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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 was the 3rd vehicle through the burm going into Iraq, D Co. 16th ENBN, 1st Armored Division.
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Sitting in the Red Sea on an Ammunition ship the was packed with bombs and all types of fuel. I asked one of the weapons officers what would happen if we were hit. He said the in a small estimate who would take out everything in a radius of at least 5 miles. He said five miles up, out and down. We would leave a huge hole in that spot.
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USS Midway. I was working in G-3 Weapons one deck under the hanger bay prepping for the first sorties to go. It was about two in the morning and all of us were sweaty,and after working virtually all out for seventeen hours we were tired as hell. I was waiting for the next weapons elevator to come up from the magazine below. For days we had built up everything from TALD, shrike, harpoon, walleye, cluster munitions, 250 to 2,000 lb. bombs.The hanger deck, 2nd deck, and bomb farm were packed with them. Even the mess decks were stuffed end to end. There was a train of bombs from bottom to top ready to load onto the aircraft. Our CO came on the 1MC and gave a briefing on what is coming next. As soon as he finished the General Quarters alarm sounded and everyone was ass over elbows to get to combat stations. I spit into my chew cup and yelled with the other AO's "Get some!" as we launched our first sortie minutes later. Loved it.
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I had just finished an active duty stint at Fort Devens training reserve and national guard (all branches) medical personnel in refresher combat skills - Combat Casualty Courses as they prepared for deployment. As a reserve soldier I waited for the call-up I was told would happen - it didn't!
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1LT Peter Duston
One funny class we taught was an introduction to MRE's. Most of these medical personnel were officers who had almost never worn BDU's or had any field training. Their reserve service was mostly in hospitals and clinics. We "doctored" an MRE packet and presented "officer" MRE's and "enlisted" MRE's. We opened the "normal" MRE and showed them the typical contents - they got a kick out of the toilet paper. Then, we opened the "officer" MRE and showed them the Officer's Call "happy hour" condiments - a cocktail "nip", tiny can of oysters, crackers and cheese. Most of them were so gullible that we were having a hard time keeping a straight face as they were believing our hoax. One Army Doc had a SF combat patch and Ranger Tab and he was also trying to keep a straight face.
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1LT Peter Duston
That's me as an SSG when we took our medical students into the field for an FTX to prepare them for the Desert. The first group were mostly Air Force and Marines and weren't taking the training very seriously until a vehicle showed up from HQ, called for a formation, read off some Air Force Flight Nurses' names, told them pack their stuff, a plane was waiting!! That got all their attention and, did they take the rest of Combat Casualty Course seriously.
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