FROM GREEN BAY TO THE PERSIAN GULF

The 432nd Civil Affairs Company
in
Operation Desert Storm

Author: SSG Walter A. Coyle (6/22/91)

HTML Editor: CPT Preston V. McMurry III (12/27/97)

"From Green Bay to the Persian Gulf" is the official history of the 432nd Civil Affairs Company during the Gulf War. The 432nd participated in Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Provide Comfort (the post-war Kurdish relief effort). The 432nd toured Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Turkey and Iraq. This site was significantly updated on November 24, 1996. In addition to the official Gulf War history, magazine articles, diaries, personal letters & photos, I added my own reminisces.

Table of Contents
Page Chapter
1 Moving Out: To Bragg and Beyond
8 The Linkup: The Advance Party Joins the Main Body
10 Mission Assigned: Kuwait City
15 A Side Trip to Emerald City
16 North to Kuwait City
19 Mission Deployed: Kuwait City
21 The Kurdish Detour
30 Postscript
Note: Footnotes relate my personal observations and experiences of our deployment.

Deployment Dates
1990
12/11 Advance party activated for Operation Desert Shield
12/19 Advance party arrived in Saudi Arabia
1991
1/3 Remainder of the 432nd activated
1/6 Main body and members from the 415th and 308th leave for Ft. Bragg, NC
1/17 Air war began
2/5 Main body arrived in Saudi Arabia, joining advanced party. Housing available at "Khobar Towers" in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
2/13 432nd moved to Al Jubayl
2/24 Ground war (Operation Desert Storm) begins
2/25 Trip to King Khalid Military City (KKMC, or "Emerald City")
3/1 Arrived in Kuwait City
4/7 Departed Kuwait City
4/11 Ordered to Operation Provide Comfort
4/24 Arrived in Incirlik, Turkey
4/26 Arrived in Zakho, Iraq
5/27 Official takeover of Camp I by the United Nations High Commissionar for Refugees (UNHCR)
6/1 Official takeover of Camp 2 by UNHCR
6/4 Departed Zakho
6/10 Departed lncirlik for Ft. Bragg
6/19 Arrived back in Green Bay

Preston's Letters
Mail was bad in the Gulf, but not nearly as bad as it was in Bosnia five years later. Even when I was with the SF team up in the mountains of Kurdistan, we still got mail ferried out to us on the resupply choppers. I didn't think to hold onto the ones I received, but my girlfriend at the time held onto the ones I sent her.
Date Location
3/19 Kuwait City, Kuwait
4/5 Kuwait City, Kuwait
4/11 Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
4/23 Ramstein, Germany
5/11 Chameju, Iraq
5/14 Chameju, Iraq
5/15 Chameju, Iraq
5/29 Camp Redeye, Zakho, Iraq
5/29 Camp Redeye, Zakho, Iraq
5/31 Camp Redeye, Zakho, Iraq

SSG Dutch's Desert Storm Diary®
In civilian life, Steve Dutch is a professor of geology at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay. Dutch is now a SFC and was the 308th Civil Affairs Group NCO of the Year in 1994. A member of the 432nd Civil Affairs since 1982, Dutch kept a daily diary from August 2, 1990, through October 12, 1991.
Note: I originally published extracts from Steve's diary here on my Gulf War site. Now that he has his own, you can read the whole thing!

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Last Update: 12/27/97 @ 09:34