Desert Shield/Desert Storm Open Conversation

We invite all Persian Gulf War veterans to join us and share their stories. After our recent VBC Live conversation marking Desert Shield and Desert Storm (1990–1991), we heard from many of you: Thank you for doing this. I don’t often get to speak about it. People forget we were there. The First Gulf War often slips between the memory of Vietnam and the long shadow of 9/11.

So on Monday, April 6, we’re offering an Open Mic and Open Conversation focused on Gulf War-era service. We have no agenda or presentation, just casual and focused conversation from those who served in 1990-1991. Please join us to connect, compare notes, swap stories, ask questions, and remember what this moment in history felt like from the inside.

In August 1990, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded Kuwait. The U.S. and a broad international coalition responded first with Operation Desert Shield, which was a massive buildup to defend Saudi Arabia and deter further Iraqi advances. It was followed in January 1991 by Operation Desert Storm, the air campaign and then the ground offensive that liberated Kuwait in just 100 hours.

The war was large and fast. It involved hundreds of thousands of service members fighting the war through logistics, maintenance, intelligence, medical care, transportation, communications, air defense, and a thousand other jobs that made everything else possible.

Some deployed to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Gulf, Turkey, the Red Sea. Others served stateside or in Europe working supply, airlift/sealift, vehicle maintenance, air defense, communications, or medical operations.

Wherever you served, please join us to talk about what you were doing, thinking, and feeling 35 years ago.