|
A short story related to jet fighters and afterburners - mid August 1990 found me in al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia as part of the very tip end of the US Military spear ( 7th Marine Regiment) in response to to Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. We were staged at the airfield for several days as recon elements were pushed out, getting the lay of the land, etc. It was somewhat of a tense time as Saddam's full intentions were still unknown. Initially, we did not have much in the way of firepower, other than organic weapon systems. To be fair, the Army had a battalion of the 82d Airborne there, but they were "light in the britches" as well. We were also providing airfield security to our best asset in theater - fighter jets.
I don't recall what was there - F-18's, F-16's? What I do recall though is watching the jets take off in tandem, night after night, always at zero dark thirty and always in full after-burner. For security purposes, the base was in total light blackout. To watch, hear and feel the jet's blasting off into the night sky was truly awe-inspiring and elicited a very visceral response.
Fast forward 13 years to another country, (Iraq) another war, and watching fighter's blasting off in the wee hours of the morning. Same gut wrenching experience.
Add a few more years, yet another war, another country ( A-Stan), and watching fighters blast off in full afterburner from Bagram Airfield, clawing for altitude. Personal response now?
Let's get this war over and go home.
|