Ndezvous with eagles he describes the soldiers daytoday activity during wartime. The george bush residential library hosted this event are it it is about an hour. 1991, general. Told troops as they went into battle, they must be aware of desert storm. Among those this ploy deployed was gday rendezvous. Ith eagle Stephen Wiehe he was placed on the front lines. His memoir gday rendezvous with eagles, describes the day to day activities of a desert storm soldier. It has been called one of the best firstperson narratives of the gulf war. Awards earned many including for Army Accommodation metals medals. Wherees in austin, texas he is active in veterans affairs. He is joined tonight by his wife sue and his two children, kristin and cody. He has a deep love for country and family is an proud and is proud to serve. We are going to show a video to begin the program, and then stephen will come up to the podium. They will be a reception after willrogram and stephen leave enough time at the end for questions. We will begin now with the video. In the Early Morning hours of iraqs2 following dictator saddam hussein, not to use force. Powerful iraqi army invaded its trusting and much weaker neighbor, kuwait. [no audio] mr. Finch we are having some technical difficulties. Mr. Wiehe i just had to do it. I just had to do it. [applause] thank you. Technical difficulties are part of the deal. It is just part of what happens. It is what happens at four. I tell you what, technical difficulties happened. You have to be able to turn on a dime and go in a different direction, and that is what it is all about. How many veterans do i have any room . Everybody. Thank you. [applause] thank you. Appreciate you coming tonight. This is not all about me, and i just counted a blessing to be a spokesperson for other veterans, veterans like you. This is not about me. This is not all about the book, this is about our history and that is why we are here at the museum. What a great honor to be here at the museum, on this night, in this library talking about history and the 101st airborne , who is near and dear to my heart, by the way. ,ny of my friends will tell you it takes only five minutes for me to Start Talking about my division and who i am and where i came from and where my roots are. That is what it is all about. This is the 21st anniversary of desert storm and there are so many things going on this year, mainly we have the National Desert storm war memorial in washington dc that has been 3700. D by congress, it was signed into law by the 2014,ent on december 19, and we are just truly blessed and honored to have that piece of legislation that has been passed in washington. Ago,s of a couple weeks were through negotiations with the National Director at the memorial, and they negotiated in area one position that is in the other memorials in washington dc. Standup, steve. Thank you very much. Thank you for your help, and thank you for your warmth. That is what it is about. It is about us coming together, and contributing and giving to ourselves of this grand and noble cause. With the fortunate desert storm by having good leadership. Leaders, and that is why it is such an honor to be here tonight. President bush was a fantastic leader. He brought together a coalition of 34 countries for a noble cause to defeat a tyrannical ,overnment that overtook kuwait brought in the 82nd airborne, they were the line in the sand that was transported from fort bragg to saudi arabia and they coined the phrase, line in the sand. You defended the president s line in the sand, god bless you. The 101st Airborne Division got their 30 days later, ok . I have to give the 82nd airborne credit for getting their first in defending the line in the sand. The 101st took over 30 days later. We took over the position from where you were. We went out into the desert and ate a look took a look how it was like to live in the desert. That is something isnt it . Desert, makes me thirsty just thinking about it. [laughter] mouth gets dry just thinking about that. We learned to live in the desert. Like toed what it is use the bathroom in the desert, some of us say, take a dump in the desert. We learned to use the bathroom in the desert. Put a cheek on the side of an entrenching device. Like to eat it was with a thousand flies. We learned what it was like to look up at the desert sky and see thousands of stars with no lights, no lights. We learned what it is like to feel like at any moment, saddam and nine divisions were poised along the border at that time, nine divisions could have crossed the border at any time and we would have been that iraqi speedbump as the 101st, coined the phrase. We could of been the iraqi speedbump that was in the way of saddams tanks. Infantry does not marry up very well with armor. It just does not work very well. Done waswe could have shoot some antitank weaponry, missiles. The one thing we did have made me feel pretty good about that defense. We are talking about desert shield. That defense would have been balanced, lets call it balanced by attack helicopters, all the air support. We had the air support, and if those columns, if saddam had chosen to come into the Industrial Complex of saudi arabia, we would have stood firm against that onslaught because air. R air, because of our north, i amt to going to progress