Troops as they went into battle they must be the thunder and lightning of desert storm. Among those deployed was Sergeant Stephen wiehe. As a forward observer, he was placed on the front lines for artillery and air support. His memoir, gday details the Critical Mission and movements of the First Battalion of the historic 502nd infantry regiment. It has been called one of the best of the gulf war. Stephen earned many awards for his service including four Army Commendation medals and deliberation of Flight Service medal. Texas, whereustin, he is active in veterans affairs. He is joined tonight by his his twoe, and children. He is a deep love of country and family and is proud to serve with the screaming it goes. We are going to show a video at the beginning of the program, and then stephen will come up to the podium. There will be a reception after the program, and stephen will leave enough time at the end for questions. In the Early Morning hours of , Saddam Hussein not use a powerful iraqi army invaded its trusting and much weaker neighbor, kuwait. [no audio] thank you. Technical difficulties are part of it. It is part of what happens technical difficulties happen. You have to be able to turn on a dime and go in a different direction. How many veterans do i have in the room . Everybody. [applause. ] thank you. I appreciate you coming tonight. This is not all about me. Count it a blessing to be a spokesperson for other veterans, veterans like you that serve. This isnt about me and this isnt all about the book. This is about our history. That is why we are here at the museum. What a great honor to be here at this museum, on this night, in this library, talking about history and the hundred first Airborne Division, who is near and dear to my heart. Youof my friends will tell it takes only five minutes for me to Start Talking about my division, and who i am, and where i came from. Thats what it is all about. This is the 25th anniversary, there are so many things that are going on this year. Mainly, we have the National Desert storm war memorial in washington, d c, that has been approved by congress. 370zero. When does that ever happen . It was signed into law on december 19, 2014. Truly honored to have this piece of legislation that has been passed in washington. Ago, wecouple of weeks are through negotiations with at the memorial, negotiated an area one position. That is with the other memorials and washington dc. Help. You for your thank you for your work. [applause] thats what its all about. It is the it is about us coming together and contributing and noble cause. We had good leaders. It is such an honor to be here tonight. President bush was a fantastic leader. He put together a coalition of 34 countries for a noble cause to defeat the government that overtook kuwait. They were the line in the sand that was transported from here fort bragg to saudi arabia and then coined the phrase line in the sand. You defended the president s line in the sand. Bless you. 101 airborne was out there. Theirnd airborne was first, defending. The hundred first took over 30 days later. We took over that position from where you were. We went out into the desert, we took a look at what it was like to live in the desert, thats something isnt it. Living in the desert. Makes me thirsty just thinking about it. My mouth gets tried just thinking about this. We learn to live in the desert. To usen what its like the bathroom in the desert. We learn how to use the bathroom in the desert. We learn what its like to eat with 1000 flies, to look up at the desert sky and see a million stars with no light. To feel what its like like it any moment saddam and five divisions 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 in a the iraqiad bump speed bump, that got in the way of saddams tank. Reallyy doesnt marriott well with armor. It doesnt. The most we could have done is shoot some antitake tank weaponry. One thing that we had that made me feel pretty good about that nowthatesert shield would have been balanced. By attack helicopters, air support. We had the air support. Had chose to come into the Industrial Complex of saudi arabia, we would have stood firm against that onslaught because of our care air. Before we went north, we were at camp eagle two. Thats a place where we could get rested and reset. They are two forward and one back. Eagle two is where we could write letters, and clean our uniforms. Sometimes there would be a month or two without a bath. It wasnt like we could just take a shower anytime we wanted to. That was few and far between. We would write letters. A sergeanti had write letters to the president. Our support for the decisions being made on our by half in on the behalf of the world. Because wer behalf had general schwarzkopf who was looking after our interests. We had the best general in the world. We had the general for the times. There is no mistake about it. We have the best that there was. We had a general they had our welfare at heart. We had a president that had our welfare at heart. We wrote letters. When we were north, that iraqi speed bump, i get a brown envelope in the mail. Who delivered it, the captain here at he comes to my foxhole and says, who are you . I didnt know how to respond to that. I took the brunt envelope him, and i looked at it and i and it set the white house. I sent sir, thats just one of my friends. He left mumbling to himself. I was a forward observer. I was there attached to it as a forward observer. I was in the infantry but not of the infantry. Forwardartillery mos, observer. Knowaptain really didnt with that all about white house stationery. I showed him the letter. It remains a treasure to this day. That was one of the things on the powerpoint presentation. I have that letter pulled up, because it means so much to me. Morning, wehis probably need to frame that letter. I think so. It is one of my treasures in life, and it needs to be prominently displayed. After we were that defense in to camprt, we came back eagle to and we started washing our clothing, and doing the things we had not been able to do for the last 30 days in the desert. And by the way, the book cover, that when that was when i was forward. A radio control operator took that picture, and i was growling at him. Book was published they said, whose picture is that . Admit, you dont want a book cover with someone grinning from ear to ear in a war zone. Got rested ande reset. But we knew something would be different this time. That we were going to have to go on