cbiwv
10-29-2009, 11:10 PM
Some people have asked me questions. I do not really like to talk about it. I have never shared my experience with anyone until now. There is so much more but this is what I generally remember. I do not wish to glorify myself. This is not what I am sharing this for. I am not a writer so take that into consideration. I consider this serious and not something to be joked about.
I entered the U.S. Army May 15 1990. There was a part of me that was anxious and a part of me that was scared. I had never been away from home for a long period of time. I did not know what to expect. I did my basic and ait at Ft Sill. I met some good people during that experience and some bad. The first month for me was very tough as I was homesick but after that things got better. I completed my training and arrived at my duty station in Garlstedt, Germany. It was very cold there and out in the middle of nowhere. I was in culture shock. I met my first sergeant who was not the best person. He was a inner city guy and it really showed. I don't believe he liked me. I was/am a very quiet person but I am very blunt. I believe political correctness is for the weak. This caused me some problems at first until I matured. My section chief was considered by the others a major screwup. He was very book smart but lacked common sense. He even openly admitted it. He clashed with the first sergeant. I believe this led to him taking his frustrations out on us especially me. I believe he felt threatened by me. I had three years of college under my belt and had learned alot because my life had not been easy growing up. I believe he felt I would sell him out to the first sergeant and platoon sergeant who both seemed out to get him. Things were not easy for me at first. I became very homesick and this effected my performance at first. My section chief did not help much. He seemingly did not know how to teach or share his knowledge of field artillery. A couple specialists took me under their wings and I learned alot from them. We were out in the field and I had only been in Germany for maybe a week. I was not even fully in-processed. I remember being very cold and I was a very green troop. I suffered alot that first field exercise due to my lack of experience and having a unorganized section chief. I eventually learned from my experience and from the other soldiers. We were out in the field when we were notified about being deployed to desert shield. I did not know what to think at the time I first heard. I know life was about to change. We worked seven days a week and probably 16 hour days to prepare for our deployment. We eventually arrived in Saudi Arabia. The port was beautiful. We had to wait for our equipment and we stayed in these giant warehouses. We trained on basic soldiering skills as we waited for our equipment to arrive from Germany. Once it did we busted ass to get prepared. At first we were told we were going to play a minor role in the grand scheme of things. We would pull guard duty on pows and things of that nature. I thought to my self the 2nd armored div(fwd) had just received new M-1 Abrams tanks and we were going to play a small role....hmmm. Finally we got word that the 1st infantry div needed more firepower so they attached us to their division as their third brigade. I was kind of scared considering our M-109A2s were not in the best condition. They were old and it showed. We finally got the word to move out into the desert. I noticed alot of people were scared especially those who were married and had children. They wondered if they would see them again. I was single and this made it easy. I had just started a relationship with a nice German girl but I was not in love. This made things relatively easy for me. This is what I joined the army for. My family is one of many veterans. I had relatives who fought in every major war the U.S. had fought in. I had other ancestors who served Germany and the USSR in world war two. This was in my blood.Some of my leadership was worried about me. I openly questioned my section chief's leadership abilities and had other concerns. Once we moved out into the staging areas I was full of adrenaline. Others around me who had talked tough seemingly became more timid. I noticed a couple of the other "quiet" guys were starting to show they too had another side. My battery commander had misread his map. We ended up on the very front with the heavy armor. I woke up to the sounds of battle. I jumped out of my M-992 ammo vehicle and witnessed some Abrams mopping up some Iraqi armored vehicles just around the area where the Iraqis had spent months building obstacles. It took awhile to breach the main obstacle. They told us we would provide fire support for the main force once things started. We performed some artillery raids which were exciting and fired hundred of rounds before we even began the main assualt. I saw many of our aircraft traveling in pair going in for their missions. The air campaign had begun a few weeks earlier. I had not had a shower in two weeks. Some mlrs units had showed up to support us and it was amazing watching their firework display. We had also received some volunteers from from another unit in Germany which strengthened our battery especially my undermanned section. They were