OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM SIT REP #10 TAA Gibraltar, Vic Iraqi-Kuwaiti Border Friday, 21 March 2003 0300 Hours Local The silence immediately around us is almost eerie. But now that the last of more than fifty helicopters has landed and shut down, the sound of 155mm artillery and multiple rocket launchers can be heard firing off in the distance. With darkness settled in around us, the flash of the guns and occasionally the arc of rocket-assisted projectiles (RAP rounds) can be seen on the horizon. Lying or sitting on the ground, one can feel the concussions, which prompts one of the British Royal Marines to comment, “Pity the poor bloke who’s on the receiving end of that.” One of his less experienced mates asks no one in particular, “Is that ours or theirs?” When no one responds I reply, “It’s ours. That’s the 11th Marines, firing a Regimental TOT [time on target] on Safwan Hill, clearing the way for the 5th and 7th Marines to cross the berm into Iraq.”
