The Archive / Season 1, Episode 9
Desert Storm
THE ARCHIVE Season 1, Episode 9: "Desert Storm" --- [ARCHIVAL NOTE: The following letters and testimonies are from American service members who participated in Operation Desert Storm, January-February 1991. The ground war lasted just 100 hours, but the air campaign had raged for six weeks. Over 500,000 American troops deployed to the Persian Gulf. Fewer than 150 died in combat. These are their voices — from a war that seemed almost too easy, until you listened to the people who fought it.] --- [LETTER ONE] From: Specialist Jennifer Martinez, 24th Infantry Division To: Her parents, Los Angeles Date: January 16, 1991 (the night the air war began) Dear Mom and Dad, It's started. We watched the news tonight on a TV someone rigged up in the mess tent, and we saw Baghdad light up like the Fourth of July. Tomahawk missiles, stealth bombers, the whole works. The sky over Iraq is full of American firepower. Everyone's cheering. After six months of waiting in this desert, doing nothing but training and sweating and wondering if Saddam would actually fight, it's finally happening. Some of the guys are treating it like a football game, yelling every time something explodes on screen. I don't feel like cheering. I know those are enemy positions being hit, military targets, legitimate targets. But somewhere under those...