European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 24, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 6 a a the stars and stripes thursday january 24,1991war y a it a it \ x w y a a Volt. A. Six a a amp re a amp is i my Ikner hovering Over hovercraft Media Pool Marine Lance Cpl Reuben Mccray of Frankford del., stands watch monday Over hovercraft Landing vessels aboard the Gunston Hall in the persian Gulf. The 2-year-old Dock Landing ship which has a Chemi Cal warfare Protection system is on its first combat Mission. The vessel is from Norfolk a. Recon unit will Lead the Way during a Day attack on enemy by Rob Jagodzinski Middle cast Bureau near the iraqi Border troops of the 2nd army Cav regt from Niernberg Germany Are waiting for a a a Day a or ground Day the still unknown Date when they expect to spearhead an Allied ground offensive against Iraq. A a it a no longer if but when a said capt. Lawrence Kinde of the 84th engr co out of Bayreuth which is attached to the regiments task Force. The units senior leaders attended an operations briefing sunday outlining the plan for the Start of ground combat said capt Bob Dobson a regimental spokesman. The regiment will Likely be the first to Contact iraqi armoured units. Dobson a we be got a warning order to move to a Forward Assembly area a Dobson said. A it will put us in a position to conduct operations against maj. Douglas Macgregor operations officer for the 2nd so out of Bamberg is looking Forward to the regiments assignment on ground Day a a in a extraordinarily relieved there will be hostilities. Because Saddam Hussein is a madman a Macgregor said. At present the unit is set up less than 50 Miles South of the kuwaiti Border in an immense hat and Barren Plain. The terrain is broken Only by camels and tents. Nothing but fog obscures vision to the horizon. The regiment arrived in Early december and has gone through some a realistic hard and unforgiving training to prepare for combat said Kinde 29, from Minneapolis. A we sweated a lot in peace a that a the recipe for bleeding less in War a he said. The regiment is the spearhead and reconnaissance unit for Vii corps and has served in every american conflict from its founding in 183b through the 1945 liberation of Western Czechoslovakia in world War ii. It patrolled the East German and czech Borders until the Iron curtain fell apart More than a year ago. Heavy on Armor Vii corps three divisions Are expected to play a key role in pushing iraqi forces out of Kuwait. The troopers Alijo will rely on their own helicopters As Well As air Force attack jets for close air support. Chief warrant officer Stormy Jones 44, a Vietnam Veteran is preparing to Fly Ahl cobra attack helicopters in his second War. Jones said he often talks to younger men about combat. A i Tell the pilots to take it a Day at a time a he said. A yesterday is history and done to worry about 26 die 4 saved As freighter sinks . King Cruger Mediterranean Bureau . Navy patrol planes and ships front several nations helped Rescue four crewmen after a freighter Sank in the Mediterranean. Navy officials said 26 Crew members drow Ned and 15 were missing. The Indian registered Continental Sank about 6 30 . Monday roughly 200 Miles East of Malta after Radi oing an sos at 1 30 . The distress Call said the 30,000-ton ship was listing after experiencing heavy flooding from cracks in its Side said David burling a spokesman at the Headquarters of Lloyd s of London. The ship loaded with 51,600 tons of Iron Ore was in route from Morm Gao India to Genoa Italy burling said in a Telephone interview tuesday. A Navy p-3 Orion aircraft from patrol so 8, on deployment to Nas Simonella Sicily received a distress Call from the Continental Lotus shortly after 3 . Monday said it. Paul Weishaupt a Navy spokesman in Naples Italy. The p-3 quickly located the listing vessel and alerted other units in the urea. Quot a French Navy Atlantique maritime patrol plane the belgian frigate Vandelaar the British motor vessel Carman and the Navy a guided missile Cruiser South Carolina All heard the vessels distress Call and hurried to the scene Weishaupt said. Shortly after being located by the p-3, the continent Tal Lotus slipped under the Waves. At Daybreak another p-3 from Simonella relieved the first Orion on the scene and began searching for survivors. At first the aircraft screw members saw Only a nine mile Long Oil Slick but soon afterwards they observed four men clinging to the sides of an overturned inflatable raft said it. Cmdr. Zach d. Garver 38, the aircraft a commander. The Orion continued circling the survivors until they could be rescued by a boat launched from the Carman Garve said. A marines near front hear far off booms a and wait turn by Colin Nickerson the Boston Globe with Forward deployed marines saudi Arabia a nearly a week into the persian Gulf War Cpl. Christopher Flaherty crouched in his foxhole after Al night sentry duty and watched the Dawn bleed across the horizon. His eyes were red from wind driven Sand and his lips Blue with cold. All through the darkness the 25-year-old from. Holbrook mass., had listened to Low flying fighter bombers hitting targets somewhere across the kuwaiti Border to the North. By now the thump of Distant detonations had lost much of its terrifying strangeness. But the War still possessed a weird remoteness even from this Forward Vantage. A it seems real and unreal All jumbled together a said the Marine infantryman. A we hear the Bangs we see All those jets but the Battle Isnit ours yet. You think of the chemicals and the missiles and you feel like a a a few Marine units have come under intermittent artillery fire and some reconnaissance patrols have engaged in Brief Small arms skirmishes with prowling iraqi squads. But the vast bulk of infantry armoured and other ground forces massing near the Border has not tangled with an enemy entrenched not too Many Miles War for grunts like Flaherty has settled into a routine of waiting for the half dreaded half yearned for order into combat. A it scrapes on your nerves your fighting holes and waiting for a a a a a the real fight to Start a said Cpl. Brian James it Strodes on 21, of Gulf Breeze Fla. A a we be got past Pouf Al curves. The Point where we sit around talking about i Vinyl in Vojir How Tough and a Viii in Wui Leatherneck mean we Al i Linn Are. We have got to tinting the Point where we l. I i know the Day is holes and coming when Well. F have to prove Wolting Tor meanwhile near a i a a la constant training for the to go tight Battle continues on the bitter cold desert Flats to Start stretching toward Kuwait. A fall right you a pc pm. Dion gentlemen listen up a Mac bawled 1st sgt. Philip James Woll 31, of Atlanta to a a a a a a Circle of marines in full combat gear. A when the Gas hits you be got 15 seconds to get that mask on. A you can to see nerve agent you can to taste nerve agent. You can to smell nerve agent so what Are you going to do when that nerve agent hits a now a Woll roared off the seconds As the marines frantically fumbled with their mask kits while trying not to drop their weapons a Cardinal offence for an infantryman. .13, 14, 15 a a i a. A a a a per is half the marines had their masks on. �?o.31,32,33.�?� a v Many still had not completed what might become a Lile or death task if Iraq employs its chemical Arsenal. A one minute and you you you and you Are dead a Woll singled out the marines still struggling with goggle eyed devices. W a wok gentlemen lets try from the distance sounded the muffled Boom Boom of exploding shells. A a the Gas has everyone kind of on Edge a James said. A it does no to make sense but twitching from Gas seems a million times worse than twitching from a Bullet wound. It is the fear of the the marines spectators so far in the War a get news from bbl radio broadcasts and sometimes wildly inaccurate rumours by word of mouth., Quot i hear israeli commandos caught Saddam Hussein a last night that True a a Young Marine on sentry duty at a desert Supply compound asked a reporter. Informed it was not True at least As far As the reporter knew the Marine Shook his head. A i guess there Arentt going to be any miracles out Here a he said. A i guess we Are going to have to win this one the hard
