Darrel Kerzmann was a production supervisor for aircraft maintenance of the A-10 “Warthog,” an attack aircraft, at King Fahd International Airport during the air campaign for Operation Desert Storm.

“As an airplane returned from combat and if an airplane was still air worthy, we would direct the airplane to a refueling area and then they would be directed to an arming area where they would be loaded with additional bombs and bullets. The whole time the pilot’s in the cockpit and the engines are running. This is kind of like a stock car pit crew. They would take on all the munitions they needed for the next mission. And if they were told they needed to go, they would taxi out and take off right away. But they might go to a holding area,” he said.

Kerzmann was at England Air Force Base, a base in central Louisiana, when he deployed to the Middle East several months before the Gulf War, codenamed Desert Storm, air campaign.

“Saddam invaded on August 2 (1990) and we were in place August 16. It didn’t take long at all,” Kerzmann said.

Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq, invaded Kuwait in August 1990, initiating the Gulf War.

Kerzmann and others from England AFB boarded a plane for the flight to the Middle East. The plane made a gas stop at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina, and then did in-flight refueling all the way to King Fahd.

“It was 123 degrees above,” when the plane’s doors opened, Kerzmann recalled when they arrived at King Fahd International Airport north of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

“It was completely a bare base,” he said. He said Army troops already were there setting up their tents.

“You were given a box and you were responsible for setting up your own tent. This box wasn’t only a tent but there were cots as well,” he said.

The military members set up their own quarters and work center and soon the area became a tent city.

“When they brought in the hospital it was all in huge boxes,” he remembered. He said boxes contained everything for the hospital from dentist’s chairs to operating tables.

“King Fahd was primarily A-10 units out of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and England Air Force Base,” he said.

In total, 144 A-10s were at King Fahd. Later an F-16 unit out of Georgia also was there.

From August 1990 to January 1991, the pilots continued to fly. “They had to maintain their flight proficiencies so they would go out and fly some training missions but we were always sitting alert. We were ready to go. We didn’t get to sit still. There was always maintenance and there was always that anticipation something could happen,” Kerzmann said.

When their first alarm signal came out, Kerzmann said it put everything into perspective.

“We knew this was no longer practice somebody is shooting at us with missiles,” he said. “We’re all putting on our chemical protective gear and I’m driving around from aircraft revetment to revetment to make sure everybody’s heard the siren over the sound of the engines. Finally I get to a place I had decided I would get to in case of attack and that was a culvert underneath a taxiway. Once there, there were no engine noises, nothing on the radio just this dead silence. And you’re sitting there wondering are we going to get hit, are we going to get gassed, what’s going to happen now? Finally it comes across all clear,” and everyone gave a sigh of relief, he said.

And then it happened. The air war started on Jan. 16, 1991 U.S. time and Jan. 17, 1991 Baghdad time.

“We were provided intel (intelligence) reports that the air war was imminent, but that night when we got the radio calls and the buses with the pilots started coming out and the maintenance guys were running, everybody knew where to be. The way we trained is the way we fought exactly. Everybody knew where to be, they knew what to do and it just went to perfection,” Kerzmann recalled.

“There was a lot of high fiving the pilots were getting ready to crawl up the ladders and they were high fiving at the crew chiefs just a lot of adrenalin, a lot of excitement and to see the airplanes come back minus bombs and bullets was we’ll say rewarding,” he said.

Everything was well planned. “Operations were choreographed when squadrons were going to go so there weren’t 144 A-10s jammed up. All had their taskings because the goal was to keep A-10s constantly in the air day and night so the squadrons were taking their turns to go out and fly their missions and then the next squadron would take over,” he said.

Kerzmann said the Scud missile attacks always seemed to be aimed at Riyadh and Daharain in Saudi Arabia. “We were so far north that they would pass over. You could see them at night,” he said.

The Scuds were ballistic missiles used widely by the Iraqi army during the Gulf War.

The military members worked worked around the clock. “You were 12 hours on duty and expected to rest the other 12 hours. You went and got a hot meal and went to bed,” he said.

The first three weeks while Kerzmann was at the site in Saudi Arabia they ate nothing but MREs, the classic ready-to-eat meal. “Then a field kitchen showed up and you got something boiled or fried. That was the hot meal. Eventually full cafeterias were airlifted in,” he said.

The air campaign lasted several weeks.

When the air war was winding down, Kerzmann said, “We got word that we were going to start reducing the number of sorties because the air campaign was cutting back now. We had ground troops rolling north so the amount of sorties flown was reduced…”

“Our combat flying ceased in early March and I was back home by 22 March,” Kerzmann said. “They said that’s it, we won the war, we’re going to start cycling people and aircraft home just as soon as possible,” he said.

Kerzmann returned to England AFB. “At the main hangar we were told ‘welcome back, job well done and literally told, don’t put down your bags because the 23rd Fighter Wing is now going to move to North Carolina,” he said. England AFB was closing.

The wing moved to North Carolina but the assignment team had one position at Minot AFB. Kerzmann was told about it and took it.

“And the rest is history. I’ve been here since then” with the 5th Bomb Wing,” he said. He retired from the Air Force in 2002 and now is a Civil Service employee with the 5th Maintenance Group at the Minot base.