im am some what disabled .. i wacth all my freinds go to war and my heart hurts when i witness this...the reason so is i want nothing more than to be there when my freinds need me... the bond between a battle buddy iis beyond words..you never realy know who a person is till they ve been shot at with you..i wacth alot of tv and truley have no clue what the battle feild is like .... all though i want to point out that all our soldiers no matter if its infantry or pog there all heros.... no disrespect with useing the word pog after all it stands for personal other than grunt.i just want to take this time to say im proud of each and every soldier..... i would love to hear storys of the froont lines no matter what was the mission...nothing maskes me more proud than to say i am a american.....good work guys and good luck my heart is always with you..
I'm am some what disabled ..
I watch all my friends go to war and my heart hurts when I witness this...the reason so is I want nothing more than to be there when my friends need me... the bond between a battle buddy is beyond words ... you never really know who a person is till they've been shot at with you ... I watch a lot of TV and truly have no clue what the battle field is like ... although I want to point out that all our soldiers, no matter if its infantry or POG, they're all hero's.... no disrespect with using the word POG after all it stands for personal other than grunt. I just wanted to take this time to say I'm proud of each and every soldier. I would love to hear story of the front lines no matter what was the mission ... nothing makes me more proud than to say I am a American.....good work guys and good luck; my heart is always with you ...
dills ... people that are called hero's' will deny the title. Those people who do these things that ordinary people see as heroic will simply tell you they were doing their job.
... from my own, personal experience ... here's one :
Khobar Towers
I arrived at the Khobar Towers housing area in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on the 8th of May in 1996. This was a temporary duty (TDY) from Eglin AFB, Florida in support of Operation Southern Watch for a 90 day rotation. We arrived late at night, about 11pm and went directly to bed. In the morning, I arose to the sounds of birds chirping and the sweltering heat of a Middle East day. I was hungry… so I made my way to the Desert Rose Dining Hall and actually met some people I had been stationed with at previous locations. It seemed this was going to be another yet another one of those trips where you do your job, have some fun and keep an eye on the rotators to reunite with other friends.
Before arrival to Flight operations, newly assigned personnel work with CE (Civil Engineering) … filling sand bags, building the M-60 bunkers at the crook of the entry road, installing concertina wire around the perimeter, moving jersey barriers, etc. for two weeks as they rotated into country. The main threats we were aware of were attacks by rocket propelled grenades (RPG’s) from the highway that crossed between Khobar and King Abdul Aziz Air Base and a vehicle attempting to run the gate packed with explosives. We did what we could to “harden” the entry to the base as well as the perimeter to keep the base personnel safe. This work took a while, but rotating Security Policemen into the area of responsibility (AOR) did this job for two weeks each to prepare the base in the event of an attack. This occurred each week as a rotator brought in newly arriving personnel.
The main gate entrance had two M-60 machineguns built atop concrete bunkers. This was to afford the occupants an escape should there be an RPG attack on their position. The walls facing the highway were approximately 3 – 4 feet thick of sand bags given the RPG threat and the M60’s were on a ½ load and should the gate personnel sound the alarm (hand held radio or horn) causing the M-60’s to fire in a cyclical rate until the vehicle threat had been stopped and/or repelled. Behind the bunkers, as (at the time) SrA J. Hubbell had stated, were two 2 ½ ton trucks that were to block the road to keep the vehicle from getting through to the living areas. Assuming it had survived two M-60 machineguns, the drivers were to pull in into the lanes of traffic to prevent a breech that would have resulted in a mass casualty event. We all knew those trucks were the last line of defense for the main gate and took it was taken very seriously. As a matter of fact, SPS/CC Lt. Col. J. Traister had routine drills with the trucks and personnel to ensure it would work as advertised. This was also demonstrated to other Wing leaders. We knew this was a suicide post.
The perimeter was lined inside and out with jersey barriers spaced approximately 1’ away from each other in-line along the perimeter. Between the barriers and the fence (7-8’ high fence) was a triple strand of concertina wire. There was no easy way to get beyond this obstacle without assistance. Additionally, this would not have been easy considering the constant patrolling of the inner perimeter by armed USAF Security Police. The outer perimeter was the sole responsibility of the Saudi “Red Hats”. They were worthless … and I stand by my opinion.
