AAR 1ST MARDIV IN SWA

File: 970725_dec96_decls34_0100.txt
Page: 0100
Total Pages: 130
Subject = AAR  1ST MARDIV IN SWA                                          

Parent Organization = MCCDC       

Unit = WDID        

Folder Title = AFTER ACTION REPORT 1ST MARINE DIVISION IN SOUTHWEST ASIA   WDID SWA 0073                       

Document Number =          1

Box ID = BX600145



                              UNCLASSIFIED


           other Marine Harriers were lost during the war along with two'ov-.
           10 Bronco observation aircraft. Five MAG-13 aircrew were captured
           and subsequently repatriated. One was killed in action, and
           another is missing, believed killed. One Harrier pilot operating
           from a ship was also lost in action.

               Pilot with The Most Combat Missions: The Last, Number 719
              colonel Manfred A. Rietsch, 49, is commanding officer of the
           Marines' larger fighter/attack unit, Marine Aircraft Group 11,
           which arrived at its base in Bahrain in mid-August. The colorful
           flyer, who retains the faint'accents'of his German birth and the
           callsign "Fo)cker", was already something a legend in Marine
           aviation, having flown 653 combat missions in Vietnam. During
           this war he flew another 66 missions in FA-18 Hornets.

               On the night of 26-27 February, the Ira@gis began their
           frantic retreat from Kuwait. The A-6E Intruders of his group
           detected huge numbers of vehicles streaming north which they
           attacked, helping to bottle up the Iraqis. Rietsch now increased
           the surge of his sorties; MAG-11 flew  298 missions that day
           alone.

              He himself took off mid-morning in a two seat FA-18D of Marine
           All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 121 with his Weapons System
           operator, Major Bill Macak, on a Fast Forward Air Controller
           mission. Bad weather and smoke from burning oilfields was
           obscuring the choked escape route when the crew found a convoy of
           about 40 transporters carrying tanks and armored personnel
           carriers making their way along a parallel dirt track to the
           west. Sixteen of his Hornets were inbound, but now he had to Stop
           the convoy fro-@ getting underneath a thick band of oil smoke
           which would hide them from visual attack.

              He fired a white phosphorous rocket ahead of the lead truck.
           The drivers, knowing an attack vas iri.-inent, piled out of the
           vehicles. After a few minutes, when no attack was forthcoming,
           they got back into the trucks and started up. Rietsch repeated
           the process with the same result. After the convoy started up a
           last time, he strafed the lead vehicles, which began to burn.
           This time @-he Iraqis got the message. Now short on fuel, he
           handed over control to Major Ken Bode, who directed the Marine
           Hornets in an attack pilot's dream mission: halted tanks and
           APCS. Rietsch returned from his last mission. It was his 719th.

                                     Semper Fidel@-s

              In the lst Marine Division, a certain Staff Sergeant had
           suffered some heart problems a few years earlier, but was able to
           return to duty after being cleared by medical authorities. After
           arriving in Saudi Arabia, his old symptoms reappeared. Knowing
           that he would likely be evacuated if he reported his problems, he
           somehow got hold-of his medical records and removed the pages "'
           dealing with his problem. As G-Day approached, his pain grew more
                                                                    -rs
           acute, but he still refused to come clean with the docto


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                               UNCLASSIFIED