OPNS DESERT SHIELD STORM DIARY 807TH MASH

File: 970815_sep96_decls54_0013.txt
Page: 0013
Total Pages: 44

Subject = OPNS DESERT SHIELD STORM DIARY 807TH MASH

Parent Organization = ARCENT

Unit = VII CORPS

Folder Title = SUBORDINATE COMMAND HISTORICAL REPORTS-2D COSCOM-332D MED-341ST MED-912TH MED

Document Number = 3

Box ID = BX000308

As it grows dark around MGM, the members of the 807th grow
increasingly more restless. People bed down hoping that this will
be a more quiet night than the last one. No such luck, though.
At 0300 we hear a loud roar, like several jets taking off all at
once. This is followed almost immediately by a deafening "boom".
upon the heels of which is followed a blaring announcement on the
loudspeakers, "SCUD alert, MOPP level 4, SCUD alert, MOPP level
411. A Patriot interceptor missile has done its job, and for the
first time ever. Theoretically the scientists said it would work,
and it turns out it has. Well, so much for the 9 minutes warning.
We quickly don our MOPP suits, and follow the now familiar path
down the three flights of stairs to the empty apartments. It is
even more quiet tonight, as people absorb the fact that someone
has fired a shot at US! We sit through the night in MOPP 4, as
the leadership at MGM studies their equipment to determine if
nerve agent has been released or not. The-iiupeccable beauty of
birds singing in the morning has never been more selfishly felt,
as we knew that if birds were flying there was probably no gas in
the area. Shortly after first light, the all clear signal is
given. During a broadcast on Armed Forces Radio, CNN later
describes the SCUD a weapon of terror. We decide the description
is pretty accurate, even though the rocket isn't. in the morning
we see pieces of SCUD and Patriot interceptor scattered about the
ground around the building in which we are living. That is too
close for comfort.