Gulf War 1991 – Jan 18th – Day 72

January 18 – Day 72, totally shattered now, we’ve not slept properly since it all kicked off in the early hours of the 17th. Our generator was a right mess and needed de-coking so Woody took care of that today. We’ve been in NBC suits all the time so are sweating buckets. Today we both worked on our air raid shelter.


Now the astute person may well consider that this is something that perhaps we should have taken care of prior to the war starting. For a civil explanation we need to pop back to January the 13th. Unlucky 13 rings true on day 67, it was shite.





Our 67th day in theatre and it was on this day we were given the heads up of the pre-emptive strike. It was possible that it would be bombs away in the early hours so that accelerated things a tad, plus Woody got a really bad letter. His Nan had written to him with news that his Father had suffered a suspected heart attack. That in itself was a show stopper. Then to top it all, our ferking air raid shelter collapsed. January the 13th 1991, a crap day in War history.





So back to the 18th now and things were looking better. Woody had managed to speak to his Dad today and he’s on the road to recovery. We also received 10 medics to the site, worst case scenario I guess and the man power is upto 60 plus. Not bad considering we should only have 23. The weather thus far has been totally bonk with very heavy winds which create enormous sandstorms. There is nowhere to shield yourself so everything gets covered. Woody notes that “we are still sitting around doing jack shit”. Spot on.





To be honest, we aren’t doing much but watching the show. We have aircraft coming in and out of the site to refuel and rearm but comms wise, it’s the occasional sit rep and a waffle with some pals. That’s if the Ptarmigan actually works. It doesn’t! By Jan 19th we had finished the air raid shelter ( again ) and it was looking pretty cosy. I wasn’t convinced it would stand a direct hit and to be honest a strong breeze would compromise its integrity. However its there, it’s ours and we are happy.