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My buddy was deployed to Iraq for this war. He got on the plane, took off. By the time he landed the war was over. He spent 2 days in country and came home. He always laughed calling it the shortest deployment in history
It really was one of the most one sided wars in modern history, at least that involved major powers. The fact Sadaam managed to maintain power is unreal. Terror and violence only get you so far and I'm surprised the military didn't just turn against him and say "ok, you got us killed in Iran for no reason and we just got bombed back to the stone age...you're out!"
The Gulf War was more important for the US than a lot of younger people realize. Prior to the war, the last major conflict the US fought was in Vietnam, and it's a result of the lessons learned in Vietnam that the US invested so heavily in technology and training. Even so, no one was certain this new military would perform any better than it had decades before, or that the war would end in victory and not a shameful withdrawal . The surprisingly and almost comically lopsided victory achieved by the coalition, with the US at its center, reinvigorated in the public conscious the idea that the US military was an effective tool capable of major long-term operations. It also had the effect of making the US highly casualty adverse. Prior to the war, hundreds of thousands of body bags were shipped to Kuwait in anticipation of heavy losses. The public took the subsequent light casualties as the new normal, and now (in my opinion) has a tendency to overreact and expect the impossibly few casualties in all conflicts.
While all points you make are valid, especially when referring to Vietnam - You leave out the major difference of a conscripted force --v- an all volunteer force. This difference is critical and cannot be overlooked.
Well said. This conflict was an exception to the rule. The Iraqi’s had a lot of kit. However, they were utterly incompetent in regards to replenishment sustainment etc.. I do believe the army proved some things. I also believe on the whole the military can be relied upon. My one concern is our command structure suffers from institutional career men. Basically, in order for the military to succeed in near peer fights we would need to lose the favoritism and be willing to fire people and do it FAST AND EFFICIENTLY. We have the talent, I have no doubt about that. But, unless we are willing to fire commanders in a way similar to WW2 we would run into problems quickly. *On a side note being fired back then wasn’t a career death nail. Most commanders got another chance and if they were actually capable they rose from the ashes. If they were trash… we’ll they got the can.
Something that is over looked when it comes to Iraq's armor was their inability to maintain their equipment in the field. Especially bore sighting their main gun. You can't hit your target if you don't know where that round is going. They took shots at us that were wide by 50 yards or more. By comparison, we could chose if we wanted to hit them in the hull or the turret. A shout out to my fellow Gulf vets. It's been a short 30 years hasn't it?
I heard that and also soviet export equipment had a shot life so they carried out very little live fire training to prevent barrel ware thank you for your service
@@tanker335 Thank you for engaging in a war of aggression and misplaced revenge. How many veterans don't even know how to explain US actions to themselves and you're saying 'you're welcome' with this kind of arrogance? Pure comedy
The Tomahawks amazed us. Their accuracy was almost perfect and only declined because the landscape was so demolished that the missiles had trouble following the downloaded path. A surgical strike weapon is a beautiful thing.
Remember the news footage of a missile flying down the street at 50-100 feet. I almost expected it to stop at the road junction to check if it was clear 😃
@@jonathanramos8414 Also they were in flat terrain, and the Americans have air supremacy. They beat the shit out of a third world army. The USA can only beat up smaller nations.
@@u2beuser714you're forgetting the 2nd world war, and other proxy wars they got to engaged in, they are still considered experiences, war in a different form, civilians casualties are collateral and/or war crimes made by U.S. aligned Private Military Companies. Modern warfare is considered too costly to be fought in a symmetrical manner, asymmetric warfare and proxy wars is the game now, though even if they get the chance to fight a symmetrical war with a near- peer adversary (if ever there is one) that adversary will still lose. (with huge losses on the U.S. side ofcourse)
I remember looking up at the sky at night out at sea at all the stars. I had grown up in a big city, I wasn't used to seeing so many stars at night, until I realized the stars were moving, and they were all going the same direction. Gave me goose bumps to realize there were hundreds of aircraft over head.
As we were positioned just south of the border waiting for the ground war to start, we watched waves of B-52's fly overhead. Sometimes it would be three aircraft and other times it would be six or even nine. Once they had gotten out of sight, you knew when they had dropped their bombs as you could feel the rumble in the ground where we were. Many of the Iraqi soldiers who surrendered to us were in total fear any time an aircraft flew over us/them. I don't blame them.
George W Bush and the other leaders were very clever in stopping once the war objectives were achieved, I can’t even imagine the temptation they felt to just to after Saddam and finish him off, but they had the foresight to see the risks and instability such a move could make. Sadly Bush’s son didn’t seem to have the same foresight.
George Bush wanted to go all the way to Baghdad. Only the opposition of his coalition partners stopped it, because it wasn't authorized by the UN. If he had, we wouldn't have had the problem of trying to stabilize Iraq with the handful of troops used by his son.
George HW Bush is the father. George W Bush was the son. Also, the local resistance that allied with the coalition were upset they had been left in their own devices, and some turned against the US during the invasion in 2003. In some people's perspective, they were upset they didn't finish the job, and led to further violence and crackdowns until the Americans second time in Iraq
I was with the 1st Marine Division (3/9) during Desert Shield/Storm and I didn't find out about the SCUD strike on the US Army barracks until months later. It was almost a year before I found out that a guy from my hometown in PA who lived 6 blocks away from me, had been killed in that strike.
At least twice you showed a Navy F-14 Tomcat and called it an Air Force F-15 Eagle. Not the same bird, but they both have twin engines and twin vertical stabilizers. Here is a hint (tongue firmly in cheek my friend) if it says Navy on it, it isn't an F-15 Eagle.
I remember reading about how this war drove the Soviets into a panic because the Republican Guard was equipped with Soviet weapons and trained based on Soviet doctrine so it would be an opportunity to see how Soviet weapons and tactics would work against the US and the answer was they got rolled up and shot to pieces in a matter of days.
Nearly the whole iraqi army was Soviet equipped and used their doctrine/training. Even Bradley and Warrior IFVs obliterated their T72s. This is why it's so weird to me people didnt realise until last year that russian equipment is utterly useless.
@@Ukraineaissance2014 No. Iraq had export variants that were already obsolete, were tin cans and were in disrepair. About 40% of Iraq's armor force was non-deployable by US Army standards. They had them parked on berms using them for indirect fire, lobbing antipersonnel rounds at Abrams and Challengers, because their hydraulics were broken so they couldn't elevate their guns or slew the turrets and didn't have anti-armor ammo. About 30% of kills were on abandoned or immobile tanks. They'd fire three or four rounds and run out of ammo or break down, or run out of fuel and just bale. They surrendered entire companies for *food* . They didn't invade Kuwait because they they were doing swell, my man.
To be fair, the Saudis had a hard time just controlling their border alone from Houthi raids, even when they had decades of US training and equipment. Arab Armies have a problem in a cultural and institutional level, not a monetary or industrial level. Give an Arab Army your most highly effective weapons and tactics and they'll still suck at it.
The US military at that time was a HUGE coiled Python ready to strike. Morale among the services was very high, everybody was ready and highly trained with the new toys from the massive Reagan buildup. Before Saddam got his nose bloodied, Noriega in Panama was the first to feel the brunt of this powerful force even as limited as that action was. The US had a new combat plan called Airland Battle and the Iraqis were the guinea pigs for this new doctrine to be tested on. My respects to those who also fought in Coalition Forces, especially the gallant RAF pilots in their Tornados flying low level and very dangerous strike missions on Iraqi airfields and defenses.
While we had a good doctrine and good morale on paper,I wouldn’t say Operation Just Cause was a good indicator of where we were headed. It was a puny nation with a pitiful military that had no appetite for an actual war. The first Gulf War was a gamble,one that we were damned lucky went in our favor.
