Operation Iraqi Freedom Updates by Journalist Kirk Ross
7 April 2003
They Are Facing Fear
I was sitting one afternoon at the foot of one of the tall concrete blast walls that surround the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Engineer Group (I MEG) Combat Operations Center at Camp Commando, northern Kuwait, waiting to interview one of the staff officers. Lieutenant Commander Meg Reed, the MEG Public Affairs Officer, emerged from one of the tents and had just greeted me when a commotion erupted to my left, down the wall about 50 meters. A soldier wearing his protective mask had run out and was motioning frantically and shouting, "Gas!"
With that shallow feeling in my chest, I stripped off my helmet and, as I had done 30 or more times before over the preceding days, I donned and cleared my mask, aware that around me everyone else was doing the same. After I replaced my helmet I looked around nervously. Officers and noncommissioned officers were milling about, questioning each other about the situation. Commando's alarm had not sounded, so no one was quite sure if the threat was real or if this was another false alarm.
I grabbed up my rucksack, anticipating some indication of what to do, when I saw Staff Sergeant Morales standing up on the blast wall, flak vests open, no helmet, a steadiness about him, an expression of calm on his bare face as if nothing could touch him.
"Ross," he said, "if I start doing the funky chicken, you can stick me, all right?"
"I'll stick you, all right," I said.
Morales explained that during the Gulf War in 1991, there had been a lot more false alarms than the number Commando had experienced. Two Fox vehicles stood silently nearby. Morales looked at them for activity, but they did not stir. He was waiting for the sirens to sound before he would move, but none were forthcoming. He was as scared as me, it was just that Morales was not going to let his fear get the better of him. This guy is a rock, I thought. There he is, standing up there like all this is nothing.
Morales had been the driver on the morning I drove up to Camp 93, the day Commando first came under attack. We had been on the road out of camp for only ten minutes when we received word of the attack, and I remember my first thoughts being how lucky I was. Morales, however, apologized for admitting that he loved the way being under attack made him feel: "A little more alive," he said. His confidence at all times inspired me and made me, and I expect all those around him, feel a little safer.
I spent 13 days in Kuwait gathering information on a variety of topics and making photographs which will be the basis for future articles for Proceedings and other magazines, but what I found most memorable about my experience were the people I met and the moments I lived in their company. Among those things I will not forget are the firm handshake of EO1 Joe Arnold on the morning of 26 March, as Combat Engineer Reconnaissance Team 4 left to move into battle; the yearning in the eyes of Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Espinoza, the MEG logistics officer who sat across a table from me and talked about California and the fall when his daughter will enter college; the chemical, biological, radiological gear instructor from the press information center at the Kuwaiti Hilton who was shaken from his bed by the scud siren on the first day of the war and hustled past me in a sleepy stupor on his way to the hotel's basement; and more than a few sailors and Marines displaying the admirable qualities that reside so easily in Staff Sergeant Morales. I am proud to have been in the company of such people, and look forward to continuing to write their stories.
24 March 2003 Building Bridges Where Needed
I had a chance this afternoon to tour another camp here in Kuwait. The Navy construction battalion team members (CBs) are constructing a bridge called a Mabey & Johnson. It is an updated version of the Bailey bridge. Based on the people I spoke to today, the U.S. military bought it for this operation. These bridges and the flexi-float steel pontoons that accompany them span approximately a mile. The bridges are made to span up to 60 meters unsupported. For every 60 meters beyond that, they require one pontoon under the center of the span. At that point they're able to support the heaviest armor—even M1A1 tanks. The bridges are to be part of one of the task force elements—the trailing task force element of the First Marine Expeditionary Force Engineer Group will be equipped with these. In the event that bridges are bombed here during the campaign, they're hoping to be able to use a number of engineering solutions to span these gaps and span these rivers, but the Mabey & Johnson is the most permanent. It can be picked up and used again, however, in many cases they are just like the old Bailey bridges that are still in existence all around the world even 60 years after their inception. These bridges can be left in place and be used to support local infrastructure gaps between military and civil engineering that will accompany the rebuilding of the country. The CBs here are putting 40- and 60-meter packages together that can be carried on tractor-trailers or carried by the Sea Knight helicopters forward to the battle area. Work is well under way—troops are being trained constantly on how to put the bridges together. It is something that is best put together with machines but can, like the Bailey bridge, be put together all by hand.
Drill after Drill
21 March 2003
This is unconfirmed right now, but I think what they're firing toward us are not SCUDs, but are apparently antiship missiles—something like cruise missiles. They have a glide path about 300 feet above the nap of the earth. That makes the 14th drill for us, with two strikes near this position.
An air of levity has been reached to some degree now. But earlier this morning most people seemed to be quite relieved, especially with the progress of military forces moving into Iraq, Iraqis being surrounded by our forces, and the possibility that Saddam was killed. People are generally in a good mood. But with another missile drill here, the climate could change a bit. Everyone knows this from last night.
