War’s Effects Still Being Felt 25 Years Later by Nancy Montgomery, Stars & Stripes
Six weeks of relentless bombing. A ground war lasting all of 100 hours. Victory declared.
The blitzkrieg-style Persian Gulf War in 1991 liberated Kuwait from Iraqi occupation with fewer than 300 coalition combat deaths against the world’s fourth largest army. It also banished the ghosts of the Vietnam War and restored the reputation of America’s military.
American troops, hailed as heroes, were showered in confetti in a ticker-tape parade in New York City in front of 4.5 million cheering spectators, led by three grand marshals — Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Gen. Colin Powell.
“It was a watershed also in the way the country looked at the armed forces,” retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey said. “It was an astonishing display by the country.”
Operation Desert Storm — America’s first armed conflict after the Cold War — was a clear demonstration of the battlefield prowess of the U.S. armed forces, said McCaffrey, who commanded the 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) that famously executed the “left hook” attack 230 miles into Iraq during Desert Storm.
It showcased new technology such as smart bombs and the Army’s “Big Five” — the Abrams main battle tank, the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, the Apache attack helicopter, the Black Hawk utility helicopter, and the Patriot air defense missile system — modernizations that provided the U.S. with pre-eminent ground combat capability.
It was a force of more than a half million Americans, at war with the United Nation’s blessing, a broad coalition of 34 allies including Arabs and Europeans, and minimal allied losses, with just 146 battle-related U.S. deaths…