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Over the next few days, as the US Military started to deploy it all grew closer. Our transit aircraft line grew much more busy with C-141 Starlifter and C-5 Galaxy supply flights making stops on the way to the Mid East. As the traffic increased, at times it almost seemed to crowd our wing of F-16s off of the flightline.

The 401st Tactical Fighter Wing was the only flying wing assigned to the 16th Air Force, also based at Torrejon. Our commitment was to patrol and defend Southern Europe and the Mediterranean region from our base in Spain, and our deployment locations at Aviano AB, Italy and Incirlik AB, Turkey.

With Incirlik's location close to Iraq it seemed like a good bet that we would end up in Turkey before very long. Of course the rumors were flying - how many aircraft would deploy? Where? When? The only thing that I knew for sure was that there was a huge amount of MAC traffic through our little airbase and even I was driving a 'Follow Me' truck to help our Transit Alert guys (Umm, guys, you know I don't have a military license? -- Well, just don't hit anything...)"

"My 'real job' at Torrejon was as an F-16 mechanic, I worked in Hangar 5, the 401EMS Phased Maintenance hangar, on the 613th TFS 'The Squids' F-16C/D aircraft. Every 150 flying hours we would open each aircraft up and do a pretty intensive inspection, correct the faults we had found, and perform scheduled maintenance. Not the 'glamour' job of working on the flightline (I know, I hated going to phase when I was flightline at MacDill AFB) but it was usually more 'in-depth' than line work. Also it was nice to be inside, out of the Spanish summer sun and the winter's cold.

At the time we were on 12 hour shifts even though phase work had been pretty relaxed since the airlift had started, fewer aircraft had been flying, so there were fewer aircraft to inspect.

It was around midnight on August 28th that we received some of the first answers to all of the rumors. The telephone rang in the inspection dock and the 614TFS 'Lucky Devils' recall was on."

"At most stateside bases a recall is basically a telephone excercise. At Torrejon, where telephones are very expensive and still rather rare, it is a door-to-door driving exercise. Our supervisor started the fun, "OK, who has a car?" Everyone that lived off base was required to have directions and a map to their apartment 'on file' in our office. At this point, seeing some of the maps, it became obvious why some of us became mechanics and not artists. I had a car, and was handed a map.

I had deployed to Aviano the previous spring with the 614th and knew the phase mechanics well. As I set out for Alcala, about 5 miles down the N2 highway, that night with my map I knew that the mechanic I was informing wouldn't take the deployment as good news. His wife was eight months pregnant with their first child. By the time I returned from 'my mission' the word was spreading that the Lucky Devils were deploying to Qatar. Now I've always been pretty good at geography, and am kind of a 'news junkie', but I'll admit, I'd never heard of Qatar.

I asked about the mechanic that I'd informed and his pregnant wife. Being single (and with no real plans for that weekend) I volunteered to go in his place, but was told that he would deploy with his unit and would not return until his unit returned. It was several hours later that we sent out search parties for some of the people trying to follow hand drawn maps around central Spain. By the time I returned to work that night (29 August 1990) the Lucky Devils were gone, with their 24 F-16's and their equipment and personnel in 3 KC-10 Extender refueling aircraft."

"As I report to you, air attacks are under way against military targets in Iraq...I've told the American people before that this will not be another Vietnam. And I repeat this here tonight. Our troops will have the best possible support in the entire world, and they will not be asked to fight with one hand tied behind their back."

I saw the missile launched at Captain Mike Roberts jet and called for him to "break right." Missile went trough his jet and all I saw was his jet vaporize. Though he was dead for nearly a week.

"Aircraft #87-0228 was also shot down on January 19th, 1991. Then Captain Mike Roberts was flying 228 and took a direct hit on the underside of the F-16. The other pilots came back and said that the F-16 was split in half, the cockpit pitched down and that they didn't see any parachute. We all thought that he was killed until we see both Tice and Roberts paraded in front of the CNN camera as prisoners of war."

"I was the dedicated crew chief of aircraft #87-0257 while assigned to the 614th Aircraft Maintenance Unit, Torrejon AB, Spain. The aircraft deployed to Doha, Qatar in support of Operation Desert Shield/Storm. It was an awesome flying machine. It flew over 30 consecutive flights Code 1(no defects) during the initial days of Desert Storm!"

