The Desert War: Marine Corps Aviation in Desert Storm, January-February 1991

Abstract

When Iraqi military forces under Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990, U.S. Marine Corps Aviation went to war on short notice and in a big way. More than 40 squadrons deployed to the Persian Gulf to participate in Operation Desert Shield (2 August 1990–17 January 1991), a buildup of troops in Saudi Arabia by a Coalition of 35 nations led by the United States, and Operation Desert Storm (17 January–28 February 1991), the combat phase of the Coalition’s campaign to liberate Kuwait. Desert Storm tested new Marine aviation procedures, doctrine, equipment, weapons, aircraft, and training that had been introduced after the end of the Vietnam War almost two decades earlier. It also tested a new Joint way of fighting that was established by the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986.