HEROES BEHIND ENEMY LINES

Sometimes heroes are right before us, and we don't know how extraordinary they are until they answer our probing questions. I discovered this reluctance when, toward the end of his life, my father only began sharing stories about his role in the South Pacific during WWII. Once he started talking about the war, it was as if he got stuck in the 1940s and kept repeating himself. Oh, to hear him again! 

Another friend shared his experience as a fighting Marine on Iwo Jima during WWII for the first time when he was in his 70s. He began having nightmares that continued until his death two years later. The biggest heroes are often the quietest because they don't consider themselves particularly brave. Steve, the owner of a small construction company in Horseshoe Bay, is one of those quiet heroes. He was in the Air Force during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and was part of an elite team who were dropped behind enemy lines. Steve didn't want his last name used for this story. "I don't feel like a hero. I was only doing my job," he explained.

Steve joined the Air Force a year after graduating from high school in 1979. His father had a military career, and Steve followed in his footsteps. After graduating from basic training with honors, the Special Operations Command Combat Controller division recruited Steve. Combat Controller Training (CCT) is two years long and is considered the most rigorous course in the military. The mission of CCT is to deploy undetected behind enemy lines and conduct whatever is necessary to protect forward-moving troops. More than 90% of those who attempt it fail. Groups of six are left to survive in various extreme conditions as part of their training.

One of the last phases of the training period is learning to free-fall while parachuting. Steve described a harrowing experience when he was dropped from an airplane at 26,000 feet with instructions to not use the parachute until 1,500 feet above the ground. After one episode with free-fall parachuting, Steve decided he wanted no more of CCT even though he had graduated from the course. He transferred to electronics, which was his preference when joining the Air Force.

Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 and deployed soldiers along the Saudi Arabia and Kuwait borders. Both countries requested assistance from the United States. In the most significant military build-up since Vietnam, the United States sent over 300,000 troops to Saudi Arabia. Allied Forces from various countries joined the US in Operation Desert Storm. Iraq had the fifth-largest military in the world at one million soldiers in 1990.

Our forces had been drawn down in the years preceding 1990, particularly in specialized operations. Steve was ordered to return to the CCT division, even though it had been over 11 years since he had gone through training. Within a short time, he found himself in the Middle East.

Steve and 23 fellow soldiers were dropped by helicopter one mile behind enemy lines into Iraq during the middle of the night. Thankfully, the drop wasn't from 24,000 feet! Steve and his team hid behind dunes and whatever rocks they could find in the flat, boiling desert. Blowing sand permeated food, water, and every part of their bodies. Their mission was to identify tanks and missile launchers at night through laser technology. Once they pinpointed the object, guided bombs from the air would destroy it. After five days, our troops began moving into Iraq.

The United States sold military equipment to Iraq many years before Desert Storm. People, tanks, and missile launchers look the same when lasers are used at night from a distance. Seventy of the many lives lost during the war was because one of our soldiers forgot to turn on the signal that identified the unit as "friendly" as they entered Iraq.

When the war concluded, Steve returned to electronics in the Air Force for another decade. Steve's experience with technology led to teaching at the Air Force Academy for the last three years of his military career.

After leaving the armed services, Steve earned a BS from Texas A&M, then worked as an Austin police officer for over 20 years. He retired to Horseshoe Bay three years ago and operates a construction business. Steve's experiences in Desert Storm and on the streets of Austin as a police officer sometimes haunt him. He occasionally awakens from nightmares that he can't quite recall. During the day, you might see Steve around town replacing siding on a neighbor's house, building a deck, or completely remodeling the interior of a home. As time passes, the bad dreams have diminished. We owe Steve, and others like him, our gratitude, even when they don't seek it.