War in the Gulf: 20 years later: Nevada played large part in training Desert Storm pilots

Twenty years ago, on Jan. 17, 1991, Baghdad's early morning tranquility lay shattered when coalition forces began bombing the Iraqi capital after months of negotiations and sanctions failed to drive President Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait.

The first explosions that were reported by CNN gave worldwide audiences a glimpse into Operation Desert Storm as pilots flew more than 100,000 sorties into the country for the next two months, dropping 88,000 tons of bombs. The air campaign either destroyed or damaged thousands of military and civilian buildings.

Iraqi forces invaded neighboring Kuwait on Aug. 2, and within a week, the Pentagon began deploying American troops as part of Operation Desert Shield. Behind the scenes, the United Nation's Security Council enacted economic sanctions on Iraq, and Secretary of State James Baker put together a coalition that included many of the United States' traditional allies and many countries from the Arab world.

President George H.W. Bush repeatedly told Hussein that if he pulled back Iraqi troops from Kuwait, then the likelihood of war would diminish considerably.

On Jan. 12, 1991, both the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution. The Senate vote was 52-47 with both Nevada senators - Richard Bryan and Harry Reid - voting for the resolution.

After a month of bombing, coalition ground forces pushed their way into southern Iraq on Feb. 24, and 100 hours later, Saddam's forces were retreating.

The hub of Navy training

Naval Air Station Fallon emerged as a big player leading up to and during the Gulf War.

The Naval Strike Warfare Center trained pilots arriving from the carrier air groups.

"We prepared the different air wings from the aircraft carriers on an accelerated basis. It was real intense,

12-14 hours a day, seven days a week," recalled retired Lt. Cmdr. Steve Endacott of Fallon, who first worked at the Strike Warfare Center in the contingency cell and then transferred to tactics in 1991. "We were teaching and preparing air wings to go to Desert Storm/Desert Shield."

Leading up to Jan. 17, Endacott and his commanding officer from Strike Warfare traveled extensively to the Mideast to brief pilots on the latest tactics and techniques to destroy the Iraqi war machine. Their itinerary took them specifically to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and then to the ships in the Persian Gulf.

According to Endacott, not only would Strike Warfare officers instruct pilots on the latest tactics in the Gulf region but also bring tactical concerns back to Fallon.

Endacott also said the Navy used NAS Fallon as a training ground for cruise missiles, which were fired from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.

Once the bombing against Baghdad began, Endacott said cruise missiles and the U.S. Air Force's one-man F117A Stealth fighters, which trained at a test site east of Tonopah, attacked the Iraqi capital first.

Retired Capt. Rex Rackowitz, who returned to Missouri after he left the service, remembers when the first bombs smashed into Baghdad.

"Like everybody we were glued to the television getting news of what was going on there," Rackowitz said.

Knowing the tactics and aircraft used in the first sorties over the country made it easy for Rackowitz and other NAS Fallon aviators to follow.

The 33-year career Naval officer said the unpredictability of Saddam Hussein made the military nervous, especially with his threats of using chemical warfare on coalition forces.

But as he watched the air battles unfold, Rackowitz said the battle plan went as expected.

"It was flawless," he said.

As with millions of other Americans, Rackowitz spent hours each day watching the TV news reports from the Middle East. The daily military briefings conducted before news reporters also made the war more transparent.

"It was phenomenal," he explained. "The military made a concerted effort to have an information flow. "They (the briefers) got the truth out there in a forum people could understand."

Rackowitz said he had concerns about the American public's reaction to sending military personnel to the Middle East in what were considered the first significant battles since the Vietnam War. Integrating the National Guard and Reserves with the active components reached into every community.

"Everyone going to war was a father or mother, son or daughter, a brother or sister. It was personal on that level," Rackowitz said.

Hospital corpsman Dennis Lee, who retired in 1994 and remained in Fallon, said the clinic was also directly affected by the deployments of health specialists. Navy reservists were ordered to NAS Fallon to back fill the positions.

He said the Navy assigned many medics to a hospital ship in the Persian Gulf; some remained stateside.

Lee said since he supervised the pharmacy, he was told his services were need more in Fallon than overseas.

American casualties

Although more than 150 U.S. servicemen and women died during both Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Rackowitz said he was gratified the losses were small.

"I hate to see losses during a war, but it's predictable," he added.

However, the first Navy pilot shot down was 33-year-old Lt. Cmdr. Scott Speicher, who was assigned to the USS Saratoga along with former Naval Strike Air Warfare Center commander, Rear Adm. Mark Fox.

Like so many other pilots before him, Speicher had trained at NAS Fallon.

Fox, who recorded the first kills of Desert Storm when he shot down a MIG, never rested until Speicher was found. When Fox was assigned to Baghdad in 2006, he talked to investigators looking into Speicher's status.

Three years later Marines patrolling Anwar Province found the remains of an American, and tests confirmed Speicher's identity.

"Scott came home last year," Fox said at his 2010 NSAWC change of command when he rotated out to become commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Central Command and Commander, Fifth Fleet, Bahrain.

"We brought him home because of the hard work of the people."

Air Guard deploys

While the Naval Strike Warfare Center moved into a 24/7 operation to train Navy pilots, the Nevada Air National Guard received word from the Pentagon that the 152nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron would be called up and sent to Bahrain during the Desert Shield build-up.

"It was a mixed emotion, and involved process, to send men and women into a danger zone," said former Gov. Bob Miller last week.