@@nexpro6118 They got luck that Soviets collapsed before using Cuwait war as a pardon to start a new WW and freeze inner politics, and, probably stay before 2010
@@nexpro6118 I seriously gotta spoon feed it to you? Lol,wow. Iraq was a powerhouse of a standing army,all the little wars we were involved in post Vietnam were against dictators presiding over small nations with smalls armies. See Panama. Iraq logistically and in terms of manpower and equipment were not even in the same league as Panama. There was a chance driving Saddam out of Kuwait would’ve ended like Russia and Ukraine,a quagmire that we couldn’t handle. Sure we had 30+ nations on our coalition, but they were only there because of our purported military prowess,if we failed to drive them out in a timely manner, they would have left us and we would’ve suffered a huge loss in credibility on the world stage. We lucked out that Saddam lashed out at Israel and Saudi Arabia and diverted his forces in multiple directions,if he focused on only us,we may have had a much longer war and it may have been one that saw Saddam keep Kuwait. That was the gamble,and Russias invasion has taught us that supposed military power doesn’t necessarily translate into successful military operations.
@@oldworldpatriot8920 Yeah I agree with you to a large extent with Op Just Cause. As far as the First Gulf War goes, it wasn't only luck but the basic fundamentals of planning coordination and strategy to apply massive firepower were working well enough together to smash a battle hardened and combat tested Iraqi army. The Iraqis stood no chance against a much superior force tailored and built to fight the Soviets and Warsaw Pact.
A note on the Scud that hit the barracks in Dhahran, I remember when the air raid sirens went off that day, And some of us could actually see the Scud coming over head, But its target was not Dhahran, The scud was supposedly headed for Riyadh. That's why the Dhahran patriot missile system did not engage it. Riyadh's patriots would have done the job. But as with what happened with many of Iraq's poorly modified Scuds, The missile fell apart in flight and the 1000 lbs warhead just happened to fall on the reserve barracks across from our chow... It was Saddam's one lucky shot... Unfortunetly :( I found out latter when I came home that my brother in law who was a reserve was assigned to that barracks, But fortunately he was not there at the time
@retsaM innavoiG It's not as improbable as you think. The placement of roads, buildings, barracks, and other depots seeks efficiency the same way a missle flies toward its target. A straight line is usually the best path to maximize range, and if a missle malfunctions it's most likely to happen at launch or the longer it's in the air.
@retsaM innavoiG The reason why they didn't shoot it down is simple. It might be a diversion for a larger attack. If the patriots in the area unloads on that missile when the real attack comes, they won't have any SAMs to intercept it with. Cause guess what, reloading a SAM battery takes a lot of time.
Where the hell you got that info from Iraqi scuds were headed to Dharan and the reason some of them fail wasnt poor quality it was because the patriot managed to hit some of them
My mom was forward support for a mechanized infantry grouping. I remember her telling me stories about driving her fuel truck down highway 80 and you just had to get used to knowing the bumps you drove over were bodies.
My dad was in Desert Storm, he always complained about the air force having airconditioned tents to stay in while he slept in a hole under his M110 half of the time😁🤷♂
I was with the Maritime Prepositioning Fleet when sadaam attacked. In a logistical miracle, the USMC had MBT and other heavy equipment - in quantity- in Saudi’s Arabia, in only 17 days. It was incredible to be a part of the early logistical action. It was like living a history movie.
I remember when the US government went to protect Saudi Arabia. My dad told me that they were having an airshow for my birthday. My birthday was August 9th I will never forget how many airplanes were in the air at once. I haven't seen anything like it again in my life and I've been to Iraq.
By achieving air superiority, the war was basically over before it began. Also, our sighting systems on our armor were hitting everything we aimed at. I worked at a testing facility that tested Russian ammo and we knew exactly, almost to the meter, how far out they could deliver a kill shot with their tanks. We stayed outside that and they had a very bad few days.
14:32 it wasn't an air raid shelter, it was a strategic government building that was being used as a makeshift air raid shelter at night because it was one of the few buildings in baghdad with power. It was clearly an accident.
Besides the aircraft carriers the WWII Iowa class battleships Missouri and Wisconsin were there in the gulf and they provided artillery support with their 16” guns. The sound of one of those shells flying over your head is enough to send a chill down your spine.
It seems like a 100 years ago I was just a private looking back on it I cannot fully express the gratitude I have to my chain of command. A clear defined mission and a brilliant warplan. We only had 2 casualties and no deaths in my platoon. We were part of the left hook they didn't even know we were coming their guns were pointed in the opposite direction. We fucked them up.
Yeah, Saddam thought that we would invade, D-Day style, from the Persian Gulf and we let him think that so we could effectively deliver that surprise jab.
The a10 was designed for an era without pgms and well functioning air to ground missiles and where shorad was 23-4s spaags. In this it would excel. Further, laserpig doesn't understand the difference between Cas and strike missions. The a10s friendly fire problem was entirely a training issue. They fixed the training, the issue went away.
I was on the USS Missouri when Desert Storm began. I was just an electrician's mate working the distro plant of the Mo, so I was not in the "know" as to the battle plans in any way, shape, or form. However, I do remember that first night of the air campaign. Our CO had reveille blown in the wee hours of the morning as he announced over the 1MC that we were going to war. He just wanted to give us some time to get some chow in our bellies before we manned our battle-stations, and the tomahawks would begin to launch. Sometime after, it was up to the lines, our 16-inch guns pounding the Kuwaiti coast. I never really knew what was going on. Years later, I would find out that the HMS Gloucester saved us from an Iraqi missile. Those British sailors are my shipmates!
I remember reading somewhere that there was a Coalition attack across open desert, that would have been incredibly unlikely to successfully navigate using any previous equipment, but showed up in the right place at the right time due to GPS. Would have liked to hear about that.
Check out the Operation's Room's videos on Desert Storm. I think that story refers to the Coalition's armored and airborne corps. The latter flanked the entire Iraqi Army while the former smashed through Iraq's Saddam Line before breaking through into open desert and blasting through the Iraqi Republican Guard.
@@aaroncabatingan5238 Yes the 18th ABN Corps along with everyone else was aided by the then new GPS. Those old GPS units however suffered in that they generated a lot of heat and thus had to be powered down periodically - every 4-6 hrs. This was okay however as the M1A1 Abrams burn so much gas that on the move they periodically paused to top-off anyways. While the bulk of the 18th primarily ran headlong into the Euphrates valley to cut off any Iraqi forces trying to come down from the north + to block ones trying to flee back into Iraq - the 24th ID and 3rd ACR which was on the far-right flank of the Corps did a pivot near Tallil air force base. They attacked southeast towards the Ramala oil fields and Basra just beyond where they ran into republican guard divisions. The 24th ID hammered them during night via artillery/MLRS units awaiting a joint assault by them and 3rd ACR in the am to finish them off = but the ceasefire was called and they escaped towards Basra which was about 30-40 km away. It probably would have been better to have simply finished them off. 🤷
The old GPS units were limited in that they produced a lot of heat. As such they had to be turned off every ~4-6 hrs. That worked out okay however since the Abrams tanks burned so much fuel they would stop to top off every few hours anyways.
1. All of your content is nothing less than fantastic! 2. Speaking of fantastic, your beard is…well fantastic. 3. I really enjoy and appreciate your narration and description of the events explained. I can vividly picture everything without photos.
The 1991 Persian Gulf War showed that the Soviet way of War and the Soviet style Tank was dead and the 2022 Ukraine war has only served to put that in bold and Italics...
Ukraine did use a number of old Soviet era tactics and equipment but augmented them with Western equipment and intelligence like during the successful counterattacks.
12:36 I'm pretty sure pretending to surrender and then jumping someone when they try to take you captive is a war crime. I'm surprised you didn't mention this.
It is. It's called Perfidy and it's a war crime because doing that shit always results in "no quarter" orders being issued which drastically increases the brutality of the war.
Excellent video, but just wanted to give you a heads up...the pictures of aircraft that you displayed, you indicated in error the swing wing F-14 Tomcats were F-15s. F15s have fixed swept wings, whereas F-14s have variable swing wings, hence the ability to have their wings out in an almost straight configuration.
My brother was in this also. He was in the USAF. He called us on the 8th of Aug 90 saying he was being deployed. After he retired we got the true story of his deployment. He was am egress tech certified on the F111 F15 F4 and F16. He was literally thrown into the back seat of a F16D and flown as fast as possible to his overseas base.
