But the pilots hadn't trained much on the bullseye concept in the 1980s, Fox said. But then he saw the secondary target, a big hangar. They continually flew reconnaissance missions, looking for invasion routes and ways to set up a defense of Saudi Arabia along the Kuwait border and down to the oil fields and Iran. The Humvee was stolen from a National Guard Armory in a Los Angeles suburb. 24th Infantry Division Desert Storm Reunion. Quickly coordinating an engagement area with the responsible ground Commander, the attack battalion established a battle position to the northwest of the oil fields, effectively cutting the enemy's escape route across the Hammar Causeway. Wellman remembered saying. "But we respected them -- there was no question about it.". He kept watch behind him to make sure he wasn't being baited. But in August 1990, he got a call to come into work in the middle of the night. Is ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Next? "Everybody used every resource available to us to help us build situational awareness of what could be up there," he said. "A couple of us scout platoon leaders and pilots went to our leadership and said, 'You gotta let us go in -- you gotta let us fly these missions,'" Wellman recalled. "I would say first and foremost, that I'm pretty sure that they all woke up 100% committed to defending their nation," he said. Despite some of the most fierce resistance of the war, the 24th Infantry Division destroyed the Iraqi formations[11] and captured the two airfields the next day. As the ground troops were set to roll in, pilots started to receive intelligence about the booby traps Hussein had placed just about everywhere -- from ship mines in the Persian Gulf to the tank and toe-popper mines laid for the ground troops. And we were the smallest squadron as far as number of airplanes in the air campaign.". At the same time, they studied Iraq's systems and defenses to try to figure out how to "crack" them. The Navy carriers didn't have tankers on board, and the Air Force tankers worked differently from the Navy's, which meant the pilots needed adapters, which were created just for Desert Storm -- and lots of practice. Fox heard through his headset. The E2 Hawkeye pilot -- who flew high above for traffic control and to watch for problems -- warned the jets they had company. "And the Iranian F-4s would commit on that, take advantage of that mistake, and then the Iraqis would have a supersonic Flogger, or somebody going from low to high and come in there and nail the Iranians.". 24th Infantry Division Veteran wreath-bearers present the wreath to the monument as part of the 24th ID Desert Storm memorial ceremony Feb. 27, 2017 at Fort Stewart, Georgia to honor the fallen Soldiers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. Maj. Marie Therese Rossi-Cayton was the first woman to serve as an aviation unit commander in combat, and she died in that role when her CH-47 Chinook hit an unlit microwave tower while she was flying at night on March 1, 1991, in Saudi Arabia. 2nd A.C.R. "He must look back and think, 'What a fucking idiot,'" Wellman said, laughing. The plan is to have it in July or August of 2021. In August, the tank platoon leader, assigned to the 2nd Armored Brigade, 24th Infantry Division, arrived with four M-1 Abrams tanks, each manned by four Soldiers for a total of 16. He had been stationed in Fort Stewart living in an apartment by the airfield when Panama went down a year before Desert Storm, and he could hear the Rangers flying out. They talked about the missiles they launched, the friends they lost, the lessons they learned, and the personal battles they've fought in the years since. Retired Air Force Col. Cesar Rodriguez had no idea he wanted to be a pilot. It's not like you can throw us on some C5s.". Chris Anderson -- his aerial observer -- going out. "Things are happening pretty fast, I guess is the way to put that," Fox said. [13] Four companies within 1st Battalion, 24th Aviation Regiment would be awarded Valorous Unit Award Citations. Appler, Thomas, A Look at the 24th Division After Korea, Part 2, Tabular Listing of Units . Their brains are frazzled; they're losing friends: Don't get distracted. He had not. "Barry McCaffrey was the division commander and really wanted his Apaches forward," Wellman said. [18] The 24th Infantry Division's Task Force Tusker would be awarded a Valorous Unit Award for its efforts. If a pilot misses the wires on a ship landing and has to come back around to land, it's called a "bolter." "It appeared they wanted either to get into Baghdad or fly into Iran," Rodriguez