest of the 665 vehicles on the frontline and 4311 support vehicles. A Hummer gets better gas mileage but not very much. Oh, did I mention the Division has over 1,790 Hummers? The biggest fuel burners are the helicopters. The most thankless job is the guy who has to plan, move and distribute the fuel. I have just scratched the surface of what it takes to keep 20,000 soldiers and their equipment running smoothly. Remember 6 weeks ago these guys were in Germany. The Army has 5 other Mech Divisions like 3rd ID. There are 4 other Divisions that are not so heavily mechanized but are just as potent focusing on Infantry. I won t go into the Air Force Wings and Navy Carrier groups. All of this hardware can be brought to bear very rapidly most places in the world.
Are you still with me? Most of your questions are not about poor fuel economy in combat. Most questions ask about what I do on a day-to-day basis. Well, besides marking off the dead days on a calendar filled with a month of Mondays, it is training, training and more training. It is all about communications. Commando Camp is a marshalling base. If we do go into Iraq we are going to move a command unit forward. It will be more streamlined and not everyone will go. It is the same concept as a Mount Everest expedition that establishes base camps along the way. They provide supply points and a way to move material and personnel forward. The farther forward you go the less support you have. We recently procured some high-speed, low-drag command tents that are similar to your basic self-erecting camping tent but on steroids. We can put up an interconnected dome style tent that can shelter 100 fully function terminals hooked up to satellite feeds with in 4 hours. Large, projection screens can display real-time satellite imagery and video feeds from unmanned aircraft. Environmental systems keep the inside cool (relatively) not for the people but for the computers. The command is well behind the front lines but continues to move forward so the general can remain close to his battlefield commanders. This ensures timely decisions are made with the best information available. When we go forward we are issued small, two-man, desert pup tents very similar to one you would use on a camping trip. We run 12-hour shifts so if you are smart you make sure your tent mate is on the opposite shift. That way you don't end up with some knucklehead rolling over on top of you in the middle of the night because he is dreaming of his significant other.
The farther away from the main base you get the more austere the living conditions. Showers will be a field expedient bottle of water left out in the sun and meals come from sealed, plastic bags made in Mullins, South Carolina two years ago. None of this compares to what frontline infantry units goes through. They sleep wherever they happen to be at the time and eat whenever time permits. All of this takes practice so you can deploy each base camp quickly and efficiently. Everyone knows where they will be going and what equipment they will need. We practice setting up the tents and taking them down. Establishing connectivity with the other units via satellite and getting power to everything. All of the people and gear have to fit into trucks so it has to be packed and loaded the same way every time.
It keeps you busy which makes the days go by faster. When we are not training everyone passes their free time in their own way. Books are always the staple. We receive boxes of paperbacks from different groups back home. Every tent has a book exchange set up. DVDs are popular. Laptops or personal DVD players get set up with some external speakers and a group will gather around to see the latest release or classic movie. Everyone stays in shape by running the perimeters or hitting the always present Marine weight room (tent). The command has unit-conditioning hikes up to Mutla Ridge and back. Mutla Ridge is the only significant terrain feature in an otherwise flat, Kuwaiti landscape. The ridgeline is about 1200 feet high and overlooks Kuwait City. It has an impressive commanding view of key Kuwaiti infrastructure and strategic points. This is why the Iraq Republican Guard set up their artillery batteries there and shelled the city and defenses into submission when they invaded in August 1990.
This is a good point to round this whole journal up. The last statement is the reason why we are here, Sadam Hussein. Do I think we should go north and help the Iraqi people with a regime change? Yes. Do I have reservations? Yes. I have been to Bosnia and Kosovo. Yugoslavia was viciously, ethnically diverse but it was held together by a dictator. Tito was a communist dictator and made everyone within his borders one nationality. Any uprising from the Muslims, Croatians, Albanians, Macedonians, Serbs or Kosovars Tito s military would suppress it immediately. We all know what a mess Bosnia and Serbia turned into after Tito died. When the U.N. failed to restore order, U.S. Forces crossed the Saba River in 1995. Clinton said we would be there one year. We are still there and in Kosovo. When either the coalition forces or his own people remove Sadam, there will be a power vacuum like the former Yugoslavia. The people and land with in Iraq are ancient but the British manufactured the state of Iraq in 1920. This was accomplished through a League of Nations Covenant making the British created territorial boundaries of Iraq a mandate of the British Empire. Borders were drawn arbitrarily through the desert cutting off tribes, trade routes and grazing land. There are Kurds to the north that were promised their own country but Turkey and modern day Iraq never allowed that to happen. There are Sunni and Shiite Muslims that don't trust each other. Sadam's Baath party (Sunni) has been in power since they assassinated King Faisal in 1958. Sadam worked his way to the top within his party in 1979 by ruthlessly eliminating any political enemies. The Baath party will have enemies. This is an oversimplification of an intricate, political mess but it gives you an idea what we face in the aftermath of a regime change.