Recalling how I watched some of the news coverage of this from the beginning... I was in middle school and didn't understand at all what had come before and what was driving the conflict. All I knew was that one of my uncles was injured during that opening part of the war, he was part of a helicopter crew in the first wave of air strikes and such... Never heard what else happened to him. It felt really...odd...listening to this discussion. Well done video, just one of the stranger moments in my memory I guess
I was stationed at Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait several years back. The hangars that the US bombed are still intact like the day they were bombed. On the Kuwaiti side of the base theres a building with bullet holes where some Kuwaitis were massacred. In front of their headquarters building there is a large flagpole where (i was told) they hung the general and there is bullet holes the size of antiaircraft rounds going through it. By the sewage lake is a downed mig that ive walked up to. Its amazing seeing history like that in a place very few people will ever get to see.
I remember seeing the news on the morning of the start of the land war, and being totally horrified - had several friends out there, and at that time obviously had no idea where they were amid all that blazing combat, and feeling totally helpless. Must have been thousands with friends or family serving who had similar feelings.
@@ssglbc1875 Yeah, like the late Bill Hicks used to say, the difference was Allies with precision guided weapons that could fly down a chimney and hit one person on the ass, the Iraqis had Scuds, that were like firing a Buick from a catapult. Big difference!
The "Shock and Awe" you refer to was not the term given to the air campaign to establish air dominance during the Desert Storm, it was the term given to the air campaign during Operation Iraqi Freedom 10 years later.
The pictures of Tomahawk cruise missiles being fired from an Iowa class battleship always make me smile. We will miss you Iowa class:( the last of the truly badass naval vessels.
Me personally, I just want to take a couple of second to specially highlight the combat effectiveness of the TOW missile in Operation Desert Storm. In Iraq US forces learnt to use the TOW to paint T72s with the same skill that Leonardo Da Vinci painted Mona Lisa's smile. Don't let anyone fool you. The Iraqis FEARED the TOW and with good reason. They knew that the TOW was coming for them and they knew that there was absolutely nothing that they could do about it. Make no mistake. The TOW truly earnt its Monaca of "Death on a Wire" A thousand times over... .
One minor correction: several times throughout the video a picture is shown and labeled or described as F15 Eagles of the Air Force. The pictures in fact show F14 Tomcats of the Navy
Barksdale AF base has the b52’s. We lived close by outside of the base and my parents remember them flying over the house and they sounded like a 30 minute tornado right on top of the house.
I think that Airborne Electronic Warfare is an oft-overlooked aspect of how operations like this succeed. I'd love to see a video on the EA-6B Prowler, particularly VMAQ-2.
Simon. I recently found out a bit about the Tigray war in Ethiopia being the most devastating conflict of the 21st century. 600,000 dead? I feel like the world needs to know more about this conflict.
Such a detailed report, and then we mess it all up showing an F-14 Tomcat and then underneath with the tag “F-15”. Overall a great and informative video. Very detailed with the main points.
Desert Shield and Desert Storm were my senior year of high school. I was taking a Current World Events class during the 2nd semester and I thought all the interesting things would have happened before I got to the class. But instead of studying for my 1st semester finals I was watching CNN all night like everyone else. And my civics class had a lot to talk about. As did my friend who had joined the Army Reserves a year earlier when she came back to visit the summer of '91.
Music-wise, who did you listen to, at the time? Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.? Who are you listening to now? P.S. 🎞 Have you ever seen the HBO telefilm, 'Live from Baghdad' (2002)?
There are at least 2 factual inaccuracies in this video. First, shock and awe was a strategy employed in the second gulf war, not the first. Second, Iraq didn't surrender in the first gulf war. Instead, President Bush simply announced a ceasefire.
One of the few modern wars that I would call somewhat romantic. The coalition weren’t really involved in war crimes, the motive was perfectly just, and packed to the brim with cool military technology. It was really the first modern world war, establishing the status quo of the post-Cold War world (The trouble usually being in the Middle East and Africa instead of Europe and Asia).
Saddam's ruthless inflexibility and refusal to compromise was his downfall. This is a tyrant who once had a senior officer chopped to pieces for daring to suggest they retreat, regroup and dig in when confronted by an overwhelming Iranian offensive. And this was his policy with officers. The chilling effect was real.
Video 7 of asking Simon to do a Syrian civil war video or perhaps more, also a Rise and Fall of ISIS would be cool too (for Into the Shadows probably tho) Would be greatly appreciated
Nice video but this plane: 6:43 , is a Tomcat. My uncle was working in Saudi during that time. They were issued gas masks due to concerns that Iraq may resort to chemical warfare. We still have that at home though the filter has been corroded but would have been fun great to wear outside the house during the start of COVID19 back in 2020.
I saw someone in a grocery store wearing one. But without the N95 or better filters installed it wouldn't help (much) against a virus. Gas masks are made for organic chemical gases, not virus particles after someone coughs.
I joined the Army in 1998 and several of my recruiters were in Operation Desert Storm. They told me that is really wasn't a war but more of a total ass kicking. Thr Battle of 73 Easting is considered the "last great tank battle" but i was told by men who were there that is was a slaughter of biblical proportions. But i was also told thats just how war is sometimes and if you are lucky enough to be on the winning side. You don't complain about it.
Maps would have made this much easier to understand… most people dont know which areas and from where they were being invaded.. other than that its a good video
I live in Khafji at the Kwaity border, it was intense time and the scale really hit me when they start broadcasting instructions on how to use the gas masks on tv 😭
4:30 quick note about your sponsor, War Thunder…. for the record, you absolutely CAN NOT command an aircraft carrier lol. there are planes, tanks, and warships but there is no carrier to control or operate. you can, however, take off of an aircraft carrier in a plane or jet which is cool in and of itself!
I was there with my Army Reserve Company supplying water. We were in Iraq the second day of the invasion. When people ask me what the experience was like I tell them it was "surreal ".
You were in the way way way rear and didn't even see a b9mb go off near you and you never even raised your weapon in anger, let alone fired it lol. Calm down 😂😂
Norman Schwarzkopf a vet of the Vietnam war said that he didn’t want a slow escalation and didn’t want the Persian gulf war to be a “limited war”. Politicians first questioned why he demanded so many troops but Norman wanted it to be a quick and fast operation so the politicians gave his request. He wiped iraq out. The politicians after kicking iraq out of Kuwait wanted Norman to invade iraq but he refused because he felt if he invaded iraq, he knew that if the US invaded then it would have to occupy iraq and if the occupation failed iraq would be a power vacuum. In 2003 now retired Norman supported the iraq invasion at first because of getting rid of Saddam Hassan . But Norman heavily criticized the US military handling of the occupation. He criticized the US for sending less troops into Iraq then his Persian gulf defense of Kuwait. He felt that because the US occupied iraq with less troops that now terriosts and guerrilla fighters had a advantage. Norman also criticized the fact that the US sent a increase of national guard troops to iraq. Feeling they should’ve sent more experienced troops. Also fun fact the US CIA had a close association with sadaam hussain. Using him as a hit man in the 50s to kill the iraq king. And In the 80s with chemical weapons spot targets to help the iraq military in the Iran iraq war. The CIA also gave weapons to Iran for money to give weapons to the Nicaraguan terriosts group Contras. Good old CIA giving weapons to practically anyone. Reagan also was in on the scandal and gave the OK for it.
Because veitnam was fought by the active army without the NG the pentagon wanted more involvement for the guard and incorporated guard units with active units
Schwarzkopf requested far fewer troops than would traditionally be required. The rule of thumb was that an attacker needed three times as many troops as a dug in defender, meaning he should have requested another million troops!
I love your videos, but something has been a bit strange about the audio for several months. It's very quiet and I keep having to set the volume almost twice as high as for other youtube vids. Just a heads up.
I'll use simon's channels to fall asleep. Its like listening to a professor go through a lecture. In the last few weeks i've noticed the ads are considerably louder than Simon's audio. This isn't true for all UA-cam channels, though it is in some others. I'm curious if there was a update to an editing software and the setting change affected a lot of people of once.
