Desert Borne!
Setting: Fort Campbell, Ky, June 1990. I had recently become the S4 (supply guy) of a Corps Support Group (Brigade size unit…ok ok, for you non-military types, a Brigade like this has about 3500 men and women). And life was good. In July, the Group got a new commander, Colonel Roy E. Beauchamp (a true logistician), who was a stickler for details. And life was okay. On 2 August, as I was headed to Vermont for my parents’ farm auction as my dad had just retired from farming, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait—I was called back to Fort Campbell while en route (had gotten as far as Carlisle, PA). Life was so-so. Upon my return, my job was to convert a small HQs from a non-deployable unit, to a larger one capable of sustaining combat while providing command and control over those thousands soldiers in the subordinate support-style units (transportation, supply, food service, engineers, etc). Within 30 days (Roy’s mission to me) I was able to order, process and issue all the necessary vehicles, weapons, and sundry other items in order for us to be able to deploy on orders to ‘the Gulf’. Our unit was also given a new name to finalize our transition. Then came early October…we boarded aircraft headed for the Saudi Arabian desert. Life was apprehensive. Within a couple of months, I had built a small city in that desert creating a road network, restarted two old water wells, negotiated with local Saudis for items such as tents, air conditioners, boots…you name it. Life was fun. Then, our unit’s S3 (operations guy) had a nervous breakdown around Christmas of ‘90 and was sent home to the States. Roy E. decided he wanted ME to replace him. Life was once more apprehensive. As ‘the 3’ I coordinated a multitude of actions for the Brigade while directing and supervising the construction of a Tactical Operations Center (TOC) out of four MILVANS (40-foot metal containers you might see on the back of commercial trucks) and lots of plywood and plastic. We moved that TOC four times over the next few months, going from four vans to two mobile ones hauled around Saudi Arabia and Iraq by two Pakistani truck drivers I hired. Then came the ground war. On day minus one (15 January 1991), Roy had me lead an advance party northward from the ‘safe’ Saudi desert into the disputed border with the enemy, the Iraqis. The largest weapon my 32-person (men and women) convoy had was an M60 (we had 2 of those), and as this was the day BEFORE the start of the war, all the air support (helicopters) from the 101st AASLT Division were still back in Saudi Arabia preparing for day one. We were alone in enemy territory with no real ‘G2’ (intelligence feedback or knowledge of the enemy’s location) and extremely limited firepower or protection. Life was scary.
Well, this story turns out well. As you know, the coalition forces rapidly defeated the Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein, and that war, known as "Desert Storm", ended April 10th, 1991. Upon my return to Fort Campbell, one of my soldiers in the 3 shop came up with our new slogan, ‘Desert Borne’, and we had t-shirts made up to commemorate our brief war experience. Life was once more good.
The Fayetteville Church’s devotional for today centers on remembering the blessings formed from adversity. I learned a tremendous amount about my own abilities during the Desert Shield and Desert Storm campaigns, and consider myself blessed by God to have been able to not only survive that type of war (which is not exactly the same style of fighting our brave military men and women are now STILL performing in that desert and mountainous region of the world), but also to have learned a lot about facing adversity. Notice I did not mention God in my story. He was not in my life then (or at least I didn’t think so back then because I didn’t know Him). It was not until five years later that I became a disciple of Jesus. It was at that time, 1996, that I had time to reflect on my entire life, not just my ‘war experience’, and recall the many adversities I faced (and sometimes caused). I have learned SO much more in the past 15 years than I did the other 47 years of my life. God has helped me through not only a tumultuous 2011, but an equally turbulent life filled with valleys of ugly sinful behavior.
Yesterday, I queried ya’ll if you’d like to share your 2011 life with the group. I got no responses. So, today, I decided to let you even MORE into my life…maybe you will return the favor. My unit was born(e) out of a desert experience, as was in many ways, my new life as I realized adversities are put here on earth so we may learn and grow. "…now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1st Peter 1:6b-7) May God bless each of you this final week of the year, and be with you each and every day for the rest of your lives (good, apprehensive, fun, or whatever)!