Personal Narrative: My First Vietnam War

War changes Me:

The time was August 1990, I was a young man at the age of 19. President Bush Sr. had put into motion what started off as Desert Shield, later escalating into Desert Storm due to Saddam Hussein taking over the country of Kuwait and making his way to the country of Saudi Arabia. The Marines where the first one’s in with boots on the ground. The time I spent in Desert Shield/Storm helped me transform me from a young boy into a responsible man, with oh so real events that became part of American History. My family and friends say their little boy wasn’t the same that left the States as the one that returned a man.

Fresh out of S.O.I (school of Infantry) I got off the bus at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center 29 Palms, California

Everything was a first for me my first airplane ride, out of state, and out of the country with so many more first on the way in my life. There was not time to waste Gunny came over with ammo and distributed it with a couple days of M.R.E’s (meals ready to eat) we were on our way to the field just that fast. Loading up on Amphibious Assault Vehicles fighting for a place to sit smashed up against each other like a can of sardines. With temperatures in the one hundred plus degrees drinking water and staying hydrated was something we did together as a platoon so some of new Marines that might not do it on our own would not pass out due to heat exhaustion. The nights in country were not bad with the sun beating down on you and just draining the life out of you it was a nice change of pace but it came and went very fast. While patrolling the Saudi Arabia desert not only did I have to watch out for enemy fire but scorpions, desert sidewinder snakes, and camel spiders all very dangerous possibly sending you home to your family early. Living in the field he don’t have the luxury of taking showers, toilets, hot meals, laundry and a bed to lay with a comfortable pillow. Learning how to survive and stay alive was what most of us were learning for the very first time not having been at war since

The Iraqi army had uncapped a lot of the oil lines causing mass oil fires that made the skies as dark as night at high noon. Sadam was notorious for using chemical weapons on his own people so we had to be ready for this kind of chemical attack in a second notice. Not surprised by the fact it only took a few hours of being in Kuwait we were hit with some kind of chemical gas, quickly getting into my chemical suit and putting on my gas mask I was ready to carry on with my mission to take back Kuwait and go into Iraq if we were ordered to do so. Getting hit with mortar fire our company was quickly halted from advancing any further. Heavy guns where quickly sent in to take care of the threat of enemy fire. Those Iraqi’s that were still alive quickly surrendered, not only from defeat but lack of supplies and will to care on from sitting out in the desert for 5 months. The land was war beaten by the on slot of pallet bombing and artillery fire before I and my battalion went in to reclaim Kuwait from the Iraqi