THIRTY YEARS ago yesterday, I and a lot more soldiers were streaming across various breaches in the southern Iraqi defence system at the start of the ground offensive to liberate Kuwait.
Now, with the passage of years and the release of documents, we now know that it was less about the liberation of Kuwait and her people’s and more to do with the West having “user-friendly” people in charge of oil production, but that is not what this letter is about.
So 30 years ago I was part of Dressing Station 1 Alpha, 1 Armoured Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps. We had deployed to the Gulf with the rest of the 7th Armoured Brigade some four or five months earlier.
Our time leading up to the assault had been spent learning or relearning just how to live and work from tented locations in a hostile environment. The build-up of forces continued until effectively all of the tank force had been removed from the recently unified Germany, as had a very large proportion of other troops. A little-known fact at the time was that there were very few people in the military with the skills to live and work in the desert. It was a slow and sometimes awkward few months.
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Our move through the breach had been brought forward and such was the volume of traffic heading north that we actually drove into a traffic jam that would have had the M25 weeping with pride. This was the one place on the planet at that time one did not want to be in a stationary vehicle. The perception was that any counter-attack by the Iraqi forces would be made on the breaches so a traffic jam was never a good thing.
To our left and right were vehicles of every description from both UK and US forces and such was the delay that we got talking to some American gunners swapping cigarettes for coffee, the first of many cigarettes passed around over the coming days.
Vehicles started to move and we were away heading north and then swinging around to the east to catch the Iraqi forces facing the wrong way.
The dressing station did a split set-up: half always open for casualties whilst the other half moved forward. To be honest the next few days leading up to the ceasefire are hazy to me.
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All casualties arriving were treated as per their needs regardless of uniform or rank. How many were seen I do not know but we had a very, very busy time.
All combat medics, regimental medics, medical officers, dental officers, nursing officers, drivers and all the many other trades and professions worked extremely hard to ensure that all casualties arriving at our location alive left us alive, a record to be proud of.
As I said, the political argument is for another time. Today at this moment I would just like to thank all I worked alongside for the extreme professionalism, courage and diligence that got us through that 100 hours.
Cliff Purvis
Veterans For Scottish Independence 2.0
IN reply to Maarten de Vries (Letters, February 23), I don’t see it as “penalising” dog owners by requiring them to have their pet on a lead when in public places – most responsible owners do take that precaution. Unfortunately, however, a significant minority don’t and allow their dog to run around at will.
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I see “leashing up” your dog as a straightforward way to protect the public and particularly children from random attacks.
It’s a question of public safety, and if some dog owners find such a policy inconvenient then I suggest they should consider the wider public interest.
Ron Halliday
via email
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