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Desert Fire: The Diary of a Gulf War Gunner
As the British commitment to Desert Shield escalated from brigade to division size, an enormous logistic and personnel effort was required to bring units up to full combat strength. The author, now Chief Instructor of the Royal School of Artillery, has produced a vivid account of modern military operations under the most difficult conditions, heavily illustrated in color and black and white.
340 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2001
4 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Gillespie
86 books1 followerAt Oxford Brookes, Andrew is a lecturer, seminar leader and course developer and has helped assess Foundation programmes for validation at Brookes. He is a very experienced textbook author and has written a number of successful books including 'Economics for Business' (OUP), 'Foundations of Economics' (OUP) as well as other A-level titles for Hodder, OUP, and CIE. In addition to this, Andrew is also External Examiner for Royal Holloway Business and Economics Foundation Course.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 3, 2019
Well now! Here we have a book that some will love and others will hate, and both groups will be entirely justified. Gillespie was a commander of artillery attached to the 14/20th King's Hussars in the first gulf war, way back in 1991. I read the book mostly because I have a friend who served with the Hussars during this conflict so I thought I would read a bit about his experience, maybe get some insight into what he went through. Sadly, very little in this book relates to that unit at all. Gillespie is a gunner and sticks with his own unit all the way.
Anyone who has served knows that there is very little combat normally associated with soldiering. Most of the soldier's time is taken up with boredom and drudgery, washing vehicles, attending courses, digging in and moving out. This was particularly true of the war in the gulf, where coalition forces took their own sweet time setting up camps and establishing logistic support, learning how to function in a different environment. I think that Saddam might have caused a lot of coalition casualties if he had struck during the buildup. Sitting back and waiting definitely did not work out for the Iraqis. In any event, Gillespie spares us none of this, detailing his unit's troubles with vehicles and the desert, fatigue and the extremes of temperature, and the annoying reality of having to wear the NBCW protective suit in the confines of an AFV. There's a lot of this day-to-day routine, but it didn't bore me, really. Mostly I found myself thinking back, saying to myself "Yeah, I know what that's like."
Gillespie will probably lose some readers through adding, verbatim, copies of every Ops Order and Warning Order he received in the pre-war buildup. I used to find those mind-numbing as a soldier, so I can't imagine that civilians will do anything but scan them and forget them.
So we go through weeks of preparation, and the actual combat phase is anti-climactic, basically a couple of days. Remember that Iraq had no air power by this time and the army units were equipped with antiquated AFVs, certainly no match for coalition forces. Add to that the fact that the Artillery engage the enemy from miles away, and the combat phase is somewhat less than stirring.
Post-combat, Gillespie inspected the carnage on the Highway of Death and mused on the seeming unnecessary slaughter of troops headed back to Iraq. Whether you consider them to be retreating, fleeing, or absconding, it seemed that by leaving Kuwait they were doing what the coalition had demanded. Gillespie, admirably, was able to see both sides of the conflict and sympathized with unwilling Iraqi troops waiting with inadequate equipment for the ass-kicking they knew was coming. He was also leery of US military might, and with some justification: in his area of operations, more Brits were killed by Americans than were killed by Iraqis.
Gillespie identifies by name pretty much every person he came into contact with in the Gulf. I have noticed a tendency on the part of Brit authors to name names for good or ill, so if Corporal Bloggins went on charges for idleness it will all be down on paper. There's a bit of that here, but Gillespie dishes out praise with a bucket and criticism with a teaspoon. In addition, naming these individuals makes it far more likely that they'll shell out the shillings or bobs or clams or whatever to obtain a copy of the book. Who doesn't like the look of his name in print? And you won't hear me complain about the lack of photos; there are dozens of nice glossy photos and battle maps that will make your head reel!
To sum up, Gillespie is a decent officer who is perfectly aware that his career depends on the good will of his men. He speaks highly of them and I think he genuinely admired the Brit soldiers serving under him. His book might seem a bit dry to some, but most soldiers will probably enjoy it. I think this memoir is detailed enough to serve as an historical document and is undoubtedly a welcome addition to the archives of the Royal Artillery. As for the 14/20th Hussars? I think this was their last ride...they were absorbed into another unit the following year.
Anyone who has served knows that there is very little combat normally associated with soldiering. Most of the soldier's time is taken up with boredom and drudgery, washing vehicles, attending courses, digging in and moving out. This was particularly true of the war in the gulf, where coalition forces took their own sweet time setting up camps and establishing logistic support, learning how to function in a different environment. I think that Saddam might have caused a lot of coalition casualties if he had struck during the buildup. Sitting back and waiting definitely did not work out for the Iraqis. In any event, Gillespie spares us none of this, detailing his unit's troubles with vehicles and the desert, fatigue and the extremes of temperature, and the annoying reality of having to wear the NBCW protective suit in the confines of an AFV. There's a lot of this day-to-day routine, but it didn't bore me, really. Mostly I found myself thinking back, saying to myself "Yeah, I know what that's like."