"Major Tice was suppose to fly #86-0288 but refused to as 288 had one less chaff/flare canister (some Falcons had an extra chaff/flare canister added and 257 was one of them). 257 was a spare and he came over (288 was parked right next to me). I had to clean the cockpit area up as there was some sand in it from the other jets taxiing. I then followed Maj. Tice around 257, he had a habit of spitting into the exhaust area and didn't this time as he was in a hurry (this caused a few minor arguments as some crew chiefs said that he did... he didn't as I stood right beside him as he looked in the exhaust area).

I then buckled him in the cockpit and launched him out. I always tell the pilot that I will see him when he comes back, have a good flight and shake his hands but didn't this time (I always tell the pilot that I will see him twice before I launch him out now... once before I climb down from the ladder and once just before I unhook the comm cord to launch him out)."

Did NOT spit in exhaust of #87-0257. Did not have time for "proper" walk around after ground abort of #87-0248 for radio failure.

During the fifth or sixth missile avoidance maneuver, my RWR lit up with the first SAM guidance signal locked on me.

Returned to friendly territory in Riyadyh, Saudi Arabia and then was sent to Bahrain for a hospital stay. Returned to the United States for recovery at Malcom Grow Medical Center in Washington DC. Returned to Torrejon AB, Spain in April 1991 and was back flying by tax day the same year.

"During Operation Iraqi Freedom I was tapped as a "BALO" (Battalion Air Liaison Officer) for the 1st of the 187th Infantry of the 101st AD. I was greeted by a company commander on our first day of invading Al Hallah saying they had found a canopy, and it had English on it. I went with him to the Football stadium and recognized the canopy immediately as a Viper's. Also, I knew that (as far as I knew) a Viper had not been shot down in by this stage of the operation, and that the canopy looked aged so I knew it must had been from Desert Storm. While we were so tight on vehicle space our battalion was "borrowing" trucks from the Iraqis, I could not find a way for us to take it with us. But I was able to ensure that an aviation unit was able to take care of it and try to get it back to the states."

"The canopy was brought to my (stateside) neighbor by a unit that found it in a stadium near Iskandaria. They had heard that the 101st had an Air Force Weather Detachment assigned to them at the air base we were occupying at the time so they brought it over. The Weather Detachment later abandoned it due to lack of ability to transport the canopy so B Company 8-101st took possession. B Company 8-101st Aviation Battalion moved to Mosul on May 5th, 2003. The canopy was transported on the back of a "water buffalo." The canopy was covered in order to conceal it from view so not to incite a possible reaction from the Iraqis while traveling to Mosul.

A soldier from the 187th Infantry (under the 101st) stopped by my house today and told me that his unit had found the canopy in Hallah Stadium and he always wondered what happened to it and was surprised to see it here so he stopped to ask about it. He told me that the stadium was full of war trophies as well as munitions that they destroyed. He did say that they were there for such a short period of time that he did not have time to get a lot of details about the place or examine all of the contents.

Anyway, when Rob, my neighbor here at Fort Campbell, was given the canopy, his wing commander told him to bring it home. Since he and three fellow Airmen were living and working out of a HMMWV, the canopy was not a priority. I bumped into him on the way to the restrooms (or rather 'tubes') (you laugh, I'm serious!) and asked him about the canopy and he said if I wanted it to take it. Neither of us thought we could get it back but it was worth a try.

Well, we dragged the thing all over Iraq with us. When it came time to get her back, we slid it into the bottom of an ISU-90 and brought it home. Customs seemed to enjoy the story of the canopy and did not give us a hard time about it.

I contacted a friend that is an OSI agent and he helped me find Capt. (now Maj.) Kenneth 'Railer' Rossen and he told me the story of the loss of the canopy in 1991.

My intent is to take it to Arizona this summer and link up with Jeff Tice and Kenneth and pass the canopy over to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tuscan. While I have been encouraged to give it to the 101st Airborne Museum, I know it will never be displayed. I think they will at Pima. It is a piece of history and deserves to be seen."

Last time I saw it, it was falling away from me at about 20,000 feet. Was a bit disturbing to see it once again. Made me "flashback" to Jan 1991 for a brief moment. Still gives me goose bumps just to look at it again. After a fall of 20,000+ feet it looks pretty damn good!

There are people intimately associated with the machinery of war and those people (not just me!) should be remembered with the same reverence we give the aircraft displays in the museum.