European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 30, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A Convoy of Bradley fighting vehicles pauses on the ton trip through the saudi arabian desert toward front line positions near Kuwait. By Michael Hedges Washington times. These Are some of the infantrymen who might a a a have to slog through iraqis trenches on foot and fight for Kuwait City door to door. They Are grunts and proud of it d co 2nd in 16th inf regt. The. A Delta destroyers Quot a a. Quot a they were buddies Back at their Home base in fort Riley kan., and they have become a lot tighter in saudi  the Point where sometimes two or three  will gang up on a sentence. T Toas when pvt. Jeffrey Thomassen 20, of Olathe kan.,. Says Quot in a ready to get rid of the problem Quot and  Anthony Brown 26, Richmond va., adds Quot. Go in and do the dirty work like we always do ,. Quot and pvt. Thomas. A Schneider 24, of Hillsboro ,  we can All go Home and be  janitor line is a standing joke. It refers to the fact that their Job description to Hunt Down and kill enemy soldiers a is one of the few that the army does t claim prepares you for a civilian occupation. A but on a Day when the wind chill Factor is in single digits and the armoured vehicles that these men will ride into. A combat Are being prepared for the last time the grunts a \ Aren t thinking about future careers. Just the Short term ambition of surviving an assault on iraqi Trench lines and. Cities in Kuwait. A a. A a. A a  is going to get Nasty out there and there is not one of us that has a death wish Quot said spec. Scott a. Gill 21, of the Dalles Ore Quot we All have something to go Home to. But we owe it to each other to keep our spirits  a the grunts have a code of etiquette when it comes to fear. Quot it is considered common Courtesy not to talk about How scared you Are Quot said Schneider. Quot if one Guy gets depressed about it then the next Guy catches it from him fear and depression Quot Are like herpes Quot Gill added Quot when one Guy gets it soon everybody has it. It s better not to  it  May sound brainless. But if you thought about it you could t do it. And somebody has . These somebodies expect to have the Early role of going into those iraqi trenches and bunkers that survive air bombardment and . They la use m-16 rifles and a m-60 machine guns to Clear out the enemy. A eventually they believe they May have to. Do the House a to House fighting that will push iraqi forces out of kuwaiti cities and towns. I a a a a a. Quot when it gets Down to the Small buildings nobody but a Grunt goes in there Quot Gill said. A a t a a Quot the iraqis have an elaborate system of trenches Quot he War in the Gulf said. Quot the. Most expensive part of this will be rooting them  after thinking about this for a few minutes he added Quot Urban warfare  from hundreds of buildings. That is going to be More expensive than Trench  expensive. As in bought with the lives of grunts. A the infantrymen will ride into Battle packed in the Back of Bradley fighting vehicles. When the threat from iraqi soldiers armed with anti Armor weapons grows too great the grunts will dismount.  take to the Battlefield full of tanks and artillery on foot. ,. A Quot a  the toughest thing for a commander to do is . When the dismounts have to get out of the tracks and. Onto a a the ground Quot said it. Col. David Gross commander of the armoured task Force to which the Quot Delta destroyers Quot Are. A attached. A. A a a we Don t intend to do any operations where we Are going into the strength of the enemy a Gross said. A a we use supporting weapons systems effectively a the Bradley Quot. The tanks indirect fire from artillery and aircraft a i think the infantry will Taro  / a. But he said the Bottom line is that Quot their primary Mission will be killing enemy infantry. That has been the role of the infantry  a. A a a the Delta destroyers say  their role. A. A ,. A nobody else wears the Blue Cord said Gill referring to a sky Blue tour agree infantrymen Wear on one shoulder of their class a dress uniforms Quot they say when he s shot and. A on his Back it is the last color an infantryman  the grunts concede that some of their Tough talk i bluster. But it s also a part of the glue that Bonds them together. A we knew each other in Kansas but it has got a lot fighter Over Here Schneider said. Quot we know we Are \. Going to be watching each others backs so we try to keep each other . Gill added a it s like nothing else in the world. You literally depend on your buddies to protect your life. No one else has that . A a \ As the men talked their eyes were bleary from Lack of sleep. Their breath was visible in the air. And As they blew on grease stained lingers to keep warm yet another cold rain began to fall.-. /. A a but they claim they draw strength from the grim conditions. ,. A a a a the iraqis  lighting , so Tottey. May be More experienced. But you can to beat an american lighting Man when he s pissed off a Gill said. Quot we  out Here m the dirt eating cold Chow and Loving it it would be a lot worse Back Home flipping. Burgers a Mcdonald s Quot. Brown sad Quot ii the weather slays like this we Are going to kick butt All Day Long to it take Kuwait a a Michari ii a Poh in  Ruiqi  do pity red nth the 1st inf divan saudi Arabia a a a. Wednesday january 30, 19s1 the stats and stripes a a a Page 13