In an interesting coincidence, I was involved last evening in a discussion of Desert Shield/Desert Storm with a guy who was “there” in a civilian capacity. There are multiple roles civilians fill during wartime. He was not part of our organization and I’m not entirely clear where all he was in addition to Kuwait City at whatever point that was. I’ve previously posted about the Desert Shield segment being from early August 1990 when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait to when the actual war began January 1991. Rapid deployment forces of selected units in all services deployed to Saudi Arabia immediately after the invasion to prevent incursion beyond Kuwait and to begin build-up to whatever action would ultimately be taken. There were continuing efforts to get Hussein to withdraw without armed response.

In addition to having seized the country and seized American and I think some allied civilians who were being held as hostages, he made it clear he would set oilfields on fire if his forces were attacked. Although I wasn’t part of the meeting, the Brigadier General in command of our unit (2d Corps Support Command) was either in the meeting or was told by his boss, the Lieutenant General in command of VII Corps, that when the Emir of Kuwait was reminded of this threat, his response was along these lines. “I can rebuild my country. I can’t if I don’t have my country.”

Most people don’t realize Hussein had also instructed large trenches to be dug in the oilfields and filled with oil. When Desert Storm (the actual offensive) was launched in the lightning speed that occurred, Hussein carried out his threat. More than 600 wells and the oil-filled trenches were set on fire. We were set up in the desert in Saudi Arabia at this point and I was in the trailer we were using for operations. Someone reported what had happened, but it was later in the morning before I stepped outside. We were at least 200 kilometers away and the sky was dark as if it was a total eclipse from the effect of the smoke. That lasted most of the day and lessening effect for us over the next few days. In and around the actual sites, it went on for months. It took from February until November to extinguish the last of the fires.

The guy we were talking with carries some of those photos on his I-pad.