The War
The "Fighting First" entered the Ground War a little a head of time. Other units were not making heavy contact as they crossed the border, so we got the word to jump early. We mounted our BFV's, me and B Team on D31, and my A Team on D32. We moved out of Forward Assembly Area "Butz" in Northern Saudi Arabia toward the Iraqi frontier. We crossed the berm constructed by the Iraqi's just before sundown. Our Combat Engineers had cut breaches through it for the tanks and Bradley's to go through. I remember a large bill board with a red engineer castle on it saying "This breach was brought to you courtesy of the 23d Engineer Battalion" (Task Force 12). That took the edge off things. Just before dark, the VII Corps Commander, General Franks, halted us, to allow the trucks to catch up to us. M9 Armored Combat Earthmovers (ACE's) and SEE's (Small Emplacement Excavators) came around in the night to dig in the vehicles and the Infantry. It rained hard that night. Once the trucks caught up, we moved out again.
The RFCT, under Colonel Nash's command, eventually made contact with the enemy. The entire force stopped, and the tanks and MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket Systems) opened up to our front. A10 Thunderbolts did loop t' loops on our flanks and Apache helicopters hovered perfectly still behind us, unleashing an unrelenting fury upon the enemy. This went on for what seemed to be hours. The "Fighting First" remained mounted until the sun came up, and the explosions stopped. As the smoke cleared, Iraqi soldiers started walking toward us, waiving white rags. CPL Williams team dismounted and took the first prisoners, putting them on Engineer dump trucks to be taken away. We soon had too many to handle, and, after disarming them, just pointed South, showing them the direction away from the fighting. We then mounted up and continued forward.
We met very little resistance at first, which, in my opinion, helped us ease into combat. Tensions were high initially, but everyone in the Task Force soon settled into a professional rhythm. These first units were regular Army troops, not the Republican Guard. They were not as well trained, or equipped, and the Air War had demoralized them. Many of them had bandages from the earlier bombings.
There was one unfortunate event during this period. At night, while in contact with an Iraqi Tank brigade, 4-7 Cav got between TF Centurions and the Iraqi unit. Cavalry Fighting Vehicles (CFV's) from 4-7 were struck by 120mm tank rounds, killing and wounding many Cav Troopers. Link 1 Link 2 Link 3 Link 4 This happened right in front of us.
A Scout Bradley from 4-32 Armor, the other Tank Battalion in the Ready First Combat Team, was destroyed, killing the two soldiers in the turret- the vehicle commander and the gunner. The driver, who was seriously wounded, was later commended for trying to save the two. Again, this was right to our front. Link 1 This turned out to be another friendly fire incident. The scout Bradley took a 3 round burst of 25MM armor piercing, fin stabilized, discarding sabot rounds through the ramp from a BFV directly to its rear.
We would later hit the Republican Guard near Objective Collins. This was a mounted battle. The tanks of the TF engaged the Iraqi T-72's, blowing the turrets spiraling into the sky, landing upside down next to the smoking hull. Unlike the regular Army troops, the Republican Guard troops were not surrendering. We were enjoying major success, until the Cease Fire was called 0800 hours the next morning.
I remember once we realized it was in fact the cease fire, everyone fell asleep. Some leaders tried hard to stay awake, but after almost 4 days with practically no sleep, it was impossible. Our Brigade Sergeant Major, CSM Davis, came to our position to congratulate us. We sat there and watched the Iraqi's bring trucks into the desert to retrieve their tanks to take back to Baghdad. These convoys were later to be destroyed by the 24th Infantry Division on the "Highway to Hell".
A total of six soldiers from the Ready First Combat Team lost their lives during the operation. Later, when we all returned to Germany, the local German community had a monument erected on the corner of our parade field honoring these soldiers.
Being some of the last soldiers to enter the region, we were some of the last combat troops to leave.
The "Fighting First" was to take up positions on the Demarcation Line - a buffer zone along the Northern Kuwaiti border, to cover everyone else's move out of the area. This is also where General Schwarzkopf met with the Iraqi Generals to work out the Cease Fire. We were given a USO concert, close to where the fighting stopped. We piled the entire platoon onto 2 BFV's to drive to the BN Assembly Area. Enroute, one of the Bradley's, D-33, struck a landmine. No casualties, but everyone was shook up. The BN Cdr coordinated to have some female medical personnel trucked up to the AA for us to dance with. I remember one of the girls got up and sang Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby". The guys were on their best behavior, as we had not seen any females for a while. Right out of the movies. Onto the DML.
