By MARK SCOLFORO

By MARK SCOLFORO Rappahannock News Staff Writer | While America held its collective ; breath during the retaking of Kui wait by Allied forces in January and February, Marine Cpl. Rich Dodson was there, firing 155 mm Howitzers at Iraqi targets during the battle for Kuwait International Airport. Cpl. Dodson, the son of Ronald . and Ann Dodson of Viewtown, was with a Marine Reserve unit out of \ Richmond when he was called up to j duty Dec. 2. One month later he was in the sands of Saudi Arabia prepar' ing for the ground war that lay ' ahead. ; During the next two months Cpl. ■ Dodson would see a buddy die after stepping on a landmine, fight ! through the smoke and haze of the burning oil fields, and feel the elation of returning victorious to ' friends and family in the United ! States. With the First Marine Division ; he went into Kuwait on Feb. 22, two days before the official start of the j ground war. At the first breach he ! and his fellow Marines encountered ; little or no resistance, but at the sec; ond they had to repel a brigade of ■ Hussein’s tanks. I His division followed a leapfrog 1 strategy where Cpl. Dodson and other artillerymen would clear a path for the rest of the division, which would go in front for a time, then be passed by the Howitzers again. During the first 100 hours of the ground war, he said, he only got four hours of sleep. “We never thought it was going | to be a cakewalk. We were involved with the enemy right up until the time we heard about the cease fire,”