However, the Iraqi people are highly educated and they have a ready source of self-supporting income through their vast oil reserves. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers makes the land very fertile and capable of producing a surplus of food if managed correctly (it hasn't). If Sadam had used his resources to build up his nation he would be the most powerful man in the Arab world. It would not have been through aggression but through a strong economy and effective leadership. He abused his power and his people have suffered through wars, starvation and genocide. I think in the end Iraq will recover and be a leader in the modern Arab world. They will do this by keeping politics and religion separate. Inefficient governments due to overzealous Islamic restrictions plague the Arab world. It will be interesting to see and I am fortunate to be in a position to be apart of the transformation.
Aside from the political impacts I am looking forward to being just a plain tourist. Our path north will take us into the Mesopotamia Valley that is the cradle of modern civilization. The ruins of the Tower of Babel, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Assyrian ruins are all there. Interestingly enough, Hammurabi's Code was written in the area. King Hammurabi ruled the region from 1792-1750 BC. This was the first sophisticated code of law put into writing. It gave commercial structure so merchants could prosper. The position of women, marriage, divorce, rent, administration of justice and labor conditions were written down in Hammurabi's code. Separation of religion and secular authority was also a main theme. Sadam claims to be the modern embodiment of ancient rulers like Nebuchadnezzar and Saladin. Their claim was conquering ancient Judah, destroying Jerusalem and throwing out the Christian, Medieval Crusaders. Sadam is selective in his history of his region.
Right now there is a change in the air. Our schedule is hectic but not as frantic as it has been. We now have all our necessary first strike forces in place. The follow on forces are flowing in everyday. It feels like the calm before the storm. I haven't written about anything too exciting except day-to-day events and impressions while we wait around in the desert. I hope when I write again in a few months I will have more dramatic tales to tell. If you are questioning U.S. motives and feel that we really shouldn t use military action in Iraq, you are right to question the government anytime they send your local high school graduates into the breach. Everything aside, the basic fact is that Sadam has not honored even one U.N. resolution that kept us from taking him out of power after the Gulf War. World opinion would have supported such actions. Neither the U.N. nor the last administration chose to enforce the resolutions allowing Sadam to continue his destructive ways. Just know that everyone here is a volunteer and those that are not here are trying to get here. We are not spoiling for a fight or trying to justify our jobs. We are the ones who are going to face 100+ degree temperatures with the very real threat of chemical and biological weapons raining down on top of us. We just see tyranny more clearly and know our history. Tyranny left unchecked by apathetic people is why Hitler was able to see the Cliffs of Dover from the shores of Western France.
Well, if you skipped to the end I don't blame you. This journal/sitrep/update is longer than I intended. It is a good way for me to keep track of where I have been over the years. Also, it gets very still in the darkest hours of the night shift. Bringing you all into my world makes the distance back home seem closer. Thank you for all the packages, letters, emails and support. You don't have to wear a uniform to serve your country.