@@lacyLor i think thats on purpose. The ads are louder than 90% of videos, likely to grab your attention, and UA-cam is primarily in the advertising business.
Thanks Simon! You have ensured that playing War Thunder went from the status of “probably won’t play” to “Will never play” if I can afford to stay away from it!
I believe you are overstating "Iraqi resolve" by an order of magnitude. While S.Hussein was determined to fight to the last, the foot soldiers were anxious to surrender (ie: live). Surrenders on foot started well before the ground war phase. I was there; I saw it. And, yeah, "Shock and Awe" wasn't a phrase until 2003. And there was no surrender, just a one-sided cease-fire.
In case anyone missed it, the USA still has B-52's that can hit anything in the world in a matter of hours. And we have a bunch of brave people who WILL do the job, along with Navy, Army, and those mean and nasty ( I've heard and read about them) Marines.
2 things you have to consider,Hussein tried to fight a modern war without a adequate airforce,Hussein did not have a abundance of professional personnel,certainly not enough to confront a 30 some country coalition led by a superpower.
One of the biggest flaws in military strategy is that armies usually try to fight = the last war....... That is what you saw here whereby Saddam and his generals tried to duplicate their conflict with Iran where air power was minimally used and where fixed fortifications ala WWI were the norm. They simply did not understand the concept of "combined arms" warfare.
We should also keep in mind that this event absolutely shocked the Chinese, and compelled them to begin a non-stop self improvement program. It's like watching someone you thought was badass getting KO'd in seconds and telling yourself "Damn... I better hit the gym NOW!" They went from a miserable backwater to now the next superpower. I guarantee you they're biding their time until they're capable of pulling their own Desert Storm to send a message to their rivals.
As impressive as the US Military Air Superiority is, ans as technologically advanced as the US Military equipment, waepons, tanks, drones, and of course the unfathomably massive Naval equipment is... In my opinion, the one thing that puts the US at the top time and time again is the Unparalleled Logitics capabilities. You would be absolutely stunned at how futile most militaries are at simply MOVING thier troops and equipment. If American enters a war, EVERYTHING is accounted for and gets there ON TIME.
The US military had a lot of experience during the 20th Century in all its' conflicts to develop a viable logistics system. That by the way was always the Achilles Heel of the Soviet Union. While they were massive numerically speaking their battle doctrine is to throw forces into battle until they win or are expended to be replaced by new units. Supplying them enroute is not much of a consideration as their troops are expected to fight for several days without resupply if required. That was their problem in Ukraine as the attempted a massive coordinated multi-front attack but their logistical system was a disaster and units bogged down.
At the time of the Kuwaiti invasion I was working for a quango headed up by a retired Royal Marine officer, when I asked his opinion. He said -"Saddam is in full occupation, he has a million men under arms, there is nothing we can do." Which shows you how out of touch even he was. I went to my Club for dinner that evening and was asked my view - I am not military but I understood the economics and logistics so I replied "Our victory will be overwhelming and total". However, it was the Allied-US staging of units in Saudi to firstly defend it from Iraq and then to attack it that sent Bin Laden into his paranoid fugue, arguing that they had desecrated the Holy Cities of Medina and Mecca when in fact they were some 300 miles from them facing the other way!
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I've been waiting for a video about the invasion of Iraq in the 1990s, thanks man!
You know war thunders parent company is funding pro Russian forces, right?
Don't support Russian companies
Let’s see a video on Bravo Two Zero
Shock and awe was used in the second Gulf War. Not the first one. Great documentary though.
The Operations Room makes incredible animated videos covering these battles.
It's like watching a general's desk come alive.
Yeah and unlike Simon he has actual expertise lol
@@nolan6320wdym
@@nolan6320 F15 but has pic of F14 XD
Nah fr tho
Oh I love that channel
My buddy was deployed to Iraq for this war. He got on the plane, took off. By the time he landed the war was over. He spent 2 days in country and came home. He always laughed calling it the shortest deployment in history
Grenada was even shorter lol
It really was one of the most one sided wars in modern history, at least that involved major powers. The fact Sadaam managed to maintain power is unreal. Terror and violence only get you so far and I'm surprised the military didn't just turn against him and say "ok, you got us killed in Iran for no reason and we just got bombed back to the stone age...you're out!"
How about 39 Countries attack the USA included China/Russia and Japan?
@KryptonHM you serious?
@@mattm7798 that’s why dictators put loyal people in charge instead of competent people.
The Gulf War was more important for the US than a lot of younger people realize. Prior to the war, the last major conflict the US fought was in Vietnam, and it's a result of the lessons learned in Vietnam that the US invested so heavily in technology and training. Even so, no one was certain this new military would perform any better than it had decades before, or that the war would end in victory and not a shameful withdrawal . The surprisingly and almost comically lopsided victory achieved by the coalition, with the US at its center, reinvigorated in the public conscious the idea that the US military was an effective tool capable of major long-term operations. It also had the effect of making the US highly casualty adverse. Prior to the war, hundreds of thousands of body bags were shipped to Kuwait in anticipation of heavy losses. The public took the subsequent light casualties as the new normal, and now (in my opinion) has a tendency to overreact and expect the impossibly few casualties in all conflicts.
While all points you make are valid, especially when referring to Vietnam - You leave out the major difference of a conscripted force --v- an all volunteer force. This difference is critical and cannot be overlooked.
I think Panama was the first successful conflict since Vietnam. Maybe Grenada. But Beirut and operation eagle claw? not so much
@@donovanm3576 no one cares about them tho frfr it was a show in Iraq
How do you think Saddam reacted to this? Do you think he was utterly shocked and cried?
Well said. This conflict was an exception to the rule. The Iraqi’s had a lot of kit. However, they were utterly incompetent in regards to replenishment sustainment etc.. I do believe the army proved some things. I also believe on the whole the military can be relied upon. My one concern is our command structure suffers from institutional career men. Basically, in order for the military to succeed in near peer fights we would need to lose the favoritism and be willing to fire people and do it FAST AND EFFICIENTLY. We have the talent, I have no doubt about that. But, unless we are willing to fire commanders in a way similar to WW2 we would run into problems quickly.
*On a side note being fired back then wasn’t a career death nail. Most commanders got another chance and if they were actually capable they rose from the ashes. If they were trash… we’ll they got the can.
Something that is over looked when it comes to Iraq's armor was their inability to maintain their equipment in the field. Especially bore sighting their main gun. You can't hit your target if you don't know where that round is going. They took shots at us that were wide by 50 yards or more. By comparison, we could chose if we wanted to hit them in the hull or the turret. A shout out to my fellow Gulf vets. It's been a short 30 years hasn't it?
I heard that and also soviet export equipment had a shot life so they carried out very little live fire training to prevent barrel ware thank you for your service
@@Theshropshireratter You're welcome.
@@tanker335 Thank you for engaging in a war of aggression and misplaced revenge. How many veterans don't even know how to explain US actions to themselves and you're saying 'you're welcome' with this kind of arrogance? Pure comedy
@@Theshropshireratter Use Spell check.
@@onelongwordable I fucking hope the US implodes and they experience TRUE hardships. Maybe then they'll learn some humility.
The Tomahawks amazed us. Their accuracy was almost perfect and only declined because the landscape was so demolished that the missiles had trouble following the downloaded path. A surgical strike weapon is a beautiful thing.
*laughs in Kalibr*
@Sparks ... Being occupied by Ukro-nazi-demons because they're cowards and love using human shields.
@Fiero88mph2018 wow. Vatnik's finally have 1990's western tech.
@@PrimericanIdol _Cope strikes a mall_
Yup. Kalibr is amazing.
Remember the news footage of a missile flying down the street at 50-100 feet. I almost expected it to stop at the road junction to check if it was clear 😃
Operation Desert Storm was a work of art in combined arms. It was a master class in modern warfare.
Beating up a third world nation is a masterclass? Wow
Yes for me it's ranked alongside Operation Compass, France 1940, Tannenburg 1914.
Saddam hussein had a raggedy tired army that just got done fighting Iran. They didn't stand a chance.
@@jonathanramos8414 Also they were in flat terrain, and the Americans have air supremacy. They beat the shit out of a third world army. The USA can only beat up smaller nations.
