This is Jockel Podcast number 389 with Echo Charles and me, Jockel Willink. Good evening, Echo. Good evening.

An American led coalition orchestrated by President George H. W. Bush had given Saddam Hussein

an ultimatum. Leave Kuwait by January 15th, 1991. He didn't. And on January 16th,

the world witnessed what the greatest fighting force ever created could do.

The invasion went in two phases, first an air war, where the combined might of American and

allied militaries reigned thousands of tons of ordinance on the Iraqi army. Weeks later,

the coalition smashed through Iraq's barricades and military in a two-pronged ground attack.

To the right, American led forces surged Iraq into Iraq near the Kuwait border. Meanwhile,

another contingent launched a left hook across the Iraqi desert. My unit joined that assault.

At the last minute, we had been attached to a French tank division charged with protecting

the left flank. We crossed the border into Iraq early on the morning of February 25th. Our humvees

cutting through the desert with close air support in the distance. When the sun came up,

carnage met my eyes. I remember vividly the skeletons of enemy tanks, trucks and artillery that

had been hit by precision-guided missiles. The bombing campaign so precise and watched on TVs

around the world was unprecedented in human history. Pushing farther in, we encountered some

resistance from retreating Iraqi Republican guard forces, but the majority shed their uniforms

and blended into the populace or surrendered by the thousands. My unit was assigned the missions

of clearing minefields and destroying Iraqi munitions and military equipment. A platoon from

27th engineer battalion also from Fort Bragg was attached to my company. Soon after crossing

into Iraq, it was assigned the mission of clearing munitions from airfields after coalition bombing

had rendered them inoperable. Sadly, when clearing cluster munitions, the bombs went off,

killing seven, including their platoon leader, first lieutenant Terry Plunk, who might have gotten

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