Flying in the Face of Fear

Chapter 6EMPOWER YOUR WINGMEN

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

—Eleanor Roosevelt

Figure 6.1 75th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, Al Jaber Air Base, Kuwait, during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

ON THE PRECIPICE OF WAR

After coming home from our first deployment to Afghanistan at the end of 2002, we began to hear more on the news about a pending situation in Iraq. President Bush argued that the vulnerability of the United States following the attack on September 11, 2001, combined with Iraq's alleged possession and manufacture of weapons of mass destruction and its support to terrorist groups, made disarming Iraq a renewed priority. UN Security Council Resolution 1441 passed on November 8, 2002, demanding that Iraq readmit inspectors and that it comply with all previous resolutions.¹ It was clear the Bush administration was making the case to go to war.

As tensions mounted, we started preparing for another deployment to the Middle East. Our squadron was not tasked with anything yet, but we were making sure we would be ready if needed. Nobody wants war, but if there is a war, then we want to be part of it to go out and do what we have ...