@@jonathanramos8414 kind of dumb to start a new war with an exhausted army.
I think Russia's logistics foulup in Ukraine underscores how impressive this operation was, from a strategic standpoint.
The oligarchs stole a large amount of the military budget.
insert russkie copium about how iraq isnt ukraine and iraq's army was garb unlike ukraine fully NATO armed with mech suits and what not
@@u2beuser714 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH OUR FIRST CATCH OF THE DAY
@@u2beuser714 lol obvious troll is obvious
@@u2beuser714you're forgetting the 2nd world war, and other proxy wars they got to engaged in, they are still considered experiences, war in a different form, civilians casualties are collateral and/or war crimes made by U.S. aligned Private Military Companies.
Modern warfare is considered too costly to be fought in a symmetrical manner, asymmetric warfare and proxy wars is the game now, though even if they get the chance to fight a symmetrical war with a near- peer adversary (if ever there is one) that adversary will still lose.
(with huge losses on the U.S. side ofcourse)
I remember looking up at the sky at night out at sea at all the stars. I had grown up in a big city, I wasn't used to seeing so many stars at night, until I realized the stars were moving, and they were all going the same direction. Gave me goose bumps to realize there were hundreds of aircraft over head.
As we were positioned just south of the border waiting for the ground war to start, we watched waves of B-52's fly overhead. Sometimes it would be three aircraft and other times it would be six or even nine. Once they had gotten out of sight, you knew when they had dropped their bombs as you could feel the rumble in the ground where we were. Many of the Iraqi soldiers who surrendered to us were in total fear any time an aircraft flew over us/them. I don't blame them.
I grew up in the country but the amount of stars you can see in the middle of the Atlantic is crazy.
George W Bush and the other leaders were very clever in stopping once the war objectives were achieved, I can’t even imagine the temptation they felt to just to after Saddam and finish him off, but they had the foresight to see the risks and instability such a move could make. Sadly Bush’s son didn’t seem to have the same foresight.
George Bush wanted to go all the way to Baghdad. Only the opposition of his coalition partners stopped it, because it wasn't authorized by the UN. If he had, we wouldn't have had the problem of trying to stabilize Iraq with the handful of troops used by his son.
George HW Bush is the father. George W Bush was the son.
Also, the local resistance that allied with the coalition were upset they had been left in their own devices, and some turned against the US during the invasion in 2003.
In some people's perspective, they were upset they didn't finish the job, and led to further violence and crackdowns until the Americans second time in Iraq
George H W Bush you mean. W was the son.
Shouldn’t stopped til took Baghdad
When we didn’t saddam started talking shit again and we got 9 11
And it directly birthed ISIS
I was with the 1st Marine Division (3/9) during Desert Shield/Storm and I didn't find out about the SCUD strike on the US Army barracks until months later. It was almost a year before I found out that a guy from my hometown in PA who lived 6 blocks away from me, had been killed in that strike.
At least twice you showed a Navy F-14 Tomcat and called it an Air Force F-15 Eagle. Not the same bird, but they both have twin engines and twin vertical stabilizers. Here is a hint (tongue firmly in cheek my friend) if it says Navy on it, it isn't an F-15 Eagle.
Okay, so I'm not totally crazy.
Hehe
The occasional whoopsie is a bit of spice on top of a good video
Navy transporting paratroopers too
To be fair he’s not the one who does the editing.
Was going to say this too.
Fun fact: if you visit the USS Midway, currently in San Diego, the CIC is mocked up to how it looked on the very first day of Desert Storm.
I remember reading about how this war drove the Soviets into a panic because the Republican Guard was equipped with Soviet weapons and trained based on Soviet doctrine so it would be an opportunity to see how Soviet weapons and tactics would work against the US and the answer was they got rolled up and shot to pieces in a matter of days.
Nearly the whole iraqi army was Soviet equipped and used their doctrine/training. Even Bradley and Warrior IFVs obliterated their T72s. This is why it's so weird to me people didnt realise until last year that russian equipment is utterly useless.
Simply untrue
@@Ukraineaissance2014
No. Iraq had export variants that were already obsolete, were tin cans and were in disrepair. About 40% of Iraq's armor force was non-deployable by US Army standards. They had them parked on berms using them for indirect fire, lobbing antipersonnel rounds at Abrams and Challengers, because their hydraulics were broken so they couldn't elevate their guns or slew the turrets and didn't have anti-armor ammo. About 30% of kills were on abandoned or immobile tanks. They'd fire three or four rounds and run out of ammo or break down, or run out of fuel and just bale.
They surrendered entire companies for *food* . They didn't invade Kuwait because they they were doing swell, my man.
To be fair, the Saudis had a hard time just controlling their border alone from Houthi raids, even when they had decades of US training and equipment.
Arab Armies have a problem in a cultural and institutional level, not a monetary or industrial level. Give an Arab Army your most highly effective weapons and tactics and they'll still suck at it.
@@springbloom5940 same old disproven soviet/russian nonsense. Clinging onto that 'EXPORT MODEL'! Bs for dear life.
The US military at that time was a HUGE coiled Python ready to strike. Morale among the services was very high, everybody was ready and highly trained with the new toys from the massive Reagan buildup. Before Saddam got his nose bloodied, Noriega in Panama was the first to feel the brunt of this powerful force even as limited as that action was. The US had a new combat plan called Airland Battle and the Iraqis were the guinea pigs for this new doctrine to be tested on. My respects to those who also fought in Coalition Forces, especially the gallant RAF pilots in their Tornados flying low level and very dangerous strike missions on Iraqi airfields and defenses.
While we had a good doctrine and good morale on paper,I wouldn’t say Operation Just Cause was a good indicator of where we were headed. It was a puny nation with a pitiful military that had no appetite for an actual war.
The first Gulf War was a gamble,one that we were damned lucky went in our favor.
@@oldworldpatriot8920 .....what....explain
@@nexpro6118 They got luck that Soviets collapsed before using Cuwait war as a pardon to start a new WW and freeze inner politics, and, probably stay before 2010
@@nexpro6118 I seriously gotta spoon feed it to you? Lol,wow.
Iraq was a powerhouse of a standing army,all the little wars we were involved in post Vietnam were against dictators presiding over small nations with smalls armies. See Panama. Iraq logistically and in terms of manpower and equipment were not even in the same league as Panama.
There was a chance driving Saddam out of Kuwait would’ve ended like Russia and Ukraine,a quagmire that we couldn’t handle. Sure we had 30+ nations on our coalition, but they were only there because of our purported military prowess,if we failed to drive them out in a timely manner, they would have left us and we would’ve suffered a huge loss in credibility on the world stage.
We lucked out that Saddam lashed out at Israel and Saudi Arabia and diverted his forces in multiple directions,if he focused on only us,we may have had a much longer war and it may have been one that saw Saddam keep Kuwait.
That was the gamble,and Russias invasion has taught us that supposed military power doesn’t necessarily translate into successful military operations.
@@oldworldpatriot8920 Yeah I agree with you to a large extent with Op Just Cause. As far as the First Gulf War goes, it wasn't only luck but the basic fundamentals of planning coordination and strategy to apply massive firepower were working well enough together to smash a battle hardened and combat tested Iraqi army. The Iraqis stood no chance against a much superior force tailored and built to fight the Soviets and Warsaw Pact.
A note on the Scud that hit the barracks in Dhahran, I remember when the air raid sirens went off that day, And some of us could actually see the Scud coming over head, But its target was not Dhahran, The scud was supposedly headed for Riyadh. That's why the Dhahran patriot missile system did not engage it. Riyadh's patriots would have done the job. But as with what happened with many of Iraq's poorly modified Scuds, The missile fell apart in flight and the 1000 lbs warhead just happened to fall on the reserve barracks across from our chow... It was Saddam's one lucky shot... Unfortunetly :(
I found out latter when I came home that my brother in law who was a reserve was assigned to that barracks, But fortunately he was not there at the time
@retsaM innavoiG It's not as improbable as you think. The placement of roads, buildings, barracks, and other depots seeks efficiency the same way a missle flies toward its target. A straight line is usually the best path to maximize range, and if a missle malfunctions it's most likely to happen at launch or the longer it's in the air.