said. "That was a dynamic targeting problem that we hadn't really ever trained to," Fox said. Apache pilots had notoriously bad navigation.". And then the war began with the "Great Scud Hunt" of 1991. And lo and behold, that's where we ended up going. [13], For extraordinary heroism while engaged in military action against Iraqi ground forces in the Rumayiah oil fields on 2 March 1991. Well, you kill the sensors. "As we got closer and closer, it became more and more obvious that he wasn't going to leave," Fox said. February 27, 2015 was the 24th anniversary and nearly 100 … But when he landed, another officer killed his plans. He put the Sidewinder into quick-lock acquisition mode. Unknown to Fox, his first missile saw the MiG and went after him. "And you know, that didn't work out.". "And then, of course, we started to see the desert on fire," he said, referring to the oil wells Hussein had set aflame. "The E2 says, 'That bandit's on your nose at 15,'" Fox said. I am sad to report that Lily Lambert Gold Star Mother of our fallen Brother John Hutto passed away on january 16th 2021. [13], For extraordinary heroism while engaged in military action against Iraqi ground forces on 26 February 1991 and again on 2 March 1991. "Just as I squeeze the trigger on the Sparrow, the Sidewinder hit him, so there's a big explosion," Fox said. We're deploying to Kuwait, to Saudi Arabia.'". The sand hindered helicopter landings as it rose up in gritty, blinding clouds. "We're in MOPP suits and training, but we flew a lot," Wellman said. Like many of that generation, he worried that he'd never get a chance to prove himself. "'This is about who's going to safely fly in another country where there's zero information and come back.'". He laughs about it now, but he took those lessons into future deployments, realizing he needed to keep his soldiers calm and to understand what they were going through: Stick to the training and muscle memory. The Battle for Jalibah Airfield took place when the U.S. 2nd Brigade, 24th Infantry Division successfully attacked and captured the heavily defended Jalibah Southeast Air Base military airfield in Iraq, located 80 miles west of Basra, on February 27, 1991 during the Gulf War. "I was so intent on what I was doing, I didn't let the other people on the flight know.". Good tone: He knew he had a shot lined up. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Wellman was not happy, but he regrouped. It was activated under the Square Division Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E) on 1 March 1921 as the Hawaiian Division at Schofield Barracks, Oahu. The division was assigned the 21st Infantry Regiment and the 22nd Infantry Regiment, both of which had been assigned to the US 11th Infantry Division prior to 1921. "And when I found out that there were airplanes that landed and took off from ships, that just sealed it for me.". All rights reserved. "Whether they knew to be looking for us, or they could see us, I don't know that one," he said. "So [McCaffrey] decided he wanted to fly Apaches into Iraq along the air routes at night -- the invasion routes -- to do route reconnaissance," Wellman said. While moving through Objective Gold, a large logistics center between Talil on the west and Jalibah airfield on the east, the 24th Infantry Division found 1,700 bunkers full of munitions, weapons, petroleum and other war stocks. "So you're doing this kind of mental math, this mental basketball, 'OK, where are those guys?'" The war was historic: Iraq lost 259 aircraft, with 36 being shot down. He says, 'I don't know.' Maybe we'll be doing a battlefield interdiction against the tanks. The CIA reported he had died on impact. Because they'd lost a pilot early that morning, Fox said he wasn't in any mood to do a victory roll or something dramatic to celebrate. But without the benefit of combat-experienced service members after years of peace, there was no one at the unit level to prepare them for the momentum of war, as well as the heartache that followed. "You got a MiG kill!' "'Y'all aren't going to believe this, but we're fucking going,'" Wellman recalled his battalion commander saying. "Hey, they're bandits!" The 24th Infantry Division traces its lineage to Army units activated in Hawaii. "I knew he was a bad guy," Fox said. At about 11 or 12 miles out, they could see the MiGs, and they hit them with AIM Sparrow missiles. He made it a battle when it was never one. After that day, his squadron had several more kills, even as the air war drew down at the end of January. Nick "Mongo" Mongillo. Maps weren't as big of an issue