The phone rang at around 2130 (That's 9:30 PM for you civilians!) on September 20th, 1990. Whenever the phone rang after 2100 any night, I was always concerned — primarily because it was always bad news. This night proved no excption.

"Hello?", I said. After a brief pause, the voice on the other end of the line said, "Chief, this is the skipper." It was the way the Commander said it. I knew that the balloon had gone up. The next words I spoke were, "When do we report?" The skipper knew. "We report at 0730 tomorrow morning at the LA Center", said Commander Nemechek. "Very well, skipper. I will start calling the Es" I said. Commander Nemechek said, "Thanks, Chief. Call me at home when you're done", and he hung up.

That was the beginning of my involvement in Operation Desert Shield and Opeation Desert Storm. I spent the next 364 days back on Navy active duty.

The photos and captions that follow show life "in the desert."

This is a view shot out the door of a Navy helicopter of our new city of residence, Al-Jubayl in Saudi Arabia.
A little ways out of town, the Marines setup one of their many "tent cities."
More tents! Now I know why I will NEVER go camping again!
A convoy of off-loaded material on its way from Al-Jubayl to Marines at an undisclosed forward position.
No, those are not cow (camel?) droppings; they are mines left behind by the Iraqi Republican Guard. This was close enough for me.
Off in the distance, you can see the plumes of smoke from a gun battle taking place. I'm not sure whom was shooting at whom. And at this point, I had no desire to find out!