Posted on 01/20/2011 6:14:56 AM PST by US Navy Vet
By the time they had orders cut to send some of us F/A-18 wrench turners over there, it was over. So they sent some of us to Iwakuni, Japan instead.
I was in Austin, Texas watching A-10s and F-4s running drills in the air over the south end of town. I was blown away by the sound and agility of those A-10s. I’d hate to be on the receiving end of their assult.
Heh. Yeah, I remember that too. Chilly and actually drizzling at times.
I was a news reporter. Had already worked a nine hour day covering a criminal trial and then worked about eight more hours into the night gathering and writing reaction from local citizens about the start of the war.
41st President To Host Commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Liberation of Kuwait
George Bush, 41st President of the United States, will host a solemn commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the beginning of military operations to liberate Kuwait from occupation by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. The ceremony, to be held Jan. 20 at 5 p.m. at Texas A&M University, will include key Kuwaiti representatives and top U.S. officials who were in office with the 41st president during the historic period.
The Office of President of Bush, Texas A&M University and the George Bush School of Government and Public Service are organizing the program. The event is being sponsored by Shell Oil Company.
Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin will offer welcoming remarks for the commemoration at Reed Arena.
President Bush’s special honored guest for the commemoration is His Royal Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Amir of the state of Kuwait. President Bush’s honored guests for the commemoration include: His Excellency the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Sabah Al-Salim Al-Sabah; the 46th Vice President of the United States, the Honorable Richard B. Cheney; the 44th Vice President of the United States, the Honorable J. Danforth Quayle; the 61st Secretary of State of the United States, the Honorable James A. Baker, III; the 65th Secretary of State of the United States, the Honorable Colin L. Powell; former National Security Advisor to Presidents Gerald Ford and President Bush, the Honorable Brent Scowcroft; and the Honorable Walter E. Boomer, General (ret), United States Marine Corps.
end snip
Sound asleep in my barracks room when the full alert was enabled and we went full gear, ready to deploy !!!!!!!
I was living in Yonkers and single and engaged. My then Fiancee was called back to active duty. By the time his physical was done the war was over. Thank God! I remember I was at work in White Plains when it ended. God Bless all who died.
I was at the local bike shop in Cleburne, talking/planning the build on a 1966 Sportster.
My husband was with Task Force Grizzly (Marines). They had started in two days before the war actually “started”. I believe they had already taken Al Jaber airport.
I was a freshly minted 2nd Lt and new arrival at the 14th Flying Training Wing, Columbus AFB MS. I figured I’d be busy for the next 20 years or so.
I was on a flight from San Francisco to Atlanta. The pilot announced that the war had started and said that headphones would be provided for anyone who wanted to listen to the broadcast. The mood on the plane changed instantaneously. Every person asked and received a headphone. It was deathly quiet and remained so for the duration of the flight. I am sure that many people were praying as I was.
I was living in a small town in Michigan. I got home from work and turned on the TV, and saw the initial reports coming in about cruise missles being fired into Iraq. I decided that if a major war was about to break out I wanted to at least have some beer in the house, so I decided to hike about a mile up to a local grocery store.
We were having one of those hellacious Michigan snowstorms where it was coming down so fast, it muffled all outside sound...perhaps even the sound of your own thoughts. I had a little transistor radio with me and turned it on to listen to the reports coming on WWJ radio out of Detroit. I got to the store, picked out a case of beer and got in line. I still had my radio on, and all of the other shoppers and store employees started gathering around me to listen to those war reports coming over WWJ. Walked home through the blizzard still listening, and spent the evening glued to CNN, watching the Israelis don their gas masks, Bernard Shaw and crew under bombardment in that Baghdad hotel, etc. Perhaps the last time I watched CNN for any length of time.
Hard to believe that was twenty years ago.
On the USS VIRGINIA (CGN-38) (under-appreciated class of ships) in the Med. Later fired two ‘hawks into Iraq.
Yes. They were F-4Gs. We were shutting down the base and closing down the unit because the F-4s were being phased out when Desert Shield started. We were one of the last units called in.
i was coming home from work... i remember the radio station i was listening to started playing “Pink Houses (Ain’t that America for you and me)” by John Mellancamp... personally, i was in the middle of a very difficult time in my life... so i tend to lump all that was going on together...
I drove past this huge American flag in front of a business that I passed every day and shed a few tears and said a prayer for our soldiers.
I went on to develop a little crush on Arthur Kent, (the "Scud Stud") over the next few days and watched all of my war news on NBC. :)
How innocent I was then...never having the slightest clue that Baghdad would become "home away from home" for me for a long time starting 13 years later.
I was with Lyndon LaRouche viewing CNN in a television room at the Federal Medical Center, Rochester, Minnesota. Ah, the good old days... NOT!
I believe I was at work. I remember all of the yellow ribbons and flag pins everyone was wearing. It was somewhat surreal, knowing what was happening so far away. I remember being so proud of our brave military.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.