Here the Platoon was set up under a highway overpass outside the border town of Safwan. We were in a roadblock position where we had to check all East/West traffic going into and out of Baghdad. All Iraqi military personnel were taken out of vehicles, put into my Stalag 13 under the overpass, then trucked to a POW camp. Civilians were directed to a refugee camp. We did this for about a month, until we were relieved by the United Nations.
From the DML we moved as a brigade to Kuwait City. Moving through the Mutla Ridge choke point, the highway was congested with destroyed vehicles used by the occupying forces to escape the Coalition assault. Picture a rush hour traffic jam being shot up by jets and helicopters, and that's what this was. Once into Kuwait City we moved into a large storage facility, which we garrisoned, and named Camp Thunder Rock. This was later to become Camp Doha. We stayed here until relieved by the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment from Germany in June.
We flew out of the Kuwait International Airport back to Frankfurt, Germany. Major General Funk, Commander of the 3d Armored Division, greeted each one of us as we got off the plane. I remember how green Germany was, in great contrast to the sandy desert. Yellow ribbons adorned the barracks, tied by the wives.
Once in Germany, a little unit restructuring took place, but it quickly became business as usual. The whole affair was similar in many ways to a major training exercise. We soldiered on, and soon found ourselves at the Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels training areas, training for the next conflict.
The Black Knight Lance
They ride upon their iron horses,
as did the knights of old;
Charging down the battlefield,
their eyes fierce & hearts so bold.
The Black Knight charge...
forming a deadly Lance,
Thunders towards their foe
across the desert expanse.
The vision hindering dust,
the wind in their face;
Has but no effect,
to hinder their pace.
The warriors of the Lance await,
upon their charges dubbed Swano
For their leaders commands,
which they trustingly follow.
As the expert jouster...
directs his lance so just,
The Black Knight commander
directs his warriors thrust.
Piercing the enemy's heart...
is but inevitable;
'For the Black Knight
warriors are truly capable.
The Black Knight warriors will
assuredly prevail,
Against their foe's resistance
that will undoubtedly fail.
The enemy of course is
left no alternative
Their blood will shed
and few will live.
Thus the Black Knight Lance
...thunders on
'Til the day...
when their mission is done.
By Harlen Mork 1991
The "Fighting First" entered the Ground War a little a head of time. Other units were not making heavy contact as they crossed the border, so we got the word to jump early. We mounted our BFV's, me and B Team on D31, and my A Team on D32. We moved out of Forward Assembly Area "Butz" in Northern Saudi Arabia toward the Iraqi frontier. We crossed the berm constructed by the Iraqi's just before sundown. Our Combat Engineers had cut breaches through it for the tanks and Bradley's to go through. I remember a large bill board with a red engineer castle on it saying "This breach was brought to you courtesy of the 23d Engineer Battalion" (Task Force 12). That took the edge off things. Just before dark, the VII Corps Commander, General Franks, halted us, to allow the trucks to catch up to us. M9 Armored Combat Earthmovers (ACE's) and SEE's (Small Emplacement Excavators) came around in the night to dig in the vehicles and the Infantry. It rained hard that night. Once the trucks caught up, we moved out again.
The RFCT, under Colonel Nash's command, eventually made contact with the enemy. The entire force stopped, and the tanks and MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket Systems) opened up to our front. A10 Thunderbolts did loop t' loops on our flanks and Apache helicopters hovered perfectly still behind us, unleashing an unrelenting fury upon the enemy. This went on for what seemed to be hours. The "Fighting First" remained mounted until the sun came up, and the explosions stopped. As the smoke cleared, Iraqi soldiers started walking toward us, waiving white rags. CPL Williams team dismounted and took the first prisoners, putting them on Engineer dump trucks to be taken away. We soon had too many to handle, and, after disarming them, just pointed South, showing them the direction away from the fighting. We then mounted up and continued forward.
We met very little resistance at first, which, in my opinion, helped us ease into combat. Tensions were high initially, but everyone in the Task Force soon settled into a professional rhythm. These first units were regular Army troops, not the Republican Guard. They were not as well trained, or equipped, and the Air War had demoralized them. Many of them had bandages from the earlier bombings.
There was one unfortunate event during this period. At night, while in contact with an Iraqi Tank brigade, 4-7 Cav got between TF Centurions and the Iraqi unit. Cavalry Fighting Vehicles (CFV's) from 4-7 were struck by 120mm tank rounds, killing and wounding many Cav Troopers. Link 1 Link 2 Link 3 Link 4 This happened right in front of us.