With three to four weeks into the deployment, there was a suspicious object/device found in the building 129 elevator shaft. The building was evacuated and a cordon was established around the building. I was one of those inhabitants who could not get back in my own building (129) so I remember this well. I was not working that day and had just returned from the finance building obtaining cash. Once it was cleared, we returned. I cannot recall the duration of the situation at Bldg. 129.
I cannot remember the exact dates here but this is what was happening. The LPOP’s (Listening posts & observation posts) were put atop select buildings within the Khobar Towers complex. These LPOP’s had a 360 degree field of view (FOV) to view any pertinent activity outside of our perimeter. These activities included women (at least a humans, dressed in black outfits … which were NOT women) pushing on the jersey barriers, sitting on them, vehicles slowly driving by, (John Hubbell has a great description of this) vehicles attempting to move the barriers on the sandy roads, etc. We brought this to the attention of our supervisors. There was an order from the Air Force Chief of Staff (Fogleman) and the Air Force Security Police Commander (Coleman) to conduct video surveillance of this probing activity. I was ordered by the Operations Officer (Cooper) to conduct this surveillance. (This was done along with other Security Police members I did not know of). After each shift, we would turn in whatever tape we had to the (LED) Security Police Law Enforcement Desk. I believe this continued up to the attack and afterward. If we saw something or someone, we would call it in to LED and a patrol would be dispatched as well as notifying the Saudi’s to get them to respond and move whomever or whatever out of the area. We knew we were being probed… and ultimately, something happening was inevitable.
During Guardmount (briefings & roll call) on various dates, we were briefed information of what to look for. Generally this information came from OSI (AF Office of Special Investigations) and information that was passed on to the Flight Sgt. of the day. I am not sure if any of this is still classified, so I will not say what was briefed. I’m fairly certain it all came out in the Classified Downing Report… with the exception of the directive to “keep your eyes open”. Well, no shit. I have reviewed it but that was a while ago. I will not discuss anything briefed unless I am told it is cleared.
June 25th, 1996. I had worked the night before and we (I, D. James and another person I do not remember anymore) had decided to go to the Oasis (pool) during the day to enjoy our precious time off. The 58th Fighter Squadron from Eglin AFB was due to rotate out on 26 June, 1996. The F-15’s were flying very low overhead returning from their CAP missions in Iraq and were celebrating their departure. There was truly a jovial attitude of accomplishment and rotation back stateside.
We spent the day there… lying in the sun, swimming and simply enjoying our precious time off. Later that day, we decided that since we were allowed to go downtown (Dhahran) we would do that for the evening. We signed out of the base at the (LED) Law Enforcement Desk and headed to the main gate. On the way out to catch a taxi, we talked with one gate SP RV (RV) and he stated that the traffic was unusually light and if we could, to bring him some food from off-base. We agreed, thought nothing of it and departed in the taxi. The general rule of thumb was to go, move quickly, and get what you need, do not loiter and return ASAP. We needed to be in groups of 3 – 5 people as to not become an easy target for an abductor for a hostage, nice target for a shooting, etc.
When we got downtown, we cruised through a TCN (Third Country National) mall and ended up at a Saudi shopping mall shortly afterward. We did some haggling but I do not believe any one of us actually purchased anything other than food. We took our time and relaxed, contrary to what we had been told to do. We watched the Saudi people for a while, talked and eventually decided that we would get RV some McDonalds from the Saudi Mall and return to Khobar.
We returned to the main gate approximately 2135Hrs. on 25 June 1996, gave RV his dinner and shot the breeze for a few minutes. SP B. Stover was on patrol that night and asked us if we wanted a ride back to our building (129) but we declined. It was a nice night out, not terribly hot or humid, I recall saying it a beautiful night. We walked back and on the way, D. James wanted to see a friend of hers who was working in the chow hall (Desert Rose) so we agreed that we would meet up after I signed us back into the base at the LED. I walked in through the glass doors directly in front of the elevator doors, turned right and attempted to sign us back in. Shortly after my entry, an airman I supervised (no longer remember name) had entered to check his mail, turned left to go to the mailboxes. As I attempted to sign us in, of course there was no pen. At approximately 2152 hours, I turned to ask Senior Airman D., who was working in the LED, for a pen and that is when the blast wave hit.