@retsaM innavoiG The reason why they didn't shoot it down is simple. It might be a diversion for a larger attack. If the patriots in the area unloads on that missile when the real attack comes, they won't have any SAMs to intercept it with. Cause guess what, reloading a SAM battery takes a lot of time.
Where the hell you got that info from
Iraqi scuds were headed to Dharan and the reason some of them fail wasnt poor quality it was because the patriot managed to hit some of them
That scud was hit by a Patriot and failed to hit its intended target. The destroyed scud had to fall somewhere. I got there in AUG 1990. 2/7 INF, 24ID
My mom was forward support for a mechanized infantry grouping. I remember her telling me stories about driving her fuel truck down highway 80 and you just had to get used to knowing the bumps you drove over were bodies.
Damn that's wild to imagine..
My dad was in Desert Storm, he always complained about the air force having airconditioned tents to stay in while he slept in a hole under his M110 half of the time😁🤷♂
Quite standard for all who served in the army. Just don't look at the chairforce.
United States Chair Force ;)
and without the airforce you would be stuck shot or dead so show some respect .
The entire military complains about this to this day.
@@DarkKatzy013 I'm sure he respected those that earned his respect.
6:47 - Yeah, that's an F-14 Tomcat, not an F-15. 😉
I noticed at least two times Simons said F-15 with an F-14 on the screen.
Lol
@@davidthecustodian Don't blame him, he doesn't edit these things. Hehe
@@OrdinaryDude i guess we should blame the editor. Who was he again?
You can tell the difference? Nice.
I was with the Maritime Prepositioning Fleet when sadaam attacked. In a logistical miracle, the USMC had MBT and other heavy equipment - in quantity- in Saudi’s Arabia, in only 17 days. It was incredible to be a part of the early logistical action. It was like living a history movie.
I don't think people appreciate the logistics that goes into this scale of war on the opposite side of the world. The US really makes it look easy
I remember when the US government went to protect Saudi Arabia. My dad told me that they were having an airshow for my birthday. My birthday was August 9th I will never forget how many airplanes were in the air at once. I haven't seen anything like it again in my life and I've been to Iraq.
"Iraq lost nearly 100 takes in the operation"
Russia today: "You gotta pump those numbers up, those are rookie numbers in this game"
I think the word is "tanks" lol
With Russia losing 60,000 troops losing a pointless Ukrainian city with no major impact on the war
Man I see you're a fan of the movie wolf of Wall Street
to be fair, Iraq lost over 3000 tanks in the whole war (of 6 weeks) which are numbers Russia is at after 2 years.
Seeing all the vets in the comments is crazy. Thank you all for your service. And thank you all for sharing your stories.
Totally. So much!
By achieving air superiority, the war was basically over before it began. Also, our sighting systems on our armor were hitting everything we aimed at. I worked at a testing facility that tested Russian ammo and we knew exactly, almost to the meter, how far out they could deliver a kill shot with their tanks. We stayed outside that and they had a very bad few days.
14:32 it wasn't an air raid shelter, it was a strategic government building that was being used as a makeshift air raid shelter at night because it was one of the few buildings in baghdad with power. It was clearly an accident.
Besides the aircraft carriers the WWII Iowa class battleships Missouri and Wisconsin were there in the gulf and they provided artillery support with their 16” guns. The sound of one of those shells flying over your head is enough to send a chill down your spine.
It seems like a 100 years ago
I was just a private looking back on it I cannot fully express the gratitude I have to my chain of command.
A clear defined mission and a brilliant warplan. We only had 2 casualties and no deaths in my platoon. We were part of the left hook they didn't even know we were coming their guns were pointed in the opposite direction. We fucked them up.
Yeah, Saddam thought that we would invade, D-Day style, from the Persian Gulf and we let him think that so we could effectively deliver that surprise jab.
Misdirection and Deception, a key element in warfare Saddam had not accounted for
12:29 "these airstrikes resulted in 11 friendly fire incidents..."
LazerPig subscribers: "yeah that would mostly be the A-10s fault."
LazerPig is a schmuck.
Yup. There’s a reason F-111s were used. Or was it the F-117? I can’t quite remember.
Point is, the Warthog isn’t that great compared to them.
The a10 was designed for an era without pgms and well functioning air to ground missiles and where shorad was 23-4s spaags. In this it would excel.
Further, laserpig doesn't understand the difference between Cas and strike missions.
The a10s friendly fire problem was entirely a training issue. They fixed the training, the issue went away.
Simon, the "F-15" you're showing is an F-14 Tomcat, flown by the US Navy. The F-15 is an Air Force jet.
He didn’t edit the video
Quite close, F-14 is almost F-15.
I was on the USS Missouri when Desert Storm began. I was just an electrician's mate working the distro plant of the Mo, so I was not in the "know" as to the battle plans in any way, shape, or form. However, I do remember that first night of the air campaign. Our CO had reveille blown in the wee hours of the morning as he announced over the 1MC that we were going to war. He just wanted to give us some time to get some chow in our bellies before we manned our battle-stations, and the tomahawks would begin to launch. Sometime after, it was up to the lines, our 16-inch guns pounding the Kuwaiti coast. I never really knew what was going on. Years later, I would find out that the HMS Gloucester saved us from an Iraqi missile. Those British sailors are my shipmates!
Wow! Never knew that I’m from London uk
I remember reading somewhere that there was a Coalition attack across open desert, that would have been incredibly unlikely to successfully navigate using any previous equipment, but showed up in the right place at the right time due to GPS. Would have liked to hear about that.
I think you are referring to the first night of the war where multiple apaches helos were dispatched to take out an Iraqi radar station
Check out the Operation's Room's videos on Desert Storm.
I think that story refers to the Coalition's armored and airborne corps. The latter flanked the entire Iraqi Army while the former smashed through Iraq's Saddam Line before breaking through into open desert and blasting through the Iraqi Republican Guard.
@@aaroncabatingan5238 Yes the 18th ABN Corps along with everyone else was aided by the then new GPS. Those old GPS units however suffered in that they generated a lot of heat and thus had to be powered down periodically - every 4-6 hrs. This was okay however as the M1A1 Abrams burn so much gas that on the move they periodically paused to top-off anyways.
While the bulk of the 18th primarily ran headlong into the Euphrates valley to cut off any Iraqi forces trying to come down from the north + to block ones trying to flee back into Iraq - the 24th ID and 3rd ACR which was on the far-right flank of the Corps did a pivot near Tallil air force base. They attacked southeast towards the Ramala oil fields and Basra just beyond where they ran into republican guard divisions.
The 24th ID hammered them during night via artillery/MLRS units awaiting a joint assault by them and 3rd ACR in the am to finish them off = but the ceasefire was called and they escaped towards Basra which was about 30-40 km away. It probably would have been better to have simply finished them off. 🤷
The old GPS units were limited in that they produced a lot of heat. As such they had to be turned off every ~4-6 hrs. That worked out okay however since the Abrams tanks burned so much fuel they would stop to top off every few hours anyways.
1. All of your content is nothing less than fantastic!
2. Speaking of fantastic, your beard is…well fantastic.
3. I really enjoy and appreciate your narration and description of the events explained. I can vividly picture everything without photos.
The 1991 Persian Gulf War showed that the Soviet way of War and the Soviet style Tank was dead and the 2022 Ukraine war has only served to put that in bold and Italics...
You have zero clues what you're talking about.
You mean the "me make tons of cheap tanks and go forward"?
Hey now we’ll see how western tanks are fight against Russia. I’m sure they’ll be a lot better than the Soviet way though
Ukraine did use a number of old Soviet era tactics and equipment but augmented them with Western equipment and intelligence like during the successful counterattacks.
Ukraine is losing the war
12:36 I'm pretty sure pretending to surrender and then jumping someone when they try to take you captive is a war crime. I'm surprised you didn't mention this.
I mean, they caught love from a Specter gunship. That's probably a wash.
