Operation Desert Storm
The Gulf War was like teenage sex. We got in too soon and out too soon.
-Tom Harkin
My buddy holds a piece of shrapnel we found on Objective White, south of AsSalman, Iraq.
Tactical Assembly Olive, Rafha, Saudi Arabia.
Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne watching a coalition airstrike north of Rafha, Saudi Arabia.
M551 'Sheridans' from 3/73rd Cav screen our left flank are we make the final push on AsSalman, Iraq.
Artillerymen and howitzers from the 82nd Airborne Division roll past our position on their way to conduct an artillery attack against Iraqi forces.
A paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne Division cleans his M16A2 the morning after a nighttime, close range firefight with Iraqi forces on the border between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Our Vietnam era M60 in Iraq during the ground war. It was last used during a firefight with Iraqi forces during the Air War phase of Desert Storm.
Taking a selfie before selfies were a thing. I shot this in the reflection of a tripod mount thermal scope used by our team to search for and engage Iraqi forces during the night.
An exhausted paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne Division gives up trying to dig a foxhole in the rock-hard ground in the disputed territory between Iraq and Saudi Arabia in the western desert.
Our team spent two, possibly three days holed up in trenches waiting for the storm to pass over Tactical Assembly Area Olive. It was brutally cold and dark and time stretched on for eternity.
Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne prepare for a dusk patrol south of the Iraqi border during the air-war phase of the campaign.
155mm Howitzers ready to fire in support of the joint French and 82nd Airborne Divisions’ attack against Iraqi forces on Objective Rochambeau, south of AsSalman, Iraq.
The Ground War phase of Operation Desert Storm begins. American OH-58 Kiowa helicopters fly north to scout Iraqi positions on Objective Rochambeau while Humvees from the 82nd Airborne Division cross the border into Iraq.
Paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne watches two A-10’s attack an Iraqi target south of AsSalman, Iraq on the second day of the Ground War phase of Operation Desert Storm.
The remains of the HQ of the Iraqi 45th Infantry Division on MSR Texas.
Traffic jam on Main Supply Route Texas as the 82nd Airborne Division passes the destroyed headquarters of the Iraqi 45th Division.
100 Hours of Radio Watch. How he stayed awake that long, I’ll never know. One thing I do know- it always rains during war. Even when that war is in the desert.
“If you don’t eat-you die,” was a phrase we often heard from SSG Gayle Ferguson (not pictured.) Ferguson survived the Invasion of Grenada, Desert Shield/Storm only to pass away from cancer several years ago. He is missed. Gone but not forgotten.
A UH-1 lands in the desert south of AsSalman, Iraq, to MEDEVAC a mortally wounded paratrooper from the field.
A mortally wounded paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne Division is loaded on a MEDEVAC bird- south of AsSalman, Iraq- on the second day of the Ground War phase of Operation Desert Storm.
A storm rolls in on our position, bringing with it- cold temperatures, limited visibility, and rain. The winter of 1991 was the worst on record in the region, with frequent storms and temperatures often dropping below freezing.
A battery of three knocked out Iraqi army howitzers on Objective Rochambeau, south of AsSalman, Iraq.
Infantryman from the 82nd Airborne Division approach a group of surrendering Iraqi soldiers.
On February the 28th, 1991, President Bush declared a ceasefire, ending Operation Desert Storm. That night we gathered around a small burn pit, warming ourselves in the cold desert night.