Desert Redleg: Artillery Warfare in the First Gulf War

American Warriors

by L Scott Lingamfelter

When Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, triggering the First Gulf War, a coalition of thirty-five countries led by the United States responded with Operation Desert Storm, which culminated in a one-hundred-hour coordinated air strike and ground assault that repelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Though largely forgotten in descriptions of the war, an eight-day barrage of artillery fire made this seemingly rapid offensive possible. At the forefront of this offensive were the brave field artillerymen known as "redlegs."

In Desert Artillery Warfare in the First Gulf War, a veteran and former redleg of the 1st Infantry Division Artillery (otherwise known as the "Big Red One"), Col. L. Scott Lingamfelter, recounts the logistical and strategic decisions that led to a coalition victory. Drawing on original battle maps, official reports, and personal journals, Lingamfelter describes the experience of the First Gulf War through a soldier's eyes and attempts to answer the question of whether the United States "got the job done" in its first sustained Middle Eastern conflict. Part military history, part personal memoir, this book provides a boots-on-the-ground perspective on the largest US artillery bombardment since World War II.

Genres: Nonfiction, Military History, History

334 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 19, 2020

Reviews

[Ray Kidder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives useful insights for what it was like to serve in the US Army during the first war against Iraq, and the many challenges that the Army had to deal with. Although this was a very one-sided war where the Iraqis suffered far more casualties than the Americans, there was considerable stress and challenges on the American side as well. Many of the complications brought to light was the somewhat sporadic logistical supply system, the need for lotions and special suits to protect against chemical attacks, the dangers of land mines, and the lack of roads when traveling through mostly uninhabited desert. The lack of roads meant that American Army units were prone to getting lost, which might lead to bad consequences from unknown land mines and surprise attacks. While a lot of discomforts were presented, it must have been much worse for the Iraqi soldiers, who had to deal with the barrage of explosives from American artillery and bombs. They often surrendered in lieu of continuing the fight, which was understandable, and which shortened the duration of the actual warfare to less than a week. Medical treatment for surrendering Iraqis was a challenge, as some suffered severe dehydration. This book pointed out the dangers of fratricide and getting injured through the movement of large vehicles over sandy terrain, and through bad driving accidents. This can occur when Army personnel do not think through their actions well enough, and this can be aggravated by the stress of the battlefield. The US Army used lots of their equipment to their advantage, and was used to quickly defeat the Iraqis, but the logistics of movement of all this equipment onto and off of transport ships for delivery to Saudi Arabia and return to the United States was also a tremendous logistical undertaking. This was fortunately done with good air-cover protection, and sometimes during times of peace.

[Jeffrey L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went to college at Virginia Military Institute with the author, Scott Lingamfelter, graduating some 47 years ago. He was a guy to watch then and has only added to his luster since graduation.

He was an artillery Colonel and a Foreign Area Officer in Syria.

After retiring from active military service, he served in the House of Burgesses of the Commonwealth of Virginia for a decade and a half.

He has written a compelling story with a seasoned view from a position of intimate knowledge of artillery combat. If you want to know what that war was like from the perspective of someone who was sending the steel down range, then you will enjoy this book.

It is written in a confident and easy to understand voice. It reads like a chat overlooking the ocean under an umbrella with a summer shandy sweating into your hand.

I heartily recommend the book. I like the story. It is a worthy addition to military history and the experience of the citizen soldier called to serve his country in its times of peril. You will enjoy it.

[Bryn Grover · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a former artillery soldier I was interested in reading this book on Redlegs in the first gulf war. It was interesting and had a lot of details. One think I liked was that Lingamfelter doesn't hesitate to talk about the good, bad, ugly, etc. It's not a matter of only covering the highs. The lows, the challenges, and thoughts on mistakes and issues are discussed. That adds to the validity as a soldier reading it when compared to books that are all about the success but don't detail any of the daily life struggles and challenges of the soldiers.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting look at the part of war you don’t see on TV and in movies. Most casualties in war are caused by artillery, and modern artillery is a world of logistics and radios. I doing think a single (handheld) gun is fired in the whole book.

The gulf war only lasted a few weeks, but the book spans almost a year from US mobilization to reloading the entire first infantry division into ships to come home.

[Joseph Kmiech III · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this was a well written account of Artillery Warfare during Operation Desert Storm. It was interesting to hear an account from the Divarty level. Having been a Fire Direction Controller at the BN level, seeing this account helped to understand more of the logistical and strategic challenges of putting rounds down range.

[Laura Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for my honest review.

Very informative, but very dry account of an artillery unit in the Persian Gulf War. Reads like a textbook with a plethora of acronyms scattered throughout like shrapnel.