Previously Held NEC MM-0000-Machinist's Mate
AMS-0000-Aviation Structural Mechanic Structures
AMS-8351-A-4 Maintenance Technician
AM-8345-F-14 System Aircraft Organizational Maintenance Technician
AM-0000-Aviation Structural Mechanic
AT-6619-HATS (USM-403) Operator
AT-8342-F/A-18 A-D (Hornet) Organizational Maintenance Technician
ATR-0000-Aviation Electronics Technician Radar and Radar Navigation Equipment
AT-6628-HATS (USM-403) IMA Maintenance Technician
AT-9502-Instructor
Service Years
1978 - 1998
Official/Unofficial US Navy Certificates
Operation Desert Storm
Cold War
Neptune Subpoena
Order of the Shellback
Order of the Golden Shellback
Tailhook
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Operation Southern Watch (Iraq)
From Month/Year
August / 1992
To Month/Year
March / 2003
Description Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from Summer 1992 to Spring 2003.
United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of monitoring and controlling the airspace south of the 32nd Parallel (extended to the 33rd Parallel in 1996) in southern and south-central Iraq during the period following the end of the 1991 Gulf War until the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Operation Southern Watch began on 27 August 1992 with the stated purpose of ensuring Iraqi compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 688 (UNSCR 688) of 5 April 1991, which demanded that Iraq "immediately end this repression and express the hope in the same context that an open dialogue will take place to ensure that the human and political rights of all Iraqi citizens are respected." Nothing in the resolution spelled out the Iraqi no-fly zones or Operation Southern Watch.
Iraqi bombing and strafing attacks against the Shi’ite Muslims in Southern Iraq during the remainder of 1991 and during 1992 indicated Saddam Hussein chose not to comply with the resolution. Forces from Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France participated in Operation Southern Watch. The commander of JTF-SWA, an aeronautically rated United States Air Force (USAF) Major General, assisted by an aeronautically designated United States Navy (USN) Rear Admiral, reported directly to the Commander, United States Central Command (USCENTCOM).
Military engagements in Southern Watch occurred with regularity, with Coalition aircraft routinely being shot at by Iraqi air defense forces, though they were usually only reported in the Western press occasionally. An intensification was noted prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, though it was said at the time to just be in response to increasing activity by Iraqi air-defense forces. It is now known that this increased activity occurred during an operation known as Operation Southern Focus.
