It’s been thirty-two years since the first rounds went downrange in what would be eight days of artillery raids on Iraqi forces opposite the 1st Infantry Division. In that war, the First Gulf War, we sought to liberate Kuwait from Saddam Hussein’s invasion when I was part of the Division Artillery (DIVARTY) in the “Big Red One.” We had the mission to destroy enemy artillery and other combat systems that could make life very hard on our division once we began our breach operations against the dug-in Iraqi 26th Infantry Division lodged along the Saudi border with Iraq.
Beginning on 16 February three decades ago, we unleashed cannons and rocket launchers on Iraqi positions from our 17 battalions of artillery. Those eight days of raids delivered a punishing toll on the Iraqis that would ultimately culminate with a major preparation we fired on 24 February that preceded our division’s ground attack to blow through Iraqi forces.
That war against Iraq was very important. It was conducted by a US Army that was as well trained and ready for combat operations as any in our history. It had been built to oppose a potential Soviet invasion in Europe but wound up opposing their surrogates in the deserts of the Middle East. It was an important “proof of principle” that the US had developed a significant fighting force based on sound doctrine, superior combat equipment, and highly trained and motivated officers, non-commissioned officers, and enlisted soldiers ready to fight and win. There are many lessons to be learned from that war that need to be considered today as we rebuild the military worn down by insurgency combat over the past two decades.
Those insurgency wars did not make our military better prepared to conduct conventional wars or, as they are referred to today, Large Scale Combat Operations (LSCO). In fact, we instituted many ill-advised changes that are out of step with what is required to conduct LSCO. The Army is busy rebuilding today and that’s a good thing. But in the process, we really must reach back and pull forward the lessons we learned in the First Gulf War that proved to be highly successful.
One of those lessons is to have the very best firepower possible, including superior artillery forces that can set the conditions for maneuver success led by armored and infantry forces on the battlefield. We are seeing this play out in Ukraine this very day. The artillery fight there is a superb example of why we need a strong artillery to win in war.
I wrote about this extensively in my book Desert Redleg: Artillery Warfare in the First Gulf War. I hope you will read it. There are many lessons in it that we need to embrace as we move forward to refurbish our military, especially our Army, in the wake of years of debilitating counter insurgency wars.
I will be giving a lecture on my book on 2 March at the First Division Museum in Wheaton, Illinois. You can register to view it at no charge by simply clicking on the museum link above.
Thirty-two years ago today, my driver PFC Roger McGary and I accompanied Michael Hedges, a news reporter, to one of our firing units that was about to unleash a barrage of rockets on enemy positions. Here is my account of that in Desert Redleg.
“As we wound our way around sand dunes toward B-6 FA, Hedges asked me why Saddam thought he could win in the first place. It was a good question. Surely Saddam knew he was overmatched militarily. I looked down at a baseball bat I kept at my left knee, that McGary and I had retrieved from the desert floor just days before. It had likely bounced out of a unit’s recreation kit in the back of a supply truck, and we joked that, aside from using it to swat rocks in our spare time, it was also our weapon of last resort. I paused for a moment, thinking about Hedges’s question, and then motioning to the bat at my side I responded, “It’s curious to me why any country would take on a nation whose national pastime is swinging a bat.” We both laughed as we rolled up to B-6 FA’s firing position just in time to see them launch several rockets downrange.”
And that’s a key lesson from the past we must never forget. When you have a mighty army with superior doctrine, equipment, leaders, and soldiers you will most likely deter your enemies. And if they are not deterred, they will be defeated.
So, I hope you will sign up for my lecture on 2 March at 7 PM (central time) and also get an autographed copy of Desert Redleg from me to read beforehand.
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