Miller, who spent six years in both the U.S. Army and Air Force reserves, knew there was a possibility Nevadans would be called up to serve in the Middle East and felt confident the soldiers and airmen had the necessary training to do well.

"Nevada was fortunate to have Gen. (Maj. Gen. Drennan A. "Tony") Clark as adjutant general. He was incredibly competent, and I valued him for his advice," Miller said.

And with both Nevada Air and Army guardsmen facing deployment, Miller said he was in awe of the number of brave men and women serving their country.

"Nevadans were proud and supportive of their neighbors" serving their country, said Miller.

The High Rollers based at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport consisted of more than 100 pilots and support personnel who received deployment orders to replace a unit that couldn't meet training requirements.

"NGB (National Guard Bureau) called and asked how quickly we could be ready," Clark recollected.

Time began ticking way quickly for the High Rollers and their flight crews.

The Nevada Military Department and U.S. Navy agreed to a plan whereby aggressors from VFA127 at NAS Fallon would train the RF-4C recon pilots. Clark said the Navy worked with aircrews for three weeks at one of the Fallon ranges. The state's top military leader, who retired in 2001, said Air Guard pilots flew 18 missions a day, six at time in the morning, midday and evening.

"The RF-4s were not armed. They were reconnaissance jets. The pilots had to learn escape and evade techniques, and very few fighter pilots are willing to fly low - 25 feet over a desert floor - at 650 knots," Clark said.

After determining the training was successful, the National Guard sent eight RF-4Cs and two spares to the Middle East along with support personnel. Clark said additional Air Guard crews trained at Fallon in case there were needed.

During Desert Shield, Clark said the Nevada pilots flew reconnaissance missions along the border with Iraq but not in Iraqi air space. Once Desert Storm began, the RF-4Cs flew missions over Iraq to identify targets, and once fighters and bombers took out their targets, the High Rollers would return to do a Bomb Damage Assessment to determine the extent of damages.

This was also a conflict of the unknowns, as Clark explained. He said the Iraqi army, which was considered to be the fourth largest in the world with more than 500,000 soldiers, had tremendous tank and artillery power. Clark said he was also concerned with the Iraqi Air Force that had Soviet MIG 23s, 25s and 29s.

"We didn't know what we would get ourselves into," he said.

Clark said he was gratified after Desert Storm knowing not one Nevada pilot or soldier was killed.

Guarding Iraqi POWs

The Nevada Army Guard processed only one unit for deployment, the 72nd Military Police Co., with a detachment in Ely and headquarters in Las Vegas.

Less than two years before a statewide realignment of units, the 72nd MPs had their headquarters in Fallon and occasionally trained with the security police at NAS Fallon.

Troop Command Battalion relocated from Elko to Hawthorne in late 1988 and included the military police, and A (Fallon) and C (Yerington) companies of the first Battalion of the 82nd Cav (Mech).

President Bush pledged by October 1990 that at least 50,000 guard and reserve personnel would be called up with more slated for deployment.

Retired Col. Larry Sage assumed command of the battalion in 1989 and had his staff perform an analysis of the units.

"We knew the 72nd MPs would go because they were trained as EPW (enemy prisoners of war) guards in additional to being MPs. "I knew they would go as unit."

Sage then hired a training officer who had just completed active duty. Then-Maj. Alicia Nyland was an MP officer and familiar with mission tasks. Sage knew deploying the 72nd would be a challenge.

"It was the first time since World War II units were going, not individuals," Sage pointed out. "The guard was going to be able to fight together. Another thing, half of the guardsmen were veterans and had been on active duty."

"When they (72nd MP Co.) were called up, they were almost fully manned, and then we took volunteers to make them 100 percent," said Clark. "We took equipment to fully equip them."

Troop Command and state headquarters traveled to Las Vegas to process the 105-member unit for deployment. The MP's under the command of then-Capt. Michael Carlson drew their members from Las Vegas, Fallon, Ely and Carson City and included a number of prison guards, police officers and deputies. Retired Sgt. 1st Class Bill Canterbury of Fallon, the personnel action (PAC) supervisor, said insurance records needed to be up-to-date as did personal information.

Once hostilities broke out in mid-January, Canterbury said he had an uneasy feeling about what Saddam Hussein would do.

"I was concerned about our unit. Concerned Saddam would use gas. That was a big worry for me," Canterbury said. "I didn't know what that crazy fool would do."

Canterbury wasn't the only worried one in the battalion. He said others were fearful the war could escalate into something larger and harder to contain.

Clark said the 72nd left for Ft. Ord, Calif., in the autumn and trained before deployment. Clark said the unit was well trained and met all requirements in a short amount of time.

"They went first to Kuwait and set up a POW camp. Then they started training other units and setting up and operating other POW camps," Clark explained.

Once the guardsmen left country, they would eventually wind up in southern Saudi Arabia setting up a POW camp out of Scud missile range.

According to the National Guard, the MPs provided technical assistance on security to engineers building four POW camps in Saudi Arabia. About 80,000 Iraqi soldiers were captured and housed at the POW camps.

"The whole state was affected," Sage said with the deployment. Police departments saw a number of their departments depleted."

The work for the battalion had just begun. The two Cav units, which were assigned to a battalion out of Bend, Ore., continued to train extensively. Troop Command oversaw a family support program that provided assistance to family members remaining behind and also organizing care packages.