In The Heat of the Desert

By Jay Peterzell/Saudi Arabia

The young sergeant is lying prone in the sand, the butt of his M-16 rifle tucked against his shoulder. It is late afternoon in the Saudi Arabian desert. The sergeant's squad is manning a defensive line while several officers scout the top of a nearby hill. The officers are deciding where to position antitank weapons that could turn the road below into a shooting gallery if an Iraqi armored column moves along it.

The 250 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne's Second Infantry Brigade are in their third day of training in the desert heat. Before their arrival they had been warned that they might go into combat as soon as their planes landed. Now they are finding it hard to adjust to the waiting game as U.S. troops stream into the country and Iraq's army settles into defensive positions in Kuwait. "A lot of my men feel like we're wasting time," says the sergeant. "That's the basic consensus: Let's get the show on the road or get out of here. You know, we thought the 82nd Airborne was coming over to save Kuwait. And here we are, just sitting."

After the sun has set and the temperature slips from 110 degrees to 95 degrees, the troops reassemble for their first nighttime march. A cooling breeze begins to blow across the desert, making the harsh terrain suddenly seem soft and welcoming. The men head for a road 1 1/2 miles away, where they plan to practice digging in for an ambush. There is no talking and no illumination except for starlight. In the darkness the silhouettes ahead could belong to a band of desert nomads. A hundred yards away a herd of camels shuffles by, urged on by its Bedouin master as he gruffly shakes his crop at an American photographer.

"They tell us we'll be here about a year," says a private. "We're being told to expect to fight in about 30 days -- as soon as all the guys are here. By mid-September we should have about 100,000 troops. They're telling us to expect to take Kuwait." He adds that the troops have been told that if Saddam Hussein withdraws from Kuwait, the 82nd will go home without fighting. "I hope that's what he'll do," says the private. "If we go into Kuwait, I'm going to die."

The soldiers volunteer that there are no bullets in their M-16s. Three days ago, while traveling by bus to the barracks where the Second Brigade is stationed, a staff sergeant in another company fired a 9-mm pistol round into his helmet, which was on the floor of the bus at the time. No one has an explanation for the incident. But after it, the troops were quickly ordered to turn in all but an emergency supply of ammunition.

Soon the men reach what seems to be their destination. Two soldiers begin digging a position from which they could fire a 5.56-cal. machine gun at approaching Iraqi vehicles. But another soldier appears out of the darkness and tells the machine gunners that their platoon has ended up in the wrong place. It is too close to the road. In fact, it turns out that the platoon would be in the fire zone if the 82nd were to launch a mortar attack.

Eventually the men find their way to safer ground. The company commander explains that the platoon's lieutenant is new. "It's good to get him out here to practice," he says dryly. Observes the sergeant: "It's a small price to pay to be one of America's finest."