Gulf War Anniversary

alnav

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Sep 16, 2009
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30th anniversary of the start of Desert Storm tonight.
I remember spending the entire day leading up to the start of the air campaign wearing a gas mask as there was a belief the Iraqis might launch a preemptive chem attack. I never imagined it would be necessary to wear a mask again, but here we are.
Any other vets here?
 
I'm a Navy vet, but from the early 80's.
I served one enlistment, got out in 1985.
 
I was at MCRD Parris Island summer of '90 when Iraq initially invaded. Training got "sporty" that last remaining month. Ironically it would be almost 15 years before I'd deploy to the Al Anbar...
 
Thank you all for your service!!!
 
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I was serving as an instructor at the US Army Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood. We were planning ways to breach the tank traps. I was shipped over in August to shut down the base camps and Kobar Towers.
 
30th anniversary of the start of Desert Storm tonight.
I remember spending the entire day leading up to the start of the air campaign wearing a gas mask as there was a belief the Iraqis might launch a preemptive chem attack. I never imagined it would be necessary to wear a mask again, but here we are.
Any other vets here?
USMC 83-91
 
I fell through the cracks; to young for Viet Nam, too old for the Gulf War. Grandfathers around me went through WW2, Uncles in the Korean conflict, neighbors were in 'Nam. I'm blessed that you people fought and suffered for the things I enjoy. Thank you all for your service!
 
I always think of the Gulf War starting on August 2nd, 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. I applied for an "early out" in June of 1990 to go back to college. The military was still under the Gramm/Rudman force reductions, but my USAF squadron commander at Vandenberg AFB would only approve the early out if you had less than 6 months left on your commitment. I was scheduled for a January of 91 release, so he approved it for August 1, 1990, so that I could start in September. I headed home and got a call the next day (8-2) to make sure I had my bags packed and that I was on "immediate recall notice." I never got the call, but would have been there if needed.
USAF 87-90
vandenberg.jpg
 
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I enlisted in the USAF in 1969 'cause the Army was after my ass. I didn't want to be a "ground pounder" in Nam so I joined the AF, went to electronics school to work on airborne electronics. I took a short and re-up'd for four more then stayed about 7.5 years total. I was on flight status for the whole time after basic training and got to fly on a variety of birds. The most exciting ride was an hour or so in the back seat of an F-4 Phantom.
 
USAF 1973 TO 79. I WAS IN THAILAND for the fall of Saigon. Pretty much sucked. There were guys on our crew that had flown as gunners on gunships and had lost good friends. Got to see 63 Vietnamese get out of a C-47 at our base in Thailand.
 
USAF 90's - no war stories - aside from some stray voltage incidents :). The job I did and the commands I was assigned kept me mostly under ground and in the US.

Always appreciative of those who joined to keep us, our country and way of life safe.
 
I'm 60yrs. old came out of high school landed a job at a power plant so never went down the road to serve because of it. My Dad spent time in Japan in WWII. I have a friend that served during the Gulf war he was a Sea Bee. Another friend a little younger spent time in Serbia and Panama during the time they went after Manuel Noriega years he was Airborne. Both these friends have a calm about them they both don't seem to worry about the small things. I have the utmost respect for them and anyone else that's been there.
 
I always think of the Gulf War starting on August 2nd, 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait. I applied for an "early out" in June of 1990 to go back to college. The military was still under the Gramm/Rudman force reductions, but my USAF squadron commander at Vandenberg AFB would only approve the early out if you had less than 6 months left on your commitment. I was scheduled for a January of 91 release, so he approved it for August 1, 1990, so that I could start in September. I headed home and got a call the next day (8-2) to make sure I had my bags packed and that I was on "immediate recall notice." I never got the call, but would have been there if needed.
USAF 87-90
I was at Vandy in July/August of 1988 for AFROTC training. I never did serve because I wanted to fly in the USAF, and most of the pilot slots went to the academy grads the year I graduated. I still wish that I had gone in anyway.

Thanks for your service!
 
Eighty years ago (!) today, my grandfather, who was the maintenance foreman for the Dole Pineapple Company on the island of Molokai, heard of what was happening on Oahu. My father, who was six at the time, tells me he could see smoke on the horizon, hear the rumbling of explosions, with an occasional US warbird flying overhead. The townsmen gathered together with their weapons and ammo, and figured on killing as many of the invading military as they could before they themselves were killed. Fortunately, the troops never got to Molokai.
My wife's grandfather was on the ground at Guadalcanal as a radio operator. He never had much to say about his time over there, and I didn't push him for it.
Thanks again for your service, everyone!
 
I was in the process of detaching from a couple of years sea duty (2 deployments) for my first shore tour in 16 years of service (I had been to Destroyer School and grad school) when the Iraqis came over the border. The Navy shipped every officer departing command and executive tours to Bahrain to augment the small staff overseeing the Middle East. So, I was off within 48 hours and stayed for the duration leaving the wife and three young daughters, always the toughest part.

I landed in the planning section of the Navy component commander, embarked first in USS LaSalle, then Blue Ridge. I had picked up a command, control and computers sub-specialty so was able to focus on that problem. Systems interoperability was primitive at the time and tended to be hard-wired into systems so lots of workarounds had to be created to enable, say, an Air Force system to talk to a Navy system. I also got to develop several contingency plans, even briefing General Schwarzkopf a couple of times. I also stood watch in the command center overseeing all Navy operations and interfacing with the other components.

During Desert Shield, I traveled all over the land AOR as well as between ships, so lots of Desert Duck and other helo time as well as some S3/C2 cats and traps to visit carriers. But, the closest I came to buying it was on the freeway between Bahrain and Riyadh along with three civilians. We had rented a Toyota Crown (what they called a Lexus in Japan). The road was incredibly well-built and straight but had almost no traffic (or police) so we literally had the car floored the entire trip (I can still hear the Japanese overspeed alarm dinging when I think about it). We were going about 200 kmh when a tire blew. Lucky for us, the guy behind the wheel at the time was an amateur race car driver and was able to control it, otherwise I might be a grease spot on Saudi Highway 40.

Another time, after Desert Storm started, I went to the USS Tarawa which was an amphibious force flagship. She pulled into Al Jubayl, the closest Saudi port to Kuwait, to offload her Harrier aircraft for use on shore. The ship put me up in a stateroom with several bunks. About 0200, the ship went to GQ based on a Scud missile attack. One of the civilian analysts in the room slept naked. He jumped up, grabbed my shoes and raced out of the room. By that time I had been close to several Scud attacks. I also had no idea of exactly where I was on the ship so I would have either been in the way or lost so I just rolled over and went back to sleep. Turns out the missile just missed the ship.

I should close out this overly long post by praising the hundreds of thousands of ground-pounders who served in the desert, frequently eating sand and unable to enjoy the comforts Navy service usually provides. All of them real heroes in my book.
 

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