Why two oil platforms mattered
At the start of the Iraq War in March 2003, about 90 percent of Iraq’s oil exports passed through two offshore terminals in the northern Persian Gulf: Mina al-Bakr (MABOT) and Khawr al-Amaya (KAAOT). Coalition planners feared a “scorched earth” response: had the terminals been blown up, the result would have been a major oil spill in the Gulf and the loss of the country’s main export route. The terminals had to be taken intact, quickly and by surprise.
According to Defense Media Network, the wider operation against Iraq’s oil infrastructure involved more than 1,000 coalition personnel from the United States, the United Kingdom, Kuwait and Poland.
The assault
On 17 March 2003 the President of Poland authorised a Polish Military Contingent to operate with the international coalition in the Gulf region. Among its units was the special forces unit JW GROM.
The two platforms were hit at the same time on the night of 20–21 March 2003, the second night of the war. US Navy SEALs took Platform 1, Mina al-Bakr. Several dozen GROM commandos took Platform 2, Khawr al-Amaya. Defense Media Network reports that the assaults began at 10:25 p.m., achieved total surprise and ended with 32 prisoners across both platforms and no fatalities on either side.
The Polish team on KAAOT was led by Capt. Andrzej Kruczyński. In a later interview with Polska Zbrojna, the Polish Ministry of National Defence’s magazine, he described a structure nearly a kilometre long. The critical phase took about a dozen minutes, but the team stayed on the terminal for six to seven hours while it was cleared and secured. According to Gen. Roman Polko, the unit had rehearsed platform assaults beforehand on rigs in the Baltic Sea.
Recognition and the photograph
On 26 March 2003, speaking at MacDill Air Force Base, President George W. Bush told an audience: “Polish military forces have secured an Iraqi oil platform in the Persian Gulf.” The US Army Center of Military History later recorded that Polish commandos captured offshore oil platforms and also helped secure the port of Umm Qasr, and that Poland was one of only five nations with ground forces in major combat operations in Iraq.
A photograph of GROM operators posing with SEALs in front of a US flag became famous — and controversial in Poland. Kruczyński later told Polska Zbrojna that a second photo had been taken under the Polish flag but was overlooked.
GROM’s official site lists the mission as “Iraq ‘Iraqi Freedom’ 2003–2004”, beginning with the seizure of the oil terminal, followed by tasks that included securing the Mukarayin dam and detaining people from the coalition’s “deck of cards”.
How GROM selects its operators
The men who took Khawr al-Amaya came through a selection that still exists today. GROM describes selection for its combat teams as a “play-off”: psychological testing, a physical test, a language test and a multi-day field test in the mountains, with the weakest candidates dropping out after each stage. Candidates may attempt selection only twice, and those who score above the minimums are considered first.
Stage I is the physical test: 8 events chosen by the instructor from a published list of 14. The minimums include a 3,000 m run in 12:00, 18 strict pull-ups, a 200 m freestyle swim in 4:30, a 25 m underwater swim, a 100 m sprint in 14 seconds, a 10×10 m shuttle run in 29.5 seconds and a 10-second rope climb. These are the entry minimums — the floor, not the target.