Semper Fi,
Grant Williams
Major U.S. Marines
Commando Camp, Kuwait
We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm. - George Orwell
19 February 2003
Well, it has been almost a year since I last sent out a SITREP (Situation Report) to everyone. My last couple of SITREPs seemed to have gotten around. My address book has grown steadily over the years from a direct result of forwarded emails from friends of friends and other people I have not personally met. I have corresponded with many of you numerous times and feel fortunate to call you friends. If you have been forwarded this and don't know the drill, here it is; this is an insight into a small part of what is going on with your deployed Marines in the Persian Gulf. There is no format and I just write as events and ideas come up. You may get some history thrown in because civilization started in this region and to be here and not have an appreciation would be negligent. Politics, current events and my own personal observations are all twisted in together. My intent is not to justify why we are here or to try to get you to agree on military action in Iraq if you are opposed. Politics and international intrigue aside, knowing what your Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen are experiencing might shed a new light on to the media deluge you are probably suffering back home. This is also a good time to update you because I have a feeling in the next couple of weeks events are going to happen quickly. I usually put in a disclaimer to let you know that I have had plenty of downtime so I have had a lot of opportunity to write a very detail account. If you get bored, Ctrl+Alt+Delete&
I went back and reread last year letters to get some continuity. If you remember I was deployed to Camp, Doha, Kuwait a month after the 9/11 attack. My six-month tour was interesting with a lot of official travel through out the Persian Gulf region. One of our underlying objectives was to begin preliminary searches for areas to base Marines and equipment if we were required to go into Iraq. The Kuwaiti government did not want an obvious build up that might provoke the Iraqis or disconcert their fellow Arabs. The area we obtained was an isolated portion of a Kuwaiti Commando training facility. Last year we contracted to start pouring concrete slabs, rudimentary plumbing, drainage and stockpile building materials. From the ground the casual observer would not notice anything out of the ordinary. However, from the air one could see a massive outline of a premeditated Command base.
My tour was up around May of last year. I was asked to extend until September. I could see the writing on the wall and opted to go back to Camp Pendleton to enjoy the summer in Southern California. By May, Black Flag (highest heat index rating limiting outdoor physical activities) days were the norm. The tanks & vehicles get so hot to the touch that their crews can't work on them. They can only work from 4am to 10am and then again at 6pm until they hit the rack. You drink liters of water a day but rarely use the bathroom because your body immediately coverts the water to sweat to cool itself down. I had a pretty good idea I would be back in the fall so surfing in the Pacific Ocean was much more appealing way to spend the summer.
As I write this it is in the earliest hours of my 92nd day in Commando Camp. My predictions came true. I am in a command tent raised over one of the concrete slabs I witnessed being poured last winter. This tour is drastically different than last year. When I boarded the aircraft last year to deploy to Kuwait the world was still swaying in shock from the World trade center attacks. We wanted to strike out but were unsure of what direction we needed to focus our efforts. Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) had just accomplished a previously unthinkable 450-mile inland assault from the sea to secure Camp Rhino and Khandahar Airport in Kabul. Others, like myself were being sent to strengthen our position in the Persian Gulf.
When I arrived in Camp Doha, Kuwait things were tense but there was not a sense of immediate danger. I didn't carry a weapon or gas mask unless I went out into the desert or training areas. I was able to go into Kuwait City and enjoy a meal in any of the local restaurants. Family and friends received lots of gifts because we relentlessly unleashed all our tax-free cash into the ancient shopping markets. This time around things are not tense but there is a definite sense of impending danger in the air. It sounds contradictory but if you are prepared for the worst, you have accepted it and are then able to deal with it when it comes.
Commando Camp is a fortress carved out of the sand. The most import thing we do is protecting ourselves from becoming targets. It is called Force Protection and it begins with the individual. Everyone carries a weapon and full combat load of ammunition at all times. Everyone carries their gas mask at all times. I have a great story later on highlighting the importance of gas masks. The gas masks come with a standard issue of three sets of Atropine and Pralidoxime Chloride injector kits. They are two large needles capable of penetrating your chemical protection suit and uniform. If you are exposed to nerve agents you jam the injectors into your thigh. You have to keep injecting yourself until you can receive proper medical treatment. It is not required but most people carry a go-pack with them. Inside you keep anything you might need in case of an extended stay in a bunker. We have all had every vaccination know to man. My smallpox scar has finally healed and I have had the crucial 3 of 6 Anthrax shots required to be in the theater. The West Nile virus, Yellow Fever, Meningococus shots and the other ones I can't spell all get blurred together. Every time I roll up my sleeve to receive another shot I wonder if this will be the final ingredient that pushes my system over the edge. I doubt they have inter-tested all the combination of shots specifically for B+ blood. The medics soften you up by showing videos of victims from the various diseases and chemical-biological attacks. Believe me, the price of not being internally protected is not worth it. Even with all that going on inside my system I managed to get hit by a bad cold that razed the camp back in January.
