The Eyes of Orion: Five Tank Lieutenants in the Persian Gulf War

A few years after the conclusion of Desert Storm, four veterans of that war decided to get together and write a memoir of their experiences. Eventually they added a fifth member. What distinguishes them was that all five served as platoon commanders in a single Armor battalion that was a part of the 24th infantry Division. This division conducted the "left hook" campaign where they entered Iraq in the desert, raced to the main Basra - Baghdad roads, and blocked them so the Iraqi Army could not retreat. Four of these Lieutenants graduated in the same West Point class and so knew each other even before the war, and by the time Desert Shield started, they had already been in command of their platoons for almost a year. Nonetheless, they were still relatively junior 2nd Lieutenants who directly led their platoons from the hatch of an M1 tank or from a Bradley fighting vehicle. The period that this book encompasses starts from when the 24th Division went on alert to deploy to Saudi Arabia until they return home to Fort Stewart, Georgia. A final chapter allows each of them to reflect back on their experiences in the intervening six years and update the readers on what happened to them since the war ended.The main parts of the book divide into the activities of Desert Shield; the activities during Desert Storm, and then their reflections. Each of these parts tells its story in a mélange of stories and recollections from each of the five authors intermingled with each other. It is sometimes unclear who is telling what story. However, one of the positive (and very interesting) attributes of this style of writing is that sometimes the same event or anecdote is told from different perspectives and you can try to piece together what really happened yourself.We start with reading about Desert Shield. The five authors deploy to be the initial elements of the U.S. Army in Saudi Arabia with the intention of making the Iraqi forces fight them if they attack into Saudi Arabia. Of course, the authors realize that they are no more than a speed bump to the Iraqi army that was the fourth largest army in the world at the time - while they are only one small Battalion. Nonetheless, they deploy to some points in Saudi Arabia miles away from the border and set up defensive positions. As additional units deploy, they move to a different area where they establish their camps. During this six-month period, they are essentially acclimatizing to the environmental conditions of the Saudi desert and training. This training was much more valuable to them in the end than what they undertook in the U.S. as they kept together as a unit and did not have to deal with the distraction of personnel shifts nor with the myriad other activities that a peacetime army does. As I read these pages, it was clear though that the main enemy they were facing was simple boredom. The lack of information shared with them is amazing. One story they tell is when they perform a training exercise in the desert behind their camp and almost collide with a parked Helicopter unit, since they had no idea they were there!Desert Storm arrives and with it comes the certainty that they will be in the front of the battle line. During the Air War phase, there is nothing much for them to do but they do move forward to an advanced position and the author who leads a Scout Platoon is ordered to take his people and scout out the Iraqi side of the border - moving forward as much as six miles into Iraq. When the ground phase launches, the whole division races through the desert to attain its various objectives. In the case of the Battalion that we are following, the majority of the time they are moving forward and they only get involved in a single combat situation in the Jalibah Airfield. At this stage, we read each Lieutenant's individual viewpoint. Following this battle, the Battalion continues to move forward, reaches its main objective, and stops there while the initial cease-fire takes place. Individual skirmishes still take place even after the official Cease Fire, but eventually the war is over and the unit quickly repatriates back to Georgia.The stories they tell of the battles, of the various incidents that took place as they were in motion throughout the 100 hours of the ground war, and their different views of it are absolutely fascinating. What becomes abundantly clear is that they are simple little cogs in this huge machine. They do not know much about what they are doing nor why as they are simply told to move to a certain point and deploy in a certain method. Then, once there, move on again to another point, and so forth. The battle on the Airfield from their viewpoint was a sweep across it from one side to the other, shooting at anything that looked like an active Iraqi - whether in a vehicle, or on foot. What is particularly sad, is that each time there are American casualties (with only one exception), those casualties are caused by mistaken identity in the heat of action and are friendly fire incidents. I cannot recall one situation where the Iraqis managed to kill any of the American soldiers.Following the Homecoming come the reflections of the authors. What I found striking here, is that within a very short time from the end of the war, three of the five have left the Army as they were extremely dissatisfied and could not see themselves continuing to serve. A fourth joins them shortly after they start writing this book so that by the time it is published, only one of the five is still in the Army. They each explain their reasoning and it is clear that having experienced combat, being part of a peacetime army is simply not challenging enough for them. This is a shame, as they indicate that they are quite representative of the bigger picture - when a very large percentage of young combat-experienced officers chose to leave and pursue civilian careers rather than stay with an Army that could dearly use their experience.This book was on the U.S. Army's Chief of Staff Reading List to allow junior leaders (like Platoon Commanders) to understand what war is really like in this day and age. While it has its warts, it is still a very important read for anyone who wants to understand what Army life is like during peace and war, and what war is like for a Platoon Commander. You are on the front line, you are shooting at the enemy, but you have a very vague idea of where you are going and why. This book deserves its five star rating for conveying this picture in a very vivid way.

