Serenading the Dead

Letters written home during Operation Desert Shield/ Desert Storm, from the perspective of a common soldier, who deployed to war in a foreign land and had to endure harsh desert conditions, the horrors of the battlefield, and the trials and humor of being totally oblivious to the grand scheme. Army Specialist E-4 Mark T. Martinez struggles to find any piece of paper to pen his letters to his pregnant wife at home, and trusts in a broken mail system that his letters will find their way. In August of 1990, the President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, ordered his armies to invade neighboring Kuwait. His goal was to take over Kuwait's large oil reserves and to expand Iraq's power over the region. This invasion had global consequences. In response, U.S. President George H.W. Bush organized a coalition of 35 nations to further deter Iraq's aggression and to force Saddam Hussein's armies to withdrawal from Kuwait. This military campaign was called "Operation Desert Shield." When Saddam Hussein refused to withdrawal his troops, "Desert Shield" became "Desert Storm" and President Bush's coalition forcibly removed Iraq's armies and liberated Kuwait in some of the greatest tank battles and one-sided air campaigns in history. Thousands of Iraqi soldiers perished and thousands more were captured. The human toll was staggering. The battlefield was littered with blown-up equipment, and the dead lay rotting and bloated in the hot desert sun. Soldiers who were given the grisly task of burying the battlefield dead often sang to themselves to keep their minds from being overcome by despair. This singing was often misunderstood by others as "serenading the dead." Many old veterans continue this practice years after they returned from war to keep those demons from returning. God bless every one of them.