good soldiers. For a couple weeks we did fire missions continually before the main assualt. We were told we hit and disabled or destroyed several tanks and other armored vehicles. Finally the main assualt had started. We were part of 7 corps. The infantry and armor units started to drive across the paths made in the main obstacle into Iraq. We started fire missions but did not know many details. Finally we packed up and followed the armor into Iraq. I saw many burning Iraqi tanks and other vehicles. I saw what was mostly dead bodies of the Tawakalna republican guard division. I saw some Apaches go overhead of us. I could see them launching their hellfire missiles and I saw some total hell being dealt to the Iraqis. There were explosions and burning vehicles everywhere. We supported 1-41 infantry and all of a sudden they came over our radios. They were screaming for fire support. We fired mostly HE rounds. We fired many rounds and finally moved again after a few hours. The entire desert looked the same. It was full of burning Iraqi equipment and dead bodies. I became excited about our success. My section chief told me he was shocked at how I was handling things and that there were alot of people being killed out here. I said this is what I joined for and the other members of my section were giving our chief hell telling him he was talking all this crap in the rear and now he had become a "marshmellow man". We had a couple guys who did not handle things well at all. They were very scared and could not think straight. To me this was the most exciting thing I had ever witnessed in my life. We stopped to refuel and we had Abrams tanks around us protecting us. We would go one vehicle at a time to refuel. A couple Iraqi tanks broke through our perimeter and all hell broke loose. It happened about fifty feet from me. It was dark and raining. I saw one abrams get hit in the side and catch on fire. Then I saw another one get hit by another abrams that got disoriented with all that was going on. This really rattled some people seeing it happen so close to us. We were artillery and not supposed to see combat this close. Finally it was all over. We then got some sleep for a few hours. The next three days were more of the same. I saw many Iraqis surrendering. We kept moving. The advance party guys were really busy. They constantly were moving to set up other positions for us to fire from. I had to go with them a few times because our designated guy twisted his ankle. It was exciting but I would be lying if I said I was not a little scared. It finally came to a end. We had traveled over 200 miles in 100 hours. Our brigade sized division had lost five abrams and two bradleys when it was all said and done. The infantry units and some guys killed and wounded. I was just happy it was over and I came out of it alive with all my limbs.
I entered the U.S. Army May 15 1990. There was a part of me that was anxious and a part of me that was scared. I had never been away from home for a long period of time. I did not know what to expect. I did my basic and ait at Ft Sill. I met some good people during that experience and some bad. The first month for me was very tough as I was homesick but after that things got better. I completed my training and arrived at my duty station in Garlstedt, Germany. It was very cold there and out in the middle of nowhere. I was in culture shock. I met my first sergeant who was not the best person. He was a inner city guy and it really showed. I don't believe he liked me. I was/am a very quiet person but I am very blunt. I believe political correctness is for the weak. This caused me some problems at first until I matured. My section chief was considered by the others a major screwup. He was very book smart but lacked common sense. He even openly admitted it. He clashed with the first sergeant. I believe this led to him taking his frustrations out on us especially me. I believe he felt threatened by me. I had three years of college under my belt and had learned alot because my life had not been easy growing up. I believe he felt I would sell him out to the first sergeant and platoon sergeant who both seemed out to get him. Things were not easy for me at first. I became very homesick and this effected my performance at first. My section chief did not help much. He seemingly did not know how to teach or share his knowledge of field artillery. A couple specialists took me under their wings and I learned alot from them. We were out in the field and I had only been in Germany for maybe a week. I was not even fully in-processed. I remember being very cold and I was a very green troop. I suffered alot that first field exercise due to my lack of experience and having a unorganized section chief. I eventually learned from my experience and from the other soldiers. We were out in the field when we were notified about being deployed to desert shield. I did not know what to think at the time I first heard. I know life was about to change. We worked seven days a week and probably 16 hour days to prepare for our deployment. We eventually arrived in Saudi Arabia. The port was beautiful. We had to wait for our equipment and we stayed in these giant warehouses. We trained on basic soldiering skills as we waited for our equipment to arrive from