A Scout Bradley from 4-32 Armor, the other Tank Battalion in the Ready First Combat Team, was destroyed, killing the two soldiers in the turret- the vehicle commander and the gunner. The driver, who was seriously wounded, was later commended for trying to save the two. Again, this was right to our front. Link 1 This turned out to be another friendly fire incident. The scout Bradley took a 3 round burst of 25MM armor piercing, fin stabilized, discarding sabot rounds through the ramp from a BFV directly to its rear.
We would later hit the Republican Guard near Objective Collins. This was a mounted battle. The tanks of the TF engaged the Iraqi T-72's, blowing the turrets spiraling into the sky, landing upside down next to the smoking hull. Unlike the regular Army troops, the Republican Guard troops were not surrendering. We were enjoying major success, until the Cease Fire was called 0800 hours the next morning.
I remember once we realized it was in fact the cease fire, everyone fell asleep. Some leaders tried hard to stay awake, but after almost 4 days with practically no sleep, it was impossible. Our Brigade Sergeant Major, CSM Davis, came to our position to congratulate us. We sat there and watched the Iraqi's bring trucks into the desert to retrieve their tanks to take back to Baghdad. These convoys were later to be destroyed by the 24th Infantry Division on the "Highway to Hell".
A total of six soldiers from the Ready First Combat Team lost their lives during the operation. Later, when we all returned to Germany, the local German community had a monument erected on the corner of our parade field honoring these soldiers.
Being some of the last soldiers to enter the region, we were some of the last combat troops to leave.
The "Fighting First" was to take up positions on the Demarcation Line - a buffer zone along the Northern Kuwaiti border, to cover everyone else's move out of the area. This is also where General Schwarzkopf met with the Iraqi Generals to work out the Cease Fire. We were given a USO concert, close to where the fighting stopped. We piled the entire platoon onto 2 BFV's to drive to the BN Assembly Area. Enroute, one of the Bradley's, D-33, struck a landmine. No casualties, but everyone was shook up. The BN Cdr coordinated to have some female medical personnel trucked up to the AA for us to dance with. I remember one of the girls got up and sang Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby". The guys were on their best behavior, as we had not seen any females for a while. Right out of the movies. Onto the DML.
Here the Platoon was set up under a highway overpass outside the border town of Safwan. We were in a roadblock position where we had to check all East/West traffic going into and out of Baghdad. All Iraqi military personnel were taken out of vehicles, put into my Stalag 13 under the overpass, then trucked to a POW camp. Civilians were directed to a refugee camp. We did this for about a month, until we were relieved by the United Nations.
From the DML we moved as a brigade to Kuwait City. Moving through the Mutla Ridge choke point, the highway was congested with destroyed vehicles used by the occupying forces to escape the Coalition assault. Picture a rush hour traffic jam being shot up by jets and helicopters, and that's what this was. Once into Kuwait City we moved into a large storage facility, which we garrisoned, and named Camp Thunder Rock. This was later to become Camp Doha. We stayed here until relieved by the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment from Germany in June.
We flew out of the Kuwait International Airport back to Frankfurt, Germany. Major General Funk, Commander of the 3d Armored Division, greeted each one of us as we got off the plane. I remember how green Germany was, in great contrast to the sandy desert. Yellow ribbons adorned the barracks, tied by the wives.
Once in Germany, a little unit restructuring took place, but it quickly became business as usual. The whole affair was similar in many ways to a major training exercise. We soldiered on, and soon found ourselves at the Grafenwoehr and Hohenfels training areas, training for the next conflict.
The Black Knight Lance
They ride upon their iron horses,
as did the knights of old;
Charging down the battlefield,
their eyes fierce & hearts so bold.
The Black Knight charge...
forming a deadly Lance,
Thunders towards their foe
across the desert expanse.
The vision hindering dust,
the wind in their face;
Has but no effect,
to hinder their pace.
The warriors of the Lance await,
upon their charges dubbed Swano
For their leaders commands,
which they trustingly follow.
As the expert jouster...
directs his lance so just,
The Black Knight commander
directs his warriors thrust.
Piercing the enemy's heart...
is but inevitable;
'For the Black Knight
warriors are truly capable.
The Black Knight warriors will
assuredly prevail,
Against their foe's resistance
that will undoubtedly fail.
The enemy of course is
left no alternative
Their blood will shed
and few will live.
Thus the Black Knight Lance
...thunders on
'Til the day...
when their mission is done.
By Harlen Mork 1991