I was nineteen years old and had only been in the Army for a year when I was sent into combat.

I figured I didn't have a chance in hell of making it out of there alive, and I was pretty much right.

Saddam Hussein had assembled a huge army that was heavily dug in, and we were on the spearhead of a massive international assault against his most elite troops, the Republican Guard. It looked like it was going to be a brutal struggle that few of us on the front lines would survive. It was a terrible feeling, knowing that within a few months you would either die or be maimed for life, that you will never see your home or your loved ones again.

Some guys handled it well, some didn't. I wrote a few letters, set my affairs in order, and got on the plane. Of course, what happened next was one of the most lopsided conflicts in modern military history.

Marching to the assembly area just after our arrival in Saudi Arabia.
In the background are some of our field artillery pieces, the 104 mm self propelled howitzers.

We moved into the neutral zone just south of Iraq and spent a week listening to the bombs fall just across the border. The days were long and hot, the only excitement came when the occasional Iraqi Special Forces soldier would probe our lines on some sort of futile covert mission. All of them were quickly captured ( preferably ) or killed ( not desirable but sometimes unavoidable given that they inevitably encountered a heavily armed, absolutely terrified twenty year old on our side who instantly shot anyone or anything that even remotely resembled an enemy soldier.. ) We soon discovered that his 'Special Forces' were not very 'Special', and our confidence was bolstered by this fact.

Private First Class Rackley.

Finally the order came to move and we started off into the night. Our mission was to destroy the much-touted Republican Guard units directly north of our position in the neutral zone. They were heavily dug in and waiting for us. We had reviewed satellite images of their fighting positions earlier that day, so we knew it wouldn't be easy. I remember being scared, but things started happening so fast that I forgot to be afraid.

The Republican Guard pulled out of their positions and started retreating towards Baghdad, and we encountered a delaying force left behind to slow us down. They didn't stand a chance. The commander of that unit was captured, and he said later that everything started blowing up around him and he never knew what was happening, then there were Americans everywhere and the war was over for him.

We ended up in Kuwait City, and before we knew it the whole thing was over.

The Iraqi trench lines on the beaches of the Persian Gulf in Kuwait City.

War is a terrible thing, and I will never forget those who died on both sides. The slaughter on the Iraqi side was horrific; human bodies were not designed to withstand the modern war machine. I bear no ill will against the Iraqi soldiers; they were as much victims of Saddam as we were. We had remarkably few deaths because of our body armor, but there were quite a few wounded. To this day I am still amazed that I made it back in one piece. Every new day is a gift for me now, and I treasure each and every one.

When they retreated, the Iraqi soldiers set the Kuwaiti oil fields ablaze, and the cloud that was generated by all of that burning crude could be seen from space. This disastrous act of environmental terrorism obliterated the sun and turned day to night. When we got to the wells I walked as close as I could to one of them and it was unbelievable- the ground was shaking and the fire was shooting up like a gigantic blowtorch as the flames were fed by the highly pressurized oil. Getting as close as I did was probably a really bad idea, but I just couldn't resist...

The Author getting way too close to a burning well in Kuwait. The black goo all over the ground is partially burnt oil. It took over a year to extinguish all of these wells as there in only one company in the world that does it, and they are based in Texas.

The cloud generated by the burning wells can be seen in the entire top half of this picture. This photo was taken at noon in Kuwait City.
Yes, those are kids playing on the abandoned Iraqi anti-aircraft guns.. Ah, kids!

After it was all over we spent our time helping refugees and distributing food and water to the shell-shocked Kuwaiti citizens. They were very glad to see us, and I felt pretty good once we met a few of them and heard how they were treated by the Iraqis. I guess we were the good guys this time around, and that certainly has not always been the case!

The author with a happy kuwaiti.