The Gulf War The Tales of Two Airmen Susan Higginbotham May 1, 2000 The 52nd Fighter Wing, 7023rd Aircraft Generation Squadron (AGS), Spangdahlem, AB, Germany, deployed to the 7440th Composite Wing, Incirlik, AB, Turkey, during Operation Desert Storm. They tested the new Composite Wing concept where all the aircraft required for a strike mission was assigned under the same command. That is the KC-135 Refuelers, F-4G Wild Weasels, EF-111 Jammers and Strikers, F-15 Strikers (air-to-air cover), F-16 Falcons (air-to-air and strikers), etc., all stationed together at one base. The 7023rd AGS had F-16's and F-4G's under this command. The remaining references to aircraft will be the F-4G "Wild Weasels" based on personal experiences as told by MSgt Curtis Suter, USAF, Active, and TSgt Roger Higginbotham, USAF, Retired. Both were communication and navigation systems technicians on the F-4G aircraft. Their mission was to go head to head with AAA and SAM sites. The idea was to get the ground stations to paint the F-4's with their radar, then the F-4's would silence them with an AGM-88 HARM (high-speed anti-radiation missile). By accomplishing this, the rest of the supporting and strike package could get to their target area without being shot down by the surface threats. The troops had 12 jets to maintain and were tasked with flying four aircraft three times a day. Pretty easy, one would think! Well, Curt and Roger paint a different picture. With aging aircraft and the last of three squadrons to deploy, the 7023rd inherited the "left over" jets while the "cream of the crop" jets deployed first to another location. A little Background: Twice a year the squadrons from Spangdahlem deployed to Zaragoza AB, Spain for weapons deployment training. It was there that Desert Storm began for the 7023rd AGS. They received word from Spangdahlem to send some of the better jets home early and others would replace them. After a month's stay in Spain, the 7023rd returned home and found themselves in the midst of a busy base supporting their sister squadron that had already deployed to a classified desert location, and preparing for their own deployment. This proved to be a challenging task since they were left with the worst jets in the wing. To add to the difficulty, the pilots needed to fly as much as possible to stay proficient. When the jets always flew, it left little time for the technicians to "tweak" their systems and get them fully operational. Everyone worked long hours during this preparation period. Curt remembers not being able to go grocery shopping because his work hours conflicted with the commissary's hours. Time to Deploy: When their call to deploy finally came, the flight line was chaotic trying to get the aircraft configured for the long flight, organize the support equipment and repair any discrepancies. The troops showed up for work at 0600 and were finally released to pack their personal belongings about 2100 with a 2200 show time for the C-130, their personal taxi to Turkey. Their arrival in Turkey was about 0500 the next morning, but had to circle the base about half an hour because the base had been under alarm red, one of three attack postures. Once on the ground, their bags were taken to the gym and the troops headed for the flight line to work. As Curt said, "No rest for the weary." The aircraft arrived with few problems and the maintenance crews fixed them the best they could with parts from other airplanes. They had minimal tools, spare parts and weapons, as their supplies wouldn't arrive until the next day. Curt and Roger agree that it's times like this when GI's really perform at their best and ideas come from everywhere. The guys hadn't been on the ground six hours when they experienced their first alarm red. There are three attack postures - alarm red, black, and yellow. Alarm red is when the base is under attack or attack is imminent, black is just after the attack and everyone goes out and looks for unexploded ordinances (UXO's) and clean up any damage, and yellow is normal operations during war. They took cover in a hardened aircraft shelter, but couldn't get the doors closed. After the base finally went to yellow, they remember a guy crawling out of a ditch. Wow! This was war! The first mission they supported was a B-52's carpet bombing an airfield up north. The pilots thought there were supermen after that. But, the very next mission the enemy launched against our jets came from that same airfield. When the pilots returned this time, they had gained new respect for our adversary. Sleep finally came after being up almost 63 hours, with only catnaps to tied them over. After the much-needed sleep, the routine started...twelve-hour shifts, six days a week. Living Conditions: One of the greatest aspects of the gulf war that is overlooked by many is the living conditions and what the troops really had to deal with on a daily basis. After arrival and when they were allowed sleep, Curt discovered his luggage had been lost. He found