a second. Before we went north, we went to eagle. That was a place where we could rest. Cant eagle to was where we could write letters, clean our uniforms, sometimes it would be a month or two without a bath. It was not like we could just take a shower anytime we want to do. That was few and far in between. We would write letters. One night, i had the idea, i was a sergeant, lets write letters to the president. The president , lets show him our support of the decisions that were made or being made on our behalf and on behalf of the world. I say on our behalf because we had general sports golf general schwarzkopf general general schwarzkopf. We had the best general at the time. We had a general that had our own welfare in mind. We had a president with our welfare at heart. North, that iraqi speedbump, i get a brown envelope in the mail and who delivered it . A captain. A cap and comes to my foxhole and says, sergeant, who are you . I did not know how to respond to that, but i took the brown envelope from him and i looked at the envelope and it said, the white house. I said, oh, sir. That is just one of my friends. [laughter] he left mumbling to himself, you know . I was an observer. I was not in it infantry unit. Infantry but not of the infantry, does that make sense . Observer,rtillery mos but i was in the infantry but not of the infantry. You know, the captain did not know what i was about, despite what the white house stationery set. Said. Tionery i opened up the letter and it remains a treasure to this day. Before the powerpoint presentation, i had the letter pulled up because it meant so much to me. It meant so much. My wife said this morning, she said, we probably need to frame that letter. I think so. I think so. It is one of my treasures in life and it needs to be prominently displayed. After we were that defense, after we were that defense in and weert, we came back came back to camp eagle two and we started washing are close and doing washing our racks and doing the things we were not able to do for the last couple of months. The cover to the book was when i was at the fort. When that picture was taken of me, i was growling at my captain. I told him, this is the wrong time to take the picture. When you book was published, he said, look whos picture that is. [laughter] i had to admit, you do not want a book cover with somebody that is grinning from year to year in in war. R to ear we got arrested him and we knew something was going to be different. We knew we would have to go on the offense to get out of saudi arabia. It was not going to be just, go up and hand along the border and wait for something to happen. We were going to have to go on the offense to make something appen, and president bush put january 15 deadline. January 10, we started getting intelligence from the border location, 73 east that you will probably learn a lot about in the next couple of weeks at the museum. We started learning that we were going to have to go up and first hadarea that located their troops, so we went out there in support of the first cap relate derision cavalry division, we went up there. We went up there really thinking we were going to be another in thepeed bump, still defense, still desert shield, we are going to go up and see another iraqi speedbump. Intelligence says they already breached their own obstacle, they had commanding control of the area and they were passing troops along the border and they were going to come down the east. X around 73 we went up there on january 10 and we begin digging, frantically, frantically. We were just a few miles from the border from where these iraqis were going to come across. We went up and we just started dating, as fast as we could, and about this far underneath the ground was shale, rock. And so, the sinking feeling came across as we were digging our positions six inches into the ground with sand and iraqi onslaught. There were five divisions that were poised along the complex. We went up. Changed positions into a digging, butbegan we were closer to the border. We were closer to where it was going to happen. We thought we were going to die there. We thought, literally, this is where this is going to happen. The intelligence, the special ops, special forces had given us ,nformation that was credible had received information that was credible that they were going to come across the border no later than january 14. Something happened on the night of the 13th and i think it has a prayer, ok . Th our pray or veterans here prayed . There is a lot of veterans that pray in those situations. We prayed, and it started raining. It was miserable. It was in the 40s and it started raining and raining and raining and it never quit raining that night. We were miserable. The 101st Airborne Division do not believe in field of jackets so we did not have fielded jackets. We just had our uniforms, our just plain old uniforms, soaked to the bone, taking frantically. We never quit digging. The next day, we get word that they had ended their approach. Now, i believe in prayer. The 15thpt digging, passes. Complex and athe january 17, the 16th in the united states, local time was the 17th. The 101st Airborne Division kicked off the air war. They kicked off the air war and heres how they did it. Teams two fourman apache poised along the border that went