thedrifter
03-06-04, 12:37 PM
Issue Date: March 08, 2004
Book Review
The fog of myth: Former Marine details the 1991 Gulf War you didn’t see on TV
By Joseph E. DeYoung Jr.
Special to the Times
We often find ourselves in the position of having historians show us how badly our myths and campfire stories fall short of reality.
Every once in a while, an author comes along and shows us that myth was far greater than we imagined.
The battle at Khafji only briefly made headlines during the 1991 Persian Gulf War; the air war that started days before this battle overshadowed it.
Yet the fight at Khafji, some of the most intense ground combat during the war, was a pivotal point in the war. Its story needed to be told. The battle lay bare the politics of war, as well as the emotions and, most important, the dedication of America’s fighting men and women.
David J. Morris does an excellent job telling the tale.
Part of the pleasure in reading this work comes from the way Morris tells the story from the war fighter’s point of view. We come to know the characters and terrain through Morris’ vivid detail: from peacetime Okinawa, Japan, to sweat-wringing moments of fear on rooftops of buildings surrounded by the enemy.
The book is rife with controversy and the raw emotion of combat, yet covers the national political aims and the operational and tactical objectives of the war. It reveals the devastating effectiveness of America’s arsenal of weapons systems and tactics but, most of all, it is about the men and women who fought this battle and the Gulf War.
Gleaned from military histories and detailed interviews, “Storm” reads like fine literature. Characters come to life; fear and anger smack the reader between the eyes.
I could feel the pain of those who watched men die at their side, and I could feel the tension of a TOW missile gunner as he tried to decide whether to fire during a firefight. These moments exemplify the best parts of the work.
At one point, an unseasoned reconnaissance team of six led by Marine Cpl. Chuck Ingraham was trapped on the top of a building in Khafji. They were lightly armed; they had no transportation save shoe leather; they had little contact with other units; and they were out of time for decision-making. It was leave immediately or stay and face almost certain death.
“Ingraham looked around at the faces of the five of them and asked them what they wanted to do,” Morris writes. “Among the troops was Kevin Callahan, the team’s Navy medical corpsman, known universally as Doc. A fourteen-year recon veteran with a walrus mustache, Doc was far more than the team’s patch-’em-up guy; he was their big brother, their sober sage, a moral force, the lone cool head in the storm. The Marines felt better just having him around. He did not have to say a word. Doc Callahan regarded Ingraham, and in his calm, almost drowsy, Floridian drawl settled the matter. ‘Ingraham, we’re recon Marines. This is what we are trained to do. If we remain behind, we can wreak havoc on these guys. We should stay.’” And wreak havoc they did as the reader hears and sees vividly through Morris’ words.
Apart from the compelling human side of the battle and the lessons learned, there were the controversies: the failure of the Saudi armed forces to hold up their end of the coalition, the stories of fratricide and the examples of poor decision-making at senior levels. This work is loaded with political land mines, especially as America fights a war in the Middle East. I will not offer political commentary here, but Morris does not hesitate to do so, and for that I congratulate him.
This is a story that ought to be told around campfires, most properly with bad whiskey and good cigars. We all should hunker down with it for a time, so we can tell the tale ourselves someday.
Storm on the Horizon: Khafji — The Battle that Changed the Course of the Gulf War by David J. Morris. Free Press. 280 pages, $25.
Joseph E. DeYoung Jr. is a retired Marine officer. He lives in Stafford, Va.
http://www.marinetimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-2676751.php
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
Book Review
The fog of myth: Former Marine details the 1991 Gulf War you didn’t see on TV
By Joseph E. DeYoung Jr.
Special to the Times
We often find ourselves in the position of having historians show us how badly our myths and campfire stories fall short of reality.
Every once in a while, an author comes along and shows us that myth was far greater than we imagined.
The battle at Khafji only briefly made headlines during the 1991 Persian Gulf War; the air war that started days before this battle overshadowed it.
Yet the fight at Khafji, some of the most intense ground combat during the war, was a pivotal point in the war. Its story needed to be told. The battle lay bare the politics of war, as well as the emotions and, most important, the dedication of America’s fighting men and women.
David J. Morris does an excellent job telling the tale.
Part of the pleasure in reading this work comes from the way Morris tells the story from the war fighter’s point of view. We come to know the characters and terrain through Morris’ vivid detail: from peacetime Okinawa, Japan, to sweat-wringing moments of fear on rooftops of buildings surrounded by the enemy.
The book is rife with controversy and the raw emotion of combat, yet covers the national political aims and the operational and tactical objectives of the war. It reveals the devastating effectiveness of America’s arsenal of weapons systems and tactics but, most of all, it is about the men and women who fought this battle and the Gulf War.
Gleaned from military histories and detailed interviews, “Storm” reads like fine literature. Characters come to life; fear and anger smack the reader between the eyes.
I could feel the pain of those who watched men die at their side, and I could feel the tension of a TOW missile gunner as he tried to decide whether to fire during a firefight. These moments exemplify the best parts of the work.
At one point, an unseasoned reconnaissance team of six led by Marine Cpl. Chuck Ingraham was trapped on the top of a building in Khafji. They were lightly armed; they had no transportation save shoe leather; they had little contact with other units; and they were out of time for decision-making. It was leave immediately or stay and face almost certain death.
“Ingraham looked around at the faces of the five of them and asked them what they wanted to do,” Morris writes. “Among the troops was Kevin Callahan, the team’s Navy medical corpsman, known universally as Doc. A fourteen-year recon veteran with a walrus mustache, Doc was far more than the team’s patch-’em-up guy; he was their big brother, their sober sage, a moral force, the lone cool head in the storm. The Marines felt better just having him around. He did not have to say a word. Doc Callahan regarded Ingraham, and in his calm, almost drowsy, Floridian drawl settled the matter. ‘Ingraham, we’re recon Marines. This is what we are trained to do. If we remain behind, we can wreak havoc on these guys. We should stay.’” And wreak havoc they did as the reader hears and sees vividly through Morris’ words.
Apart from the compelling human side of the battle and the lessons learned, there were the controversies: the failure of the Saudi armed forces to hold up their end of the coalition, the stories of fratricide and the examples of poor decision-making at senior levels. This work is loaded with political land mines, especially as America fights a war in the Middle East. I will not offer political commentary here, but Morris does not hesitate to do so, and for that I congratulate him.
This is a story that ought to be told around campfires, most properly with bad whiskey and good cigars. We all should hunker down with it for a time, so we can tell the tale ourselves someday.
Storm on the Horizon: Khafji — The Battle that Changed the Course of the Gulf War by David J. Morris. Free Press. 280 pages, $25.
Joseph E. DeYoung Jr. is a retired Marine officer. He lives in Stafford, Va.
http://www.marinetimes.com/story.php?f=0-MARINEPAPER-2676751.php
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: