On the morning of October 25th, 1983 America awoke to reports that our troops had invaded a small Caribbean nation named Grenada in order to liberate American medical students from danger posed by political instability. Joined by Regional Security System troops from a variety of Caribbean partner nations they swiftly overwhelmed the Grenadian and Cuban troops. While Operation Urgent Fury was in name, a joint force operation and included the use of Special Operations Forces, it highlighted many interoperability issues such as use of operational overlays and radio issues.
I was in high school when this went down and it made me want to be in the Army even more than I already did. Thankfully, over time, many of the stove pipe issues suffered by the pre-Goldwater-Nichols military were beginning to be identified when I joined a few years later. Interestingly, the operation was conducted with many systems still in use from the Viet Nam war. Our next time at bat, in Panama, saw several new weapons developed during the Reagan buildup such as the F117 stealth fighter and the Marine Corps LAV. Additionally, SOF took a much more prominent role in operation Blue Spoon.
Let us not forget the 19 Americans killed in action and the 116 who were wounded. Unfortunately, there were 24 Grenadian civilians also killed in the conflict.
Tags: Grenada
Why do you keep making us feel old? It was a small op but a good demo of how the US could go from 0 to 60 in a short period.
a camo that worked!
Except that we were in heavy-weight BDUs sweating our balls off
I was there and still had Crats in my pack.
Yeah, I remember it was the first time we saw MREs, right before we came home.
Hell, I told my SqdLdr that if the BS of me getting nothing but Spaghetti & Beef Chunks didn’t end, I was going to turn my M60 around on the platoon.
Thanks for paving the way you old timers! May our lost brothers rest in peace.
SSG K
So did us Brits – it was a Commonwealth country being invaded by a NATO ally! This did not go down well with a certain Mrs T Thatcher or others, though it was downplayed.
Jeebus, 30 bloody years on already?
I was home on leave, enjoying a slice of local pizza and ignoring the TV on in the corner of the shop. The owner says, “Hey Mike, isn’t that the kind of ship you’re on?”
I looked up, and saw underway footage of the LST that had been tied up across the pier from mine when I had left Little Creek.
“I gotta use your phone.” The owner passed it over to me and laughed.
A quick call to the Quarterdeck. Didn’t have to go back. We were next in the rotation. Bastards.
I remember coming home from school and my Dad not coming home. I was to young to understand what my Dad truely did. Later on when I was older, he told me about being at the Governor’s house and the guys they lost during the infil. Bravo Zulu to all those who were there and to those sacrificed all.
Do you see that? That was the real Army back then! Not this limp-wristed PC BS you have now. Reagan was a real CinC, and they trained you to kill not care about the Russians feelings.