1st LAI Takes Friendly Fire

“Can you tell us how they describe the event? I have not read that book or read any accounts of that event outside official and classified military documents.”

As promised, ST, here’s the account from: “Desert Storm: A Forgotten War”:

RAS AL-KHAFJI AND OTHER MAJOR GROUND ACTIONS
(29/30 JAN 1991)

“The first attack occurred in the west; units of the U.S. Marine First Light Armored Infantry Battalion (LAI) engaged the Iraqi forces, calling in artillery and close air support from AH-1 Cobra helicopters, AV-8 Harriers, and A-10 Warthogs in addition to using their own TOWs mounted on LAVs. At about the same time, another LAI battalion repulsed the probe coming from al-Wafra.

The LAI was meant to be a reconnaissance and screening force, and was not designed to stop attacks by heavy armor; thus it had no armor, although it had anti-tank weapons. Nevertheless the LAI succeeded in stopping the…