it a week later. In the meantime, someone else loaned him socks and underwear. "Some people may think it's gross to wear someone else's underwear, but under the circumstances," Curt says, "you would do the same thing. It was a welcome change." Remember the television show M.A.S.H.? That's the kind of tent city Curt and Roger lived in, with the added feature of mud all around. The floors were particleboard with a square trough built out of 2x4's and filled with sand. This was for their kerosene stove, which provided heat. The temperatures were in the 20's and 30's at night. However, the jerry cans did not last all night, so someone either had to get up to refill them, or they just had to tough out the cold. Since the refill truck was a long walk from their tent, they opted to tough out the cold, or would steal from a nearby tent. They would get the stove so hot, it would glow red way up the pipe. One time a guy fell into it and they could hear his skin sizzling. Someone standing nearby said, "he's sizzlin', he's sizzlin'," but didn't bother helping him off. Alcohol has a way of redefining one's actions. Their tent, which slept 12, was livable, but the kerosene stove was not very suitable. They all had soot in their lungs for several months afterwards. One morning while the guys were gathered around the stove, Curt noticed pieces of the tent burning and dropping down. He ran outside and leaped on top of the tent. Some of the others handed him two fire extinguishers, but they were empty. Finally, he got some water bottles and put the fire out. Curt claims the fire extinguishers were empty because the night before they had huge bonfires, burning everything in site. His explanation for this was they were trying to duplicate the scorched earth like Saddam was doing to Kuwait! Again, alcohol at its finest! The bathrooms were quite a distance away from their tent. Some of the tents across from them were not occupied, so they used the sand around the stove. They said it was used so much, the sand got saturated and finally they had to fine somewhere else to go. Near the end of the war though, that tent became occupied. They never knew if it got cleaned up prior to that or not. When asked what they could have changed if they had been in charge, both said the tent/living conditions. Apparently, the troops in Saudi Arabia had one piece tents with external electric style heaters and air conditioners. They piped this in through the side of the tent and lived comfortably. The other thing both said they would have changed was the food. The side of the flight line they worked on did not have food available and was on the opposite side from tent city. They didn't have time to go to the chow hall and said they didn't want to anyway, as the food was horrible. They mainly ate MRE's (meals ready to eat). It would have been nice if they could have had a hot meal at least once a week. When I asked what the most rewarding accomplishment or memory they gained from their experience was, Roger said it was knowing that he had the ability to work under pressure. Curt said it was the time he was able to change a radio on a "red ball". A red ball is a call from an airplane with engines running that has something broken. Curt decided the radio needed changing after talking to the crew. As time was of the essence, he grabbed a radio from another plane to replace the broken one. The crew shut down one engine so he could climb aboard. The radio is located underneath the back seater's console and to change it, one has to get upside down, with your head in the seat, then reach under the seat to remove/install the radio. However, the crew was ready to take off and it takes time to strap the crew in, so Curt said to the Weapons System Operator (WSO if he didn't tell anyone, he would just put his head in the WSO's lap and change the radio. Curt did this, and when the WSO did the operation check, he threw his arms up and yelled "YES!" The crew was excited it was fixed so they could perform their mission. Curt's ego was boosted and the importance of his job was reinforced. Even though the decision to replace the radio was a no-brainer, it felt good to accomplish the task under the conditions. Though the troops were there to do a very real job, they had their fun as well. Roger said the funniest non-war related incident was when some guy ate a bunch of dehydrated fruit, drank a liter of water, then got sick! Curt said his funniest memory was Roger sleeping in his underwear with his hands down his pants! I think Curt's final comments sum up this story. "The loss of life for the allies was low and the sacrifices we paid were very small compared to wars of past. I'm proud to have served my country and would do it again in a heartbeat. I just hope that everyone in the civilian community and especially the military realizes that one day the ultimate sacrifice could be asked of them." For photos of Turkey and the Gulf War, visit Curt's web site at http://home.earthlink.net/~suterc/