Enjoying life with my wife Tina, my step daughter Caressa, my grandkids, my new home here in Rockingham and NASCAR. Knee deep in the American Legion and riding my Harley. Working for WIC after taking a year off after retiring in December 2006. Loved my time in the Navy. Went to Great Lakes for boot camp, on to NATTC Millington for AW A school then to VP-31. Had a great time in VP-9, where I grew up and made 3rd and 2nd. back to the RAG. Flew 2500 hours plus in the P-3 and moved on to the Viking world. Went to VS-41 and on to be a Screwbird at VS-33. Made 3 cruises and was VS-33 1986 SOY and picked up AWC. Back to the RAG at VS-41 with a TAD to FCDSSA Point Loma. Help bring the S-3B to the fleet and was selected to CWO. Onto TSC Kadena, learned alot about Tactical paperwork. Flew with VP-1 as an OUTLAW HUNTER GUY, Cool. Was the ASW Evaluator for HSL-51 TORP-EXs. Rode the Indy as the VPLO. Back to VS-41 to become a TACCO. VS-29 was a great time and learned to be a TAO with the DESRON. Made 2 cruises in VS-29, Kitty Hawk and Carl Vinson. A RAG guy again, front seat training on back to Japan with VS-21 and OIF. Those of you that remember Ms Donna, we lost her to cancer April 13th 2001. She will always be in our hearts. Back to sea forward deployed, Two cruises in VS-21, Kitty Hawk love boat cruise and OIF, 120 days at sea there and back from Japan, stop nowhere and liked it. The RAG, VS-41 was my last tour. My ships includes Kitty Hawk 5 cruises, Nimitz, Vinson, Ranger, Constellation, Lincoln and Indy. 660 traps and 2400 S-3 hours 300 in the front seat, not bad fo a P-3 guy........Those night traps will put hair on your chest.........
Other Comments:
Very happy in North Carolina with my wife Ms Tina and her daughter Caressa, NHS member 8 years running. Very proud of my three daughters Heather, Christina and Tiffany. All three have grown up and become great women. Heather is a Engineer, Christina a Nuclear power tech for the Navy (EM2) and Tiffany an 2 time Iraq deployed Sergent in the Army. Heather Boys, Edward Jr, Trevor and Preston and doing very good and Tiffany's, husband Dan (USA SSG) and son Jacob is very well also. Christina and her husband Dave have had a little salior as of 1/22/09, Kyle, 7#-15oz, 19 3/4 and they are all well . I could not be prouder of my family.....................If your ever down here in the Carolinas, stop by and see us for BBQ and sweat tea and maybe a little makers mark...... NASCAR rules, If your not rubbing, your not racing!!!! I went to Daytona last year and this year back to Darlington and Indy................................................................Lets go Racing Boys
OIF/Liberation of Iraq (2003)
From Month/Year
March / 2003
To Month/Year
May / 2003
Description The 2003 invasion of Iraq lasted from 19 March to 1 May 2003 and signaled the start of the conflict that later came to be known as the Iraq War, which was dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom by the United States (prior to 19 March, the mission in Iraq was called Operation Enduring Freedom, a carryover from the conflict in Afghanistan). The invasion consisted of 21 days of major combat operations, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and deposed the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein. The invasion phase consisted primarily of a conventionally fought war which concluded with the capture of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad by American forces.
Four countries participated with troops during the initial invasion phase, which lasted from 19 March to 9 April 2003. These were the United States (148,000), United Kingdom (45,000), Australia (2,000), and Poland (194). 36 other countries were involved in its aftermath. In preparation for the invasion, 100,000 U.S. troops were assembled in Kuwait by 18 February. The coalition forces also received support from Kurdish irregulars in Iraqi Kurdistan.
According to U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the coalition mission was "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people." General Wesley Clark, the former Supreme NATO Allied Commander and Joint Chiefs of Staff Director of Strategy and Policy, describes in his 2003 book, Winning Modern Wars, his conversation with a military officer in the Pentagon shortly after 9/11 regarding a plan to attack seven Middle Eastern countries in five years: "As I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan." Others place a much greater emphasis on the impact of the 11 September 2001 attacks, and the role this played in changing U.S. strategic calculations, and the rise of the freedom agenda. According to Blair, the trigger was Iraq's failure to take a "final opportunity" to disarm itself of alleged nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that U.S. and British officials called an immediate and intolerable threat to world peace.
In a January 2003 CBS poll, 64% of Americans had approved of military action against Iraq; however, 63% wanted Bush to find a diplomatic solution rather than go to war, and 62% believed the threat of terrorism directed against the U.S. would increase due to war. The invasion of Iraq was strongly opposed by some long-standing U.S. allies, including the governments of France, Germany, and New Zealand. Their leaders argued that there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that invading the country was not justified in the context of UNMOVIC's 12 February 2003 report. On 15 February 2003, a month before the invasion, there were worldwide protests against the Iraq War, including a rally of three million people in Rome, which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest ever anti-war rally. According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between 3 January and 12 April 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war.
The invasion was preceded by an air strike on the Presidential Palace in Baghdad on 19 March 2003. The following day, coalition forces launched an incursion into Basra Province from their massing point close to the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border. While the special forces launched an amphibious assault from the Persian Gulf to secure Basra and the surrounding petroleum fields, the main invasion army moved into southern Iraq, occupying the region and engaging in the Battle of Nasiriyah on 23 March. Massive air strikes across the country and against Iraqi command and control threw the defending army into chaos and prevented an effective resistance. On 26 March, the 173rd Airborne Brigade was airdropped near the northern city of Kirkuk, where they joined forces with Kurdish rebels and fought several actions against the Iraqi army to secure the northern part of the country.
The main body of coalition forces continued their drive into the heart of Iraq and met with little resistance. Most of the Iraqi military was quickly defeated and Baghdad was occupied on 9 April. Other operations occurred against pockets of the Iraqi army including the capture and occupation of Kirkuk on 10 April, and the attack and capture of Tikrit on 15 April. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the central leadership went into hiding as the coalition forces completed the occupation of the country. On 1 May, an end of major combat operations was declared, ending the invasion period and beginning the military occupation period.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
March / 2003
To Month/Year
May / 2003
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
People You Remember VS-21, CVW-5, USS Kitty Hawk CV-63