in, that went in approximately 50 miles, 70 miles apart and that is what is called Task Force Normandy led by Lieutenant Colonel cody of the 101st Airborne Division. They went in and destroyed two sitessites, two radar that were 70 miles apart, simultaneously. The first shots of the gulf war. What that did, it allowed a 20 mile corridor to open up radar where our Coalition Forces could go toto the corridor and their objectives undeterred, on the scene unseen. We lost one navy pilot that night, one navy pilot. We could have lost thousands that night had it not been for the 101st Airborne Division going in and destroying the two radar sites, the world would have been a different place regarding the gulf war. We had 2388 soldiers that went night, 2388 Coalition Aircrafts went into their objective, unbelievable. That is thanks to the 101st Airborne Division. Clap. U can [applause] i am in love with the air force. Had it not been for the air force, things would have been different. A specter gunship working in the area of operations, we lost it to a surface air missile on the 31st of january. All of 16 crew members were lost, one missile, the crew lost. I would be remiss if saying the of the airration force, had it not been for the air force, the world would be a different place, the gulf war would have been different. We are thankful for the air force. Day, per00 sorties per day. After we were sufficiently convinced that iraq was blinded sortiee sorties, one after another were going in every day, we moved to the northwest. Did anybody here of the hail , the leftleft hook hook in the hail mary was when we went out to the left because of the air force bombardment and we positioned ourselves for g day. West while to the they were getting bombed and we assemblies,sk force about the size of two houston, texas in size. We are not talking about the size of a small town in texas. Twore talking about houston, texas. We went out to the west, set up a staging area called task force Assembly Area and that was the saving area that the 18th airborne used as they launched g day, ground operation day. 1991, so weary 24, went out and we set up a staging area, while we were setting up the staging area, the division is talking about two different locations that we could hit, objective strike, objective goal. Objective goal was a known ammo supplies point. Both of these objectives required chemical protective suits. They do not work very well in the desert. You get hot. There is just so much you can take of Chemical Protection in the desert, so it was a great fear that we were going to be engaged decisively by an opponent that was using chemical weapons. Secretary of state baker, i am convinced, i do not know this to be the truth, but when he was meeting privately in geneva, i iraq that weinced would use weapons against them if they used chemical weapons against us. That is just steve saying. That is just me. I do not know if that is for sure, but that is my gut feeling , that we had leadership that stood against the enemy even in those negotiations that would say, we are not going to let you do it. Youre not going to let poor chemical weapons on our troops. We were very fortunate that when we went in on it g day, fabric 24th, that we did not have to go striker. Another thing about g day, if ve ofan capture the ea it g day, and im not trying to put myself on equals with world war ii veterans of the 101st Airborne Division, our brothers and fathers, but they went on g by and were standing colocating. Cating next to our blackhawk helicopters in the desert. Anything other than helicopters, 66 blackhawk helicopters, 30 should knocks colocatinglc the night before. I have a picture of that code location. With not able to reconnect my helicopter pilots until after the book was written. We had the first female pilot on gday. I have reconnected with them via facebook. Facebook helped me write the book and reconnect with soldiers i had never, hadnt seen over years. Just diving off looking for friends, i found a lot of friends and im thankful for that connection. Im thankful we did it. So, when we went in on gday, if you can picture all of these helicopters in the air at one time and turning to the north and racing into fort oppearating base cobra, it sends chills up your spine to be a part of that. To have been a part of the first lift into operating base cobra was exhilarating. I was thinking again, this is probably going to be the last time i will going to live, this is going to be my last day, but but wow. What an exhilarating moment to set up this Forward Operating base cobra in iraq. Forward operating base of viper. The war started moving quickly. It started accelerating. We were taking the advantage. We werent engaging the national guard. We were engaging the Republican Guard. We were cutting them off from coming back into baghdad. They were having a bad day. Why were they having a bad day . Because of leadership. Because of general schwarzkopf. Talked to his war planners, general schwarzkopf said, dont give me a meat grinder, meaning dont set me up for failure. Dont set us up where we are going to get a lot of our People Killed during this operation. Day, make them have a bad not us. , great schwarzkopf general. President bush, fantastic president. He allowed his generals to do their job. He allowed them to do their job. He allowed them to succeed. He did not get in their way. He built that 34 coalition. 