for his squadron because they flew high -- at 30,000 or 40,000 feet, so they weren't looking for landmarks. When it became obvious Hussein wasn't going to chance it, they began to plan the attack. Rotating attack helicopter companies into the battle position, enemy forces were engaged with 30mm cannon fire, 2.75 inch rockets, and Hellfire missiles. "That may have given me a little taste of it," Fox said. [14], Coordinates: 30°41′53″N 47°19′18″E / 30.69806°N 47.32167°E / 30.69806; 47.32167, Task Force Tusker Valorous Unit Award Citation, 1st Battalion, 24th Aviation Regiment Valorous Unit Award Citation, 1st Battalion, 24th Aviation Regiment Units Cited, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFKrausSchubert1995 (, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/hammurabi.htm, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/03/18/outflanking-iraq-go-west-go-deep/5e34b6b1-9a58-4d53-b4cd-fd9e3df1072a/, "Wages of War - Appendix 2: Iraqi Combatant and Noncombatant Fatalities in the 1991 Gulf War", http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19910508&slug=1281985, "XVIII AIRBORNE CORPS CHRONOLOGY (March 1991)", "Desert Storm/Shield Valorous Unit Award Citations", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Rumaila&oldid=985434314, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment (HHC, 4-64th AR), 3rd Platoon, Battery A, 1st Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment (Team B), Company A, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment (Team A), Company C, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment (Team D), Company C, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment (Team C), Fire Support Teams, 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment, Tactical Air Control Party, Detachment 3, 507th Tactical Air Control Wing, U.S. Air Force, Headquarters Service Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Aviation Regiment, Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Aviation Regiment, Company B, 1st Battalion 24th Aviation Regiment, Company C, 1st Battalion, 24th Aviation Regiment, Company D, 1st Battalion, 24th Aviation Regiment, This page was last edited on 25 October 2020, at 23:02. Over time and multiple landings, the sand turned to "moon powder," so the pilots wet it down with water. It contains information about the 24th infantry Divison's wartime activities, copies of selected Taro Leaf publications, our Reunions, its officers, TAPS information, many first hand stories by our members of their actions in the Korean War, WWII World War Two, Desert Storm, and many other types of information. "I guess in the vernacular of air-to-air squadrons, we were the lucky ones," Rodriguez said. These circumstances provoked a heated debate over whether McCaffrey was justified in his decision to destroy the column, and over the reason the 24th Division moved during the ceasefire into the path of the withdrawing Iraqis in the first place. Lt. Col. Mark Cassel was a second lieutenant when he received orders to Saudi Arabia during Desert Shield, the buildup phase to Desert Storm. [13] "I've got this kind of little angel and little devil on the shoulder," he said. XVIII Airborne Corps 24th Mechanized Infantry 82nd Airborne Div. Michael Scott Speicher, had been shot down by an Iraqi warplane. "Marvelous," he said. Bush deployed U.S. troops, ultimately more than 500,000 -- including hundreds of pilots -- to move into the Persian Gulf for a six-month build-up of a tank war built upon Cold War training for the Fulda Gap and an attack from the Soviets. The proposal to expand military exchange shopping privileges had been expected to be finalized in late 2020. He had Sidewinder missiles on his wingtips and two Sparrow missiles. "At some point, they hit what was apparently ground fog up in Iraq, and the aircrews became separated. But at the company level, you're pretty much in the dark. The division insignia is based on the taro leaf, emblematic of Hawaii. And then you start to work your way so that you're blinding them or you're jamming them.". They decimated Saddam Hussein's air force, bombing shelters Hussein thought would be impervious to attack. From the battalion commander down to the company commander, it was just like train, train, train, train. Wellman's father had served in the Marines during World War II; he lost one uncle with the Marines in Korea, and a second was an Air Force pilot who died when his bomber crashed. Jan. 19, three days after the air war began Baghdad-time, would prove to be the test. "We worked those aircraft hard. The 24th Infantry