1. 25 YEARS LATER, GULF WAR LIVES ON - THE CONFLICT FADES, UNLESS YOU LIVED IT
Record, The (Hackensack, NJ) - February 28, 2016
Author/Byline: TODD SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
Edition: AE
Section: LOCAL
Page: L01
A quarter century ago, when President George H.W. Bush called on the world to intervene after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Julio Angel
Quiles, Jose Luis Bosque and Jose Luis Torres were among those who answered the call.
Between them, the three members of the U.S. Army Reserve's 920th Transportation Company in Jersey City had nearly 30 years of
military service when Saddam Hussein made his power grab in the oil-rich Persian Gulf. But none of them had ever seen combat.
They would get a quick education.
Now, 25 years after the Persian Gulf War ended in a resounding victory, the short-lived conflict has faded from memory for many
Americans or has been eclipsed by the eight-year-long quagmire that unfolded in the same war zone after the 2003 Iraq war.
But for the three North Jersey residents -- and the more than 650,000 other veterans of the Gulf War -- the war remains a daily presence
in their lives.
All three have turned gray, and have added a few pounds as they kept marriages going and watched children grow into teenagers and
adults.
But while they take pride in their service, they also can turn melancholy when they reflect on what they experienced and what happened
in Iraq a decade later.
The smell of burnt flesh lingers alongside war's horrific images for Quiles, a 48-year-old Paterson native who carried those memories with
him years later on another deployment to Iraq in 2006.
Now that Torres, 57, is retired from both the military and 15 years as a state corrections officer, he finds himself dwelling on his time in the
Gulf, remembering the threat of chemical attacks and another soldier's weapon misfire that nearly hit a fellow soldier.
Even though two of Bosque's adult children have served in the Air Force, he's never talked to them or any of his family about his wartime
service.
"I can't ... then everything comes flooding back to me," Bosque said. "I never talk about what I did."
Six-week war
After Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990, seizing its oil fields, President Bush called for his immediate withdrawal, building a coalition
of some 40 nations and amassing troops in Saudi Arabia and ships in the Persian Gulf. The ensuing war, launched when Hussein refused
to retreat, lasted just six weeks.
Despite early fears of lengthy battles and the threat of chemical weapons attacks, coalition casualties were surprisingly light.
A decade later in 2003, the United States invaded Iraq and the subsequent war dragged on for more than eight years, claiming the lives
of 4,412 U.S. troops and estimates of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. More than a million Americans served in the Iraq War, many on
multiple tours.
The contrast between the two wars is stark for many experts: The methodical buildup to the Gulf War and its limited goal -- liberating
Kuwait -- led to the war's success; failure to provide adequate troops and a postwar plan in the later conflict led to years of bloody
sectarian fighting to fill a power vacuum left by Hussein's ouster.
Military history Professor Geoffrey Wawro, the author of "Quicksand: America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East," praises most of the
decisions made by President George H.W. Bush, but he's a sharp critic of the later Iraq war, fought under President George W. Bush.
The months-long buildup in 1990 allowed the elder Bush to build a coalition that included other Arab states and win congressional
approval for military action against Hussein, Wawro said.
Shortly after the vote by a divided Congress, on Jan. 16, 1991, a five-week barrage of bombs and missiles launched from the air, land
and sea began, destroying much of the Iraqi forces' combat capability.

2. On Feb. 24, 1991, U.S. ground troops poured across the Kuwait border.
In their ranks rode Quiles, Bosque and Torres.
As part of a transportation company, their job was to drive up to the front lines to resupply troops with fuel and water.
Hours and days passed in a blur, under skies blackened by oil well fires set by Hussein's troops as they retreated to Iraq.
And almost as fast as it had begun, the war was over.
The combined bombardment and five days of ground fighting had caused throngs of Iraqi troops to surrender and others to flee. On Feb.
28, 1991, the coalition called a cease fire.
In some ways, veterans of the Gulf War were victims of their own success, despite the fact that they enjoyed a victorious status replete
with parades and honors that had not been felt by war veterans for decades. Over time, the acclaim has faded.
"We don't get a lot of recognition because it was so short," Torres said.
The second war
Torres and his fellow soldiers sometimes question how the war ended and wonder if more could have been done to prevent the second
war in the Gulf, by continuing into Iraq and forcing the ouster of Hussein then.
Retired U.S. Army Col. Douglas Macgregor led armor units in 1991 against Iraqis in the largest tank battle since World War II. The colonel
has written about failures of the war and the lack of an effective post-combat plan in both the Gulf War and in the Iraq war.
"No one at the highest levels or any levels above the tactical asked, 'What's the purpose of this operation, how are we going to end it and
what do we want it to look like when it ends?' " Macgregor said of both wars.
At the time, Quiles, Torres and Bosque said they didn't think about going into Iraq. Their mission was to liberate Kuwait, and they had
accomplished it. But they wonder if things could have been different.
Torres was still with the reserves during 9/11. He was called up for active duty for three years and worked at Fort Dix training soldiers who
deployed to Iraq.
Seeing those soldiers go back into combat and recent visits to groups of those veterans got to him. "Years later I wish we had gone
farther," Torres said. "I wish we would have gone into Iraq and stopped Saddam. That way we wouldn't have experienced the war that we
just experienced."
But, Wawro said, the outcome would have been the same as in 2003.
"I think we can assume that the exact same thing would have happened -- urban warfare, terrorism, regime collapse, chaos," Wawro said.
Though the two wars have become inextricably linked through the nations that fought them and major historical figures on both sides,
Torres and his fellow soldiers take pride their effort.
"I felt fortunate that was the war that I was chosen to fight in because we fought it so well," Torres said.
Caption: Veterans of the first war, from left, Jose Luis Bosque, Julio Angel Quiles and Jose Luis Torres at the Garfield VFW Post.
PHOTO - JENNIFER BROWN/SPECIAL TO THE RECORD 022816_L_3VetsRST65p.TIF

3. Memo: Soldiers lost in the Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War, fought to liberate Kuwait from the forces of Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein, ended on Feb. 28, 1991. It
consisted of two campaigns, first an air war called Operation Desert Shield, and then a ground campaign called Operation Desert Storm.
It preceded the Iraq war, in which American forces invaded Iraq and removed Hussein from power, by a dozen years.
Here's an accounting of U.S. servicemen and women who lost their lives 25 years ago:
* 84 died in non-hostile incidents during Operation Desert Shield.
* 151 died in non-hostile incidents during Operation Desert Storm.
* 147 died in combat during Operation Desert Storm.
* 382 total deaths occurred in the Persian Gulf War.
New Jersey residents among the Persian Gulf War dead:
* Army Maj. Marie Rossi, Oradell
* Army Pfc. Robert Curtis Wade, Hackensack
* Marine Sgt. Garett Mongrella, Belvidere
* Army Pfc. Robert Talley, Newark
* Army Pfc. Tyrone Bowers, Trenton
* Army Spc. Jimmy Wesley James, Willingboro
Source: The Record's archives; U.S. Department of Defense
Julio Angel Quiles; Jose Luis Bosque; Jose Luis Torres
Record: 16022853448373
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