The Iraq I Knew

“Although I left the fight in Iraq, the fight had not left me.”

Colonel Burl Randolph, Jr., felt that way after returning home from each combat deployment to Iraq. It took him months to return to ‘normal.’

In the series The Iraq I Knew…: From Saddam Hussein to Weapons of Mass Destruction to Al Qaeda in Iraq, Colonel Randolph chronicles his adventures on each operation using remarkably intense stories.

In Book I: Into the Storm, newly promoted US Army Captain Randolph described in vivid detail his experiences from the unexpected alert notification and grueling deployment execution to Operation Desert Shield. Then, they learned how to live in the harsh deserts of Saudi Arabia with little rain, no shade, suspect living conditions, and vicious windstorms. The months slowly ticked by as their resolve to evade the SCUD and rocket attacks, and chemical agent alarms strengthened. Eventually, the diplomatic solutions failed, and before their eyes, the world changed.

Randolph then explained the shift to the Operation Desert Storm Coalition campaign while serving in the famed 1st Cavalry Division. He recounted in explicit detail the dangerous but vital missions they were assigned to help liberate Kuwait from Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi Army.

In The Iraq I Knew…, Book I: Into the Storm, you will learn:

• The enormity of deploying a 700+ man field artillery unit with thousands of pieces of equipment to Saudi Arabia in only 60 days.
• How Soldier morale diminished while waiting months for a diplomatic solution.
• What leaders and individuals did to maintain purpose, direction, and motivation.
• How the Army survived in a barren desert that required using “burn barrels” and pee tubes.
• Discovering years later about the toxic dangers from the “burn barrels.”
• Describing the dangers of daily living and the harrowing transition to wartime operations.
• Explaining how the rigors of deployment, fighting, and redeployment affected the lives of Soldiers and families, sometimes for years to come.

By Colonel Burl Randolph Jr.