I originally considered starting out with a tee-shirt that depicts several planes used for aeromedical evacuation. However, after input from my daughter, I have decided to start with a very significant tee-shirt that will be part of this quilt project. It is my tee-shirt from Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I have spent 20 plus years in aeromedical evacuation as a medical technician on flying status. In 1991 I was relatively new to the career field. I had trained to fly medical missions on the C-130 aircraft and knew that this plane could go anywhere. It could even land on dirt runways. In January of 1991 I left friends and family to evacuate the wounded from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. Large numbers of casualties were expected. Fortunately, for all concerned, these numbers did not materialize. After a week of traveling, we landed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We spent some time in transient quarters, small trailers set up with cots. I was there when the first scud missiles were fired on Riyadh and OPERATION Desert Shield became Desert Storm. I witnessed the explosions as our Patriot missiles intercepted the scud missiles. The following week we traveled north. I slept on tent floors. I also spent time in bunkers with my gas mask on as more missiles were fired in our direction. I eventually ended up 11 miles from the Iraqi border in the middle of nowhere. The scenery was similar to the terrain on the moon, grey and desolate. We put our efforts into setting up a Mobile Air Staging Facility next to a dirt runway surrounded by berms. Our time was spent preparing and waiting for patients. We lived in tents and were given 1 hot meal a day. Every few days, we were trucked across the desert to take showers . These showers were set up in tents and timed to last only 3 minutes. Despite the hardships, all of us believed that we were there to serve the greater good, to take care of patients in need and to do our part towards the success of the mission. This tee-shirt represents those hardships as well as the commitments and the camaraderie during that time in my life and during that moment in history.