Gillespie will probably lose some readers through adding, verbatim, copies of every Ops Order and Warning Order he received in the pre-war buildup. I used to find those mind-numbing as a soldier, so I can't imagine that civilians will do anything but scan them and forget them.
So we go through weeks of preparation, and the actual combat phase is anti-climactic, basically a couple of days. Remember that Iraq had no air power by this time and the army units were equipped with antiquated AFVs, certainly no match for coalition forces. Add to that the fact that the Artillery engage the enemy from miles away, and the combat phase is somewhat less than stirring.
Post-combat, Gillespie inspected the carnage on the Highway of Death and mused on the seeming unnecessary slaughter of troops headed back to Iraq. Whether you consider them to be retreating, fleeing, or absconding, it seemed that by leaving Kuwait they were doing what the coalition had demanded. Gillespie, admirably, was able to see both sides of the conflict and sympathized with unwilling Iraqi troops waiting with inadequate equipment for the ass-kicking they knew was coming. He was also leery of US military might, and with some justification: in his area of operations, more Brits were killed by Americans than were killed by Iraqis.
Gillespie identifies by name pretty much every person he came into contact with in the Gulf. I have noticed a tendency on the part of Brit authors to name names for good or ill, so if Corporal Bloggins went on charges for idleness it will all be down on paper. There's a bit of that here, but Gillespie dishes out praise with a bucket and criticism with a teaspoon. In addition, naming these individuals makes it far more likely that they'll shell out the shillings or bobs or clams or whatever to obtain a copy of the book. Who doesn't like the look of his name in print? And you won't hear me complain about the lack of photos; there are dozens of nice glossy photos and battle maps that will make your head reel!
To sum up, Gillespie is a decent officer who is perfectly aware that his career depends on the good will of his men. He speaks highly of them and I think he genuinely admired the Brit soldiers serving under him. His book might seem a bit dry to some, but most soldiers will probably enjoy it. I think this memoir is detailed enough to serve as an historical document and is undoubtedly a welcome addition to the archives of the Royal Artillery. As for the 14/20th Hussars? I think this was their last ride...they were absorbed into another unit the following year.
June 14, 2024
I think this is one of the best representations I’ve ever read of being a soldier or any type of service member. The amount of nothing that happens followed by times of intense training to prep for major actions. This is a book that I was able to relate on many topics besides the combat, as I’ve never been in it.
I could see why regular people might be bummed out by only about 40 pages of combat out of a 240 page book. But that’s the reality of war. I deployed with the NATO Rapid Reaction Force in 2022 in response to the Russian escalation of the invasion in Ukraine. It was a no notice deployment and within 72hrs my entire Armored Brigade was in Germany ready to go east. We conducted over 3.5 months of training ups to make sure we were ready to fight. His experience of deploying to Saudi amid confusion and uncertainty and then immediately conducting huge Combined arms exercises and multiple other trainings really hit home and showed that no matter when we serve or old we are, nothing changes soldiering wise.
You could tell he really cared for the men in his battery and made it his priority to get them home safe. There was never any gossip or mud flinging on anybody that he’d worked with during the war besides a couple numbskulls.
Lastly, as a artilleryman who crewed the M109A6 Paladin also, I found it awesome to see how other armies run their Fires brigades battalions, and batteries. I wish we got to read more about the Battery Level of operations than at regimental level, but nonetheless he did an excellent job of explaining what was going on.
Lastly, I think this book really shows why western military forces are just the best. Is the Amount of training we conduct to be lethal and the value we put on our soldiers lives.
I recommend this book to anyone really wanting to know what it was like leading up to the ground invasion and during it. I’d also recommend reading this if you’re an artilleryman yourself!!
I could see why regular people might be bummed out by only about 40 pages of combat out of a 240 page book. But that’s the reality of war. I deployed with the NATO Rapid Reaction Force in 2022 in response to the Russian escalation of the invasion in Ukraine. It was a no notice deployment and within 72hrs my entire Armored Brigade was in Germany ready to go east. We conducted over 3.5 months of training ups to make sure we were ready to fight. His experience of deploying to Saudi amid confusion and uncertainty and then immediately conducting huge Combined arms exercises and multiple other trainings really hit home and showed that no matter when we serve or old we are, nothing changes soldiering wise.
You could tell he really cared for the men in his battery and made it his priority to get them home safe. There was never any gossip or mud flinging on anybody that he’d worked with during the war besides a couple numbskulls.
Lastly, as a artilleryman who crewed the M109A6 Paladin also, I found it awesome to see how other armies run their Fires brigades battalions, and batteries. I wish we got to read more about the Battery Level of operations than at regimental level, but nonetheless he did an excellent job of explaining what was going on.
Lastly, I think this book really shows why western military forces are just the best. Is the Amount of training we conduct to be lethal and the value we put on our soldiers lives.
I recommend this book to anyone really wanting to know what it was like leading up to the ground invasion and during it. I’d also recommend reading this if you’re an artilleryman yourself!!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews