104                                U.S. MARINES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, 1990-1991


rumbling out of a fiery oil field and opened fire on advancing Marines.   Later,
a Marine captain who had been shot in the jaw during the attack, rendering him
unable to speak, was mistakenly grouped with wounded Iraqi troops because he
was unrecognizable under the sand and oil that had turned his skin and uniform
a smoky black.
    Allied forces, trying to limit radio commands because of Iraqi success at
intercepting transmissions, charted their progress in one-word codes.  As the 1st
Division slid into position across the Kuwaiti border the first night, it used
name-brand beers to announce its positions: `1Budweiser" indicated the artillery
units were in place with their tubes up; "Miller" told commanders that Task
Force Taro was beginning its infiltration; `1Falstaff" meant Task Force Papa Bear
was in attack position.
    As the troops moved through the minefield, the codes switched to weather
themes: "Hurricane" meant Task Force Ripper was breaching.      Then came a
series of football words as they moved through the second obstacle lines: "Snap"
would have signaled that Task Force X-Ray had begun a helicopter assault, and
"Split End" meant Task Force Grizzly was in position on the east flank.
Moving out of the obstacle belts, the codes shifted to card game analogies:
"Royal Flush' was the announcement that one military objective had been
isolated, while "Aces" and "Queen" signified that task forces were rearming and
refueling.
    All the while, Marines and the Army's Tiger Brigade, which was assigned
to the same sector, were constantly attempting to track the flow of Arab forces
on both the left and right flanks of the two Marine divisions. Frequently the
slower,  more methodical Saudi and Arab forces were further behind the
American lineup, leaving large expanses of Marine flank uncovered.        Some
Saudi units had not even practiced mine breaching before the ground war began,
according to U.S. military officials.
    One of the most dreaded missions of the war was aborted at the last minute.
Bush ordered the cease-fire before the 2nd Marine Division could carry out its
scheduled task of providing support for Kuwaiti resistance efforts in clearing the
immigrant town of Jahra, west of Kuwait City. In the operation, Marines would
have provided contingency support for dangerous house-to-house sweeps. Asked
how U.S. forces could wage such a high-intensity war with so few allied
casualties, Brig. Gen. Charles Krulak said: "It was a miracle."