I remember the lights “browning out” and someone shouting to get on the floor. I looked up and could see the concrete dust coming out of the cracks of the concrete ceiling. The constant banging sounded like the elevator was falling and hitting every floor on the way down. I recall yelling “what the f**k” … and stayed in place on the floor until the shaking stopped. Afterwards, I got up, dusted myself off and moved over to look at the elevators. What I saw, I could not understand. I thoroughly expected to see the elevator doors split and damaged. What I saw was glass impaled into the metal elevator doors and concrete walls. I did not understand what I was looking at until I turned toward the doors and saw the contorted frames blown in with glass everywhere. Directly in line of sight was a huge “mushroom” cloud beyond what I suspected was the building I lived in full of fellow co-workers, Bldg. 129. That is when everything I had just witnessed began to make complete sense.
Immediately, after realizing what had happened, myself, the guy I was with and the airman I supervised, went through the contorted frames over the glass and down the stairs to the armory window and started pounding on the window until the armorer opened up. He opened the window and had big eyes, wondering what the hell had just happened. We demanded our M-16 rifles, after explaining with expletives, what had just occurred. We received our M-16’s, put the magazine in and released the bolt… thus chambering a round. We had been hit, the game was on. Shortly (seconds to a minute) afterward, the Chief and Operations Officer gathered us who were there to get body armor, Kevlar helmets, etc. from (Rudy) so we could respond in force. Here we were, dressed in civilian clothes, carrying M-16 rifles in partial body armor (by choice) responding to the attack.
Somewhere in this chaos, a group of us met at the Desert Rose after arming for a quick head-count but it was all but impossible. Everyone from every squadron was mixed together. I remember a crowd of people running at us from the area of the attack believing there was a secondary device. You either ran or got run over. In all that chaos, I remember seeing a friend of mine from a previous base, Reece … and welcomed him to Dhahran. I remember Col. Traister seemingly looking stunned that we had rifles (loaded) in civilian attire. I honestly do not know if he realized the scope of the attack at that point. Finally… a short period of time afterward, we were allowed to move up on the attack site.
Within seconds we had enough people to move up to the bomb site. Before departing the LED, I remember Captain Cooper (Ops’ officer) talking about “Gooks”… I kid you not. Even the Chief was wondering what he was talking about. Along the way, TCN’s were challenged, put on the ground and tie-wrapped. I remember seeing one SP (Balloy) in civilian attire with a gash across his thigh … he didn’t even realize he was injured. We made him sit down … it was then he realized the injury and went into a state of shock. I remember moving up to the site of the attack, looking up at the sky through the shade above the sidewalks to a sky full of refractions in the dust from the flames of burning trees & bushes, flying debris, etc. wondering what we were in for when we got there.
As we got on scene, the Captain was right behind us and stated to me “shoot anyone who comes through the hole in the perimeter.” I recall that the other men with me did not agree with the order, so we did not. There was a Saudi running toward us with an AK-47 rifle; I remember this to this day. I did not engage him for two reasons. For one, I did not know how to challenge him in Arabic and in addition, he did not raise the rifle with the intent to use it. Opportunity, Intent, Capability. I took cover and followed him to watch his actions. As he got the site he shouldered the rifle and began to help. Come to find out, the man with the rifle was a Saudi Arabian policeman responding to assist.
Shortly afterward, Col. Traister was on scene and had asked how we were doing. Hubbell and I stated that we were okay but we had thought the Captain was not giving lawful orders. Hubbell was standing next to the Captain when Col. Traister demanded his sidearm and ordered him to his billet indefinitely. We can both attest to this. It is my understanding the Captain was relieved from duty on the spot and a court martial was the end of his career.
The first body. Hubbell and I were posted at the base of Bldg. 131 on the right side in-between the underground parking garage. The first body was brought out on an orange litter and set on the ground right next to me. I could not understand what I was seeing… why was nobody helping this man? The rescue personnel returned to my relief but simply rolled the man out of the litter on the ground. This man had no face or right arm below the elbow. I covered the body with a piece of cardboard to protect him from the media cameras that had arrived… not to mention the fact I did not want to see that all night. It got to be a little bit of a shoving match between us and the Saudi’s to keep the body covered. We won. There was a second body recovered and was put into the back of an ambulance that had recently arrived. I had to askHubbell to see if there was any identification. I regret that to this day because I know how it affected him… and have apologized on many occasions.
