Desert Storm Episode 3

Fri/Sat 25/26 Jan 1991:

(22:35 two scuds fired at Riyadh, (1) hit and destroyed, (1) hit but war head impacted killing one and injuring 40 others.) 

Approximately 01:30 3 scuds fired at us, 2 hit and destroyed, 1 hit with war head impacting about 250 yards from Bravo 11 (Bunker 11).

The first attack; at 22:23 (sounded for about 1 minute), the air raid (attack) horns sounded again indicating incoming missiles and Tango one called it. Then Charlie Base called out, “Charlie Base to all post and patrols, we are in Condition Red, MOPP Alpha.”

After 2 minutes 30 seconds still no scud and no patriot.

Every one took cover and we waited. I looked up and saw lots of cloud cover, and could just barely see the moon and heard the planes launching.  In the background I could hear vehicles and after another couple of minutes someone say, “they should have been here by now.”

A few more minutes Charlie Base announces, “Condition Yellow, MOPP level zero.”

This next attack is kind of funny also.  There was one guy, I can’t remember his name, but he was always in Charlie Base as a controller.  The night before, I had stepped into Charlie Base for something and he told me he wanted to be assigned to my patrol because something always happened in my area and he wanted to be a part of it.  Later on he called me in and told me that he got his wish.  And then on this night he got a real good firework show.

THIS IS ANOTHER ACCOUNT AS RECORDED ON AUDIO:

It was about 01:00 and we were at Charlie Echo Two.  SrA Snelgrow I think was the lead man tonight and he was talking to the other three when we pulled up. I had parked the Hummer close to the ECP and got out.  We were all just shooting the breeze and I and my member had just gotten back into the Humvee when at 01:30 the air raid siren blasted its long tone and then a wavering tone indicating incoming.  Everyone at the ECP quickly put their gas mask on and headed for the bunker to take cover.  My team didn’t, we just got out of the hummer and waited to see the fire-works.  You see we had gotten used to the wait because the Scuds seemed to be a little bit slow.

Charlie Base came across the air,” Charlie base to all post and patrols Alarm Condition Red MOPP alpha.”

I had already started my tape rolling at the sound of the siren and then at about 01:40 as we looked up into the clear sky, we saw the Scud shooting across the dark night trailing its long flame.

After the siren ended the guy, a Charlie Base Controller, who was riding with me said, “Holy cow.”

“I think it was shot at Riyadh.”

“Must have, it didn’t hit here yet.” I say.

There was some talking in the back ground.

The guy riding with me starts to laugh like a hyena.

There is more talking.

We are all just standing around waiting knowing that and hoping that something is coming, especially the guy riding with me.  Then he sees the first patriot fire and say’s “there it goes,” a second later “Boom”. I close the door of the hummer and about five seconds later, “there goes two,” boom.

The booming sounds we hear are the sounds of the Patriots hitting the speed of sound which sounded like two explosions as they leave the tubes and head for their intended target.

“Wahoo.” hollers the guy riding with me with excitement.

Then as we watch, the patriots make contact and we see and hear the explosion, ka-boom and a couple of secondary explosions that follow.  Debris begins to fall to the earth and you can hear it as it makes taping sounds hitting steal and the ground.

“Wahoo.” Again comes from the guy riding with me.

We continue to watch as the scud war head makes it way toward the earth, more precisely, Charlie Bunker (bravo) 11.

“Go ahead Bravo seven.” Charlie base says.

Then the explosion as the war head makes contact with the earth and shakes everything. You could feel the concussion from the blast as it rippled through the air.

“Copy,” says Charlie base.

“Looks like we had one hit the base,” I say.

We hear more secondary explosions.

You can hear a lot of me fumbling around and dropping something.

There are some very loud radio transmissions that I could not make out.

Charlie Base, “Roger copy, north end of the runway…Go ahead bravo 11.”

“Did you get that on tape Sergeant Fulbright?”

“Got it.”

“Say again bravo 11,” Charlie Base says again.

“Man that stuff was wild man.”

“Yep.”

Charlie base, “slow down say again bravo 11.”

Noise in the background.

“Bravo 11, bravo 11 this is Charlie base.”

More talking I can’t make out.

Charlie base, TSgt ? says, “copy, in front of your bunker about 200, 250 yards.”

More talking.

“Charlie base this Mike-8.”

“Go ahead Mike-8.”

Mike-8 responds.

“Roger, be careful.”

“That’s affirmative.”

“Out.”

“Base bravo 12.”

“North of Saudi housing complex,” TSgt Benoit, the BDOC controller says. “Copy…debris in the north housing complex, in or near…over.”

“Yes.” Someone says.

“That is affirm it was north of the housing.”

“Copy, nor…possibly north of the housing…over.”

You can hear a Saudi guard in the back ground.

“How many have there been now?” someone asked in the muffled sounds of a gas mask. (Female voice)

“Twenty-two altogether.”

“Twenty-two?” same female voice.

“To this base.”

More talking I can’t make out.

Someone says, “There’s another one.” (On tape look at 33:54)

You can hear me fumbling around with something and the others laughing.

“Charlie base to all post and patrols, Charlie base to all post and patrols be advised we are in Alarm condition red, repeat, condition red, MOPP alpha, condition red MOPP alpha.”

More talking in the background.

I clear my throat and then say, “well, a scud, was knocked down, but it hit about 250 yards,” I take a breath and you can hear the inlet valves of the gas mask as they open and close, “west of bravo 11’s position. That’s one of our guys. Got an ambulance now responding, it’s a little after 3, I think around 3:30, still in condition red, MOPP alpha, unknown if there’s” breathing again,” any injuries.  Ah, a few minutes ago fired off another patriot, believed to have destroyed the scud in the air.” You can hear my voice quiver.” As far as I know right now, nothing else. Doesn’t look like they have fired anymore, we were anticipating this coming down today, tonight actually. We were guessing anywhere between 10 (pm) and 2 (am), midnight tonight into the morning. We had an alert around 10:30 (pm), that went to Riyadh, now we just got ours, still standing by. I’m going to go ahead and stop it right now, and ah, inform you when we go into condition yellow. That is of course something else happens.”

Don’t know how long it was before I started taping again but when I started it back, Charlie base said, “Charlie mike-7, Charlie mike-7, Charlie base.”

“We’re in condition black, at this time, still waiting on something else to happen.”

“Charlie mike-7, Charlie mike-7, Charlie base.”

“Looks like they only fired two, one got through, like it did Riyadh.”

“Charlie mike-6, Charlie mike-6, Charlie base.”

“Okay, closing down for right now, until further developments.”

Again I don’t know how long it was from the time I turned the tape off until this next recording, “we’re now in MOPP level zero, condition yellow, time is 3:36 (am).

No CENTCOM briefing today? Or was it the above January 20th report?

Washington, DC: During a CNN interview, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said: “we’ve demonstrated, I think, that a Patriot has significant ability to shoot it [a Scud missile] down.”(31) Later that morning, Cheney said: “The Scuds have proven to be a relatively ineffective weapon. The Patriot has dealt with them very effectively. It [the Scud] gets a lot of attention because it’s there where everybody can see it as they come into Saudi Arabia or Israel.” In response to the question, “hindsight is perfect, but since we knew going in that keeping Israel out of the war was a high priority, why did we wait until after a Scud attack to supply them with Patriot missiles and U.S. crews”, Cheney answered: “We had arranged last fall to provide them with Patriot missiles. That was a decision the President made some months ago, and then it was a matter of getting the equipment there and getting their personnel trained. But we never before have been in a position where U.S. personnel were on Israeli soil defending Israel. That was a major step, a major decision for the Israeli government to make. Once they made it and accepted our offer, then we moved rather rapidly, within a matter of hours, to provide that capability.”(32)

Washington, DC: In an interview with Fox Channel 5, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said: “The fact is, to date it’s had almost no impact from a military standpoint. The Patriots have proven very effective against it. I don’t think it’s likely to have any significant impact on the outcome of the military conflict.”(33)

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: The Saudi Press Agency reported that a spokesman for the Joint Arab Forces Command said: “…at 10:00 pm (21:45) last night two (3 above?) Iraqi Scud missiles were launched at the direction of the province… the two Iraqi missiles were destroyed in the air before reaching their targets by five Patriot missiles… no casualties took place.”(34)

Note: This report only mentions the January 20th 21:45 events and reduces the count to two missiles.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Asked during a press conference whether there had been any injuries from missile debris that might have fallen the previous night, Col. al-Rubayan answered: “There were not any injuries”, not even from any broken glass. He also said he didn’t know what the white flashes of light were after Patriots had been launched. Answering a question about potential Saudi or American casualties: if Patriots failed, “well, we know this is war and having injuries and death is something expected during war.”(35)

The Pentagon: At a briefing, Gen. Kelly said: “During the past 24 hours, 10 Scuds have been fired at Saudi Arabian installations — nine were shot down by Patriot missiles, and one Scud landed in the water and was not engaged. Just a little over an hour ago another Scud (22:30) was launched from southern Iraq and it landed in the water short of Al-Jubal.

This statement also gives 10 Scuds although 21:45 January 20th is now outside this 24 hour period. (This may be an accurate statement in terms of numbers, but not including the 21:45 events.)