34 member coalition. That has never happened before. It has not happened since. Very, very impressive leadership. I was impressed with the leaders that they would write me a letter, that i would have to this day. Unbelievable. So what do i remember from desert storm . Mainly leadership. I remember the good times and i remember the times i felt like it was going to be my last time on earth. If i can, im going to talk to you about one more lift, viper which is where we cut off the enemy, cut off highway eight and actually squeezed them. Fort operating base viper, we were put on a cluster bomb munition minefield. We were put in a wrong position. We were tiptoeing our way out of this area, trying to get to an objective. The objective was Fort Operating base fiber. With 100 pounds on your back, its like taking one step forward and two back. You do not move very fast in loose sand if you are carrying a lot of weight. So we had probably five miles to get to our objective. It we werent making it very quickly. It was really hot and heavy conditions and we thought we were going, probably, according to intel, we were in a cluster bomb minefield. Not of our own, but of the iraqi. So we went tiptoeing through this area and we took a break, took off our rucksack and the hair on the back of my neck started standing up, call it observer intuition, call it whatever you want, but the hair was standing up on the back of my neck and i started surveying the battlefield and i started surveying the horizon and i saw andof our own abrams tanks it was following us, so i stood up so he could see my uniform. I did not want there to be a mistake with an abrams tank. I might be dumb, but im not stupid. Here i am. I did this. With no weapon. He immediately turned his turret to the east, telling me he saw me. You see the smoke coming up from his engine and off he goes. We put on our rucksacks and we start walking, marching to our objective at Forward Operating base viper. When we get there, we finally take off our rucksacks, it was a relief. We start digging, digging. About the size of a casket. , thatthe size of a casket is what we are digging, digging a hole in the ground just enough to get under the terrain, and about then, the sound of a tank went off, just right over the hill from where we were, unbelievable, unbelievable. That same tank that was surveyings was actually taking care of us and our objective. It was kind of like having a big brother there to take care of us. We found out later, there were some iraqis that were in the area and he was taking care of was to thepment that east toward basra. That is where resolve the end of the war. We saw the end of the war at Forward Operating base viper. You have august 2 through february 28. I contend the war was not 100 hours. There was more to it. To say it is 100 hours eliminates the air force and without the air force we would have had a bad day as infantry. So, we feel it was a joint effort, without a doubt, a joint effort of all of our forces that made desert storm what it was, to make it what it was. I want to share a quote real quick. This is from president bush. Its on the side of this library. It made such an impression on me, my wife and i were walking the grounds last night and we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Really a wonderful moment for us. Aside, thisond quote is on the side of the building. Generations understand the burden in the blessing of freedom. Dutyhem say we stood where required of us to stand. President bush, january 1991. What an awesome president. What an awesome leadership that we had. I am thankful for the president to this day. January 20, he enlisted again to support our nation and our troops by being honorary chairman of the National Desert storm war memorial. What a great human being. He is still in service. He had not checked out. He is still in service. He is still working for us. We are thankful for him. We are thankful. [applause] i appreciate you allowing me to come and visit with you this evening. I wanted you to see this video. It was out of the president s voice. It would have been his voice that would have kicked us off and we have that right here in the library. Here, so it video is not like you missed anything. You will be able to see that video while you are here at the library, and if you cannot see it today, please come back to the library and take a tour of this museum. It is a wonderful facility and we are so thankful, thankful to have it. The couple of people i would like to acknowledge tonight, war warren finch, president ial library director. Thank you. [applause] the chief executor of the george bush foundation, thank you. [applause] bob coles wife. She is the Deputy Director of the president ial museum. [applause] the marketing director of the george bush president ial library and museum. [applause] programsne, public director. Thank you. [applause] thank you very much. I am going to open it up for some questions. You can tell i get a little bit emotional regarding the subject. I am thankful. I am thankful for the leadership. I am thankful to be able to stand here tonight, and had it not been for the great leadership, we would not be here. Does anyone have any questions . Yes. Go ahead and stand up. This is my brotherinlaw, by the way. [laughter] not only brotherinlaw, he has helped me as well as my daughter, kristin in reading this book, gday rendezvous with eagles. We wanted it to be historically correct. So, i had some help. Im sorry. You are on the ground with the infantry troops. How much awareness did you have of what was going on from a big picture from the campaign, from a negotiation perspective, how everything was moving along . Mr. Wiehe good question. I did not set that up. [laughter] i would expect my brotherinlaw to throw a zinger at me. [laughter] i dont know if you remember this, but i had a little shortwave radio that i took with me. I cannot remember the make of the radio, but what a blessing that was, to be able to hear the news, the voice of america, the bbc. I would tune in all the time. So i got a big richer perspective from attached. I even got to get the president make some announcements that were really important like, when you are two hours late doing it to cobra. With to hear the president that little shortwave radio. That was the important stuff. I made some notes in my diary regarding that. Thank you, steve. You are a great american. I know your brother very well. I know your brother was praying for you the time you were there. I know your parents were praying for you. Mr. Wiehe prayers work, guys. Amen. Some folks in this room may not know or understand, was that you did not have to serve, you are a volunteer just like i was a volunteer. The big question tonight, why . Why do you do that . Why did you do that for your country . Mr. Wiehe that is not just one answer to that. It was my parents, it was how i was raised. It was the americanism i learned in school. We were patriotic. When we grew up, we were patriotic. We cared about our nation. We cared about the american people. We cared about america. So, we love america. We would have died for our nation. When it came time for getting the call to go to desert shield, desert storm. I was in fort lewis at the time and the ninth Infantry Division was not on the call list to go. I was just getting out of the officers commission. No way i was going to go. Duty, and i get word from higher up that these five ncos need to make a meeting tomorrow, one of the five was in our unit. There were some of the five, dont get me wrong, that did not want to go to war. But all of us went. All of us served. All of us went gladly. We had to change a plan or two. We had to change some plans. It was not just hanging out in garrison anymore, now we are planning on going to war but all of us went. All of us went. It is something that is inside of us. It is what we did. Its how we behaved. It was our culture. Im sorry to get off on that. [applause] where did you grow up . Mr. Wiehe my dad was a band director. I was born in texas. That was his First High School job. He went to north Texas State University. He served with the 82nd airborne. [laughter] ok, steve. All right. I know you were about to jump up and say that. Anyway, dad was with the 82nd Airborne Division. Band director and texas. My grandparents lived in crane, texas. Dad got a job at north Texas State University as a band director, so we moved from big spring, texas to denton. I am a texas guy. I am born and raised. I love it. Anybody else . If you can, talk a little bit about the timeline, the number of days, kind of give us perspective on how long from beginning to end. Mr. Wiehe being called by the department of army to go join, i did not get over there until october. So august 2 through january 10 was in defense of saudi arabia. The president s line in the sand, Forward Operating base oasis, that was in defense of. January 10 through the 26th. Or what was going to become 73. Actually our brigade, the second brigade was in control of the , First Cavalry Division during that time. So we were under command until we were released by them and we , and that would have been around the 26th of january until february 24, which gday that would. Have been in preparation for. After gday, rings happened pretty quick. What some called the 100 hour war. The Republican Guard was annihilated. They ceased to become an effective fighting force. They were no longer the fourthlargest army in the world. Anybody else . We have time. My name is dave wilkinson. I am in the class of 1956. [applause] oldschool compared to you youngsters. [laughter] i want to compare part of my situation with what you folks were in at the time. After going through the armor school, i was in germany and we were near frankfurt. We talked about when the balloon went up. You people were there when the people went. We never did know what it was really going to be like when the balloon went up. We thought we were ready. We never did get to prove we were ready. I would like to ask you about your preparation, and by that i mean your men all the way from the lowest rank and how they were prepared and how they felt, did they feel they were ready that day . Mr. Wiehe what years . In 1958. There in 1957 mr. Finch cold war era . Cold war. Mr. Wiehe i was in also during the cold war era, and i was in germany during the early 1970s. I was a vietnam era vet, and a cold war vet in germany. So, i know exactly what you are talking about. I felt, without a doubt, i dont know about your soldiers, i know my soldiers with the 101st airborne were prepared to go to war. They were prepared. They might not have wanted to go to war. I do not know about you in the 82nd, but as an nco, i felt really good about my soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division. 