Division’s heavy armor moved rapidly northward, meeting sporadic resistance from demoralized Iraqi troops. Between 30,000 and 100,000 Iraqi fighters were killed, most during the air war, and an estimated 100,000 Iraqi civilians also died from wounds or lack of food and water, as well as medical supplies, because of the war. We'd go to battalion headquarters trying to get updates because they had the TV going up there. "I was always anticipating that there would be some sort of dust-up with the Soviets," he said. Fox had fired two or three Sidewinders in missile exercises, and missiles always left big plumes of smoke. News reports stated military leaders expected 10,000 American deaths in the first week of battle -- which is what the pilots and ground troops read in the copies of Stars and Stripes passed from person to person in the days before the Desert Storm started. The U.S. forces hit 28 fixed Scud sites with everything from B-52s to F-117 Stealth Fighters the evening of Jan. 17, 1991. "From the sky, the answer is, 'It sure sucks to be down there.'". Because of their training, because of the thousands of times they had performed the same maneuvers in peacetime practice sessions, they had completed their mission "pretty much flawlessly.". One or two scouts flew with three or four Apaches. Which meant they were close. Like, 'Jesus, what an ass!'". "I didn't call my shot," he said. Everyone flew relative to Manny, and that's how the Hawkeye let the pilots know where the bandits were. And some of them knew how to do their jobs well and had proved it in the war against Iran, but with the training Rodriguez's team had had, "I'll just say it bluntly: We would have kicked anybody's butt," he said. [12] The 24th Infantry Division's Task Force Tusker attacked entrenched Iraqi forces on 26 February 1991 to seize battle position 143, effectively severing the Iraqi Euphrates River Valley line of communication to the Kuwait Theater of operation and destroying the major combat elements of the Iraqi Republican Guard Forces Command's elite 26th Commando Brigade. As the air war continued into February, Wellman's unit became more important. And they would replicate the same procedures they would use to get to the Air Force tankers. November 9, 2020 at 10:10 AM. It's a mechanized division. And the Americans hadn't trained for everything: Smoke from oil fires lit by Hussein grew so thick that the sun disappeared and pilots had a hard time seeing past the beaks of their planes. "So the airplanes that were on alert status on different bases around the region came together, and we went and attacked this particular target.". His wingman on the far left took on a second MiG-21. Capt. "It's a hard one.". During their debrief, the two American pilots learned that it had been a coordinated attack, designed to bring them into the Iraqi integrated air missile defenses. XVIII Corps’ 24th Mechanized Infantry Division completed a 200-mile desert crossing to reach the Euphrates River Valley. Still, Iraq had the fourth-largest army in the world, and Iraqi pilots had years of combat experience. 77 in HQ, 24th Infantry Division (Mech. With that background, Wellman knew he wanted to serve and applied to West Point. Fox earned his commission in 1978 -- during the post-Vietnam "doldrums." "And it's the first day of war. More than 100 U.S. Navy and Air Force planes hit five targets within the space of an hour. Highway of Death 1991 Iraqi Army Retreat from Kuwait Youtube. "Which means, 'OK, there are bandits -- known bad guys -- south of H3 northwest heading 25 miles.'". Bruce Till served as his wingman. "And then a new target popped up that had not been identified before," he said. Because it was 1990, every day, Rodriguez's air tasking order came on a floppy disk flown in by a Learjet. We just we were told, 'Get home ASAP.'". The Apaches, without guidance from their scouts' Kiowas, struggled to find their routes. The decision marks the second time she has been denied parole. "We lived in the desert the whole time, which brought its challenges, but it did prepare us well for the invasion," he said. "They had a pretty sophisticated integrated air defense," he said. Many survivors will see at least $400 more in their Feb. 1 annuity payments. In 1991, they had no individual access to satellite phones or television, and very few people, in general, had heard of email. It's like all the time, so it became rote.". They made their way to the threat, but they also searched for clear skies, eventually working down from 35,000 feet to about 15,000 feet, in and out of thunderstorms and clouds and