Depending on where you live, Operation Desert Storm occurred on Jan. 16-17 1991. Twenty-five years later, some of the units that took part in the military campaign to oust Iraqi troops out of Kuwait are marking the anniversary with gatherings and ceremonies. Here are some of the stories.
Photo: U.S. Air Force
The air campaign kicked off in Barksdale Air Force Base in the early morning of Jan. 16 when seven B-52G bombers took off for one of the longest combat mission in history. The men from the 596th Bomb Squadron were given orders to launch 35 AGM-86C Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missiles at Iraqi forces and command structures. The 35-hour mission was called Operation Senior Surprise, but it was more famously known as “Secret Squirrel.” The top secret mission was only declassified one year later.
Desert Storm: 2nd Bomb Wing leads the air war
Operation Desert Storm also introduced the Patriot surface-to-air missile to television audience worldwide.
Designated the MIM-104, the first Patriot was fired in combat for the first time on Jan. 18 when Iraqi Scud missiles were launched at U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.
The images of Patriots rising up to the skies and fireballs erupting seconds later were etched into everyone’s mind.
Over at Fort Sill, the Patriot operators who had taken part in the war gathered to unveil a painting of the battle ground in Saudi Arabia.
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By http://www.flickr.com/people/69061470@N05 [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Fort Sill celebrates 25 years of the Patriot missile system
And who would forget the Highway of Death. Thousands of vehicles were wrecked and littered along Highway 80 and several hundreds more on Highway 8 as Iraqi troops attempted to flee Kuwait on the night of Feb. 26–27.
Maj. Gen. Richard S. “Beef” Haddad and Col. Randal L. Bright were part of a AC-130A crew that participated in the massive airstrikes on the highway.
While rushing to their assigned kill box, both pilots discovered that the aircraft’s autopilot had failed. This makes it difficult for both of them to maintain a fixed altitude while they banked and fired the gunship’s weapons.
Haddad worked on the ailerons to bank the aircrat while Bright meddled with the throttles and yoke to maintain a fixed altitude.
Tail number 55-0014 was credited with destroying at least 20 enemy trucks and four armored personnel carriers.
By DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Dean Wagner (http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The Ghost over the highway: Reservists renew bond with Desert Storm AC-130A gunship