#DesertStorm30

If you’re the survivor of a Veteran who died from a toxic exposure-related condition, you may qualify for new benefits like the VA DIC Program.

During Operation Desert Storm, there was an anthem that came to define the war: Lee Greenwood's country song "God Bless the U.S.A." When Greenwood originally released the song in 1984, it was moderately successful. The song peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart July 28, 1984. However, the song took on a renewed life during Operation Desert Storm.

Gary Kunich originally wrote this first-hand account the morning after Desert Storm started, when he was a 21-year-old Air Force sergeant. It’s 11:55 p.m., Jan. 16. The clock continues ticking past the United Nations’ deadline for Iraq to leave Kuwait. While the world holds its breath in anticipation of war, F-16s sit silently on a quiet runway. Will these mighty, Fighting Falcons fly into combat tonight? If they do, when?

During Desert Storm, there were many faces of the war. […]

When Air Force Veteran Greg Feest took off in his F-117 Jan. 16, 1991, there was a 50/50 chance he wasn’t coming back. Iraq was one of the most heavily defended airspaces in history. According to the Gulf War Air Power Survey, there were 972 anti-aircraft artillery sites, 2,404 guns and 6,100 mobile guns. There were also surface-to-air missiles: 6,500 SA-7s, 400 SA-9s, 192 SA-13s, and 288 SA-14s. Pilots spent months planning operations, developing routes and making target lists during Operation Desert Shield. During that planning, the numbers were grim. For the 12 F-117s that left Jan. 16, commanders said six might not return. Most spouses didn’t know when the Desert Storm air war started and watched the TV coverage from the U.S. Bridget McGovern, Feest’s wife and also an Air Force Veteran, knew hours before. She watched from a command center at their base in Saudi Arabia.

On their second mission during Operation Desert Storm, the crew of an AC-130H gunship, call sign Ghost 02, flew a mission that none of them should have lived to tell. Flying into Iraqi airspace, the 14 men aboard destroyed a command and control center, then evaded three surface-to-air missiles through death-defying maneuvers in the lumbering, four-propeller aircraft. The crew’s actions followed their aircraft commander’s first and last rule: all 14 men come home alive.

In 1990 the newest aircraft in the Air Force’s fleet of KC-135 air refueling tankers was already 25 years old. The venerable airframe based on the Boeing 707 airliner and its crews were being asked to do something few of them had been trained to do – take part in a conventional war.

Desert Shield and Desert Storm Veterans who want to comment on their health concerns or ask about Gulf War Research can do so through the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses.

Army Veteran Harry Low has always been on a mission to save other people. His mission started in 1988, when he followed two older brothers in the service. He was a combat medic in an engineering unit, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. By 1992, Low’s mission to care for military ended when he left the Army. He picked up a new mission, caring for Veterans as a VA employee.

As we reflect back on Desert Storm and all those who served 30 years ago, let us take a moment to pause and remember the fallen. Below are names of 32 service members who were killed in action and buried in VA's national cemeteries. People can visit their virtual memorial by clicking on their name.

Desert Storm was a short war, but Veterans from that era still have many different avenues and programs to connect with VA.

Nearly 700,000 men and women served in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s. Now, three decades later, as many as a third of that population are affected by a cluster of medically unexplained chronic symptoms that have plagued them following their return from deployment. The symptoms can include fatigue, headaches, joint pain, indigestion, bowel discomfort, insomnia, dizziness, respiratory disorders, skin problems, and memory impairment. VA clinicians and researchers often call this condition "Gulf War illness” in the medical literature.