It is. It's called Perfidy and it's a war crime because doing that shit always results in "no quarter" orders being issued which drastically increases the brutality of the war.
i think he assumed that us(the audience) know about it
The gulf war was a masterpiece from a strategic standpoint, and we didn't occupy them that time which was nice
Excellent video, but just wanted to give you a heads up...the pictures of aircraft that you displayed, you indicated in error the swing wing F-14 Tomcats were F-15s. F15s have fixed swept wings, whereas F-14s have variable swing wings, hence the ability to have their wings out in an almost straight configuration.
My brother was in this also. He was in the USAF. He called us on the 8th of Aug 90 saying he was being deployed. After he retired we got the true story of his deployment. He was am egress tech certified on the F111 F15 F4 and F16. He was literally thrown into the back seat of a F16D and flown as fast as possible to his overseas base.
The most brilliant part of it was how immaculately logistics were handled to support such a dagger-to-the-heart knockout blow
Recalling how I watched some of the news coverage of this from the beginning... I was in middle school and didn't understand at all what had come before and what was driving the conflict. All I knew was that one of my uncles was injured during that opening part of the war, he was part of a helicopter crew in the first wave of air strikes and such... Never heard what else happened to him. It felt really...odd...listening to this discussion. Well done video, just one of the stranger moments in my memory I guess
I was stationed at Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait several years back. The hangars that the US bombed are still intact like the day they were bombed. On the Kuwaiti side of the base theres a building with bullet holes where some Kuwaitis were massacred.
In front of their headquarters building there is a large flagpole where (i was told) they hung the general and there is bullet holes the size of antiaircraft rounds going through it. By the sewage lake is a downed mig that ive walked up to. Its amazing seeing history like that in a place very few people will ever get to see.
Really good rundown of information! I will say, though, it would be nice if you included more maps throughout.
If you seen tank graveyard in north Kuwait you get a huge view of how badly Iraqi army got wiped out, seeing it back in 2001 was mind blowing
I remember seeing the news on the morning of the start of the land war, and being totally horrified - had several friends out there, and at that time obviously had no idea where they were amid all that blazing combat, and feeling totally helpless. Must have been thousands with friends or family serving who had similar feelings.
Luckily saddam paper army was weak and incompent maybe the 4th largest army but still it was full of conscripts lack of ammo and airpower
@@ssglbc1875 Yeah, like the late Bill Hicks used to say, the difference was Allies with precision guided weapons that could fly down a chimney and hit one person on the ass, the Iraqis had Scuds, that were like firing a Buick from a catapult. Big difference!
This conflict is one I read about alot since it's also the last time Battleships saw active military use.
10:51 - Now I know where Simon gets his legendary energy from (bottom left)
That's an F-14 Tomcat at 6:42 and 12:20 not an F-15. Other than that a very informative documentary,
Also 9:21 is iranian aircraft
The "Shock and Awe" you refer to was not the term given to the air campaign to establish air dominance during the Desert Storm, it was the term given to the air campaign during Operation Iraqi Freedom 10 years later.
The pictures of Tomahawk cruise missiles being fired from an Iowa class battleship always make me smile. We will miss you Iowa class:( the last of the truly badass naval vessels.
Me personally,
I just want to take a couple of second to specially highlight the combat effectiveness of the TOW missile in Operation Desert Storm.
In Iraq US forces learnt to use the TOW to paint T72s with the same skill that Leonardo Da Vinci painted Mona Lisa's smile.
Don't let anyone fool you.
The Iraqis FEARED the TOW and with good reason. They knew that the TOW was coming for them and they knew that there was absolutely nothing that they could do about it.
Make no mistake. The TOW truly earnt its Monaca of "Death on a Wire"
A thousand times over...
.
I was at medina Ridge. A Co 2/70 Armor 1st Armored Division in an M1-A1 Abrams deployed from Germany.
1 AD 2/1 Avn Regt.
During the war. The Saudis nicknamed the F117 Stealth Bombers "Ghosts."
As a US military Veteran, it’s always great to reminisce when watching these excellent videos.
One minor correction: several times throughout the video a picture is shown and labeled or described as F15 Eagles of the Air Force. The pictures in fact show F14 Tomcats of the Navy
Barksdale AF base has the b52’s. We lived close by outside of the base and my parents remember them flying over the house and they sounded like a 30 minute tornado right on top of the house.
19:44 That Bradley was most likely the result of "friendly" fire, too.
I think that Airborne Electronic Warfare is an oft-overlooked aspect of how operations like this succeed. I'd love to see a video on the EA-6B Prowler, particularly VMAQ-2.
Thanks for the content Simon and Co. 🍻
Simon. I recently found out a bit about the Tigray war in Ethiopia being the most devastating conflict of the 21st century. 600,000 dead? I feel like the world needs to know more about this conflict.
Such a detailed report, and then we mess it all up showing an F-14 Tomcat and then underneath with the tag “F-15”. Overall a great and informative video. Very detailed with the main points.
12:52 „this caught the attention of a nearby ac130“ are never good words to hear
Desert Shield and Desert Storm were my senior year of high school. I was taking a Current World Events class during the 2nd semester and I thought all the interesting things would have happened before I got to the class. But instead of studying for my 1st semester finals I was watching CNN all night like everyone else. And my civics class had a lot to talk about. As did my friend who had joined the Army Reserves a year earlier when she came back to visit the summer of '91.
Music-wise, who did you listen to, at the time?
Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.?
Who are you listening to now?
P.S. 🎞 Have you ever seen the HBO telefilm, 'Live from Baghdad' (2002)?
Sorry but your researcher mistakenly labbled an F-14 as an F-15
Thank you.. that was cringeworthy
There are at least 2 factual inaccuracies in this video. First, shock and awe was a strategy employed in the second gulf war, not the first. Second, Iraq didn't surrender in the first gulf war. Instead, President Bush simply announced a ceasefire.
It's rumored the next Black Ops Call of Duty game will be set during the Gulf War so if true Operation Desert Storm will be in the game
3 of my uncles are veterans of desert shield into desert storm. Crazy to me how little is talked or taught about.
One of the few modern wars that I would call somewhat romantic. The coalition weren’t really involved in war crimes, the motive was perfectly just, and packed to the brim with cool military technology. It was really the first modern world war, establishing the status quo of the post-Cold War world (The trouble usually being in the Middle East and Africa instead of Europe and Asia).
It’s interesting that the Tomahawks were the first weapons fired but it took them so long to get to target other weapons hit first.
Saddam's ruthless inflexibility and refusal to compromise was his downfall. This is a tyrant who once had a senior officer chopped to pieces for daring to suggest they retreat, regroup and dig in when confronted by an overwhelming Iranian offensive. And this was his policy with officers. The chilling effect was real.
Video 7 of asking Simon to do a Syrian civil war video or perhaps more, also a Rise and Fall of ISIS would be cool too (for Into the Shadows probably tho)
Would be greatly appreciated
more maps please - it can give/help understand troop movements
It kinda pisses me off that the French Foreign Legion is never mentioned covering the western flank. I'm glad you mentioned them here.
My dad was an Army Sargent. First in, Last out. 82nd Airborne ❤
Nice video but this plane: 6:43 , is a Tomcat. My uncle was working in Saudi during that time. They were issued gas masks due to concerns that Iraq may resort to chemical warfare. We still have that at home though the filter has been corroded but would have been fun great to wear outside the house during the start of COVID19 back in 2020.
I saw someone in a grocery store wearing one. But without the N95 or better filters installed it wouldn't help (much) against a virus. Gas masks are made for organic chemical gases, not virus particles after someone coughs.
Weirdest looking F-15 I’ve ever seen lol
Glad I’m not the only one who saw this.
The editors for Simon's channels often make such mistakes and it's getting annoying to people who value smaller details but I hope they improve.
None of the 3 wrecked aircraft shown at 9.20 are iraqi...in fact the 1st of the 3 wrecked aircraft shown is an IRANIAN F-4 phantom 11
I joined the Army in 1998 and several of my recruiters were in Operation Desert Storm. They told me that is really wasn't a war but more of a total ass kicking.
Thr Battle of 73 Easting is considered the "last great tank battle" but i was told by men who were there that is was a slaughter of biblical proportions.