rainstorms. "Nobody ever even thought we would be engaged in the Middle East. Without constant training, U.S. pilots say they would have accomplished none of that. Three platoons in, Wellman was champing at the bit. The F18 jets flew in along the EA-6B Prowlers, which jammed electronic signals from the Iraqi integrated air defense system so the Iraqis could not find them. "But the joke was that Apaches couldn't navigate: Their job was to blow shit up. He barely ate. The Tomcats did not have the benefit of the jamming aircraft, so they were flying tangentially, staying outside the missile engagement zone while providing a less-important target than the F-18s to the Iraqi radar operators on the ground. He went to another lieutenant's apartment to watch TV and hang out. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan wants to know if the Taliban is "living up to its commitments.". You don't know if there's going to be another guy or gal on the other side who has prepared harder than I did. "He is no threat to me, and I came here to drop bombs," Fox said. This is the order of battle for the ground campaign in the Gulf War between U.S. and Coalition Forces and the Iraqi Armed Forces between 24–28 February 1991. "My wingman and I engaged two MiG-29s that were using a highly sophisticated tactic to both attack us, and then also lure us into running into their integrated air missile defenses," Rodriguez said. "Once everybody disconnected from my com system, and it was just me inside the cockpit … when I was in my quiet zone, I was -- I'll just use the term bluntly -- I was scared shitless," he said. Finally, the Army brought in a synthetic substance that hardened into pavement. "Very rarely were there two or three days that I didn't fly, which was awesome," he said. "There was a shifting in our thinking from reactive and defensive to proactive and offensive, if you will, going into this, with the backdrop of the UN negotiations and the UN Security Council resolution.". "We were just sitting there, and it was killing us.". Wellman had been promoted to platoon leader of a scout helicopter platoon in Alpha Company, part of a battalion that had just transitioned to alpha-model Apaches. And at that point, no one had combat experience at the company level, either. "It was a very heavily defended airfield," Fox said. But the people who lived through it remember it differently: Months of preparation preceded a month-and-a-half-long air war that left 33 American pilots and their crew members dead. They had to print out the order. The pilots would fly the same distances they would have to fly in war. So that's what he did. The United States set up hospital ships and field hospitals along the Iraqi-Saudi Arabia border in preparation for a blood bath. Beyond what they heard at headquarters, the pilots generally didn't know about the events of the war. Every morning, they would clear the weapons training range because Bedouins would wander in at night. This devastating aerial attack assured the destruction of the Republican Guard Forces Hammurabi Division and the remnants of several other infantry divisions. The women who served in that war led, in part, to the 1993 lifting of the combat exclusion policy, which kept women from serving in combat roles. "I had a close call myself on a night where it was just blacked out and I couldn't see shit.". As they monitored the west side of Baghdad, the F-15s went up against three MiG-23 Floggers coming out of the airfields to the west. The next morning, another company of Apaches and a Blackhawk found them: They had crashed about four kilometers into Iraq. Fox had an extra 2,000-pound bomb. On 21 September 1975 the 24th Infantry Division was activated at Fort Stewart, Georgia, as part of the program to build a sixteen-division force. I'm at .9 Mach or .91, so I'm close to supersonic, but I'm not supersonic.". It was activated under the Square Division Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E) on 1 March 1921 as the Hawaiian Division at Schofield Barracks, Oahu. Corps ’ 24th Mechanized Infantry Division traces its lineage to Army units activated in.! Lily Lambert Gold Star Mother of our fallen Brother John Hutto passed away on January 16th 2021 sucks be! The bay, and they 're losing friends: do n't think they 'd training!, deployed immediately when Hussein invaded Kuwait Aug. 2, Tabular Listing units! Combined rate at Mach 1.3, '' he said of a lieutenant from west to East. `` said. Popped up that had no idea he wanted to serve and applied to west point: was. 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