Off To War

September 1990

The C-141 landed in Daharan Air Station, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at 0945 after a flight that took us from San Diego to Charleston, South Carolina to Torrejon, Spain to Daharan.  In Torrejon we got off the plane just long enough to get a new crew and grab a bite to eat.  I had no idea what time it was but it was late at night and it was raining very hard and everywhere there were signs of war; soldiers with weapons, makeshift tent cities and a lot of airplanes turning with GIs boarding them.

The approach into Daharan took us over our first look at the desert.  I remember looking out the starboard window and noticing how barren everything looked and thinking "what have I gotten myself into?"  The plane came to a halt and I was still glued to the window, I saw the airman guiding the plane, he looked soaked in sweat and had a couple of water bottles in his pockets, a gas mask and his weapon by his side and I knew right there and then that this was no exercise.  When the ramp opened, it felt like standing in front of an oven while opening the door.  The heat wave rushed in the plane and all I could say to the aircrewman was "Please close that ramp and let's get the hell out of here!"  He just smiled and told us to get our gear off before all the cold air left the plane.  We really had no idea what to expect, or where we were going.  John got off the plane first, then me.  I just sat on the edge of the ramp waiting for the cargo handling trucks.  That's when I noticed some familiar figures approaching the plane and was glad to recognize LTJG Paul Hines and GMG1 Todd Enders from the detachment from EODMU Five in the Philippines, which we were replacing in country.  Paul had been a First Class Petty Officer at Det Bermuda when I was in Det Puerto Rico and Todd had been in my EOD Assistant class in '85.  It was very nice to see familiar faces.

They had arranged for our transportation.  I noticed they had their weapons with them, which made me feel safer but at the same time made me wonder: "How come ours are still packed instead of at my side".

I thought the day would never come for me but there I was, at war.  To say that I was scared is an understatement.  I had been training to do my job for 5 years and now I was going to do it for real and in a wartime scenario.

They took us to our quarters for the next six months, a Saudi fire station in the port of Dammam.  It was small but it had air conditioning and beds, not cots, eventhough the beds were made of wood with mattresses about two inches thick that compressed to nothing when you laid on them.  It also had western style toilets, which was a big plus to us.  I thought that compared with every one else we were to live like kings.  If I only knew how true that was to be.