Tapline Road: February 26, 1991

Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
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Tue 26 Feb

Up at 0430, loaded by 0500. No breakfast, because of our early departure time. Then we waited for an hour for the 431st and 352nd, who are late; they did have breakfast.

It took until 1430 to get to KKMC. We had MRE's for breakfast and lunch on the bus. The other bus got a broken fan belt, so we had to stop to fix it. We stopped just outside a town called Al-Qaysumah that seemed to subsist entirely on auto salvage. Since the route we took was the infamous Tapline Road, they had lots of business. There was an overturned bulldozer, evidently fallen off an equipment transporter, on the edge of town. The buses had scarcely stopped when a tow truck came by to see if he could drum up a little more business. While we were waiting, I was looking off at the town when CPT Haney remarked that it looked almost Biblical. I replied that I didn't recall any mention of auto junkyards in the Bible!

We arrived at KKMC and waited until 1700 in a driving rain with wind gusts of 40 MPH that shook the bus. The radio was giving bulletins about the rapid ground advance into Kuwait. We grumbled that we were going to spend the liberation of Kuwait in a parking lot at KKMC. Actually, the snafu at KKMC wasn't really anyone's fault; the sergeant we were supposed to see about the paperwork had been sent off on an errand by his CO, and the vehicles at KKMC were in such bad shape that it would have been asking for real trouble to try to return that day. There really was no choice but to spend the night. We went to chow and slept in a dorm building. We had thunderstorms that evening.

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Pre-Dawn Departure

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Desert Sunrise

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The Tapline

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We're Not in Kansas Anymore, Toto - Kansas Isn't This Flat

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Hafr-Al-Batin: Gateway to KKMC

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  • August 2, 1990 - January 5, 1991: From the invasion of Kuwait to mobilization.
  • January 6, 1991: Departure
  • January 7-14, 1991: Settling in at Fort Bragg
  • January 15-23, 1991: Fort Bragg Drags On
  • January 24 - February 3, 1991: Preparing to Deploy to the Gulf
  • February 4 - 5, 1991: Arrival in Country
  • February 6-12, 1991: Khobar and Recon to Jubail
  • February 13-20, 1991: Al-Jubail
  • February 21-25, 1991: Al Jubail
  • February 26, 1991: Tapline Road
  • February 27, 1991: Return From KKMC
  • February 28 - March 3, 1991: We Move Into Kuwait
  • March 4 - 8, 1991: On Patrol in Kuwait
  • March 9, 1991: The Choke Point
  • March 10 - 11, 1991: A Chopper Ride
  • March 11, 1991: Chopper Flight - The Oil Fires
  • March 12-14, 1991: Oil Fires and Weapons
  • March 15-16, 1991: A Congressman and a Private Museum
  • March 17-21, 1991: Oil Fires and Routine Patrols
  • March 22-24, 1991:Weapons Fire and Day Turns Into Night
  • March 25, 1991: Visit to Iraq
  • March 27-28, 1991: On the Coast and More Weapons
  • March 31, 1991: Easter and Gergian
  • April 1-5, 1991: Farewell Dinner and the Sand-Table House
  • April 6-7, 1991: Farewell to Kuwait
  • April 10-14, 1991: Khobar and Dhahran:
  • April 15-16, 1991: Khobar and Bahrain
  • April 17 - 23, 1991: Waiting for Kurdistan
  • April 24-25, 1991: From Khobar to Incirlik
  • April 26, 1991: From Incirlik to Zakho
  • April 27-30, 1991: First Days in Kurdistan
  • May 1-2, 1991: Camp I Rises
  • May 1-2, 1991: Camp I Rises
  • May 3-9, 1991: Camp I in Operation
  • May 10-13, 1991: The Eventful Birth of Camp II
  • May 14-17, 1991: Camp II in Operation
  • May 18-19, 1991: Into the Mountains
  • May 20, 1991: Kani Masi and Begova
  • May 21, 1991: Nazdour and Begova
  • May 22, 1991: Uzumlu
  • May 23, 1991: Visit to Camp 1 and Nazdour
  • May 24-25, 1991: Sirsenk and Silopi
  • May 26, 1991: I'll Teach them to Nickname Me "Indy"
  • May 27, 1991: Dohuk (Almost) and Kani Masi
  • May 28-29, 1991: Return From the Mountains
  • May 30, 1991: A Visit From Colin Powell
  • May 31 - June 2, 1991: Chopper Flight over Dohuk; Zakho and Silopi
  • June 3-7, 1991: Last Days in Kurdistan
  • June 6-8, 1991: Incirlik and an Outing Down the Coast
  • June 8 - 18, 1991: Out of Turkey and Back to Fort Bragg
  • June 19 - October 11, 1991: Picking Up Where We Left Off

    • Other Items


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