Dan Hampton - Viper Pilot

Fighter Weapons School was a tremendous, life-altering experience and you truly do emerge as someone else. Anyone who has survived to be part of an elite group knows this feeling. No matter what unmanned space-based crap they’re gluing to the Nellis main gate these days, that place will always be “The Home of Fighter Pilot” to me and those like me. I’m sure that’ll piss off the politically correct ground-pounders, but really, who cares?

SINCE I WAS ONE OF THE FEW VIPER PILOTS WHO’D STARTED AS a Wild Weasel, I was especially eager to apply what I’d learned from the Fighter Weapons School and Operation Desert Storm to the newly fielded F-16CJ. The F-16CJ, called a CeeJay, was a quantum leap forward in technology. Tremendously versatile, with an amazing capacity for adaptation, the F-16 is a natural Weasel. Due to its composite-material construction, it was difficult to see on radar and nearly impossible to see with the naked eye. The engines didn’t smoke and it was the most maneuverable fighter in the world. This meant it was as deadly to enemy fighters as it was to SAMs and, unlike the F-4G, it didn’t require escort. Its only shortcoming, due to the relatively small size, was a smaller weapons payload. To compensate, the CeeJay carried precision-guided munitions, like laser-guided bombs and air-to-ground missiles, the rationale being that if you could put a bomb within three feet of its target, then you didn’t need to carry many of them.

It was during these years that the pace of deployments to Southwest Asia moved into high gear. George Bush’s rush to claim a victory in 1991 had left us with another war to fight, and anyone with a working brain knew this was inevitable. You see, Iraq was basically quarantined between the wars. This meant they owned the ground but we controlled the air, so we really controlled most of the country. No-fly zones were established above the 34th Parallel north to Turkey, and from the 32nd Parallel south to the Kuwaiti/Saudi border. These were patrolled by fighter squadrons that continuously rotated in theater for over ten years. Not just fighters, but the aerial tankers, transports, AWACS, and everything else needed to support them.

It was a colossal drain on our resources, immensely expensive, and an overall pain in the ass. Aircraft service life was shortened by at least 50 percent, due to the added hours flown, and we missed a lot of Christmas holidays, kids’ birthdays, and wedding anniversaries. Divorce rates skyrocketed and the fabric of the Air Force was permanently altered as general officers and policy-makers strove mightily to create a replacement threat for the Soviet Union. A military—and most nations—need at least one enemy to grease industry and keep everyone on their toes.

The Air Force and Army particularly needed the Iraqi threat to justify their budgets. The Navy has aircraft carriers and can go virtually anywhere, but they can’t remain at sea indefinitely. A carrier battle group also requires significant resupply to remain effective. As for the Army, well, one look at a Forward Operating Base (FOB) is enough. They’re not intended to be permanent and it shows.

Only the Air Force has the global logistical capability to sustain long-term, heavy operations. No-fly zone (NFZ) enforcement in the south could be done in a limited way from carriers in the Gulf or from shore-based fighters. But, with the exception of Bahrain, any shore-basing of naval air was done from a USAF air base in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. NFZ operations from the north could only be done from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey.

However, we now had several footholds in the region from big bases that had been built with all the engineering and logistical expertise of the U.S. military. It is a truly impressive display of American power to see empty desert transformed into self-contained, fortified cities within weeks.

Now, the Air Force has always had the idea that if you take care of your people then they’ll take care of whatever needs to be done. Also, the Air Force usually remains deployed, so air bases today are what naval bases were in the past: stepping-stones across the world and vital links for force-projection. So bases are built to last, with at least some thought given to those who will serve there. In any event, air bases are built around flying operations. The runways, ammunition dumps, operations and maintenance facilities are the best in the world. I mean, there’s no point to having an air base if the aircraft can’t fly the missions.

The living facilities are also pretty good, relatively speaking. I’ve seen little condominiums, prefabricated apartments, and containerized housing. Only in rare cases does the Air Force use tents, and then never for very long. A huge part of any air base is the Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) area. This includes dining facilities, fitness centers, and, if at all practical, a swimming pool—no kidding. Of course, since most of the Middle East is sand, beach-volleyball courts are always a necessity. Depending on the intensity of operations and the longevity of the base, there is also a food court of some kind. I’ve seen Chinese, Turkish, and Indian restaurants, usually a burger joint, and always some type of pizza parlor.

But no alcohol. General Order No. 1 from Operation Desert Shield reads:

Operation Desert Shield places United States Armed Forces into USCENTCOM AOR countries where Islamic law and Arabic customs prohibit or restrict certain activities which are generally permissible in Western societies. Restrictions upon these activities are essential to preserving U.S. host nation relations and the combined operations of U.S. and friendly forces.

Just to be clear—we weren’t on holiday as guests in another country, so the “host nation” statement was always bullshit. We weren’t there to promote democracy, save souls, or make friends. Oil, economics, and politics aside, we were in the Middle East because Saudi Arabia and Kuwait couldn’t protect themselves. They were frightened enough of the Iraqi threat to beg our help and, for many reasons, we gave it. Do you really think any of them would protest the personal conduct of the soldiers who were saving their wealth and way of life?

I don’t either.

Most of the Saudi officers I knew drank more than we did, and, during the war, Cairo was full of Kuwaitis who were content to party while the Americans protected their country. The British and French military also had a large presence in the region, and they didn’t inflict similar restrictions on their people. In fact, the Brits loved Jell-O parties. They’d put the stuff in ice trays, mixed with vodka or gin, and slurp it down. During twelve rotations to Southwest Asia, I never heard of one alcohol-related incident.

By the way, the civilians working for oil companies, like Aramco, drank like fishes. So did the U.S.-government types assigned to Saudi Arabia. Drinking isn’t that important to me personally and it was certainly no hardship to do without. In the Army’s case, it’s not a bad idea to keep booze away from minimally educated kids with guns. However, regardless of the pros and cons, our government’s rush to placate people who weren’t in a position to object rubbed us the wrong way. I mean, if you have the biggest stick and you’re waving it in everyone’s face, then why be afraid to use it? Appeasement nearly always has far-reaching security ramifications and this was no exception, as we shall see.

Aside from being away from home and civilization as we knew it, these weren’t really tough deployments. We lived in decent conditions, had lots of time to work out, and very few distractions. Some guys took classes for the master’s degree required by the Air Force for promotion beyond the rank of captain. Others indulged in hobbies. I know one guy who made stained-glass windows from bits of broken glass he found around the compound, and another who trained for Iron Man competitions. Some guys chased skirts and others built toys for their kids. You just never knew.