MCRD PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. -- Twelve years ago today, AH-64 Apache helicopters flew into Iraq and began bombing runs, which initiated the allied opposition to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait called Desert Storm.The 43-day war, fought primarily in the air, tallied 109,876 air sorties. An average of 2,555 per day, during which time, a few more than 250,000 bombs and missiles were deployed against Iraq.For allied ground forces, deployment into the perimeter had also begun. Two days before the ground war, American Marines were infiltrating the borders of Kuwait, putting practice into play. For some of these Marines, their careers have turned from being on the frontline of defense, to the frontline of training - passing on first hand knowledge to the next generation who could possibly get a taste of war in the Middle East.Less than two weeks after the initial conflict, which began Aug. 2, 1990, Cpl. Manuel Clingerman, now a gunnery sergeant and senior drill instructor for Platoon 2026, Echo Company, 2nd RTBn., was in the port of Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia, awaiting the order to go into Kuwait. By January, he would be there with his unit."War is different when it's far away," said Clingerman. "Even though we were in the theater of combat Jan. 17 at 0300 - that's when all the jets started flying over - the jets were flying to a distant place from where we were. "For those of us who had never experienced combat, we still were having a hard time grasping the reality of it all. We were watching the jets fly over at night. You could see the flashes of light and feel the percussions from the rounds. We still didn't know because we weren't there."For Clingerman and his fellow Marines of 2nd Motor Transport Unit, the reality would come across the border."When we reached the border and breached the mine field, we saw the body parts and the destruction. Then you start waking up to the reality of war - the loss of life, the possibility of you or someone you know not coming home alive," recalled Clingerman, remembering the details of the conflict.The destruction ahead of Clingerman that day had been the reality for another Depot Marine. First Sgt. Donovan White was an infantry sergeant at the time, infiltrating miles into Kuwait prior to kick off of the ground war."All the training leading up to that point well prepared us for going in," said White, now the Headquarters Company first sergeant.White, who was part of a Foot Mobile Task Force/Infiltration Force, found most of the Iraqi resistance to be token. "They would attempt to engage us with fire, then surrender when we actually engaged them. Resistance was relatively light," said White, contemplating the memories of what was, and what could be again."The big scare came when Task Force Ripper, an adjacent task force, came up behind us," said White. "With Iraqis to our front, we had Task Force Ripper engaging us from the rear."The reasons for the friendly fire incident that occurred were a thick morning fog and the infantry Marines wearing British light MOP suits - similar in appearance to the Iraqi uniforms."They started lighting us up with heavy small arms fire, missiles and tank fire," said White. "Luckily, they were on the move so they weren't real accurate. They ripped up our Logistics Train - we lost a few Marines. They were getting ready to engage us with air support, but a Marine sergeant near me had an air panel and signaled them to abort the mission."White's apprehension of the possibilities of other Marines returning to that theater of combat is what is not expected in training."We are prepared for engaging Iraqis, but what we are never prepared for is being engaged by friendly units," said White. "We get all the Intel on Iraqi troops ... how their moral has degraded, but we also know how our Marines are trained to fight. After training for months, they finally get the chance to go in ... you don't want to get caught in the crosshairs as an enemy. We didn't expect that." "You always wonder if you trained enough, if you did enough training, what was the quality of training," said Clingerman. "But when all that starts, you start recognizing all those things you were teaching through the years coming into play. No longer are Marines leaving gear adrift, its right there on their body. They are hugging that weapon. They won't leave it anywhere. You don't have to coerce a Marine into cleaning their weapon - it's spotless. The basic fundamentals come back - immediate response to orders, discipline, because now that all those things they let go to the wayside have become the thing that will keep them alive."For these two veterans, communication is their key advice to those they feel responsible for - their Marines. Precise three-dimensional communications with everyone in theater is imperative, as well as communicating the reality of war."You tell them the possibilities," said Clingerman. "You teach them the fundamentals, because they have to learn this now, to keep them alive later."