The physical layout of the camp is approximately 2 miles around the perimeter and surrounded by concertina wire and fences. On the inside of the perimeter is a seven-foot berm that encircles the camp. This is an anti-RPG (shoulder fired rocket) precaution that makes it difficult to get a direct shot into the camp. All the key points have guard towers with very focused young Marines manning them 24/7. Most of these Marines graduated from your local high schools last year. I don't know what their friends back home are doing but these guys are motivated and honestly feel lucky to be in a position to face down the bad guys. No weapon or technology will ever overcome a military with self-motivated people bristling with esprite' de corps. Yes, having the best stuff on your side helps and we have great gear right down to our warm fleece liners and body armor.
In the center of the base is a seven-story tower the Kuwaitis use for repelling training. We have deployed a sniper team at the top of the tower. No matter where you are on the camp you can always see a .50 caliber sniper rifle sticking out of that lofty, sand bagged bunker. With night vision goggles and infrared sights they can see and take out any bad Hadjis coming a mile a way day or night. This all might seem excessive to some people but most people have never felt the focus being a target before. There are two types of targets for a terrorist or saboteur, a soft target and a hard target. The two American contract workers that were attacked last month just outside of Kuwait City were soft targets. They were unarmed, they were going back to their hotel the same way they had for the past month and worst of all, they didn't consider themselves targets. The terrorists did. The contractors were ambushed at a stoplight and torn up by two gunmen with AK-47s. One died and the other was seriously wounded. In 1983 we lost over 300 Marines in Beirut because they thought their Force Protection measures were adequate enough. A suicide bomber managed to plow through the front gate with a truck full of explosives and blow up a barracks full of Marines on an early Sunday morning. You want to be the hardest target out there so the bad guys will pass you up for an easier target. Fortunately, we have a lot of Air Force people running around the country. Their command won't let their airmen carry weapons inside their compounds because they are afraid they might shoot themselves. Soft mentality, soft targets.
We do have weak points. We have to let local contract workers into provide services like delivering water, building supplies, food and cleaning out the port-a-potties. All the workers are searched and their trucks cleared by bomb dogs. It would still be easy to do some damage if you had a mind to& we just try and make it as difficult as possible. The workers are called TCNs or Third Country Nationals. Kuwaitis do not do any manual labor so they import their labor from Pakistan, Yemen, Bangladesh and other poor, regional countries. Most of our threat comes from the TCNs. The local Kuwaitis are U.S. friendly and will always wave at you. The Kuwaitis are passive in their official support of the U.S. Military but the locals on the street remember our liberation force in 1991. Al Queda members enter the country as a TCN and clean out the toilets and deliver supplies in order to gain intelligence. The guards routinely arrest TCNs taking notes or even pictures of security areas. The Kuwaiti government will promptly deport them but you have to wonder who we do not catch. It all comes back to being a hard target. I mentioned early about bad Hadjis. A Hadji is not necessarily a derogatory term. In literal Arabic it means someone who has made the Hadj or pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which a devout Muslim makes during his lifetime. The Hadj is one of the pillars of Islam. It is a convenient term to call the locals, both good and bad. However, I think most Marines use it because Johnny Quest's best friend in the old cartoon was called Hadji.
Through out the camp there are concrete bunkers wrapped in sand bags. Everyone has an assigned bunker but as past drills have demonstrated, it is every man for himself. You just grab the closest one, mask up and wait it out. I promised you a gas mask story. Last week I was in a briefing with 15-20 people from different commands and agencies. There were two OGAs (Other Government Agencies read CIA). They are on their own agenda and don't follow any force protection rules. We were all around a large table in an open-sided tent when the siren went off declaring some sort of chem-bio attack. We all assumed it was another drill until there was a declaration that it was not a drill and to don your gas masks. Everyone remained fairly calm and thought, Well, here we go. Once we masked up we noticed that the OGAs were just sitting there with worried looks on their faces. One of them asked if it was in fact a real alarm. A Lt. Colonel next to me, yelled through his mask in all seriousness "Well, we will know for sure when you two fall over dead!". Then all the dark humor began to pour out of everyone wearing the protective gear. Most of the comments consisted of "Sucks being you Spook!" Our special government friends tend to be a bit aloof so we were not going to let them off that easy. Apparently, a bulldozer ran over some unexploded ordinance left over from the war and a white plum of smoke was dispensed. It ended up being nothing serious. It was a real wake up call how exposed you can feel if you are caught out in the open with out your gas mask. It can hit at any time.
