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Essay about The Success of Operation Desert Storm and Shield

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As a result of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2nd 1990, Operation Desert shield was implemented by the United States on August 7th. Trying to deter Iraq from advancing farther into the country the U.S. began staging troops, equipment and other supplies needed to sustain a military in war time. Moving resources by air and sea the American armed forces presence was made known in the region with resources being staged in the allied countries of Saudi Arabia These later we mobilized initiating operation Desert Storm on January 17th 1991 at 3am Arabia Time when the first tanks rolled across the Saudi border, this conflict would continue until the official cease fire would take effect on April 11th of the same year (Operation). During the …show more content…

Sailing from Diego Garcia, Guam and Saipan, these ships the US expeditiously set up staging areas for the coming days of the Persian Gulf. With the initial movement of the maritime prepositioned ships, the American maritime fleet had undertaken a challenge that it had been designed, moving war goods to the battle front. At the helm of the American merchant mariners role during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm was the Military Sealift Command. In charge of 230 government-owned and chartered ships, MSC was the largest war supplies shipper of any nation involved. Taking 12 million tons of cargo at an average rate of 43,000 tons per day, the United States had showcased its maritime dominance moving across the world’s oceans without hindrance (Military). This would not have been possible if the US Navy did not maintain maritime supremacy, a corner stone of any good national policy. The ability to allow its ships to transit the open waters freely was one of the primary factors that the initial mobilization and the subsequent support was capable of succeeding.
Military sealift command initially planned to rely on the Ready Reserve Force for their sealift capabilities. Assuming that their reserve fleet had been well maintained and would be

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