U.S. Marines in the Persian Gulf, 1990-1991

With the       1st Marine Division
in Desert Shield and Desert Storm
   In the early morning of 24 February 1991, the 1st Marine Division pushed
into southern Kuwait and began the long-awaited allied ground offensive aimed
at ending Iraq's six-and-one-half-month occupation. The division's successful
breach of the first obstacle belt triggered a timed sequence of attacks by coalition
forces arrayed along the entire northern border of Saudi Arabia. The attack
followed 38 days of constant allied air attacks and the ground offensive swept
everything before it in an almost bloodless campaign. It would take only 100
hours for the coalition forces to rout the Iraqi army and retake Kuwait.
   It was fitting that the commanding general of I Marine Expeditionary Force
(I MEF), Lieutenant General Walter E. Boomer,    selected the 1st Marine
Division to lead the attack. In August 1990, division units were among the first
dispatched by President George Bush to assist the defense of Saudi Arabia. Until
the United States Army's VII Corps began its movement towards Iraq, the
division was the northernmost deployed American ground force. It had been
continuously in the field since the beginning of Operation Desert Shield. Its
units had spent the long months in the desert training and rehearsing for an
anticipated ground war against the Iraqi Army and division Marines were
physically, psychologically, and professionally ready. Following the start of
hostilities, the 1st Marine Division proved its capabilities in a series of artillery
raids, deception operations, combined arms raids, and screening operations, that
made it the first to bring the ground war to the Iraqi army.

       Deployment of the 1st Marine Division to Soull~west Asia

   The movement of 1st Marine Division units to Saudi Arabia began with the
deployment of the 7th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (7th MEB) and Maritime
Prepositioning Squadron 2 (MPS 2). The successful initial deployment of Marine
forces hinged on the combination of personnel airlift, aircraft ferry, and depot
ships embodied in the MPS concept.   On 8 August   1990, President Bush
responded to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia's subsequent request
for American support by directing the deployment of United States forces to
Southwest Asia.  The desert-trained 7th MEB immediately went on alert and on
7 August the brigade commander, Major General John I. Hopkins, requested
operational control of contingency force units from the 1st Marine Division. He
got these units the following day. On 10 August the United States Commander
in Chief Central Command (USCINCCENT), General H. Norman Schwarzkopf,
directed General Hopkins to begin deploying the brigade. Two days later, after
a period of intense effort readying personnel, weapons, and equipment, the
brigade began its movement to the port of Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia. The mission
General Schwarzkopf gave the 7th MEB was to prepare to protect critical oil and
port facilities and delay any advancing Iraqi force as far north as possible.2