But i was also told thats just how war is sometimes and if you are lucky enough to be on the winning side. You don't complain about it.
Those were navy F14s, not F15s pictured at 6:42 and again at 12:24 . Great episode even still!
Maps would have made this much easier to understand… most people dont know which areas and from where they were being invaded.. other than that its a good video
4:05 Hussein might not have been the type of guy to back down, but he was certainly the type to drop down...at least at the end of his life. 😝
Underrated comment
I live in Khafji at the Kwaity border, it was intense time and the scale really hit me when they start broadcasting instructions on how to use the gas masks on tv 😭
7:50 rotate those tires!!!
4:30
quick note about your sponsor, War Thunder….
for the record, you absolutely CAN NOT command an aircraft carrier lol. there are planes, tanks, and warships but there is no carrier to control or operate. you can, however, take off of an aircraft carrier in a plane or jet which is cool in and of itself!
I was there with my Army Reserve Company supplying water. We were in Iraq the second day of the invasion. When people ask me what the experience was like I tell them it was "surreal ".
You were in the way way way rear and didn't even see a b9mb go off near you and you never even raised your weapon in anger, let alone fired it lol. Calm down 😂😂
@@nexpro6118 I think you need to calm down bro is sharing what it was like in a warzone, he was a major help handing water out in a desert
@@nexpro6118 not exactly untrue but I was at least there while you weren't
@@DSS-jj2cw nope. I was 5 years old ha. Could only enlist in the pre-puberty army lmao.
@@Lynx-qe9yh you obviously missed the massive easy point I made....he wasn't in a war zone....
Bagdad Bob probably has the hardest job during the war
I was literally just in Kuwait a few days ago, and was wondering when we'd get a desert storm warographics!
6:47 ahh yes, the F-15 Tomcat
Norman Schwarzkopf a vet of the Vietnam war said that he didn’t want a slow escalation and didn’t want the Persian gulf war to be a “limited war”. Politicians first questioned why he demanded so many troops but Norman wanted it to be a quick and fast operation so the politicians gave his request. He wiped iraq out.
The politicians after kicking iraq out of Kuwait wanted Norman to invade iraq but he refused because he felt if he invaded iraq, he knew that if the US invaded then it would have to occupy iraq and if the occupation failed iraq would be a power vacuum.
In 2003 now retired Norman supported the iraq invasion at first because of getting rid of Saddam Hassan . But Norman heavily criticized the US military handling of the occupation. He criticized the US for sending less troops into Iraq then his Persian gulf defense of Kuwait. He felt that because the US occupied iraq with less troops that now terriosts and guerrilla fighters had a advantage. Norman also criticized the fact that the US sent a increase of national guard troops to iraq. Feeling they should’ve sent more experienced troops.
Also fun fact the US CIA had a close association with sadaam hussain. Using him as a hit man in the 50s to kill the iraq king. And In the 80s with chemical weapons spot targets to help the iraq military in the Iran iraq war. The CIA also gave weapons to Iran for money to give weapons to the Nicaraguan terriosts group Contras. Good old CIA giving weapons to practically anyone. Reagan also was in on the scandal and gave the OK for it.
Because veitnam was fought by the active army without the NG the pentagon wanted more involvement for the guard and incorporated guard units with active units
Saddam was our stalking horse against Iran after the hostage crisis that Carter bungled.
Schwarzkopf requested far fewer troops than would traditionally be required. The rule of thumb was that an attacker needed three times as many troops as a dug in defender, meaning he should have requested another million troops!
@@pahtar7189A 3:1 in combat power, not manpower.
Would you consider doing a video on the Ethiopian Civil War and the water dispute between them and Egypt over daming the Nile river
I love your videos, but something has been a bit strange about the audio for several months. It's very quiet and I keep having to set the volume almost twice as high as for other youtube vids. Just a heads up.
I'll use simon's channels to fall asleep. Its like listening to a professor go through a lecture. In the last few weeks i've noticed the ads are considerably louder than Simon's audio. This isn't true for all UA-cam channels, though it is in some others. I'm curious if there was a update to an editing software and the setting change affected a lot of people of once.
A couple of his other channels have been like that as well. Hope they get it fixed soon. The ads are making my ears bleed lol.
@@lacyLor i think thats on purpose. The ads are louder than 90% of videos, likely to grab your attention, and UA-cam is primarily in the advertising business.
Volume is quite normal. Check your devices. Check your ears
@@Whatisthisstupidfinghandle There have been lots of comments on many of Simon’s other videos about the same issue.
Great video! ⚔
Thanks Simon! You have ensured that playing War Thunder went from the status of “probably won’t play” to “Will never play” if I can afford to stay away from it!
@6:48 F-14 Tomcat. Swing wing
5:50 the ad ends
Thank you I really appreciate 👍
I believe you are overstating "Iraqi resolve" by an order of magnitude. While S.Hussein was determined to fight to the last, the foot soldiers were anxious to surrender (ie: live). Surrenders on foot started well before the ground war phase. I was there; I saw it.
And, yeah, "Shock and Awe" wasn't a phrase until 2003. And there was no surrender, just a one-sided cease-fire.
Thank you for sharing your comment. 🙏🏽
Thanks for this simon!
In case anyone missed it, the USA still has B-52's that can hit anything in the world in a matter of hours. And we have a bunch of brave people who WILL do the job, along with Navy, Army, and those mean and nasty ( I've heard and read about them) Marines.
2 things you have to consider,Hussein tried to fight a modern war without a adequate airforce,Hussein did not have a abundance of professional personnel,certainly not enough to confront a 30 some country coalition led by a superpower.
One of the biggest flaws in military strategy is that armies usually try to fight = the last war....... That is what you saw here whereby Saddam and his generals tried to duplicate their conflict with Iran where air power was minimally used and where fixed fortifications ala WWI were the norm. They simply did not understand the concept of "combined arms" warfare.
We should also keep in mind that this event absolutely shocked the Chinese, and compelled them to begin a non-stop self improvement program. It's like watching someone you thought was badass getting KO'd in seconds and telling yourself "Damn... I better hit the gym NOW!"
They went from a miserable backwater to now the next superpower.
I guarantee you they're biding their time until they're capable of pulling their own Desert Storm to send a message to their rivals.
As impressive as the US Military Air Superiority is, ans as technologically advanced as the US Military equipment, waepons, tanks, drones, and of course the unfathomably massive Naval equipment is...
In my opinion, the one thing that puts the US at the top time and time again is the Unparalleled Logitics capabilities.
You would be absolutely stunned at how futile most militaries are at simply MOVING thier troops and equipment.
If American enters a war, EVERYTHING is accounted for and gets there ON TIME.
The US military had a lot of experience during the 20th Century in all its' conflicts to develop a viable logistics system. That by the way was always the Achilles Heel of the Soviet Union. While they were massive numerically speaking their battle doctrine is to throw forces into battle until they win or are expended to be replaced by new units.
Supplying them enroute is not much of a consideration as their troops are expected to fight for several days without resupply if required. That was their problem in Ukraine as the attempted a massive coordinated multi-front attack but their logistical system was a disaster and units bogged down.
At the time of the Kuwaiti invasion I was working for a quango headed up by a retired Royal Marine officer, when I asked his opinion. He said -"Saddam is in full occupation, he has a million men under arms, there is nothing we can do." Which shows you how out of touch even he was. I went to my Club for dinner that evening and was asked my view - I am not military but I understood the economics and logistics so I replied "Our victory will be overwhelming and total".
However, it was the Allied-US staging of units in Saudi to firstly defend it from Iraq and then to attack it that sent Bin Laden into his paranoid fugue, arguing that they had desecrated the Holy Cities of Medina and Mecca when in fact they were some 300 miles from them facing the other way!
Actually, he got that from the US not continuing supporting him, despite promises to do so, after the Russians pulled out of Afghanistan
@@joshuasill1141 Spell out what you mean -too confused as to what you are trying to argue.
spoiling us with content lately! keep it up!
Excellent video but one tiny nit to pick. At 6:45 your "F-15" is actually an F-14 Tomcat. :)