That covers the physical layout and some of our security precautions. What about why I am here and what is my mission? I arrived with 852 Marines last November. The Command had already purchased a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving so they deployed everyone five days before Thanksgiving in order to eat it. Why eat a home cooked, holiday meal with family and friends when one has already been prepared for you by a bunch of Pakistanis in Kuwait? Sorry about that, just some healthy venting. Anyway, we make up the Command Element for 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF). We all work for a three star general. He commands three main elements: 3rd Marine Air Wing, 1st Marine Division, 1st Fleet Service Support Group and the 3rd Commando Group (British Royal Marines). The 3rd Air Wing has all the Marine Aircraft (Jets, Helicopters, etc...). The 1st Marine Division has all the infantry, artillery and tanks. The Fleet Service Support Group (FSSG) does all the behind the scenes essentials like feeding, watering and building. The FSSG also controls all the medical facilities and corpsman. There are numerous other smaller units attached to I MEF as well. The British Royal Marines bring a lot of experience and professional fighters to our arsenal. The Marines Corps was modeled after the British Royal Marines. We have a long history of cooperation and mutual respect for each other.
Each of these commands has a two star general that works for my boss. The purpose of the I MEF staff is to coordinate all the other commands to ensure that they can understand what is intended for the next 48-96 hours. They have to plan their assets in order to help out the other supported commands. For example, if my boss wants to seize a particular bridge, we will calculate if it is feasible and then let everyone know what we want done. The air guys will start to plan the air cover but that will require gas and ordinance so the FSSG guys will have to pre-position fuel and ammunition. The infantry will have to take the bridge but they will require helicopter or vehicle support for the insertion, which will require more planning, and more fuel. Once they take the bridge they are going to hold it so they are going to have to be resupplied. FSSG will have to plan ahead to either truck the supplies in or fly them in& more fuel and on and on. Now, what if Sadam blows all the key bridges in place before we get there? We have to move pre-fabricated bridges to the crossing; install it and provide security while the engineers are working. Every possible situation has to be planned for and rehearsed so that when it comes time to execute the mission it goes smoothly. Now you are ready for the 1,000 things to happen that you didn't plan for. Operations on this level are always about logistics and planning a head.
The original 852 have recently swelled to over 4,500 in Commando Camp. We have 55,000 more personnel spread out over different marshalling areas in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain & Qatar. I MEF will eventual have 20,000+ British forces attached to us. I don't even want to get into the total number of US Army that are in the area. A fully mechanized Army Division is simply mind-boggling. I know I am going to lose some of you with the details but this is your military and it is truly the most formidable force ever fielded by any nation. Power is not in the weapons but the capability of quickly deploying them anywhere in the world. Imagine taking your entire office (the corporate headquarters and every regional office have to go as well) to include all the personnel, furniture, computers, and other necessities required to do your job. You then have to move everything and everyone half way around the world. You must then set up temporary shelters, provide power, run your computer networks, feed all your personnel and provide them with a place to sleep, shower (not a priority) and deal with all of nature s calls. You have to provide your own medical facilities because your people will get hurt. Oh, and by the way, the country you just relocated to doesn't want you there and is going to try and physically put you out of business. You really succeeded if all your personnel are motivated and eager to complete the mission. They don't bitch and complain about not being able to meet their newborn children or missing their families. Yes, you will find plenty of Marines complaining about something but just try and send them home.
