Crucial Helicopters Arrive in Kuwait

washington post ^ | 3/8/03

[knak]

Army's Readiness Soars as Better Weather Permits UnloadingKUWAIT CITY, March 8 -- The wind died, the skies cleared and, just before dawn today, the weather-delayed USNS Dahl berthed with the last critical U.S. Army weapons needed to attack Iraq.

By noon the first of 72 helicopters belonging to the 101st Airborne Division had been hoisted from the hold and moved to a dockside parking lot. Army mechanics in white hard hats swarmed over the initial Apache attack helicopter, stripping away protective plastic and reattaching rotor blades that were removed two weeks ago, before the voyage from Jacksonville, Fla.

The helicopters will fly from the port to camps in the Kuwaiti outback over the next two days, to be joined by 96 others from the USNS Bob Hope, which is expected early Monday. With most of its helicopters ready to launch deep strikes hundreds of miles inside Iraqi territory, the 101st will be ready for war, according to senior officers. The division is the final major component of a U.S. ground attack force that includes the 3rd Infantry Division and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, complemented by Special Forces, an enormous air armada, British troops and other units. The 101st is the Army's only "air assault" division, with a capacity to move a brigade of roughly 4,500 combat soldiers 100 miles by helicopter in six hours -- even as the Apaches strike even farther behind enemy lines.

[knak]

Are we ready now?

[Thane_Banquo]

I'd piss myself if I knew the 101st was coming to kick my ass.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Are we there yet, are we there yet, are we there yet...?

[UncleSamUSA]

" the ship's captain, Bradford Collins, pointed to a plaque noting that the vessel was named for Larry G. Dahl, an Army quartermaster specialist, who on Feb. 23, 1971, threw himself on a grenade near An Khe, South Vietnam, saving his comrades at the sacrifice of his own life. Killed at age 21, Dahl was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Collins pointed to a rubbing of Dahl's name from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and added, "I'm very proud of him."

What can one say except: God Bless You, Larry G. Dahl.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[First_Salute]

Assurances that "we are ready," flow in faster than the actual supplies.

[Travis McGee]

You ain't lying!

[vbmoneyspender]

Travis, do you think the Republican Guard is going to put up any kind of fight with their tanks like they did last time or do you think they are going to just hunker down in the cities and wait?

[Travis McGee]

I think the "Special Rep. Guards" (Saddam's bodyguard force) will fight, but only them. Everyone else will surrender at the first chance. Some units will even turn on their own Ba'ath party bosses and begin to kill them, once they are sure we are on our way.

[vbmoneyspender]

where do you think they'll fight? I figure they've learned their lesson about fighting out in the open and will be fighting solely in the cities. Even then, I am sure they heard about the local citizenry being used in Afghanistan to phone in Taliban coordinates in cities like Kandahar and Kabul so they really are going to be pinned down. I am not sure how much support Hussein and his thugs have in Baghdad so I figure it will be a repeat of what happened at Kandahar, only quicker, with Hussein and the Special Guard taking the last stand at Tikrit where the citizenry is nominally supportive of the regime. On the other hand, if they do pull an Alamo at Tikrit, then if Hussein uses chemical or biological weapons and he will in effect be using them on his own relatives. That probably won't bother him much, but I'll bet it is going to bother most of his subordinates.

[AmericaUnited]

I think there will be lots of fraticide, with most "Party Loyalty" Officers getting quick bullets to the back of the head.

[snopercod]

Were these choppers undergoing some "enhancements" before being sent, I wonder?

[snopercod]

bump for Larry G. Dahl

[Travis McGee]

I agree.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Are we ready now?

3-6 days to offload, get in place, and be good to go.

[rotorhawk]

No, they weren't. And they don't need "enhancements" for the mission that they will be called upon to perform.

[July 4th]

"If we do what we think we're going to do, there will never have been a military campaign that has moved that far, that fast," one senior Army officer said today.

Get your TiVo's ready, folks. You're gonna want to see this over and over again.

[TADSLOS]

No, they weren't. And they don't need "enhancements" for the mission that they will be called upon to perform

What about those "whisper mode" MWOs?

:~)

[Mark17]

What can one say except: God Bless You, Larry G. Dahl.

As a Vietnam vet myself, I say roger that.

[rotorhawk]

LOL.

I think that MWO is over rated. There is something to be said for striking terror into the hearts of the enemy as they begin to hear the sound of approaching rotors from somewhere in the depths of the night.

Just a whisper at first. Then a crescendo of a thousand rushing chariots that drown out all conversation and thought. But just when the mind can finally place a direction to the noise there comes an angry, lashing blast of sand from the hurricane force winds created by hundreds of rotor blades. The eyes burn, mouths and noses are forced full of acrid dust and bodies are pushed to the ground with an invisible hand.

The assault aircraft settles onto the ground and lets loose its deadly and earnest cargo...

I'd better stop, I'm getting all tingly.