Forum: General

Attention all the 614th TFS Lucky Devils and the DESERT SHIELD/STORM "Forgotten 1000":

It is past time for a reunion that matches the courage and character of the Lucky Devils and the "Forgotten 1000," and we're about to have the best reunion ever in the Fall of 2009 in Las Vegas. We've got room for 250 plus of you so sign up early. If more sign up we'll figure out a way to support your attendance, but please commit early.

In 1991, more than seventeen years ago, we served together and faced an enemy force of nearly a million Iraqis occupying Kuwait after a surprise, unwarranted invasion of that peaceful country. With little notice we deployed thousands of miles to a place most of us had never heard of to defend another country and prevent the Iraqi military from carrying out expected further aggressive acts along the shores of the Persian Gulf. We succeeded in our mission in Qatar and a few months after our deployment the citizens of Kuwait were again free and the entire Iraqi military was on the run. We flew more than 1300 combat sorties and we faced threats from SCUDS, SAMS, AAA, combat aircraft and a formidable ground force. Along with our allies we defeated the enemy's attempts to kill us, and the courage of the 614th Fighter Squadron and AMU will always be part of the fabric of the history of the world and America's military.

We defended our base and prepared for enemy attacks that might include chemical, biological, and radiological weapons; we launched our F-16Cs with a level of maintenance reliability that was unprecedented; and we established lasting friendships with the air forces of other nations. We aggressively flew our F-16s and attacked the Iraqi Republican Guard with precision firepower that devastated the Iraqi military's capability to threaten our waiting ground forces. After some forty days of our US and ally airpower attacks, our Army and Marine and coalition ground force partners ran the Iraqi military out of Kuwait in less than a 100 hours.

We built our combat capability and a ready-for-war air wing from the bare desert and a minimally equipped airfield. Our weapons storage area adjacent to a 1000-person tent city and runway complex will always be definitive standard for a "fighting air base" that none of us will ever forget. We pulled together and supported each other and continued to take the fight to the enemy in spite of two of our aircraft and pilots lost to enemy fire. We were courageous and even more committed after the shoot down of our brothers; we would not quit until they were home safely, and we were there when they did come home.

As we continue to put together our Fall 2009 reunion in Las Vegas, my heartfelt hope is that in the next few months we will renew friendships, we will remember the good times and the bad times, and that we will be even closer brothers and sisters as we share memories of a time in our lives that will always define who we are because we were committed to give our lives to serve a higher cause -- to take care of each other and to defeat an enemy of freedom. May God bless our 614th Fighter Squadron "Lucky Devils" and I look forward to the honor of being with you again.

Our Nov 2009 Las Vegas Reunion website, http://www.LuckyDevilReunion.com just went "LIVE!"

Please go to the site and take advantage of a great opportunity to once again join forces, remember your service to our Nation, the camaraderie and a time in our lives I know we will never, never forget. I hope many of you will make reservations as soon as you can. Use the website and the next year to renew friendships and share memories of combat operations that helped keep the United States of America free and secure. See you all in November at Nellis!

Respectfully,

Bruce A. "Orville" Wright
LtGen, USAF (Ret)

F-16.net Sponsor

Forum: General

Lucky Devils and Forgotten 1000 Reunion