I followed this war pretty carefully. I was a Division Training Officer stationed at Fort Baker, California. After the invasion of Kuwait, I received notice that the army was looking for volunteers to visit the Gulf. Some division people that I know volunteered and went.
On August 3, 1990, I had an Army flight planned (space available) to Alaska to visit my brother Frank. The four of us showed up at Travis AFB about noon. We were expecting a short wait until we would be boarded on an army flight to Fairbanks. The wait proved very long. The Air Force sergeant at the desk kept giving me some song and dance about how flights were being delayed and how I should just be patient. Ater several hours, I asked to see the OIC. The captain told me --confidentially-- that all Air Force flights were being divereted because of the invasion of Kuwait. I got the picture and the four of us drove home disappointed. |
Chronology
August 2 -- Iraq invades Kuwait.
August 5 -- President Bush declares invasion "will not stand."
August 6 -- King Fahd meets with Richard Cheney, requests U.S. military assistance.
August 8 -- Initial U.S. Air force fighter planes arrive in Saudi Arabia.
August 10 -- John Warden first meets with Schwarzkopf in Tampa to outline proposed air campaign.
August 28 -- Secret Israeli delegation flies to Washington to stress likelihood of Iraqi attack on Israel if war begins.
September 18 -- Schwarzkopf asks four Army planners to begin work on ground offensive.
October 10 -- CENTCOM's One Corps Concept unveiled at White House.
October 21 -- Colin Powell flies to Riyadh to discuss offensive plans.
October 31 -- Bush decides to double U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia; decision kept secret until November 8.
November 29 -- UN Security Council authorizes use of "all means necessary" to eject Iraq from Kuwait.
December 6 -- First ship carrying VII Corps equipment arrives in Saudi Arabia from Germany.
January 9 -- James Baker meets Tariq Aziz in Geneva in unsuccessful effort to find a peaceful solution.
January 12 -- Congress authorizes use of force.
January 15 -- UN deadline for Iraqi withdrawal. Schwarzkopf accuses Air Force of ignoring orders by not including Republican Guard in initial bombing sorties.
January 17 -- Allied attack begins with Apache strike at 2:38 A.M.
January 18 -- First Scuds hit Israel. Navy aircraft losses during attack on Scud sites leads to recriminations about low-altitude bombing tactics. First American air attacks are launched from Turkey.
January 19 -- David Eberly and Thomas Griffith are shot down.
January 20 -- Lawrence Eagleburger and Paul Wolfowitz arrive in Tel Aviv.
January 22 -- Navy attacks Iraqi oil tanker, triggering Schwarzkopf's threat of court-martial. British high command, alarmed at aircraft losses, abandons low-altitude attacks against airfields.
January 23 -- Intense attack against Iraqi aircraft shelters begins.
January 26 -- U.S. Marines in Oman participate in Sea Soldier IV, rehearsal for amphibious landing on Kuwaiti coast.
F-111s attack oil manifolds at Al Ahmadi in effort to counter Iraqi sabotage.
January 29 -- Iraqis attack Khafji and other border positions. Allied pilots begin flying combat air patrols to thwart Iraqi flights to Iran.
January 30 -- Richard Cheney dispatches Delta Force to Saudi Arabia to hunt for Scuds.
January 31 -- Khafji is recaptured. David Eberly is moved to new prison, the "Biltmore."
February 1 -- Last Tomahawk missiles are launched in attack on Baghdad airfield.
February 2 -- Schwarzkopf formally decides against amphibious landing in Kuwait.
February 3 -- First battleship gunfire against targets in Kuwait.
February 5 -- First "tank-plinking" mission flown.
February 6 -- VII corps finishes closing in theater with arrival of final 3rd Armored Division equipment.
February 7 -- CIA, in daily intelligence brief, notes large discrepancy between Washington and Riyadh regarding destruction of Iraqi armor in air attacks.
February 8 -- Cheney and Powell fly to Riyadh for final review of ground war plans.
February 11 -- Al Firdos bunker in Baghdad suburb added to master attack plan. Moshe Arens in Washington complains about ineffectiveness of Patriot missile against Scuds. Yevgeni Primakov arrives in Baghdad to urge Iraqi withdrawal.
February 13 -- Strike on Al Firdos bunker kills more than two hundred civilians and leads to restrictions on strategic bombing campaign.
February 15 -- Radio Baghdad suggests Iraq willing to withdraw, Bush rejects proposal as a "cruel hoax."
February 16 -- VII Corps moves into final attack positions.
February 18 -- U.S.S. Tripoli and U.S.S. Princeton strike mines. Army complaints about insufficient air support lead to confrontation with Air Force.
February 20 -- 1st Cavalry Division feints up the Wadi al Batin; pulls back with three dead and nine wounded.
February 21 -- CIA and Pentagon officials meet at White House to air differences over battle-damage assessment. Bush sets deadline of noon, February 23, for Iraqi withdrawal.
February 22 -- Marines begin infiltrating into Kuwaiti bootheel.
February 23 -- Stealth fighters attack Iraqi intelligence headquarters, unaware that allied POWs are inside. Army Special Forces teams inserted deep into Iraq.
February 24 -- Ground attack begins. Schwarzkopf decides to accelerate main attack of VII Corps by fifteen hours.
February 25 -- Schwarzkopf explodes at slow pace of VII Corps. 101st Airborne Division cuts Highway 8 in Euphrates Valley. Iraqis counterattack 1st Marine Divsion. Scud destroys barracks in Al Khobar, killing twenty- eight Americans and wounding ninety-eight.
February 26 -- Iraqis flee Kuwait City. VII Corps hits Republican Guard in Battle of 73 Easting.
February 28 -- Cease-fire takes effect at 8 A.M.
March 2 -- 24th Infantry Division fights Hammurabi Division as it
flees; destroys six hundred vehicles.
March 3 -- Schwarzkopf meets Iraqi generals at Safwan.
March 5 -- David Eberly and most other POWs are released.
June 8 -- Victory parade in Washington.
Hear news of
Gulf War.
|