The Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War-43

By Mujtaba Al-Husseini
Translated From Arabic by: Muhammad Hussein Zavar-Kaaba
Machine Translation edited by Mandana Karimi

2026-8-16

The Third Regiment: Memoirs of an Iraqi Prisoner of War-43

By Mujtaba Al-Husseini

Translated From Arabic by: Muhammad Hussein Zavar-Kaaba

Machine Translation edited by Mandana Karimi

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Promotions and Medals of Courage:

A few months after the start of the war, the authority to grant promotions to soldiers and non-commissioned officers was delegated to brigade commanders. After this permission, at the end of each offensive or defensive operation, a large number of soldiers were promoted to higher ranks. Usually in the army, those who undertake innovative or epic operations are eligible for promotion, but in this war, everyone benefited from this promotion without any criteria or criteria, and sometimes all members of the combat unit and even those on leave were encouraged - if they carried out partisan activities. It is funny that commissioned soldiers and cooks were not without this kind of generosity. Within a few months, thousands of soldiers were promoted to the rank of non-commissioned officer and hundreds of non-commissioned officers to the rank of second lieutenant. I personally requested promotions twice for the members of the mobile medical unit, due to my relationship with the regiment commander. The government, knowing this fact, wanted to encourage and motivate the soldiers to continue the war. During these promotions and encouragements, a number of non-commissioned officers were also promoted to the rank of officer. Interestingly, the commander of one of the brigades promoted his commissioned soldier to the rank of officer.

Gifts that included cigarettes, toothpaste, canned goods, wristwatches, and fine goods were distributed among us on every occasion.

The Medal of Courage also has a different story. It is known that the Medal of Courage is awarded to people who have participated in brave and extraordinary operations, but in this war, the quota was distributed among the units after the operation was over. The medal of courage, which usually has a spiritual dimension, also acquired a material dimension based on the thoughts and ideas of the Baathists. In such a way that the holder of the medal enjoyed numerous material privileges such as a car and four thousand dinars in cash. In addition, a badge was placed on his chest by Saddam in front of a television camera. These material incentives played an effective role in encouraging the army to fight at the front and support the government.

7- Vehicles for the patrol leave:

Among the problems we faced were the lack of access to a means of transportation to and from home and the front when using regular leave and the high cost of travel. So much so that I paid about 8 to 10 dinars to travel from Basra to Najaf by passenger bus. But when returning from Najaf to Basra, I paid five dinars. Sometimes the price of a ticket from Basra to Baghdad reached 20 dinars, which was 8 times the price of a pension. The government provided facilities for military travel, including free train travel for the military; first-class carriages were reserved for officers and second-class carriages for soldiers and non-commissioned officers. However, due to the large number of military personnel, the trains did not have enough capacity. In 1981, the government used automobiles from Basra to Baghdad that passed through "Amareh" and "Nassereh". I am sure that these measures were all for the sake of realizing the interests of the party and the government.

During my two years of service in Basra, I traveled three times by train and once by government bus. Here I would like to share a memory of one of my trips to Baghdad, which was made by bus. I arrived in Basra from the front at 2:00 PM. I could not find a means of going to Najaf. I had no choice but to decide to go to Baghdad by military bus and from there to Najaf. The weather was cold. I had my coat, which was not pinned to my military rank, over my shoulder. A soldier was sitting next to me. Half an hour had passed since the bus started. He tried to start a conversation, thinking that I was a soldier like him. I tried to avoid the conversation, but he insisted on drawing me into an argument and asking me questions. I introduced myself as a reserve soldier in the Ahvaz region. He introduced himself as a conscript who had graduated from the Agricultural Technical College and was serving in the 57mm air defense unit based on the island of “Bubiyan” in Kuwait. I asked in surprise: “Are Iraqi forces stationed there?”

He said: “Yes, forces from the air defense unit and warships are stationed in Bubiyan and their mission is to confront Iranian attacking planes.”

I asked: “Which battalion are you from?”

He replied: “From the 96th Air Defense Battalion. »

This was the first time I had realized that the Kuwaiti government was directly cooperating with the Iraqi government. Although I had previously known about Kuwait’s economic and propaganda cooperation.

We entered the “Al-Nahda” area in Baghdad province. Before getting off the bus, I took off my military coat and my military rank was revealed. My companion, who had noticed my rank, asked in confusion: “Are you an officer?”

I said: “Can’t you see my rank on my shoulder?”

He said: “Why. Why. But.”

I said: “Don’t be afraid! I am a duty doctor, not an intelligence officer, and I advise you not to discuss the situation on the front with anyone. Be careful, otherwise you will suffer a fate that the Baathists are well aware of!”

We got into another rented car that was headed for the “Karkh” area. The driver tried to provoke our emotions by criticizing the war and the government in a subtle way. I soon realized that he was one of the intelligence agents who usually fish out of muddy water.[1] I answered him in a harsh tone and rejected him. I said to myself: He comes to humans on the death front and on the leave of the security forces.

I arrived at the "Karkh" garage at 10 pm. I got into a car that charged 3 dinars per person to Najaf Ashraf.

To be continued…