101st Airborne Division was a good division, and so was the 82nd. [laughter] when we jumped off into war, i got to see it in action rather than in garrison. You had to pay the price. You were in garrison and you are always preparing. You were always training. If it wasnt raining, you werent training. Right . So with us, when we jumped into war, i was so impressed and thankful i was with one of those divisions. They really had their act together, and i had mixed emotions, truthfully about going back to garrison. Here in two weeks, we are having a reunion of the decisionmakers of desert storm with the 101st Airborne Division and that will be at fort campbell, kentucky, and by the way, we are having a dinner and will have keynote speakers and the members of the 101st Airborne Division. Guess what they are calling the dinner we are going to . Gda. Day. [laughter] i am really looking forward to it. I will spend the anniversary with my brothers and his sisters, by the way. [laughter] thank you very much. I appreciate your attentiveness and your patriotism. Thank you for coming out tonight and for having me. [applause] mr. Finch after the program, stephen will be in the rotunda signing his book. , buy a book or chat with him. We would love to continue the conversation. As a token of appreciation for you being here, i would like to give you some gifts from the library. Mr. Wiehe thank you very much. [laughter] mr. Finch if you would like to join us in the rotunda, we will continue with the reception. Thank you for being here. Youre watching American History tv, all weekend and every weekend on cspan three. To join the conversation, like us on facebook at cspan history. The National Wildlife refuge system came into being at the dawn of the 20th century, as americans sought to safeguard the nations wildlife bounty. In that era, commerical hunters were pursuing big game into oblivion, and taking birds for their meat and feathers. Conservationists took a stand at floridas pelican island. A critical breeding ground for pelicans and white egrets. In 1903, president Theodore Roosevelt established this tiny 5. 5 acre island as americas first National Wildlife refuge. And soon, other refuges followed. The Wichita Mountains refuge was created in oklahoma in 1905, to provide a haven for the american bison. Although these great shaggy beasts had once numbered in the millions, by the earliest 20th century, so few bison remained that the government had to ship 15 survivors from the new york zoo to form a starter heard for the new refuge. Other sanctuaries were decreed for pronghorn and bighorned sheep. And after 10,000 elk starved to shrinkingdeath by wintering grounds in wyoming, the government established the National Elk Refuge in 1912 and launched a winter feeding program. In the 1930s, the devastating droughts of the dustbowl years dealt another blow to wildlife, drying out the prairie marshes that migratory waterfowl needed for nesting, feeding, and resting stops. But hunters came to the aid of waterfowl, backing a proposal to purchase duck stamps, to generate funds to buy and restore wetlands. After the act passed in 1934, the nations refuge chief, j clark sawyer, drove around the country, scouring the landscape for likely duck habitats. By the end of the dustbowl era, he had added more than 100 new refuges to the system, many located along traditional waterfowl migration routes. In 1980, the system grew once again, as the addition of vast acreages in alaska provided protection to nesting grounds for millions of birds, and habitats for everything from giant kodiak bears to pacific salmon. Now, more than a century after its founding, the system has expanded to include refuges in every state, as well as five territories. And the system takes in virtually every type of habitat in the nation, from the rain forest to the desert, and from the tundra to the tropics. These refuges provide laces to rest and reproduce for literally hundreds of species of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and other creatures. Included in that tally, are 250 threatened and endangered species, creatures that might not survive but for the presence of these protected lands. To enhance the survival of all the species under their care, refuge employees work behind the scenes, improving habitats, Building Wildlife populations, and conducting research to learn how to better meet wildlife s needs. In this way, the refuge system is helping to ensure that the complex webs of life, woven over many thousands of years, remain intact for future generations. This years Student Competition was one of our biggest yet as dickens competed for 100,000 in prizes. They produced documentaries using our road to the white house being answered the questions they wanted the candidates to discuss turn to 2016 president ial campaign. They told us the economy, the quality, education, and immigration were all the top issues. Tune in wednesday morning at 8 00 during washington journal when we will announce the grand prize winner, firstplace