Phil Kloster

Long time Chiefs planet.com, bbq lover, and interesting dude Phil Kloster.......he always has interesting stories. This one is probably my favorite because it is rare for people to share the gross and crazy things in war. So here we go...this is stolen from Facebook.com

Today is my birthday. It is also the anniversary of the most frightening day of my life. This is probably going to be a lengthy read compared to most stuff you find on social media. I'm not writing it for pats on the back. So many vets are reluctant to talk about their experience. I don't mind. On my birthday, this is my gift to you:

As a Marine, I crossed from Saudi Arabia in a convoy of 40-some supply convoy vehicles into Kuwait. The largest weapon on our convoy was a 50 caliber machine gun which has an effective range of about 1.25 miles. This was not a fighting convoy. We were a supply battalion, taking care of the warriors. My specific job was computer networks and I was assigned to this forward element because I also knew how to setup a vehicle positioning and locating system so the brass would know where their units were located at all times simply by looking at a computer screen. I also helped set up the first tactical network capable of sending email from a combat zone back to the United States... - but back to the story: We were traveling to Al Jaber Kuwait Air Force Base, which was supposed to be clear - considering we were a convoy of computer geeks, cooks, truck drivers, brass, and clerks for the brass. I was riding in a HUMVEE with 3 other marines. I hadn't bathed the entire month of February. I couldn't smell the other guys but I assumed they were in a similar state.

The flashes and booms started off in the horizon when we were roughly 5 miles from Al Jaber. As we got closer, so did what we soon discovered were Iraqi artillery rounds. Eventually one of the Colonels in the convoy figured we should stop driving towards the artillery and get on a radio to find out what was going on. I was ordered to dig a hole in which to hide just in case. I used what is called an E-tool - a collapsable spade that is actually pretty handy for the most part but digging in the desert isn't anything like digging at the beach. That stuff is hard. I've never dug through hard packed earth more quickly though. By the time I got just deep and wide enough for my entire body to fit below grade, the artillery was impacting very nearby. The effective range of artillery is measured in miles, not yards or feet. With our own weapons which could barely reach a mile, we were sitting ducks.

Just before they completely dialed in on us, one of our grunt teams neutralized the Iraqi aggressors. But the tough days were just beginning. The Iraqis had set every single oil well ablaze on their way out of Kuwait as depicted in the picture I've chosen. This day was one of the last sunlight would be visible for over a week.

Coalition forces had been bombing the Iraqis since Jan 17th; from the air and from our destroyers parked in the Gulf. Not only that but our tanks could shoot a mile further than Iraq's tanks. So there were vehicles and tanks, pieces of them everywhere in the desert. There were also Iraqi remains scattered all over the desert. Collection of bodies is a job that rarely makes the news channels and the surviving Iraqis were in a bit of a hurry to get back home. It takes weeks to gather enemy dead and dispose of them properly. We literally used the horrific stench to navigate during the dark days ahead.

We reached our camp safely. We got the email network up and the vehicle tracking system running and burned a lot of flashlight batteries for a while. But I'm thankful to have been kept safe that day. Despite the fear of dying on your birthday, that experience made me who I am today. I wouldn't trade it for anything, except for perhaps a hot shower....