Preface

This volume was written very shortly after the events described. It is based primarily on notes I made in the field while serving as the historian for the 2d Marine Division during Operation Desert Storm. Where necessary, these notes are supplemented by information contained in oral history interviews, many of which were made within days of the cessation of hostilities, with principal commanders and staff officers. Further clarification was gained through personal conversations with the officers involved.

This history is intended to be a first effort at presenting the division's actions, operations, and contributions to victory in what was a time of national crisis and intense military activity. Written so close to the time involved, many of those source materials which ordinarily would be available to a researcher of the war are not yet returned to the Marine Corps Historical Center. What this history can do is to guide the efforts of those researchers and writers who will come later. They will be introduced to the actions and decisions which were deemed to be most important to the division at the time; they will be made familiar with the content of sources which they might otherwise have missed; most importantly, they will be able to balance what is written here against those more complete records which will be available to them, and they will be able to correct any errors of fact which may have been made.

In writing this narrative, I had to choose which style might most clearly present all of those decisions and concerns which are the proper work of a division as it prepares for, and engages in, combat. I discovered early on that to try to present all of this information in a straight chronological sequence would be confusing. Rarely would an issue tend to a fast and simple resolution. Most questions were complex, requiring staff coordination and action over expanses of time which were measured in weeks. Nor would an issue be worked in isolation; any number of them were considered in a staff section at the same time. So I have written this history in a topical format. In this manner, an issue may be studied from start to finish, even though it may cause the narrative to move back and forth in the time-line of the history itself. This may lead to some redundancy of detail, especially where one decision is bound up in another. However, I believe that this presentation may be of greater value to future scholars as they research a particular question.

This history is also limited in scope, partly because of time constraints. It also is not meant to be the definitive work on the 2d Marine Division's participation in the war in the Persian Gulf area; that is intended by the Director of Marine Corps History and Museums to come later. This volume studies the participation of the division as an entity, and is written from that perspective. The actions of regiments, baflalions, companies, small units, or individuals are noted as they are exceptional or contributed significantly to the division's overall efforts.

Every Marine is influenced by many others he meets during his career. I have been fortunate, while working on this history, to have had the assistance

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