Vipers in the Storm: Diary of a Gulf War Fighter Pilot
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VIPERS IN THE STORM DIARY OF A GULF WAR FIGHTER PILOT This page intentionally left blank VIPERS IN THE STORM DIARY OF A GULF WAR FIGHTER PILOT KEITH ROSENKRANZ McGraw-Hill New York San Francisco Washington, D.C. Auckland Bogota Caracas Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan Montreal New Delhi San Juan Singapore Sydney Tokyo Toronto Copyright © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the pub- lisher. ISBN: 978-0-07-170668-1 MHID: 0-07-170668-2 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-140040-4, MHID: 0-07-140040-0. All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. 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My inspiration CONTENTS Foreword by Dick Cheney viii Chapter 1 Green Flag 1 Chapter 2 Oil and War 8 Chapters Viper 13 Chapter 4 The Storm Gathers 25 Chapter 5 Waiting for Saddam 30 Chapter 6 First Leg 37 Chapter 7 Incredible Journey 45 Chapter 8 In Country 57 Chapter 9 Unexpected Transfer 63 Chapter 10 Grounded 72 Chapter 11 Black Widow 84 Chapter 12 LANTIRN 91 Chapter 13 Tactics and Morale 96 Chapter 14 T-Rack Steps In 102 Chapter 15 Belonging 108 Chapter 16 Thanksgiving Comes—and Goes 112 Chapter 17 Crowded Skies 119 Chapter 18 We Own the Night 126 Chapter 19 A New Year 131 Chapter 20 Fallen Warrior 139 Chapter 21 The Inevitable 147 Chapter 22 War Begins 158 Chapter 23 Defining Moment 165 Chapter 24 Mission from Hell 178 Chapter 25 Mother of All Battles 188 Chapter 26 Phase Two 194 Chapter 27 The Mailman Delivers 201 Chapter 28 Patriotism 210 Chapter 29 Friendly Fire 218 Chapter 30 Killer Scouts 227 Chapter 31 Edge of the Envelope 233 Chapter 32 Maverick 243 Chapter 33 Proposal for Peace 252 Chapter 34 Play Time 258 Chapter35 "Altitude...Altitude" 270 Chapter 36 Highway of Death 283 Chapter 37 Welcome Home 296 Afterthoughts 306 Acknowledgments 309 Glossary 311 Sources 317 Index 319 FOREWORD eith Rosenkranz's Vipers in the Storm is a remarkable account by one of our outstanding pilots of what it was like to fly an F-16 jet fighter plane in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. His story, based on thirty combat missions over Iraq K and Kuwait, is an excellent portrayal of the tremendous skill and dedication of the men and women of today's U.S. Air Force. It also shows the human side of battle from a serviceman's point of view. One of my most memorable moments of Desert Storm was an afternoon that General Colin Powell and I spent in Saudi Arabia with a group of our pilots, who had been flying missions over Kuwait and Iraq during the air war, prior to the beginning of the ground campaign. It was an unforgettable event because of the immediacy of their combat experiences, and because they were able to give us firsthand accounts of the effectiveness of American air power. I also remember the day we welcomed home the troops of Desert Storm with a parade down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. It was a grand and glorious occasion, as a grateful nation expressed its thanks to the thousands of servicemen and women who brought us one of the most decisive victories in military history. But before the parade, there was a memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery for those who had paid the ultimate price for that victory. At the end of the service, a group of aircraft passed over Arlington in the "missing man" formation. I will never forget the tragic, stricken faces of the families of those who were killed in action. Reading Capt. Rosenkranz's account of his experiences rekindled all of those memories for me—the pride we all felt in the accomplishments of our armed forces, and the sense of despair over the loss of those who sacrificed everything for our victory. "Rosey" (Keith's call sign) goes beyond his personal experiences and gives us a first- rate account of the performance of the F-16, and of the grueling and demanding train- ing missions that convert young civilians into the world's finest pilots. His story will have readers "in the cockpit" as he recounts the procedures and the performance of the combat systems of the F-16. Capt. Rosenkranz also captures the personal costs involved in military service. He relates the frustration that goes with the endless days of waiting for something decisive to happen. He describes the debilitating impact on morale of not knowing what the future may hold, and the fears that are a natural part of contemplating combat for the first time. viii KEITH ROSENKRANZ Vipers in the Storm accurately reflects the decisive role that the United States Air Force played in defeating Saddam Hussein's military and liberating Kuwait. It is a superb account of modern air warfare. Most of all, it is a reminder of how enormously fortu- nate we are that there are young Americans like Keith Rosenkranz able and willing to defend the nation. —Dick Cheney IX 1. GREEN FLAG uujin 24, disconnect!" As I make the radio call, I nudge my throttle back and watch the refueling boom drift past my canopy. My airspeed is 310 knots, and I'm level at 21,000 feet, slightly below the tail section of a KG-135 Stratotanker. F My F-16 is the last of four to refuel in the cloudless sky. Once I clear the tanker I make a gradual descent, float to the right of my element lead, Fuujin 23, and close my air-refueling door. The boom operator retracts the refueling boom, and the tanker begins a lumbering turn to the north. Fuujin 21 and 22, the two other F-16s in our flight, head west, and we follow ten seconds later. I continue to fly fingertip formation off Fuujin 23's right wing. As soon as we pick up the 270-degree heading, my flight lead, Capt. Tim "Bopper" Bopp, porpoises his jet, signaling me to tactical formation. I push my throttle up to military power and position my F-16 about 9,000 feet away and 1,000 feet above his right side. Fuujin 21 and 22 are flying a similar formation three miles ahead of us. It's a clear July day. The visibility is well over fifty miles. The sun bakes the desert floor below us in triple-digit temperatures. But, for the moment, I'm comfortable in my air-conditioned cockpit. That will all change soon, though. Our four-ship box forma- tion is less than ten minutes from the forward edge of the battle area, what tacticians refer to as the FEBA.