Charles Graner - Gulf War

Gulf War

Graner was deployed during the Gulf War, serving with the 2nd MP Co, originally of 4th FSSG, 4th Marine Division, a Marine Reserve unit based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On January 11, 1991, he arrived in Saudi Arabia, taking part in Operation Desert Storm. From there, he traveled to the largest prisoner-of-war camp near the Saudi-Kuwaiti border, where he worked for about six weeks.

The Los Angeles Times interviewed Ross Guidotti, who served at the camp with Graner. Guidotti recalled the night he described as "scary as hell" for him, Graner and about 110 other Marines standing guard. Around 4,000 of the camp's 20,000 captured Iraqis had threatened to riot after "a fierce rain and wind storm blew apart a makeshift mess hall where they were being fed". Panicked, Iraqi prisoners pushed other prisoners into the razor wire that surrounded the camp, and screaming in Arabic, "Kill us! We're dogs! We're going to die anyway!" Guidotti remembered grabbing a loaded shotgun and thinking "I'm dead." Despite being what Guidotti described as "one of those moments when someone could have set off a massacre", the crisis was brought to an end when more rations were found to feed the Iraqis; a simple solution that made it into the official Marine history of Desert Storm. Later, following President George H. W. Bush's order for a cease-fire by the end of February 1991, several soldiers, including Guidotti and Graner, returned home on May 15. Guidotti stated, "Before Chuck Graner ever became known as this sadistic criminal, I'm going to tell you what I saw — the last image of Chuck Graner burned into my mind: I guess he's 22, his eyes red with tears, crying, holding his little girl with his wife beside him."