Around 0120 hours, people were sleeping in their "mission-oriented protective posture" or chemical suits when the alarm went off. But most are opting for comfort. A lot of guys just have their stuff nearby. They're going to the bunkers with their gas masks on. There were a lot of drills yesterday. Inside the barracks at night between drills there are the sounds of small frogs croaking in the cold air. It's pretty quiet. They're sleeping with the lights on in the barracks to make sure they can get out of here quickly when they need to.
Most people are remaining pretty calm. One Marine was running to the air-raid shelter and "clothes lined" himself on one of the tent ropes, but other than that people are doing a pretty good job at holding onto their nerves. Lieutenant Andrew Cook, of Combat Engineer Reconnaissance Team 4, was confident the patriots were doing a good job and seemed real happy about that, as was I.
At 0142 hours this morning there was another missile drill. All clear at 0155. About 0220, another missile drill and then all clear. Then, just before 10 o'clock this morning, we had the 14th missile drill. So we had a period where everybody was able to get to sleep. Everybody was able to go out and get a shave and clean up a little bit, brush their teeth. So far everyone here has remained safe.
20 March 2003, around 1030
Scud Strikes on Camp Commando
Today at approximately 1030 local time, "three splashes," reported by U.S. military personnel as one or perhaps more SCUD missiles, impacted just beyond the perimeter berm at Camp Commando, in the northern Kuwaiti dessert. Marines, soldiers, and naval personnel quickly donned protective masks and chemical-biological-radiation protection suits and raced for the safety of the bunkers that dot the sprawling compound.
Meanwhile, throughout the theatre, U.S. troops were put on high alert and ordered to don their protective masks. I had just left Commando and was at Camp Fox in the western desert when the attack occurred.
20 March 2003, 0840
Camp Commando, Northern Kuwait
President Bush has spoken, say the construction battalion Marines stationed here. Although it is unclear at this time what is happening, these men know that the war has begun.
"It's pretty upsetting so far," said Master Chief Jason Godusky of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, from combat engineer reconnaissance team (CERT) 4, Marine Engineer Brigade. Men here definitely want to get into the action now under way just a few miles north of their location. EN 3 Chad Hook, from Rapid City, South Dakota, commenting on the bombings around Basra, revealed his disappointment in not being able to participate in the strikes. SW2 Jason Condon says he's sure that they will soon be close enough to see more than they want to of this war.
I MEG construction battalions are being restructured into a tactical outfit rather than something that will be used solely to provide maintenance and bridge construction. Rumors this morning say that Admiral Charles Kubic, commander of the First Marine Expeditionary Force Engineer Group (I MEG), soon will hold a meeting, and that U.S. forces have stirred up a hornet's nest. So the men here sit and wait, standing by to stand by, as they have been for the last two or more weeks, aware that the war has begun and waiting for the word to go. Only now they expect to see action very soon.
18 March 2003, around 0922
Camp Commando, Northern Kuwait
On the road leading north from the Kuwaiti port, streams of vehicles, fuel tankers, and trucks hauling supply containers are speeding to the forward bases near the Iraqi border. All the while, flight after flight of Marine Super Stallion helicopters is emerging from shrouds of flying dust blown up by desert wind, as they bring men and supplies forward in preparation for the commencement of operations, which now seem only hours away.
Among those units expected to be in the van of the drive toward Baghdad is the combat engineer reconnaissance team (CERT) of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4, based here. The CERTs are the brainchild of Rear Admiral Charles R. Kubic, commander of the First Marine Expeditionary Force Engineer Group (I MEG) here in Kuwait.
CERT 4, commanded by Lieutenant Andy Cook, normally is based at Naval Base Port Hueneme in Ventura County, California. Though not expected to accompany the assault forces, Lieutenant Cook's CERT 4 is expected to be deployed farther forward than any construction battalion units ever have been. They will provide tactical reconnaissance in advance of main force engineering components to identify potential expeditionary airfields, enemy prisoner of war camps, and quarry sites where explosive ordnance disposal units can mine material for main supply-route repair.
The CERTs are just one element of a dramatically restructured engineering component of the Marine Expeditionary Force. It is hoped they will be able to react more rapidly to changing battlefield conditions with fewer forces involved. The new I MEG and CERT teams soon will get their first battlefield test.
Naval Institute war correspondent Kirk Ross accompanied U.S. forces during July 2001 operations in Kosovo. He is the author of The Sky Men: A Parachute Rifle Company's Story of the Battle of the Bulge and the Jump Across the Rhine (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2000). Ross's work has appeared in the Naval Institute's Proceedings and Naval History magazines. He departed for Kuwait on 15 March.
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Naval Institute war correspondent Kirk Ross accompanied U.S. forces during July 2001 operations in Kosovo. He is the author of The Sky Men: A Parachute Rifle Company's Story of the Battle of the Bulge and the Jump Across the Rhine (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2000). Ross's work has appeared in the Naval Institute's Proceedings and Naval History magazines. He departed for Kuwait on 15 March.