Back to the basic Army Division& On our left (western) flank is the 3rd Infantry Division that recently deployed from their base in Germany. Marines are tough but we don't win the big wars. The Army wins the big wars. They do it because they are massive and can bring an incomprehensible amount of firepower to a fight. The premier Army Mechanized Division is 3rd Infantry Division. They have a long history going back to WWII and the Battle of the Marne. They never left Germany after they destroyed the Nazis. Last month they deployed to Kuwait to be the spearhead (along with 1st Marine Division) for any action in Iraq. Here is where I said I would lose some of you with the details. The most important fact to remember is that one Army Mechanized Division has more firepower than most countries. When 3rd ID comes to play they bring 665 combat vehicles. This includes 203 M1A1 Abrams tanks, 54 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, 267 Bradley fighting vehicles and 24 Apache Helicopters just to name a few. Their Division also brings 1215 dismounted infantrymen. This is just the frontline equipment. Right behind them are 4311 support vehicles. This is all the fuel trucks, cargo carriers, hummers, ambulances and anything else required to keep the Division moving. To shed some light on the logistical nightmare that is handled everyday, lets do some fuel math. One main Abrams battle tank inhales 2 gallons of fuel per mile with a 300-mile range. Basically, 600 gallons of fuel per tank until it needs refueling. 600 gal. X 203 tanks = 181,800 gallons to keep the Division tanks moving for a day or two. Most fuel trucks carry 5,000 gallons of fuel so you need at least 25 loads on hand. Average that out between the rest of the 665 vehicles on the frontline and 4311 support vehicles. A Hummer gets better gas mileage but not very much. Oh, did I mention the Division has over 1,790 Hummers? The biggest fuel burners are the helicopters. The most thankless job is the guy who has to plan, move and distribute the fuel. I have just scratched the surface of what it takes to keep 20,000 soldiers and their equipment running smoothly. Remember 6 weeks ago these guys were in Germany. The Army has 5 other Mech Divisions like 3rd ID. There are 4 other Divisions that are not so heavily mechanized but are just as potent focusing on Infantry. I won t go into the Air Force Wings and Navy Carrier groups. All of this hardware can be brought to bear very rapidly most places in the world.
Are you still with me? Most of your questions are not about poor fuel economy in combat. Most questions ask about what I do on a day-to-day basis. Well, besides marking off the dead days on a calendar filled with a month of Mondays, it is training, training and more training. It is all about communications. Commando Camp is a marshalling base. If we do go into Iraq we are going to move a command unit forward. It will be more streamlined and not everyone will go. It is the same concept as a Mount Everest expedition that establishes base camps along the way. They provide supply points and a way to move material and personnel forward. The farther forward you go the less support you have. We recently procured some high-speed, low-drag command tents that are similar to your basic self-erecting camping tent but on steroids. We can put up an interconnected dome style tent that can shelter 100 fully function terminals hooked up to satellite feeds with in 4 hours. Large, projection screens can display real-time satellite imagery and video feeds from unmanned aircraft. Environmental systems keep the inside cool (relatively) not for the people but for the computers. The command is well behind the front lines but continues to move forward so the general can remain close to his battlefield commanders. This ensures timely decisions are made with the best information available. When we go forward we are issued small, two-man, desert pup tents very similar to one you would use on a camping trip. We run 12-hour shifts so if you are smart you make sure your tent mate is on the opposite shift. That way you don't end up with some knucklehead rolling over on top of you in the middle of the night because he is dreaming of his significant other.
The farther away from the main base you get the more austere the living conditions. Showers will be a field expedient bottle of water left out in the sun and meals come from sealed, plastic bags made in Mullins, South Carolina two years ago. None of this compares to what frontline infantry units goes through. They sleep wherever they happen to be at the time and eat whenever time permits. All of this takes practice so you can deploy each base camp quickly and efficiently. Everyone knows where they will be going and what equipment they will need. We practice setting up the tents and taking them down. Establishing connectivity with the other units via satellite and getting power to everything. All of the people and gear have to fit into trucks so it has to be packed and loaded the same way every time.
It keeps you busy which makes the days go by faster. When we are not training everyone passes their free time in their own way. Books are always the staple. We receive boxes of paperbacks from different groups back home. Every tent has a book exchange set up. DVDs are popular. Laptops or personal DVD players get set up with some external speakers and a group will gather around to see the latest release or classic movie. Everyone stays in shape by running the perimeters or hitting the always present Marine weight room (tent). The command has unit-conditioning hikes up to Mutla Ridge and back. Mutla Ridge is the only significant terrain feature in an otherwise flat, Kuwaiti landscape. The ridgeline is about 1200 feet high and overlooks Kuwait City. It has an impressive commanding view of key Kuwaiti infrastructure and strategic points. This is why the Iraq Republican Guard set up their artillery batteries there and shelled the city and defenses into submission when they invaded in August 1990.
