MyStory3

LAV-AT at the 'Berm'

The Berm.....
This was our Area of Operation or AO. We operated along the berm of sand erected by the Iraqis along the Saudi-Kuwait border. We ran raids across this berm on Iraqi units and conducted Psychological-Operations on a nightly basis. All along this "berm" were scattered buildings which were former police posts. These were habitually occupied by Iraqi forces and had to constantly flushed of their Iraqi occupiers. These pictures shows a LAV-AT and a LAV-25 along side the sand berm scanning the area for Iraqi Forces. This is an ideal position as the berm provides cover and concealment yet allows the weapons to be deployed and engage targets over the top of the berm.

Enemy Prisoners of War (EPWs)
These are the very first EPWs we had surrender to us. They would be the beginning of many who would cross the border and enter our lines, some where foolish enough to try and drive to us. I understand many came because of the leaflets which were dropped...telling them that they should surrender. We found that those who surrendered where generally Saddam's cannon fodder and were not well equipted and poorly fed.

Breaching the minefields.....
This picture I took as we approached the first obstacle belt. The LAV-25 is our Company's left flank and if you look closely you can see the Marine Corps Colors flying on the antenna. Our Company's right flank sported the Stars 'n' Stripes. The Cobra gun ship was part of our Close Air Support (CAS). It sure offered piece of mind having them at our beck and call.

Burning Oil Well Head in Al Wafra Oil Fields

The Oil Fields......
One part of my unit's objective's was to clear the Al Wafrah and the Al Burquon oil fields. The oil fields were a mess as the fleeing Iraqi soldiers blew up well heads resulting in the dramatic effects you see here. Some well heads did not ignite and sprayed a fine mist into the air causing everything around them to turn a nice shade of black including us. We had a hard time engaging enemy tank here using our thermal sights as the burning wells would "white out" the sights. We were issued goggles and the crude oil mist would cling to them... wiping without cleaners only smudged them so we would ditch the goggles and take our chances. This resulted in our eye lashes "gumming" shut. The heat of the burning wells was so intense, the plastic water jugs strapped to the outside of our vehicles would start to melt. Another impressive phenomenon was the incredible convection currents caused by the burning wells.

Welcome to Hell on Earth......
This is a quick shot I took of a LAV-25 silhouetted against a burning well head. This was one of the last pictures I took as the operational momentum picked up and for fear that the camera flash would attract attention. I've never seen anything like this and this was the closest place to Hell on Earth that I would ever experience...