I was there with C 3-15 Inf.The reason we "C co. 3-15 Inf " were being engaged by friendly fire is because our support unit i.e. the 1-64 tankers led by Lt. Colonel Gordon showed up to battle position 102 not 103 late objective orange. C co 3/ 15 which is an inf company who were assigned as scouts to the 1/64 were already engaging the Republican Guard Force for 20 to 30 mins before the 1/64 showed up out of formation to support the battle. Luckily the A/10 warthogs came to our aid since we were highly out numbered with only 13 Bradleys . The name of the soldiers killed were Andy Alanis and John Hutto, obviously not important enough to the author to state in the book. Reading this book you would think these cowboy tank officers were the only heros of the war yet the soldiers who died got no recognition even though they were ahead of the 1/64 doing their jobs wondering where were our tankers who were supposed to be fighting with us.If you're gonna profit from something that cost American soldiers their lives it ought to be accurate and truthful not fictional rhetoric.There were several other soldiers in my unit wounded that day including loss of legs, eyes, jaws and several other dismembering accounts. Actually Time Life Magazine took pictures after the battle and put them in their hard cover book of Desert Storm the picture of my personal friend "Sgt Kenneth Kosakowitz" known as Kenny was taken of him being loaded into a chopper the bodybag beside him was Andy Alanis who was the driver of one of the Bradleys who died when a sabot tank round from friendly fire impacted their vehicle.

What I liked about this book was how it took you through every stage of a deployment. Starting in Hinesville, GA to the Persian Gulf and back to Hinesville. Too many books these days glorify war stories but this book is more of a deployment story and a story of what a LT is thinking when challenges surface. I am a newly commissioned Armor Officer and this book is helpful. What I did not like about the book was the skipping around from one author to the next without clarity in who is speaking. Another thing is that most of these officers seem awfully proud they went to West Point, it is mentioned in too many of the paragraphs. Not that they shouldn't be proud of having gone there, but they sort of belittle their comrades from OCS and ROTC with their comments.

A GREAT BOOK!!!!!!! What more can be said.....this book portrays all that war is about ; boredom,drudgery,monotony,but also the sheer joy and excitement of simply recieving some mail or a package from home. Or the chance to get to a recreation center and actually CALL HOME !!!!! I was a little amazed that some of these reviews disparage former Lt. Vernon and his coauthors as "whiners" ( ?????) They are just normal men ,West Pointers or not, confronting their fears and doubts, but overcoming them,because this is their job, and their men, and the Army, are counting on them. This book shows the psychological and morale effects of Desert Shield, when 18th Airborne Corps units went into the desert to set up an initial defense of Saudi Arabia, after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.And finally, somewhat to the relief of all, Desert Storm kicks off, releasing the frustration and tension of all those months of training and waiting,for all this to move to a final resolution, so these men can return home. And ,also, that they can prove themselves to be the professional soldiers the Army has developed them to be.I think this is one of the finest books on soldiers and war that has ever been written,period. I give it 10 stars.

Written from the tank commanders point of viewThis is an awesome bookBlah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Where’s the account of the death of your fellow alum, Tommie W Bates? Just a byline in an otherwise unremarkable memoir.

Great Read!

A great insight into what it takes to lead soldiers during war.