David Dougherty's Operation Desert Storm

David Dougherty was a 19 year old marine when he received the biggest call of his life. He was informed by a higher ranking officer that he would be deployed to Saudi Arabia within the week. David received this news because “international conflict was triggered by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait”(Gulf War). Iraq’s invasion was a big problem for the U.S. “Kuwait was a major supplier of oil to the United States”(Operation Desert Storm). “Now that Kuwait was conquered, Saddam controlled 20 percent of the world’s oil supplies”(Bingham 28). Saddam was the dictator of Iraq at the time of the war. The U.S sent in the marines as a result of the events that occurred. The news came as a complete shock to David. Shock quickly turned to fear, as the realization of war hit him. What he didn’t realize was that he would be in the biggest military build up ever staged since Vietnam. Nerves were running high during the whole plane ride due to the unknown that …show more content…
Upon arrival, each soldier had to take turns on security detail. David remembers hearing Arabic language over the loud speakers twice a day. “That was eerie to me, it put me on edge.” A few weeks passed before Dave and his unit moved to a Saudi town called Khafji. The town looked like a complete ghost town. Not a single person around, abandoned homes, and vehicles scattered along side of the streets. “It felt surreal. It looked like something you would see in movies.” One evening in Khafji, David and his unit had received reports of a possible pending attack on the town from Iraqi forces. He felt nervous and had butterflies in his stomach, as he knew this could be his first combat experience. However, after time the nerves started to fade into excitement and exhilaration. “We waited for months waiting for the other forces to arrive in country. We were fed up with sitting around waiting, so we wanted to