Germany. Once it did we busted ass to get prepared. At first we were told we were going to play a minor role in the grand scheme of things. We would pull guard duty on pows and things of that nature. I thought to my self the 2nd armored div(fwd) had just received new M-1 Abrams tanks and we were going to play a small role....hmmm. Finally we got word that the 1st infantry div needed more firepower so they attached us to their division as their third brigade. I was kind of scared considering our M-109A2s were not in the best condition. They were old and it showed. We finally got the word to move out into the desert. I noticed alot of people were scared especially those who were married and had children. They wondered if they would see them again. I was single and this made it easy. I had just started a relationship with a nice German girl but I was not in love. This made things relatively easy for me. This is what I joined the army for. My family is one of many veterans. I had relatives who fought in every major war the U.S. had fought in. I had other ancestors who served Germany and the USSR in world war two. This was in my blood.Some of my leadership was worried about me. I openly questioned my section chief's leadership abilities and had other concerns. Once we moved out into the staging areas I was full of adrenaline. Others around me who had talked tough seemingly became more timid. I noticed a couple of the other "quiet" guys were starting to show they too had another side. My battery commander had misread his map. We ended up on the very front with the heavy armor. I woke up to the sounds of battle. I jumped out of my M-992 ammo vehicle and witnessed some Abrams mopping up some Iraqi armored vehicles just around the area where the Iraqis had spent months building obstacles. It took awhile to breach the main obstacle. They told us we would provide fire support for the main force once things started. We performed some artillery raids which were exciting and fired hundred of rounds before we even began the main assualt. I saw many of our aircraft traveling in pair going in for their missions. The air campaign had begun a few weeks earlier. I had not had a shower in two weeks. Some mlrs units had showed up to support us and it was amazing watching their firework display. We had also received some volunteers from from another unit in Germany which strengthened our battery especially my undermanned section. They were good soldiers. For a couple weeks we did fire missions continually before the main assualt. We were told we hit and disabled or destroyed several tanks and other armored vehicles. Finally the main assualt had started. We were part of 7 corps. The infantry and armor units started to drive across the paths made in the main obstacle into Iraq. We started fire missions but did not know many details. Finally we packed up and followed the armor into Iraq. I saw many burning Iraqi tanks and other vehicles. I saw what was mostly dead bodies of the Tawakalna republican guard division. I saw some Apaches go overhead of us. I could see them launching their hellfire missiles and I saw some total hell being dealt to the Iraqis. There were explosions and burning vehicles everywhere. We supported 1-41 infantry and all of a sudden they came over our radios. They were screaming for fire support. We fired mostly HE rounds. We fired many rounds and finally moved again after a few hours. The entire desert looked the same. It was full of burning Iraqi equipment and dead bodies. I became excited about our success. My section chief told me he was shocked at how I was handling things and that there were alot of people being killed out here. I said this is what I joined for and the other members of my section were giving our chief hell telling him he was talking all this crap in the rear and now he had become a "marshmellow man". We had a couple guys who did not handle things well at all. They were very scared and could not think straight. To me this was the most exciting thing I had ever witnessed in my life. We stopped to refuel and we had Abrams tanks around us protecting us. We would go one vehicle at a time to refuel. A couple Iraqi tanks broke through our perimeter and all hell broke loose. It happened about fifty feet from me. It was dark and raining. I saw one abrams get hit in the side and catch on fire. Then I saw another one get hit by another abrams that got disoriented with all that was going on. This really rattled some people seeing it happen so close to us. We were artillery and not supposed to see combat this close. Finally it was all over. We then got some sleep for a few hours. The next three days were more of the same. I saw many Iraqis surrendering. We kept moving. The advance party guys were really busy. They constantly were moving to set up other positions for us to fire from. I had to go with them a few times because our designated guy twisted his ankle. It was exciting but I would be lying if I said I was not a little scared. It finally came to a end. We had traveled over 200 miles in 100 hours. Our brigade sized division had lost five abrams and two bradleys when it was all said and done. The infantry units and some guys killed and wounded. I was just happy it was over and I came out of it alive with all my limbs.