Off the Track – Post #19 Bitten and Camouflaged
Estimated reading time – 3 minutes
Chapter 20 – Once Bitten, Twice Shy
The chapter title comes from a song by Great White from 1989. Here is the YouTube link:
As the chapter unfolds, Gemma reveals a little more about her past relationship with Paul, which has appeared a few times in past chapters. As you can see, the hurt is deep, and she is retreating from what seemed to be a blossoming love affair. Nick is patient but frustrated as he has done nothing wrong from his perspective. He does try to talk to Gemma about the potential that he will have to work with Allison, as he had requested help with the issue of blood supplies.
Chapter 21 – Camouflage Blues
The chapter shows the changes that took place immediately after the invasion of Kuwait. The Colonel reruns to the hospital on Saturday, dressed in desert camouflage and wearing a sidearm. This uniform was nicknamed ‘chocolate chips’ due to the dark brown elements in the fabric. These two elements were a distinct change from the khaki uniforms and the lack of pistols on the hip the previous week.
The Colonel’s statement about communications on the invasion was almost verbatim. There was virtually no reporting in the English language press in the Kingdom. You will see this re-emerge when the air war began in January 1991.
The need to find the soldiers assigned to the hospital and the nearby airbase were real issues at the time. As stated in the chapter, many had taken second jobs and treated their military service somewhat like a member of the reserves, i.e., on call when needed but working at a regular job. Most soldiers were found and returned to their units, but as Captain Salim said, it took a while.
The more significant issue for the Colonel was transforming the hospital into a war footing. It would be a ‘tertiary’ care facility to clarify the hospital's problems. This means the third stage of treatment of wounded military personnel. You will be familiar with the first level from the movie and TV show MASH, along with the medics, representing the first line of wound treatment. The second is the military field hospitals, and the third is the regular military hospital like Al Wadi. This change required different supplies and medicines and some form of transporting the wounded to the hospital. As Nick says, Al Wadi was a passive recipient of emergency patients; they had no ambulance service. This will come up in later chapters as the prospect of war gets closer.
The quote from President Bush came on Wednesday of the week following the invasion. In this post and most future posts through the Spring of 1991, I will recap the political and military actions related to the build-up and eventual war. I will also highlight the first post in Off the Track, which summarized the changes in geo-political relations in Europe, the former Soviet Union, Afghanistan, and the Middle East. These changes play roles in the various reaction to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. The Soviet Union had been a major ally of Iraq but chose not to use its veto power in the UN Security Council. China and Yemen did not use their veto when the UN Resolutions mentioned below were proposed. I will come back to the reaction of the Arab world in a future post concerning the Yemenis and Palestinians.
Political actions:
The US froze Iraqi assets, followed by the European Community (EC-predecessor of the EU) issuing sanctions against Iraq on August 4th.
August 6th - The UN Security Council votes 13-0, with China and Yemen abstaining) on August 6th to pass UN Resolution 661 prohibiting trade with Iraq without any permanent members vetoing the measure.
Saudi Arabia requests US troops to protect it from a potential invasion from Iraq.
August 7th - Turkey shuts down the pipeline for Iraqi oil that crosses Turkey to reach the Mediterranean Sea.
Military Actions:
President Bush sends Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney to Saudi Arabia.
A US Navy carrier group moves into the Gulf of Oman. Egypt permits the carrier USS Saratoga to transit the Suez Cannel showing its support for Saudi Arabia.
I hope you enjoy Tales from Desert Storm and will keep reading Off the Track.