Desert Shield/Storm, A Veteran Remembers

DeCody Brad’s Collections:

Desert Shield (2 Aug 1990 - 17 Jan 1991) / Desert Storm (17 Jan 1991 - 28 Feb 1991) Photo Album at Picasaweb.google.com , A Collection of 48 Photos shared by Retired United States Army Staff Sergeant, formerly a (NCOIC) Non-commission officer in charge of a 50 Caliber Machine Gun Crew. SSgt. DeCody Brad Marble of the 632nd Maintenance Company of Fort Stewart, Georgia shares his Gulf War experience for 2015 Veteran's Day, November 11th.

Access the following link:

 https://picasaweb.google.com/118207944808128103083/DesertShieldStorm19901991

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Click on each of the time sequence photos within the collection for a close up and to read the captions in order to get the story of Sergeant Marble's experience.

1991, 26 February; G – Day, ground offensive into Iraq, Desert Storm, Persian Gulf War, the beginning of the 100 hour war. I, Staff-Sergeant Marble was perched on top of a deuce and a half (2 ? ton) cargo truck with my M2 Browning 50 caliber machine gun locked and loaded, wrapped in plastic. It was O’ six hundred (0600) in the morning and the truck was setting among an armada of army vehicles. I looked to my right and left and to the rear of my perch, and all I could see were military vehicles of all sorts and sizes. The armada was pointing north, two miles south of the Iraq border, poised to advance at a moments notice. Our rear supply support unit, the 632nd Maintenance Company, (from Fort Stewart, Georgia) was to support the 24th Infantry’s offensive into and across Iraq towards the Basra River, north of Kuwait.

My Officer-In-Charge, (OIC), Lieutenant Snow of the 632nd Supply Squadron, assigned to be the Battalion Convoy Leader. Lt. Snow assigned the Supply Squadron 50 Caliber Team to be the 3rd position, only behind the Battalion and convoy leaders, of an array of hundreds of vehicles stretched across the desert sands. In the days preceding this G – Day event, Supply Platoon Technical Sergeant Lanning, a female, had approached me and informed me that Lt. Snow had been assigned Battalion Convoy Leader for the advance into Iraq. As the Supply Platoon 50-Caliber Crew Sergeant, I immediately rushed to the 632nd Command Tent to volunteer to be up front or wherever the Lieutenant desired to position me. Upon my arrival, the Lieutenant said, “You have already been chosen by the Command” “He said many of us already have great faith in you.” Then with some humor he added, “And those who don’t like you also desired to see you up front” He said, “They said, “Better Sergeant Marble with his temper be up front, if action starts, better he be on our side.” “We’ll watch his back!”

Patiently I sat on my perch, awaiting the convoy roll out that early February morning. I had many individual soldiers come by and give a greeting or give a comment. One female Sergeant said to me, “Do you have death wish?” “Don’t you know your dark silhouette will stand out up front?” “You will be an instant target for any sniper!” Approaching from behind the Sergeant uttering the negative comment, and overhearing all, Supply Platoon Sergeant Lanning gazed up at me with a smile to hear my expected humorous positive response. I responded, “I grew up watching John Wayne Movies on TV, and by golly this is as close to being like him, I will ever be.” Sergeant Lanning laughed. 

Three hours had passed and we temporary left our vehicles for a military formation to receive our final briefing. Briefed that we stay in a single line behind the convoy leader, and that no one was to stop to assist a broken down vehicle, because a special recovery task force would follow performing rescue, repair, and recovery of disabled vehicles and their passengers. The objective was to keep moving forward to approach the front as close as allowed. Before the sunrise, the 24th Infantry combat units and civil engineers had long left before us. They were the front clearing a trail through Iraq opposing physical terrain obstacles and Iraqi combatants. The final objective was to reach the Euphrates River, north of Basra, and support the 18th Airborne Corps, who would stop Iraqi combatants from fleeing North of Basra and reforming to fight American soldiers. 

Finally, the convoy rolls out, and I find myself atop the third vehicle in the front of the 541st Battalion Convoy. The engineers had erected a small sign at Iraq border to greet us. It said, “Welcome to Sunny Iraq” “Highway to the Euphrates” “Courtesy of 24 ID (Mech) Mechanized” The sign had a big “V“ for Victory painted on a desert scene with a highway crossing it. All the vehicles had an upside down “V” painted on both the doors and bright orange plastic 4 x 4 square tied flat to the top. These markings identified us as friendly troops from a distance or from the sky to other American forces.

There were three of us assigned to the armed deuce and a half. Sergeant Bell from Texas was the driver and a young private was assign as the ammo loader. Almost the entire cargo bed filled with cases of 50 caliber rounds, surrounded and enclosed by numerous sand bags. A centered crawl space constructed for use of the ammo loader. A large tarp covered all this except up near the 50 cal ring where the ammo is feed into the gun. When the deuce and a half cargo truck is converted to a troop carrier, the tail gate is removed and replaced with a troop strap that stretches across the tail end of truck; thus providing for rapid deployment of troops. I took the unused troop strap and strung it back and forth within the 50 cal ring creating a comfortable sling seat.

I position the sling seat, so the 50-caliber trigger handle is position at my chest. As the vehicle moved the sling seat, actually swing back and forth and would absorb the shock of bumps and other terrain impacts. I rode for hours on end throughout the entire duration of the convoy’s maneuver. Sixteen hours straight on the first day. The 50-caliber machine gun wrapped in plastic to keep the powdered Iraq desert sand from blowing into mechanical parts of the weapon. With goggles suspended on my Kevlar helmet and a hooded camouflage raincoat on, thus prepared for the desert sand to blow at my exposed torso.

The firepower included the 56 pound, M2 browning 50-caliber machine gun mounted on a M36 ring mount. The M36 ring mount consists of a cradle with a roller carriage on a circular track. The cradle rotated in the pintle sleeve of the carriage and adjusted for elevation. The carriage guided on the track by rollers. The track secured to the vehicle by supports.

The 50-caliber machine gun used a disintegrating metallic link-belt to feed the ammunition into the weapon. The 50-caliber ammunition provided on 100 round belts packed into a steel ammo box with a gross weight of 35 pounds. In turn, two steel ammo boxes packed inside a wire-bound wooden crate with a gross weight of approximately 72 pounds. Two 26 pound, 45 inch barrels came with the machine gun with a removable barrel handle to simplify hot-barrel changing during long battle engagements. The use of the machine gun required the shooter and the ammo loader to load the ammo and exchange the hot barrels during operation. Within the cargo space of the deuce and a half truck, we had 50 crates of ammo, equivalent to 10,000 rounds. An equivalent amount of ammo stored within two other vehicles in the supply convoy. I though I had enough ammo to win the war by myself!

The M2 50 caliber machine gun could fire 450 – 500 rounds per minute at a maximum effective range of 2,000 yards and shoot as far as 4.22 miles with a muzzle velocity of 1,997 mph. In addition, the three of us, (the driver, ammo man, and gunner), each had his M16 rifle. Now why would I use my M16 rifle, when I was manning the mighty Browning, 50 Caliber Machine Gun?

At a rapid pace, the 541st Battalion Convoy crossed Miles and miles of desert. At one point, while crossing a large wet muddy terrain, the driver, Sergeant Bell was laughing loudly, because he knew, I was splatter with mud, at the top. Sergeant Bell was quite a character. When we hit large bumps that rocked the vehicle, my legs, dangling down inside the cab of the truck, would violently swing forward to back and left to right. While laughing, Sergeant Bell would yell, “How’s the ride Sergeant Marble?” Like a John Wayne cowboy, I stayed in my saddle and yell back cheerfully, “Great!”

Yes, I was having the time of my life. I was participating in history. With a small pocket camera, I turn around on my perch. I took photos of the desert armada behind me. The convoy vehicles were no longer in single file but spread across the desert plain. Vehicles were breaking through the powered sand clouds produced by the vehicles preceding them. Vehicle silhouettes reducing in size as you look on out toward the horizon. The tan military vehicles traveling on the tan sand looked colorless with the distant images bent by the desert heat. The whole scene was surreal looking, like from a “Lawrence of Arabia” Movie. Then atop my perch on the deuce and a half, I heard and seen them coming from the rear. Flying rapidly low in sky above and could be seen on either side were helicopters passing us up. There were Black-hawks, Huey Cobras, and giant Chinooks. In the distance, I could see Bradley Infantry vehicles and M113 (APC), Army Personal Carriers, towed, and non-towed howitzers, MLRS, Multiple Launch Rocket System and finally the M1A2 Abrams Tanks. Then Sergeant Bell, who had a boom box hidden under front seat, turned it on at full blast. The song was playing “Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood and the Destroyers. Elated, all three of us in the truck started singing, “I’m Bad to the Bone.”

Privately, I was thinking, “This would make a great scene in a movie”.

As evening came upon the traveling convoy, the convoy leaders realize the convoy cover a great distance and was getting to close to the front. They made a decision to pull over and bed down for the night with assign guards watching the perimeter. That first day, I had rode for over 10 hours atop the deuce and a half’s 50-caliber ring. Allowed to sleep all night, while assign privates sat at the 50-caliber ring and keep watch; I would have a longer day tomorrow!

It was an early start the next morning, after everyone had their MRE (meal ready to eat) breakfast. On this day, the convoy leaders told the troops, they would most likely reach the destination, North of Kuwait, close to Basra and would witness the carnage of war. For moral purposes, the Army Headquarters had forwarded permission to lower commands to allow Desert Storm Military personal to fly flags of their individual choice from their vehicles. It was another entertaining day from my 50-caliber perch as I viewed various flags: state, university, pirate, and even confederate flags flying in the desert breeze.

This second day in Iraq, our convoy stayed in its line formation, because ordered to do so. The possibility of armed conflict was now more probable as we approached closer to the front. As the convoy was crossing the vast empty flat desert, we could all see smoke arising from the horizon. Eventually, the convoy drove up upon the first enemy casualty that we had seen, a truck still on fire with the former occupants were not in site. That is when I heard Sergeant Bell say, “Close enough to the war for you, Sergeant Marble?” With a sneer look, I responded with a sound, which meant, not quite, “Ehhhh…” I believe everybody in the convoy took a photo of that wreckage, I did.