the offense to get out of saudi arabia. Up, andt going to be go walked the border and wait for something to happen. We were going to have to go on the offense to make something happen. President bush put a january 15 deadline on that. 10, we started getting intelligence from the location,und the 73 that you will probably learn a lot about it next couple of weeks. We started learning that we were going to have to go up and defend an area that first had located their troops. We went up there in support of the First Cavalry Division, the 101st Airborne Division. We went up there thinking that we were going to be another iraqi speedball speed bump. We are going to go up and be. Nother iraqi speed bump intelligence said that already breached their obstacle course, they had commandandcontrol in the area, and they were amassing troops around the border. They were going to come down the , around 73 ease. Frantically. Ing a few miles from where the iraqis were coming across. We just started digging. As fast as we could. About this far underneath the ground was shale, rock. The feeling came across is we are digging our positions six inches in the ground to onslaught. N iraqi five divisions that were poised by the complex. Positions into a cori. We went into a quarry and began reading a more formidable position than the shale. We were closer to the border. We were closer to where it was going to happen. We thought we were going to die that night. We thought literally, this is going to happen. The intelligence, the special forces had given us information that was credible. They were going to come across the border no later than january 15. But something happened on the night of the 13th. I think it had a lot to do with our prayer. How many veterans here prayed . There are a lot of veterans that pray in those situations. We prayed. It started raining. It was miserable. It was in the 40s. Raining,d raining, and and raining. Never quit raining. We were miserable. We did not have field jackets. We just had our uniforms. Soaked to the bone. Wary. We got word that they got bogged down in their approach. I believe in prayer. Gging, we now have we are now at january 17. The 16th in the United States. Local time was the 17th. 2 30 hours. They kicked off the air work. Two fourman teams that when in went in 50 , task 70 miles apart forces normandy. That was led by Lieutenant Colonel cody. They went in and destroyed two radar sites there were 70 miles apart simultaneously. They fire the first shots of the gulf war. Allowed adid, it 20mile corridor to open up radar where our Coalition Forces could fly into the corridor, and go to their jeff davis. Objective. We lost one navy pilot that night. We could have lost thousands that night, had it not been for the 101st Airborne Division destroying the two radar sites, the world would have been a different place regarding the golf four. Gulf war. Coalition aircraft went in to their objective. Thanks to the 101st Airborne Division. Can clappp. Im in love with the air force. Had it not been the airports, things would have been different. On january 30 first, 2000 03 specter gunship, working in the top areas of operations, we lost to a surface air mitchell missile on the 30th of january. All the crew members were lost. One missile. 14 crewmembers lost. These special operations, the air force, had it not been for the air force, a world would have been a different place. We are thankful for the air force. After we were sufficiently blindedd that iraq was weree saudi after another going in every day, we moved to the northwest. The hailody here of mary . The left hook and the hail mary was when we went out to the left because of the air force bombardment. For g daoned ourselves y. Whilet out to the west they were getting bombed, and we set up task force assembly area. Of houston,ze texas, inside. Size. I am not slamming crane, texas. Its kind of like in the desert to me. Out to the west and set up a stationary, the staging area that the Airborne Corps used as a launching pad into g day. Ground operations day. 1991. Ry 24, aboutvision is talking two different locations that we could hit. Jackets strike, objective goal. Objective goal was a known ammo supply point that had chemical weapons. We wouldhese points have had to wear protective suits. Chemical protective suits dont work very well in the desert, they are hot. There is only so much you can take off Chemical Protection in the desert. There was a 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 dont know this to be the truth, but when he was meeting privately in geneva, i that we wouldnced probably use Nuclear Weapons against them if they used chemical weapons against us. Thats just the saying. I dont know that for sure. Thats my gut feeling. We had leadership that stood up against the enemy, even in those negotiations, that would say we are not going to let you do it. We are not going to let that happen. That whenry fortunate that we did gday, not have to go strike. Another thing about this, if you can picture the eve of gday, im not trying to put myself on an equal with my hundred first 101st airborne brothers, but they went in on g day. They were canding by and locating the c 47th. We were colocating next to our blackhawk helicopter in the desert. 66 of them. A longas you can see task force assembly area. You cannot see anything other than helicopters. 30 blackhawk helicopters. Loave pictures of the co cation i was not able to reconnect with my helicopter pilots until after the book was written. We had the first female pilot on gday. In the 101st Airborne Division. 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 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. When he 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. Lets make them have a bad day, not us. General schwarzkopf, great 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. Viper. 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 one of our own abrams tanks and 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. About the size of a casket, that 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 us and equipment that was to the 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. And on the pond side this quote , is on the side of the building. Let future generations understand the burden in the blessing of freedom. Let them say we stood where duty 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] he is still in service. 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 kick