ANNUAL HISTORICAL REVIEW 3RD BN 502 INF

File: 970313_sep96_decls26_0002.txt
Page: 0002
Total Pages: 5

Subject = ANNUAL HISTORICAL REVIEW 3RD BN 502 INF

Folder Title = 2ND 502ND BRIEFING SLIDES

Parent Organization = XVIII CORPS

Unit = 101ST ID

Box ID = BX001611

File Cabinet = Week-48

File Room = sep96_classified

were scarce. The soldiers scavenged through the dump for building materials, and
they used their entrenching tools to dig in. on January 13, Lieutenant General
Franks, the Seventh Corps commander, visited the men. Impressed with the ingenuity
of the men, he immediately directed the engineers to provide the support that the
Task Force desperately needed. Four Engineer battalions arrived the next day!
Dari,ig this tirie the weather had turned cold and rainy. The soldiers and their
equipment were thoroughly drenched. The companies obtained permission to set up
warming tents to dry out the soldiers and their equipment. Romrkably, morale
remained quite high despite the miserable conditions.
The United Nations set a deadline of January 15th for Iraq to exit Kuwait.
Fearing the inevitable, Task Force 3-502 executed fifty percent security. On
January 16, the battalion began taking the Nerve Agent Pre-treatnent Pills as a
precaution against a very possible Iraqi chemical strike. The leadership also
received advanced warning of Operation Desert Storm; they also emphasized improving
the defensive posture of the battalion.
Operation Desert Storm started at 3:00 AM on January 17, 1991. One hundred
cruise missiles were launched at targets inside Kuwait and Iraq, which were then
followed by strategic bombing by the Coalition Air Forces. Task Force 3-502 began
one hundred percent security immediately.
On January 18th, at 3:35 AM, Iraq launched a SCUD missile into Israel. The
task force donned protective posture against possible cheadcal attacks. At day-
break, a thunderstorm caught the soldiers off guard, and many bad miniature swim-
zaing pools armpit deep! The task force had to replace more than half of its
chemical protective overgarments. During the following ten days, from January 19
to January 29, the task force donned their protective overgarments every time
Iraq launched a SCUD missile.
On January 24th, buses shuttled soldiers from the task force to the city of
Hafar al Batin, just west of the airfield that the task force defended. The sol-
diers had their first shower in weeks, thanks to a shower point created by the First
Cavalry Division.
On January 25th, Task Force 3-502 received warning of a possible Iraqi air
attack via an intercepted radio transmission. Although the attack never came, the
soldiers asstmd one hundred percent security. By nightfall, the threat diminished,
and security was reduced to the normal fifty percent. Earlier in the day, the task
force briefed a movement order which took then to the Eighteenth Corps assembly
area one hundred and eighty miles west near the town of Rafha. Before the warning
of the possible air attack, the soldiers packed and loaded all their equipment.
Early on January 26th, the task force moved to Tactical Assembly Area Campbell

Document 5 f:/Week-48/BX001611/2ND 502ND BRIEFING SLIDES/annual historical review 3rd bn 502 inf:03069709500827
Control Fields 17
File Room = sep96_declassified
File Cabinet = Week-48
Box ID = BX001611
Unit = 101ST ID
Parent Organization = XVIII CORPS
Folder Title = 2ND 502ND BRIEFING SLIDES
Folder Seq # = 195
Subject = ANNUAL HISTORICAL REVIEW 3RD BN 502 INF
Document Seq # = 2
Document Date =
Scan Date =
Queued for Declassification = 01-JAN-1980
Short Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Long Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Permanent Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Non-Health Related Document = 01-JAN-1980
Declassified = 06-MAR-1997