16. Operation XXX

Written: March 7 - 10, 2003

Friday, March 7th
Today was yet another windy day. We attempted to launch out to train refueling via Fatcow, but the weather was too bad to launch. We walked out to the flight line and prelighted then headed back in. Shawn and I walked back in but were pelted by sand and it felt like a sandblaster hitting out exposed skin.

I came back to the tent and worked on compiling some videos to make a Company video of our time in Kuwait thus far. I worked on that for most of the day. After dinner I worked on it some more and had a finished product by 9pm.

Today was Jim Hester’s birthday.

Jim picked up 2 cases of coke from the PX for me. I also received a package from Stef that was sent on or about February 26th. It had Angel Food cake in it! I will eat it for breakfast tomorrow.

CPT Cushwa came in and said there was a huge fire burning in the south side of the camp so we got in the Mule with CPT Hester and drove down to take video of it. It turned out that it was a burn pit with a huge fire going. We took some video to add to another Company video then drove back.

A few minutes later, Mike Siler came in the tent. He thought it was our tents that were burning. I showed him the Company video then went outside to talk with him until 11:30pm. He is in the 101st Airborne and they are still waiting on their aircraft to arrive.


Heard from a few different sources that Powell and Bush said to expect War within a week. I heard later that Powell says March 17th is the day. This corresponds to others sources I heard say March 17th would be a busy day. It’s just the same as all other rumors but perhaps this one is real? You just never know.

Went to the bathroom to shave and brush my teeth then came back to type.

Tomorrow we are going to attempt to do the Fat Cow training during day and night. Hopefully we have good weather. We need to fly again.

My hair is filled with sand. Dirty and nappy.

Saturday, March 8th
Woke up and went outside to enjoy my Angel food cake with Jim Hester. It was his birthday yesterday and I didn’t even think to give him the cake then, but it dawned on me this morning that it was ironic that I got the cake in the mail on his birthday. So, we went outside and shared it. It was absolutely delicious!

Other than the date, you really have no idea which day of the week it is. All days blend into the next and whether it is Monday or Sunday has no real significance.

Flew day and NVG training with the Fat Cows. Pretty good training. I flew with Javier and we learned some good lessons about landings and the Fat Cow itself. Also learned, or at least reinforced, why not to land with the breaks on. I forgot to release the breaks on one of our night landings and we stopped very abruptly. Bad move on my part.

Glenn stopped by today but I was out flying. How did I know he stopped by? He left a screen saver on my computer! It was funny to see that he stopped by and got me, but I wish I could have seen him.

We are progressing more and more towards War. Our Company received an order to provide a certain amount of crews to perform Deliberate PR, Embedded PR and LRS (possibly). Talked to Sam about it. The two crews that will remain Deliperate PR are Sam’s crew and my crew. Good news for Fred, SGT Hester, SPC Somkovic and I—we are quite happy with our crew. We don’t want to be split up.

Got a letter from Stef dated February 20th.

Sunday, March 9th
Another day without realizing what day it was. Spent the day working on flight records with Fred and then relaxing. Were told this evening that we need to be prepared to pack our stuff up within the next few days. This is all in preparation of the ground war beginning, but we still are running are rumors and suppositions that it will happen soon.

Fred and I will continue to work Deliberate PR along with Sam and CPT Hester. We have a remote chance of doing a LRS mission but that is looking more and more remote by the day since we now have B/3-158 on the ground here.

Iraq will be divided into two halves-North and South. The Army will have the north sector and the Marines will have the southern. Looks like we will be pushing on through the entire country from bottom to top before this is all over.

Watched, “Good Fellas.” Good movie.

Monday, March 10th
Getting closer and closer to the War...or at least that is how we are preparing. Today I washed my clothes and put away the things I did not need—mainly the woodland camouflaged things. I repacked all my gear and made sure I had enough things to live with in my rucksack. I hung my clothes to dry and they were dried within a few hours. They also had a good bit of dust and sand on them again, but at least they smell clean.

Received a package from Eric and a letter from Mom. Eric sent me a bunch of food that I shared with my friends.

If everything sticks with the schedule (which it won’t), we are supposed to have all our gear packed by the 12th so it can be loaded up on the trucks that will move into position on the berm shortly after that. No new news.

Still don’t know what the Operation will be called. Since we arrived, all documents related to the upcoming battle plans refer to it (the war) as Operation XXX. “XXX” is the place holder for the eventual name it will be given i.e. Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan); Operation Desert Storm (Liberation of Kuwait); Operation Just Cause (Panama); Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada)...we try to speculate what name this one we be given but can't seem to come up with anything that sounds good.

Perhaps we will find out soon?