D N A M M O C S N O I T A R E P O L A I C E P S E C R O F R I A 8 INTRODUCTION
A I R F O R C E S P E C I A L O P E R A T I O N S C O M M A N D 9 INTRODUCTION As United States Commander-in-Chief General Norman Schwarzkopf began making plans to liberate Kuwait after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s invasion in August 1990 his first objective was to knock out two radar installations near the Iraqi border Those electronic eyes provided a significant obstacle to American aircraft that would attack Hussein Eliminating them would make it much safer for those aircraft to conduct their mis sions Schwarzkopf asked Colonel George Gray of the Air Force Special Operations Command AFSOC if he could guarantee that the mission code-named Plan Eager Anvil would be completely successful Yes sir Gray responded You get to start the war Schwarzkopf said Plan Eager Anvil started shortly after midnight on January 17 1991 Four AFSOC Pave Low helicopters equipped with a variety of electronic aids led eight heavily armed U S Army Apache attack helicopters The AFSOC pilots realized that the stakes were high Oh my gosh the weight of the world is on this mission said one A lot of people could die if we fail Skimming over several hundred miles of terrain at a maximum elevation of 50 feet 15 m the pilots zigzagged back and forth to avoid radar detection Their navigation was flawless At 2 38 a m they arrived at the target The Apaches began their barrage raining down missiles rockets and machine gunfire on the radar stations Four minutes later both facilities were obliterated Soon afterward a massive air armada headed for Iraq There was no interference AFSOC had done its job ZzZ General Schwarzkopf retired in 1992 after serving an illus trious career in the military
D N A M M O C S N O I T A R E P O L A I C E P S E C R O F R I A 10
LITTLE-KNOWN YET MUCH-APPRECIATED Very few people outside the U S military community are aware of AFSOC’s existence Perhaps that is because AFSOC’s primary responsibility is to lead and transport other units to the point of attack and then support them rather than perform the headline-grabbing operation As writer Bob Drury noted in Men’s Health magazine Let us face reality the Navy SEALs get all the ink the Army Rangers all the glory the Marine Recons all the babes Conversely to the average guy on the street the mention of U S Air Force Special Operators inevitably elicits a look of bewilderment The Air Force has those guys A I R F O R C E S P E C I A L O P E R A T I O N S C O M M A N D 11 Those guys have roots reaching back to World War II 1939 45 Flying modified B-24 Liberator bombers painted black air crews called Carpetbaggers became proficient in low-level mis sions that were often conducted in bad weather through a variety of European terrain Those missions usually involved dropping supplies to groups resisting German occupation distributing pro paganda leaflets and depositing agents of the Office of Strategic Services OSS the forerunner of the modern Central Intelligence Agency or CIA Similar aircrews known as No 1 Air Commando Group played key roles in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations Flying aircraft such as the C-47 Dakota Transport and twin-engine B-25 Mitchell bombers the men flew over moun tains and jungles to supply British commandos operating deep behind Japanese lines Pleased with the unit’s courage and com petence a British officer wrote Please be assured that we will go with your boys Any Place Any Time Any Where From those The B-25 was named for General Billy Mitchell known as the Father of the U S Air Force
