The Persian Gulf crisis of 1990-91 began when Saddam Hussein directed the Army of Iraq to invade its tiny neighbor Kuwait on August 2 of 1990. The event, a brutal and massive sneak attack, was soon to directly affect the soldiers of the Third Armored Division at their garrisons in far away Germany.

This new threat, not in the forested hills of central Europe, but in the deserts of the Middle East, would be unlike anything the unit had ever faced before. It would eventually develop into the kind of battle that armor crews generally only dream of, and when it was over, would provide new variants of modem warfare for historians and strategists to ponder and study. A short but intense battle, it gave soldiers of the Spearhead Division a chance to help crush the Iraqi Army like a paper cup and toss it into the waste basket of history.

The Spearhead saga began on November 8, 1990, as major elements of the division were wrapping up fall training at Hohenfels. Having spent over 150 days in the field in 1990, combat skills among the division's soldiers were honed to a razor's edge. For most of those soldiers, the word came not in formal orders, but from the White House. It came as President Bush announced to the nation that the Third Armored Division would be among those units called up and deployed to participate in the defense of Saudi Arabia. This phase of the crisis was code-named Operation Desert Shield, which upon combat became Desert Storm.

While not being caught completely off guard, division planners scurried to arrange the shipment of 18,000 soldiers and their gear to the Middle East. Component commanders, with orders in hand, could begin to do officially what they had been doing behind the scenes for months, getting their troops ready for combat roles in a desert environment.

A barrage of details assailed each soldier as he or she worked each day getting ready for the challenge ahead, and each night helping dependents plan for the unknown period of separation ahead. Getting affairs in order became the order of the day, both professionally and personally.

Advance parties for the various units that make up the division were dispatched to the Arabian Gulf in early December. As they departed, long streams of vehicles were beginning to wind their way via rail and convoy towards the ports of Europe. Duffel bags and rucksacks, the personal luggage of the soldier, formed veritable mountains at the departure terminal of the Rhein-Main Airport.

With gear packed and vehicles loaded aboard ships, troops said tearful good-byes. Soldiers soon to be baptized by fire on the battlefield, and whose bravery would never be questioned, were seen shedding tears as they bid their families fond farewell.

One hardship behind them, Third Armored flew to a new assignment and new challenges. For most, this adventure would begin with stopovers at places with strange-sounding names; King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam, the "MEM Hotel" in Khobar, and the infamous "Cement City." These were stopover points, a place to wait for gear and equipment to arrive. When it finally did, soldiers and equipment went out to the deserts of northern Saudi Arabia via the MAR Dodge "take your life in your hands" highway.

At the end of the road awaited a vast and barren desert. It was, at first, an affront to the senses and as alien as the surface of some far-off planet. Featureless and desolate, it inspired an initial fear in most. How does one navigate with no reference points, no landmarks? Could anything live out here, without water and shade? These and a thousand other questions assailed the soldier in this new area of operations. Training and familiarization would provide the answers.

Within days, operating from what was loosely called "Camp Henry," that training would breed a new confidence in old skills. Moving through the desert with food and water, using a compass, shooting azimuths and reading maps, troops were soon confident again and ready for action. As part of VII Corps, they were ready to tackle Saddam's dragon. As the U.S. Army's premier heavy armor division, they were not only cutting new tracks in the desert sand, but new tracks in history.

United Nations Resolution 678 had condemned Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and called for the withdrawal of all troops and influence by Jan. 15,1991. Saddam Hussein, Iraq's despotic leader, thumbed his nose at the world and let the deadline pass. A coalition of more than 35 nations that opposed him were left with no choice but to force him out.