The Oilfields are on Fire

Sitting in the co-pilots seat of the Black Hawk, I look out across the desert to the north where a black plume is spiraling into the sky. The pilot Captain Marks, call sign "Dr Dave", turns sharply to the west heading back to my remote desert home, Log Base Echo.

As the chopper turns, I gasp involuntarily as giant black plume after giant black plume comes into view. Dr. Dave's voice comes into my headset. "The Iraqis are retreating and their farewell gift to the Kuwaitis and Coalition Force is setting several hundred oil fields on fire".

Horrific scenarios start to run through my mind. Blackout conditions. Air filled with oil. Will we be able to breathe without venilators this close to the oil fields?

"Burgan?" I mouth the name of the largest oilfield in Kuwait.

"Burning." Dr Dave's is silent for several minutes. He is listening intently to the radio traffic.

"The radio operators keep refering to Burgan as Inferno." Dr Dave listens and talks to me simultaneously. "Apparently the heat is so intense that the Kuwaitis can't get near enough to figure out how to put it out and..."

I wait for the rest and finally ... "And?"

"Not certain I heard this correctly." Dr Dave looks puzzled, "It is raining oil? Pools of oil are forming in the desert just a few miles from here."

"Is that possible?"

"Something about trying to use salt water to smother the fire. The oil is bonding to the water mist and ending up on the desert floor in small ponds."

There is the sound of a massive explosion as another oilfield is set on fire. In the helicopter we can't feel the earth shake but on the ground that must have felt like a small earthquake. In minutes another oil plume takes shape. This time closer than the others.

Dr Dave cuts into my thoughts, "The Iraqis put in minefields around many of the oil wells after lighting them on fire."

We are quiet for the rest of the flight watching the plumes and wondering what will happen next. What will the impact be to us? To the people in Kuwait?

Dr Dave's voice comes back over the headset. "I've got orders to drop you and get the hell back to the airbase asap. Sorry I can't stick around."

"Thanks for the ride."

"Any time LT. Thanks for securing the radio gear for the engineers."

I was opening the door and preparing to leap out of the helicopter before the skids touch down. I leap and feel the beating wind from the rotor blades whipping over my head. As my feet hit the ground, I duck my head and clutch my gear to my stomach. Moving quickly but carefully I get away from the helicopter.

Within seconds Dr Dave is back in the air and gives me a quick informal salute.

I return the salute and turn to see a HumVee with a handsome Sergeant in the drivers seat waiting for me at the end of the makeshift desert helipad and Jet A refueling point.

"Thanks, I wasn't looking forward to the hike back into camp."

"Dr Dave radioed back that you got some bad news and might appreciate
seeing a friend."

"It was a three strikes day. Bad news from HQ on our ammo and flak jackets. Bad news from the Red Cross about my grandmother. And bad news that our path into Kuwait is on fire. Not a great day."

Author Note: The Iraqi troops set over 700 oil fields on fire as they fled Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm in late January 1991. For weeks the oil in the air formed around our mouths and noses. Soldiers living exposed in the desert developed severe respiratory problems. And the blackouts came throughout the middle east as the oil worked its way through the air and back to the ground. It took 4 major firefighting companies 9 months to put out all the fires. The true human and environmental impact of the fires is unknown.

First Day of Gulf War

Twenty years ago today, the Persian Gulf War started with a massive coalition aerial bombing campaign...over 100,000 sorties, dropping 88,500 tons of bombs, and widely destroying Iraqi military and civilian infrastructure.

Five hours after the first attacks, Iraq's state radio broadcast a voice identified as Saddam Hussein declaring that "The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun. The dawn of victory nears as this great showdown begins."

Iraq responded by launching eight Al Hussein missiles into Israel the next day. These missile attacks on Israel were to continue throughout the six weeks of the war.

The Israelis showed enormous restraint in the face of 230 people injured and the substantial fear of biological weapons. The Israelis did not retaliate at the request of the Americans.

This was the scariest moment of the war. It appeared that the coalition would collapse and the Americans would be surrounded by Arab forces unwilling to fight with us.

Miraculously the coaltion held but the political fallout from inviting US troops into Saudi Arabia would have far reaching consequences. The bombing of Khobar towers and possibly even the 9/11 attacks.