Memories From The 100-hour War

The timeline of my activities during Operation Desert Storm has become a blur for me, but the key events have remained clear in my memory. I was assigned to fly for the Commander, VII Corps Artillery, BG Creighton Abrams Jr. I think it was on Day 2 that we visited the 3rd Armored Division's Division Artillery (DIVARTY) gun line. One thing about Operation Desert Storm which was so impressive was being able to see an entire division on the march, and seeing an entire DIVARTY gun line at work was very impressive as well. I don't think there was 5 seconds of quiet between rounds, rockets, and missiles being launched downrange. And you'd swear that the windows of my helicopter were vibrating in/out at least an inch or more with every round being fired. An 8-inch to the right, followed by another 8-inch a little further to the right, a 155 on the left, another 8-inch, with a volley of MLRS (Multiple Launched Rocket System) somewhere in the midst of it...and the ATACMS missile launchers going off once in a while, too. The air was thick with the aroma of cordite. I sort of felt like it was one of those Robert Duval moments, "I love the smell of cordite in the mornings."

The only troopers who were not able to apply their skills during this operation were those poor ADA (Air Defense Artillery) guys with their Chaparral Missile launchers. I observed a few Chaparral crews actually playing spades or hearts while the rest of the artillery was bringing down the thunder. I made my way to one of the crews and commented about what a boring war this has been for them. One young soldier replied, "We can get a tone on the ATACMS and MLRS, Sir, but our LT won't let us take the shot." HAHAHAHA.

As a pilot, I was very thankful for the GPS unit I had been given to use. If it wasn't for GPS technology I don't think we would have had such an easy time with this operation. I couldn't imagine anyone trying to get anywhere out there without some kind of satellite or LORAN navigation system because apart from the gridlines, the maps we had were about as useful for navigation as a sheet of #10-grit sandpaper . At one point, however, among the artillery sounds came the familiar "whop-whop-whop" of a UH-1 Huey as it approached our location. It landed nearby and a young CW2 ran over to me asking, "Is this 3rd AD DIVARTY?" I asked him if he had their coordinates and he replied that he did but he had gotten himself about as near to them as he could and he was just making sure he was in the right place. I asked him where his GPS was, and he held up his folded map and navigation plotter and shrugged saying, "GPS? What's that?" I felt his pain as he trotted back to his aircraft...with no well-defined terrain features with vegetation for visual reference, knowing precisely where you were was quite nearly impossible. Short of having a GPS or LORAN to use, the only thing you had left was the Time-Distance-Heading rule and you hoped that you'd plotted a correct wind correction.