702ND TRANS BATTALION OPER DIARY SAUDI ARABIA 1990 THRU 1991

File: 970815_sep96_decls24_0028.txt
Page: 0028
Total Pages: 43
Subject = 702ND TRANS BATTALION OPER DIARY SAUDI ARABIA 1990 THRU 1991    

Parent Organization = MISC        

Unit = MISC        

Folder Title = 702ND TRANS BN-PROVISIONAL-BATTALION OPERATIONS DIARY-SAUDI ARABIA 90-91                        

Document Number =          1

Box ID = BX005619










                               OPERATION DESERT CALM


            1 March - Initial cease fire. Operation Desert Calm
           begins. Intelligence reports that all 42 Iraqi divisions
           deployed in the KTO were destroyed as a militarily effective
           force. Bn strength: 787 soldiers. Assets available: 506
           flatbed trucks.

            2 March - Bn S3 departs for Jubayl, and Log Base A. A
           cargo truck, not associated with 7 Trans Gp, was destroyed by
           a mine while passing on the shoulder of the road in Kuwait.

            3 March - Bn S3 accompanies convoy from 1404th Trans Co,
           ILT O'Brien, along MSR Blue to Log Base N (Nelligan) to
           support move of an MP company from one EPW camp to another
           one further north. The trip is a long one over dirt roads.
           Many thousands of EPWs are observed being processed at
           Nelligan. They are then trucked to the rear. Most appear
           glad to be out of the war while some look at us with hatred
           in their eyes. We don't care what they think. The attitude
           of the MP unit is entirely professional. They are really
           running a humanitarian relief operation.

            4 March - Convoy continues north into Iraq. Our engineers
           are blowing up enemy equipment. Columns of black smoke
           rising from this activity are evident. AH-64 Apache
           helicopter gunships teamed with OH-58 Kiowa scout helicopters
           are seen hunting for enemy holdouts. The area of Iraq where
           the 1404th is operating is the biggest junk yard in the
           world. Everything has been hit from the air, shelled by
           allied artillery and then overrun by hundreds of Abrams and
           Challenger tanks. A number of T-54 tanks were noted which
           had been hit and destroyed by long rod penitrators. These
           entered the tank on one side and exited the other. It is
           apparent that we are following the path of a killing machine.
           The entire area, a flat and otherwise featureless plain, is
           littered with the wreckage of battle, burnt out armored
           vehicles, trucks, artillery pieces, fortifications, bloody
           field dressings, portions of human remains, ammunition cans,
           ration packs of three armies (US, UK and Iraqi), metal pieces
           of who-knows-what-it-ever-was, and everywhere expended and
           dud munitions. There are soft mounds of earth besides many
           destroyed enemy vehicles where the Allies have buried the
           Iraqi dead. The smell of the battlefield is evident in
           several places. As the Bn S3 returns from Iraq in the
           evening, M915 tractors with M872 trailers are noted carrying
           ammunition north. RON with D Co (Fwd), lLT Scanlin, at Log
           Base B.

            5 March - Bn S3 returns from KKMC, after visiting 7th Gp
           (Fwd), MAJ Halter and CPT Keeton. The trip down MSR Dodge in
           the rain is, as usual, nerve wracking and tiring.
            6 March - LTG Pagonis, 22nd SUPCOM Cdr, addresses officers