CAMP COYOTE, Kuwait - A distant boom. A nearby whistle. A soldier yells, "Gas!"
Those were the dreaded sounds heard throughout the day Thursday at Camp Guam, the section of Camp Coyote where the Augusta-based Army Reserve's 319th Transportation Company is stationed to haul fuel for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
Iraqi missile attacks during the first day of the war had the soldiers packed into bunkers seven times and strapping on their chemical masks six times - all by 10 p.m. Kuwaiti time.
These aren't drills anymore. The seventh alarm coincided with the beginning of the ground war, as American troops crossed over into Iraq.
"This is no joke," said Sgt. Michael Ghant, 37, of Louisville, Ga. "This is the real deal."
Sometimes the soldiers went into the bunkers without wearing their masks. Sometimes they put on their masks without going into the bunkers. A Marine's whistle from a guard post meant that a Scud missile was near; soldiers and Marines passed on the word by yelling, "Bunkers!"
Chemical sirens went off but were barely audible at the 319th's end of the camp. The warning to strap on masks was more often heard from someone yelling, "Gas!"
Marine Lt. Anderson Raub said the Scud and chemical alerts, and subsequent all-clear signals, were coming from the Marine high command. Each bunker has a rotary phone so those inside can communicate with commanders, and other bunkers.
Speaking before the seventh Scud alarm occurred, a Marine master sergeant who did not wish to be identified said Iraqis had fired six missiles. Four were shot down by Patriot missiles, one landed in the desert and one landed close to Camp Coyote, he said.
He said he did not know how close the Scud came to the camp. From the ground, the explosions seemed to be emanating from the south, but sounds can be deceptive in a vast desert.
Some alerts came less than an hour apart, interrupting soldiers trying to eat lunch, finish laundry or pack away extra bags. The times they spent in the trenches ranged from a half-hour to an hour.
Lt. Raub said he expected the Scud alerts to go on throughout the evening and night.
Tensions ran high in the bunkers, which were dug into the ground inside the camp's sand berms, with sand bags stacked around the edges and wooden boards overhead forming 6 1/2 -foot ceilings.
Humor usually eased the mood.
"Boy, I'm going to get lunch one of these days," said Sgt. Walker Marshall, 32, of Martinez. "You know I'm getting small out here. I've got to eat."
About a dozen men roared with laughter. Sgt. Marshall is 6 feet tall and weighs 280 pounds. His nickname is "Train."
After the fourth trip to the bunkers, though, Sgt. Ghant wasn't laughing. He told lower-ranking soldiers to stop talking so loud and to make sure their masks were stored correctly in their side bags and their rifles weren't lying in the dirt.
"How can you hear instructions when you're making a lot of noise?" he said. "This is life or death."
