The success of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 was, in some respects, a couple of decades in the making.

The U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division–the Fort Riley, Kansas-based “Big Red One”–had been remade since the Vietnam War.

The result was a unit ready for modern war. Desert Storm saw the 1st Infantry engage and defeat at least a dozen Iraqi divisions, taking more than 14,000 prisoners. In a discussion of his book The First Infantry Division and the U.S. Army Transformed: Road to Victory in Desert Storm, 1970-1991, retired colonel and Desert Storm veteran Gregory Fontenot examines the 1st Infantry’s evolution and how its experience in the Gulf War is relevant to preparing for future wars.

Fontenot, who lives in Lansing, Kansas, commanded a tank battalion in Desert Storm.