Harriers Afloat

Q: How many of your soldiers were killed by the air war?

A: To be honest, for the amount of ordinance that was dropped, not very many. Only one soldier was killed and two were wounded. The soldier that was killed did not die as a result of a direct hit but because the vibrations of the bomb caused a bunker to cave in on top of him.

Q: So, then you feel that the aerial bombardment was ineffective?

A: Oh no, just the opposite, it was extremely effective. The planes hit only vehicles and equipment. Even my personal vehicle, a “Waz,” was hit. They hit everything. I explained to my soldiers they should not fear the Americans. If the Americans wanted to kill us, I said, we would already be dead. The Americans just wanted to take away our ability to fight.

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When considering prisoner interrogations, the reader must keep in mind that the prisoner of war has great incentive to tell the questioner what they think he or she wishes to hear, even when the interrogation is conducted in a friendly manner without any overt or subjective coercion. But this artillery officer’s view was matched by numerous Iraqi reports of the air campaign in internal discussions conducted after the war and captured following Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. To provide one specific example, an officer of the IV Corps recalled that “the enemy never stopped bothering us day and night by all types of aircraft . . . high speed jets, slow flying jets, precision bombers, and [other] combat jets. The weapons that really frustrated us and harmed us were the slow-flying aircraft and the Marine types. Sometimes they spent the whole day suspended over our heads to the extent that our ears had gotten used to their buzzing sounds.”

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On 20 February 1991, the amphibious assault ship USS Nassau launched four AV-8B Harriers of Marine Attack Squadron 331, call sign “Magic,” just before dawn. This flight was the first combat strike by

Air Boss by Col H. Avery Chenoweth. This painting captures the drama of flight operations on board the USS Nassau. The Navy “air boss” looks on as a Marine air controller talks an AV-8B Harrier onto the flight deck. The “Bumblebees” of Marine Attack Squadron 331 launched the first ever fixed-wing combat strikes from the deck of an amphibious assault ship on 20 February 1991.

Marine Corps Art Collection