18S                                    U.S. MARINES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, I99~I99I


1st Day of War:              `As Scary as You Can Get'

by Molly Moore

The Washington Post, 17 February 1991

    WITH U.S. FORCES near Kuwait City:        For a Marine grunt fresh out of
boot camp and infantry training, clearing Iraqi trenches with nothing more than
an M-16 rifle and hand grenades on the first day of war "was scary as you could
get."
    The first time Iraqi artillery rounds rained on his infantry unit, 20-year~ld
Pfc. Martin Santos hugged the ground.    And when the skirmish was over, he
was the first member of his team back inside the tracked armored personnel
carrier.
    "We just sat there, holding our weapons saying, `I'm alive, you're alive-are
you okay?" recalled the Palm Beach, Fla., native, who arrived in Saudi Arabia
two days before the air war started Jan. 17 and just days after he had finished
basic infantry training.
    By the second day of war, however, Santos was recognizing the same fear
in the faces of-hundreds of Iraqi prisoners he was tasked with policing.
    "The first ones I saw were afraid," add Santos. "They had pictures of their
kids.  You would see a tear coming out of their eyes.  They'd make motions
like they were washing their hands of war and say, `I'm done."'
    As Staff Sgt Julien Pierre, 37, leaped out of his armored vehicle with team
members and began raking Iraqi trenches with gunfire, frightened Iraq is quickly
began surrendering.   "It was really a confidence boost," he said.
    Other Iraqis put up more resistance.
    "Not everybody was giving up--some needed encouragement," said Capt. Ray
Griggs, commander of the 6th Regiment Charlie company, adding that many
Iraqi infantry troops "got shredded  by shrapnel."
    When the infantry troops spotted one Iraqi soldier who was holding a radio
handset to his ear as he called in artillery raids against advancing Americans,
they quickly shot him.
    On the second day of combat, the company looked across the horizon to see
a platoon of Iraqi soldiers marching toward them in step, carrying a mammoth
white flag "We just pointed them south," said Griggs.


Copyright 1991 The Washington Post. Reprinted with PerinLSSjOfl