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Desert Storm began 24 years ago on the evening of January 16 (US)/ the early morning January 17 (Middle East), where were you at?
January 16, 1991 began as a normal day, the operation in the Middle East was still called "Desert Shield", but turned out to be very hectic at the end of the day.
I was stationed with the 10th Mountain Division up at Ft. Drum, NY. Any military history buff knows that, save for one support battalion, no other units left for Saudi Arabia. There were, however, "onesies and twosies" picked from different units to fill the gaps of the of the units already over there.
As an Avionics Radar Repairer (35R), I didn't even think that I would go over there, until my squad leader called me during lunchtime. I was at the CQ desk, when he called asking for three 35R volunteers to deploy with a Reserve unit to the Middle East. Without hesitation, I told my squad leader that I would be the first volunteer. The other two "Romeos" volunteered later on.
After lunch, it was a mad dash to get the three of us through the whole deployment readiness process. This was completed later in the afternoon.
I was calling up different family members, letting them know that I'll be leaving for Ft. Rucker and, a few weeks later, to Saudi Arabia. I remember that I had the TV on in my barracks room, watching ABC News with Peter Jennings, and being on the phone with my oldest brother. I was probably about five minutes into our conversation when breaking news came on from Baghdad- Operation Desert Storm had begun.
I was a bit shocked, but after I got over the initial shock, I knew that I had a job to do- serving my country.
So where were you when Desert Storm began? I'd like to hear your stories.
January 16, 1991 began as a normal day, the operation in the Middle East was still called "Desert Shield", but turned out to be very hectic at the end of the day.
I was stationed with the 10th Mountain Division up at Ft. Drum, NY. Any military history buff knows that, save for one support battalion, no other units left for Saudi Arabia. There were, however, "onesies and twosies" picked from different units to fill the gaps of the of the units already over there.
As an Avionics Radar Repairer (35R), I didn't even think that I would go over there, until my squad leader called me during lunchtime. I was at the CQ desk, when he called asking for three 35R volunteers to deploy with a Reserve unit to the Middle East. Without hesitation, I told my squad leader that I would be the first volunteer. The other two "Romeos" volunteered later on.
After lunch, it was a mad dash to get the three of us through the whole deployment readiness process. This was completed later in the afternoon.
I was calling up different family members, letting them know that I'll be leaving for Ft. Rucker and, a few weeks later, to Saudi Arabia. I remember that I had the TV on in my barracks room, watching ABC News with Peter Jennings, and being on the phone with my oldest brother. I was probably about five minutes into our conversation when breaking news came on from Baghdad- Operation Desert Storm had begun.
I was a bit shocked, but after I got over the initial shock, I knew that I had a job to do- serving my country.
So where were you when Desert Storm began? I'd like to hear your stories.
Posted in these groups: 
Operation Desert Shield/Storm
Operation Desert Shield/Storm
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 371
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I am afraid I was in kindergarten, SGT (Join to see). I have almost no memory of that war except for the fact that the nightly news was an hour long instead of the normal half hour, which was slightly scary because of pictures of tanks and slightly annoying because my parents weren't paying attention to me.
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Hello John, This is an awesome story, it carries the test-of-time; your bravery is second to none! I'll carry your toolbox any time! Move , shoot, and communicate!
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I was deployed in theater with the 101st Support Bn. 1st Infantry Division. It was funny before we left, my wife was telling her mother I was being deployed. Her mother replied, "Don't worry, they won't send him. He is a Pharmacy tech. Cindy's (her step-daughter) husband is a Marine, they will send him before they send Scott. She didn't seem to understand I was already prepping to ship out with my unit at the time.
Being a Pharmacy tech they didn't make it real clear as to exactly what they were expecting me to do. We had not trained on holding patients in our area in either NTC or post exercises. I imagine i would be asked to do IV admixtures, order medication and the like. That never really happened either. I was assigned as a senior medic on a treatment track initially due to a shortage of 91B's (medics). But after some back-fill additions to our ranks, I reverted to a medical supply/resupply squad leader - we didn't hold anyone in our area so a Pharmacy tech wasn't required. The only thing I did pharmacy related was help mix a suspension of medicine for an Iraqi child because we had no suspension medicines premade on hand.
Other than that - I was just an NCO. I performed duties as a litter-bearer, oversaw re-fueling of the generators and I became the evening comm NCO when the cease-fire was called.
When we got back home, the Army re-organized the Forward support Battalions and replaced the 91Q's (Pharmacy Techs) with 91C - Practical Nurses. The unit now had holding capabilities for casualties, but no Pharmacy techs to mix the IV's.
I was with a great group of people. Glad I had the chance to serve with them.
Being a Pharmacy tech they didn't make it real clear as to exactly what they were expecting me to do. We had not trained on holding patients in our area in either NTC or post exercises. I imagine i would be asked to do IV admixtures, order medication and the like. That never really happened either. I was assigned as a senior medic on a treatment track initially due to a shortage of 91B's (medics). But after some back-fill additions to our ranks, I reverted to a medical supply/resupply squad leader - we didn't hold anyone in our area so a Pharmacy tech wasn't required. The only thing I did pharmacy related was help mix a suspension of medicine for an Iraqi child because we had no suspension medicines premade on hand.
Other than that - I was just an NCO. I performed duties as a litter-bearer, oversaw re-fueling of the generators and I became the evening comm NCO when the cease-fire was called.
When we got back home, the Army re-organized the Forward support Battalions and replaced the 91Q's (Pharmacy Techs) with 91C - Practical Nurses. The unit now had holding capabilities for casualties, but no Pharmacy techs to mix the IV's.
I was with a great group of people. Glad I had the chance to serve with them.
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Day before my birthday I was deployed riding a super shithook ,I recall thinking about how big fuss the news made about the trench that slowed down the M1 Abram's all of about a blink of an eye.... Was a long day ...
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