#operation desert shield

[90senergystarbootloader]

operation desert shield, photo by jean-claude coutausse

[remembertheplunge]

Funny how being stranded can do that to you

I grow sleepy, crazy, happy now. Feel more wide open and with life just now than ever. Feel free.Feel good. 

For a bump from a flight  that I did not want to take, I got paid $300. We all did in our two vans. 

Good company. Fun full moon trip. $300 trip ticket free. Free lunch on board. And, what’s best—avoiding the horror of a bumpy late afternoon commuter flight. I dreaded it. 

The trucker’s son is on 10 minutes alert at Pendleton and has been for 3 weeks. The trucker is scared. His son, age 20, said "it’s what I’m trained for, Dad.” Gas (diesel) desert price now $1.53 gallon. Costs $300 to fill truck for $900-1000 miles .He drives hazardous material. Also on board is the trucker’s wife and Christian advisor and a long red haired art history major out of Oregon.. And we got on so well that the van driver thought that we were old friends. We commented that if we were on a plane we would not speak. But, thrown awkwardly into a van, we were for the length of the journey equals and comrade in arms. Funny how being stranded can do that to you. Funny. People really are good. Just takes the right circumstances to bring it out. We share some fears “the plane might crash”, some needs “wow, $300 voucher”. So, I dunno. Life’s neat. 

end of entry

Note 9/24/2025

I had flown from San Diego to San Jose California on September 3, 1990. I was returning from a visit with my sister Zoe who lived in San Diego. I was supposed to take a commuter flight from San Jose to Modesto where I lived but got bumped from the flight, probably because it was over booked. As did the others who ended up in vans that drove us the 90 miles or so to Modesto. The above entry is about the miracle of a missed connection, a flight, and how it led to a connection between strangers. And, our common beauty was revealed as a result.

In September 1990, the US was involved in operation Desert Sheild, deploying troops to counter Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The trucker's son was probably on 10 minute alert for deployment to Operation Desert Sheild.

[thatsrightice]

F-14 FUN FACT OF THE DAY #51

In August 1990, at the very beginning of Operation Desert Shield, two F-14 Tomcats were sent to agressively intercept an unidentified fast-moving aircraft. The US Navy was currently on high alert with F-14 Tomcats flying 24/7 to protect Navy boats in the Persian Gulf following an incident where an Iraqi Dassault Falcon 50 "Suzanne", a busines jet outfitted with advanced weapons systems and radars, had attacked a US frigate. The USS Stark had been hit by two anti-ship missiles, killing 37 crew and injuring many others.

With the tensions among US Naval ships high, the two F-14s quickly locked onto the unidentified aircraft. Their systems were unable to identify it as it was flying at a very high altitude, so David "Hey Joe" Parson, an F-14 RIO flying in one of the Tomcats, pulled a camera with a 300 mm lens out of his backpack. Using the camera as a spyglass of sorts, he was able to easily identify the silhouette of a Concorde (and take this picture).

They let the Concorde continue on its way :)

[supplyside]

Operation Desert Shield / Storm

[nocternalrandomness]

Returning to the carrier

A Fighter Squadron 33 (VF-33) F-14A Tomcat banks into a turn as it heads for a landing aboard the aircraft carrier USS AMERICA (CV 66) during Operation Desert Shield. (1 January 1991)

[lonestarbattleship]

Off-duty crew members jog on the deck of USS WISCONSIN (BB-64). She was deployed in the gulf to support Operation Desert Shield.

Photographed by PH1 Bruce Morris in December 1990.

NARA: 6467958

[whattolearntoday]

A bit of August 7th history...

1428 - Valais witch trial proceedings begin in Valais Canton, Switzerland, 1st organized witch trials

1573 - Francis Drake’s fleet returns to Plymouth after a year spent raiding for Spanish treasure

1782 - George Washington creates the Purple Heart Medal (originally called the Badge of Military Merit)

1882 - Hatfields of south West Virginia and the McCoys of east Kentucky feud, 100 wounded or die (pictured)

1990 - US deploys troops to Saudi Arabia beginning Operation Desert Shield

[todaysdocument]

Soldiers from the 6th Signal Brigade prepare to deploy to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield, 12/19/1990

Series: Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files, 1982 - 2007

Record Group 330: Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1921 - 2008

Image description: Two Black soldiers sit and read brochures on Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Warfare. They are in battle dress and hold their rifles next to them. We can’t tell the name of the soldier on the left (it ends in -YCE). The soldier on the right has his name, FREEMAN, on the strap of his helmet.