This is a good point to round this whole journal up. The last statement is the reason why we are here, Sadam Hussein. Do I think we should go north and help the Iraqi people with a regime change? Yes. Do I have reservations? Yes. I have been to Bosnia and Kosovo. Yugoslavia was viciously, ethnically diverse but it was held together by a dictator. Tito was a communist dictator and made everyone within his borders one nationality. Any uprising from the Muslims, Croatians, Albanians, Macedonians, Serbs or Kosovars Tito s military would suppress it immediately. We all know what a mess Bosnia and Serbia turned into after Tito died. When the U.N. failed to restore order, U.S. Forces crossed the Saba River in 1995. Clinton said we would be there one year. We are still there and in Kosovo. When either the coalition forces or his own people remove Sadam, there will be a power vacuum like the former Yugoslavia. The people and land with in Iraq are ancient but the British manufactured the state of Iraq in 1920. This was accomplished through a League of Nations Covenant making the British created territorial boundaries of Iraq a mandate of the British Empire. Borders were drawn arbitrarily through the desert cutting off tribes, trade routes and grazing land. There are Kurds to the north that were promised their own country but Turkey and modern day Iraq never allowed that to happen. There are Sunni and Shiite Muslims that don't trust each other. Sadam's Baath party (Sunni) has been in power since they assassinated King Faisal in 1958. Sadam worked his way to the top within his party in 1979 by ruthlessly eliminating any political enemies. The Baath party will have enemies. This is an oversimplification of an intricate, political mess but it gives you an idea what we face in the aftermath of a regime change.
However, the Iraqi people are highly educated and they have a ready source of self-supporting income through their vast oil reserves. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers makes the land very fertile and capable of producing a surplus of food if managed correctly (it hasn't). If Sadam had used his resources to build up his nation he would be the most powerful man in the Arab world. It would not have been through aggression but through a strong economy and effective leadership. He abused his power and his people have suffered through wars, starvation and genocide. I think in the end Iraq will recover and be a leader in the modern Arab world. They will do this by keeping politics and religion separate. Inefficient governments due to overzealous Islamic restrictions plague the Arab world. It will be interesting to see and I am fortunate to be in a position to be apart of the transformation.
Aside from the political impacts I am looking forward to being just a plain tourist. Our path north will take us into the Mesopotamia Valley that is the cradle of modern civilization. The ruins of the Tower of Babel, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Assyrian ruins are all there. Interestingly enough, Hammurabi's Code was written in the area. King Hammurabi ruled the region from 1792-1750 BC. This was the first sophisticated code of law put into writing. It gave commercial structure so merchants could prosper. The position of women, marriage, divorce, rent, administration of justice and labor conditions were written down in Hammurabi's code. Separation of religion and secular authority was also a main theme. Sadam claims to be the modern embodiment of ancient rulers like Nebuchadnezzar and Saladin. Their claim was conquering ancient Judah, destroying Jerusalem and throwing out the Christian, Medieval Crusaders. Sadam is selective in his history of his region.
Right now there is a change in the air. Our schedule is hectic but not as frantic as it has been. We now have all our necessary first strike forces in place. The follow on forces are flowing in everyday. It feels like the calm before the storm. I haven't written about anything too exciting except day-to-day events and impressions while we wait around in the desert. I hope when I write again in a few months I will have more dramatic tales to tell. If you are questioning U.S. motives and feel that we really shouldn t use military action in Iraq, you are right to question the government anytime they send your local high school graduates into the breach. Everything aside, the basic fact is that Sadam has not honored even one U.N. resolution that kept us from taking him out of power after the Gulf War. World opinion would have supported such actions. Neither the U.N. nor the last administration chose to enforce the resolutions allowing Sadam to continue his destructive ways. Just know that everyone here is a volunteer and those that are not here are trying to get here. We are not spoiling for a fight or trying to justify our jobs. We are the ones who are going to face 100+ degree temperatures with the very real threat of chemical and biological weapons raining down on top of us. We just see tyranny more clearly and know our history. Tyranny left unchecked by apathetic people is why Hitler was able to see the Cliffs of Dover from the shores of Western France.
Well, if you skipped to the end I don't blame you. This journal/sitrep/update is longer than I intended. It is a good way for me to keep track of where I have been over the years. Also, it gets very still in the darkest hours of the night shift. Bringing you all into my world makes the distance back home seem closer. Thank you for all the packages, letters, emails and support. You don't have to wear a uniform to serve your country.
Semper Fi,
Grant Williams
Major U.S. Marines
Commando Camp, Kuwait
We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm. - George Orwell