The rest of the night was the same thing, expediting rescue vehicles in and out, attempting to speak with the Saudi’s through language barriers, picking up letters from/to home, pictures of kids and families, etc. We saw almost all of the bodies and body parts recovered from the rubble that night. At one point I was on the left side of the building next to a line of destroyed vehicles parked alongside the road … and looked up at the building. What I saw became a superimposed image in my head forever. There was a window about ¾ of the way up the side of the building. The window was gone… and there was an impact mark where someone’s head had hit the wall… and disintegrated. From the window frame on down the wall was a thick truncating flow of blood. I looked to my feet and realized I was standing in gray brain matter. Somehow I did not have the appetite for the water I had come to obtain from the Medics.
Somehow, someway, SrA E. Murphy (from Eglin AFB) was able to get a message through back stateside that we all survived the attack. First Lt. M. Anarumo was able to contact our families in an expedited manner so they knew we were alive and well. I simply cannot than him enough, as this was my worst thought that they’d “not know” for a while.
Hubbell and I stayed there all night until about 11am when we were finally relieved. We could not leave our post since there was a huge hole in the perimeter. Try sleeping in 120+ degree heat with your mind racing after the events of that night. Some of us had to sleep elsewhere since our building; Bldg 129 was damaged badly by the blast. Either way, we didn’t have A/C or many belongings at all. We were lucky to have a complete uniform. At 1800 that same night, we were back to work on the same post. The Saudi’s and fellow Americans were sifting through the debris for clues and for personal property of the deceased. I do not recall what night it was, immediately afterward of the following day, but I found B. Marthalier’s wallet. I wanted to give it back to him when I saw him but was later told that he was among those killed. I turned it in for evidence at the LED.
The first night after the attack, everyone from the Brigadier General on down to the lowest enlisted airman was pretty well burnt out from the previous night. How we all made it through the night was probably sheer adrenalin, anger and spite. By now, I think it was safe to say most of us had been up a good thirty hours with minimal rest … if any at all. The next morning, we were allowed to go back into our original buildings to recover any property we had that was not already destroyed. We could only do this a few at a time with civil engineer representatives considering the building was so badly damaged. As for where I moved to after the attack … I honestly have no recollection of that detail. It was another building (maybe the Squadron?) closer in to the middle of the base… that’s all I can gather. My/Our emphasis was on work and the continued threat, no more. To this day, I still have no recollection where I ‘lived’ after the attack.
A few days later toward the end of our shift in the morning, there was a bomb threat that was broadcast somehow from the Saudi side to our Coalition side. I was at an ECP on the airbase … and another kid I supervised (mentioned earlier in this recollection) kinda lost it. I remember us in partial NBC gear and my grabbing him by the shirt looking up at him (since he was a little taller) and telling him to pull it together. I do not remember his name … but my understanding is that about a year later, he was out of the Air Force entirely. I believe he separated due to mental issues. I can’t say I blame him.
Sometime after the bombing, maybe even the following night, I found a wooden ladder (seemed to be hand-made) along the perimeter inside the fence on the ground. I did call it in to the LED and destroyed the ladder. I do not know any significance it may have had. To be honest, OSI was mad that I had destroyed the ladder. My guess is that it was out of anger from the attack. In hindsight, maybe I thought that since we had TCN’s working on the base, I did not want to take the risk that it might be the work of a collaborator. It might as well have been a ladder used by the CE people too… who knows.
We had a team fly in about a week or so after the attack from McConnell AFB, Kansas to help us through the extended shifts and posts. Most of us had not had a day off in a while… at least since the attack. If you may recall, that was my only night off … and that ended rather quickly. They were great … most had a great understanding of what had happened and were willing to help while a select “other” made a comment that “we had to have done something wrong for this to happen”. I lost it … yelled at him from an airman to an NCO … a bad idea, but I was justified. I believe he was TSgt S. Some of these same senior NCO’s that came in on the support team outwardly questioned why our uniforms were not pressed and why we were not clean shaven. MSgt E. stood by me and called that person on the carpet afterward and demanded he apologize. He did so grudgingly. We looked that way due to the fact you cannot press a uniform in over 100 degree heat and expect it to stay that way … and also, given all the time we were working, there was not any time at all allocated for much other than sleep.