In the late afternoon, the battalion convoy arrived just south of highway one, a double lane freeway running northwest from Basra Iraq to Baghdad. There the convoy stayed in place for two hours, until it resumed its advance at nightfall. The convoy held up for two reasons to advance with the cloak of night and provide time for clearing of the devastation on the freeway.

Yes, devastation indeed, a mix of civilian and military vehicles, some torn to shreds and others burnt out. The 24th Infantry had orders to stop and check all vehicles for Iraq soldiers, who were fleeing northwest. The U.S. Army presume the fleeing Iraq soldiers may reach Baghdad and regroup for a later offensive. As the battalion convoy, creep southeast down the freeway, one could see tank tracks going up the embankment at the overpass, where a tank smash through a fence and rest at the top, in order to overlook the freeway. U.S. Army soldiers were guarding Iraq soldiers that were putting their dead comrades in body bags. It was not appropriate under the Muslim religion for the American infidel to handle their dead. This would prevent them from reaching heaven.

Explosions were occurring off in the distance on the desert floor. The convoy momentary stopped, until the word was given that Army engineers had place timer explosives on enemy laid hidden land mines. Eventually, the convoy leader decided that the exhausted convoy should pull out into the desert and set up camp. The track Bradley vehicle directed to lead the convoy out into the desert and travel in a large circular pattern, in order to form a pioneer wagon train type of defensive posture. Our armed deuce and a half, the first vehicle following the Bradley, would end up at the created front gate of the camp.

As NCOIC of the supply squadron 50-caliber team, I had to assign one untrained supply squadron member to accompany a trained 50 cal member on a two-hour guard shift, one of multiple shifts leading into dawn of the next day. Alone, I personally took the 4 – 6 am shift, when night would turn to day, with my crew sleeping in their cots, that were resting beside the deuce and half truck.

Therefore, at Zero Five Hundred Thirty, dawn came with the rising sun. While atop the 50 Caliber Ring, I intensely scrutinize the terrain to the horizon and saw no movement. While my stomach growled, I spotted my (MRE) 'Meal Reading to Eat' resting on the running board of the deuce and half truck. I thought, I could jump down, grab my MRE and return to my guard position within seconds, without incident. I jump, I grab and I returned and immediately gaze out toward the horizon. I was flabbergasted, off in the distance about 3 football fields away or 1080 feet, were eleven Iraq soldiers waving white torn undershirts frantically. I immediately, yelled down to one of the privates, whom was sleeping in a cot on the desert floor against the truck. “Wake Up! We have eleven Iraqis surrendering to our position!” Well, the private jumped out of his cot and nearly fell on his face. He looked out toward the desert and gasped. Then I ordered, “Run to the First Sergeant’s tent and tell him we need back up, we are going to have eleven prisoners!” The private ran throughout the camp screaming, “We have eleven Iragis Soldiers coming!” I thought privately, “What a mess”.

While the Iraqis were nervously tripping and limping, I thought they must have had a rough time.

Then in the sky, an Army Black-hawk helicopter flew just over their heads. I thought, well, now I have backup. When the Iraqis were about a football field away, the Company First Sergeant arrived at my post, the front gate of our camp. Then we both witness the Army (MPs), Military Police, in two Humvee, swiftly drive in and surround the Iraqis. Well, totally dismayed and pist-off, I uttered out some colorful words. My moment of opportunity to attain upon my battle record, that, I had taken eleven Iraqis soldiers. An opportunity taken away from me.

Yes, I see now. War is hell! All the effort, and no glory or credit. Will any body believe my story? It is true. Once again, I learned in my life, repeatedly. Only, I truly know what I am capable of doing and accomplishing.

Always a passionate soldier, with so many stories, but no time, to sit back and tell them.

For I am a soldier for life, fighting to survive and taking on the next mission with my mind, heart and soul. I know of sacrifice of time, sweat, blood, flesh, bone and sanity to attain success, a positive conclusion of a task. It is not that I want to live to others expectations. I want to live beyond others expectations and set them at awe. Leadership can be lonely at times, but other times, one finds themselves surrounded by friends and companions with the same mindset.

It is such a great existence on earth, to walk with and talk to such great God created entities.

A blessing each day to be alive, in the United States of American, the land of the free and the brave.

Army Retired, Staff Sergeant, DeCody Brad Marble

PHOTOS:

Marble’s Desert Shield/Storm (1990 – 1991) Google Photo Album Archive with 48 Photos

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/118207944808128103083/album/AF1QipNDOBVoA4-Vn42R3VKC-NODXJf6LsQaM2jsC1Fb

or Panama City Chapter, SAR Weblinks

https://sites.google.com/site/pcflssar/sarpcfl-weblinks

And scroll down to Photo Albums and click on appropriate link.

“As I age, many things I forget, but somethings are completely unforgettable.” - DBM