Page 785 - Total War on PTSD

I can't recall what day of the ground war it was but I know we were in Iraq. I think we were already doing the left hook to Kuwait and we had stopped because our armor was moving forward to engage and of course I was artillery. So, while we were sitting there, of course we had set up and we were ready to fire if they needed the support. Well, when we were sitting there, I started seeing out in front of us, several hundred yards away, what was pretty clear to me that was artillery fire that kept working its way closer to us. And I of course realized that it wasn't ours. It was an Iraqi position that was over the rise and we couldn't see it. They had told us in training, when we got there, that if you ever saw those red and white striped barrels out there...basically they were Iraqi artillery predetermined targets. They were 50-gallon oil drums and they were painted with red and white stripes. So, I figured that this was not a good thing. Of course, when the artillery fire started, it proved that my suspicions were correct.
Anyway, I was standing out there pulling security and watching these rounds coming in closer and closer, and I could feel the ground shaking and could hear them exploding and see them detonating in front of me. None of them got close enough to actually do any damage but we didn't give them enough time for that either. So, I am standing there the whole time thinking why aren't we firing, they are firing at us, why aren't we firing back? And what it was is one of our armored units was too close to their position to fire without being dangerously close. But I didn't know that at the time. So, I'm out there watching...kind of in amazement...thinking wow this is really war. This was what it's really like instead of driving along for days and shooting at stuff you never actually see. Anyway, I am standing out there and one of the gun bunnies...one of the guys who works on one of the artillery pieces...I think he was a Sergeant...he was running around like an idiot yelling “incoming” over and over again. Well, I looked over and my 1st
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