Some days after the attack, RV and I (probably a few others) volunteered our time during the day (on the far and few days off) to help clean up the mess in the buildings. I believe it was building 128 … there was a lot of blood. One vivid memory was a pair of glasses minus the lenses lying in a pool of blood. There were the bloody palm prints moving across the walls and the blood spattering across the walls adjacent from the sliding glass doors. Everything was destroyed … furniture, beds, mattresses, etc. It all went into the dumpsters aside from personal affects. Those were collected, determined ownership and returned.
Working on the LPOP’s, SrA Bryant and I worked together quite a bit. I recall walking up the stairs of Bldg. 130 to the top (8 floors if I remember correctly) since the elevator was blown off its rails and there was no power. There were drops of blood on the first floor, turning to a trickle of blood while moving up the stairs and eventually pools of blood at the top. My guess is that person bled to death. At the base of Bldg 130 … there was the water main … sheared in two from the power of the blast.
I left Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on 8 August 1996. We flew out on a differently and randomly scheduled rotator. There was a significant threat that we would be shot down by a portable SAM. Well, we made it.
Unfortunately (after I left) there was an A1C Roberto D’Amico who was tragically killed when he fell from atop luggage piled atop a 2 ½ ton truck landing on his head fracturing his skull. SSgt Beckmann and a few other SP’s conducted SABC to keep him alive … but the damage was done. It is my understanding that a few days later, he was unplugged from life support and he was gone.
I contacted K. Marthalier a few years later … to introduce myself. I wanted to see if she had received her husbands’ wallet … which she had. Strangely enough, she had just put her fallen husband’s wallet away after looking at it again after a while. I told her that I was the one who found his wallet and wanted to make sure it got back to the family… which it did.
Every day there is the guilt that we are still here and they are not. We all ask ourselves, why were we spared? Is there a “survivors’ guilt” somewhere in the future? Honestly, some days are better than others. As far as dreams go… they are far and few between now. There is still the memory though… sometimes a smell… a familiar looking building, the number 131, my lock number, 7096, a loud bang, if the lights dim, etc. To explain the lights dim comment; the lights dimmed and there was a negative air vacuum for a brief moment just before the bomb detonated. It lasted long enough to be noticed. To explain the lock number, 70 was the year I was born, 96 was the year of the attack. What two dates appear on a gave stone?
As for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, who knows? I have never felt the need to get clinically “examined”. I suppose people deal with events differently than others. I did have a flashback a great while ago. It was when I lived in Utah… we were traveling on the highway past the Salt Lake City Intl. Airport. There is some oil/fuel refining done there and looking out the window of the car, I was taken right back to Saudi. Looking across the airfield was the control tower. My memory saw the tower at King Abdul Aziz Air Base (Dhahran/Khobar Towers) … that coupled with the smell of the refinery… for all intents and purposes, I was back in Saudi. I have no idea how long I zoned out but my best guess was only a few seconds.
Often, I think of the attack on Khobar… 25 June, 1996… and think of the family pictures covered in blood, letters written from home expressing excitement for their return, personal affects in the rubble, etc. I still have the Air Force Materiel Command LEADING EDGE magazine with Lt. Col Cochran leaning down to pick up his charging daughter to welcome daddy home after their departure from Saudi Arabia. The cover shows the Kirtland AFB Support Group commander shaking the hand of A1C Jon Schamber, whom I supervised, who was sent back stateside on a Nightingale C-9 after almost losing his left leg below the knee from flying glass. I often think of those who were not able to come home. It was our job as an Air Force Security Police to ensure this happened. There are a lot of us who feel some guilt that could not be a reality. The Saudi “Red Hats” didn’t own up to their responsibility.
All that remains that we can do is to press for the truth and ensure that those responsible actually are caught. This needs to be sincere in how it is said and also how it is executed. Those who were actually negligent need to be held accountable and those who were falsely accused need to be reinstated.
Respectfully submitted,
Larry P. Oliver
__________________ You don't scare me! Work on it!
heros 
