It was August 1990, and I had just found a job after getting my degree from PSU and going to my officer basic course for the Oregon National Guard. I had this job for just one week when I was called up to go to Desert Storm. The 206th Air Terminal Movement Control Detachment was the first Oregon National Guard unit to be called up in Oregon in 49 years.

We arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on September 15th, and it was HOT! We walked off the plane and just sat down on the edge of the runway waiting for orders as to what to do next. Amazingly enough, they didn’t even know we were coming so didn’t know what to do with us…we waited and waited. We spent one night in the underground garage of the Saudi defense building with the lights on for the whole 24 hours and the typical hole in the floor for a bathroom. It was stinky and very bright. We were very happy to get out of there and head to Dhahran.

We had one soldier go down with heat stroke on the way to Dhahran, and we were all still very hot. We arrived in Dhahran, spent a week or so at Camp Jack in the very fine sand of the Saudi desert that puffed up whenever anyone walked in it. We then moved to a warehouse without walls on the Damman port where there was at least a chance of a breeze and it was all paved so there was no sand.

There was one more move to a military camp next to Damman port where we had actual rooms. (Four people to a room that should only hold one person) All this time there was no rain, no hint of rain, not even a little spit of rain. There was barely even a cloud in the sky. You can imagine that this was very hard on a little unit from the western part of Oregon. We love the sun, but there has to be a little rain to appreciate it even better. We actually started to get depressed that there was so much sun. Where was the rain? Would it never rain?

Finally in January there was a little cloud on the horizon. The beginning of the offensive against Iraq was also almost ready to start. The little cloud became bigger. The Oregon National Guardsmen started to notice the air was getting cooler and …..wetter? Could we possibly have a little rain? The cloud got bigger then bigger. The Oregonians started to get more animated. They started to go to the windows and outside to see if we were going to get rain.

The first droplets started to fall. An excited murmur ran through the Oregonians. First one then another started to go outside. The rain started to come down a little faster then faster. The Oregonians started to run outside. “It’s raining, it’s raining,” exclaimed the Oregon National Guardsmen jumping for joy. They started to dance and sing. An Oregon rain dance happened right there. The Oregonians were so happy now they could even appreciate the sun again. Western Oregonians need rain. It reminded us of home.

The wet Oregonians slowly, slowly made their way back inside. The war had begun against Iraq.