I get that what happened in 1991 was horrible for all sides involved, but necessary on our part. Having witnessed that same Baghdad sky lit up with tracer fire in person, I get it. In hindsight, 20 years later, I see this differently. Unlike my mother-or the troops in Saudi Arabia-I had no concept of what was really occurring. The rush of seeing these things happen live. To me, this first taste was what I thought war was all about. The country had tuned in to what would become America’s first reality show. Anchors were providing frenetic updates, while the country got its first glimpse of Baghdad’s green lightshow.
GOODTIMES WITH SCAR DISEASE TV
Back at home, every TV channel was providing coverage-for the most part, commercial-free. During the ride, we listened to initial reports come in. I hadn’t seen her cry in public like that before. She turned away and slowly walked back to the table. And it was suddenly more interesting than baseball. Without a thought to our order, he said quietly, “It’s started. An older gentleman working the counter was a few feet away, listening to it. As we approached the counter of a burger place, I could hear a radio in the background. My parents picked out a table and we set our stuff down to go order.
Or maybe it was just my perception from living with a mother whose cousin had been killed at Long Khanh in South Vietnam.Īfter I got my autographs, we went to the food court for dinner.
I got that from watching the news during the buildup. There was this fear-a complex really-that any large-scale war we attempted would end up the same way. It was that America hadn’t used its military in a way remotely close to this since Vietnam. had over half a million troops massed in the Arabian desert, poised for war. The January 15th deadline for Saddam Hussein to begin removing his forces from Kuwait had passed hours earlier. It was like people were bracing for impact. There was an undercurrent of stress that night, however. At 12 years old, baseball is what I was all about, and I’d spent days waiting for the event. Like Ralphie waiting in line for Santa Claus in A Christmas Story, this was a big deal to me. Several members of the Houston Astros were there as part of a regional winter PR tour. On the evening of January 16, 1991, I was with my parents and brother at the Pierre Bossier mall in Bossier City, Louisiana collecting autographs.
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