My First HARM Shot
We got real-time tasked in EOR. I'd be taking two PET shots in support of some Hornets going downtown. The weather was clear above about 14,000 feet, but billowing clouds of sand had been ravaging the AOR and the troops on the ground. The sandstorm didn't stop the bombs from dropping and provided a sanctuary for us, since the Iraqi air defenses couldn't track us visually.

We pushed the mission up ten minutes and I shacked my first PET. The HARM left the jet like a friggin' freight train. I knew what to expect visually, based on the video I had seen from earlier missions, so I was primed for the shot. The delay between pickle and launch was very noticeable, easily 1.4 seconds. As soon as it left the rail, the entire jet shook from the rocket launch. I checked hard to the left to prevent the intake from sucking down the rocket blast, and I was engulfed in the rocket's roar. The Viper is a very quiet and smooth-flying jet. The HARM's launch defied both of those norms—it was incredible.
     — From the journal of Capt. Kris Padilla

C-5 Tactical Crews
We were notified three days before the war started that the Air Force was going to send in the first C-5s. We left Dover within twenty-four hours for the designated base in western Europe and got into crew rest. We handpicked the crews and chose the guys with tactical experience. After Baghdad International Airport was secured, we began making combat entries into Baghdad. Later, once we got a little more comfortable flying into Baghdad, we started using regular airland crews.
     — Lt. Col. Don Gresham

Job One
Everybody in the EP-3 is focused on the mission. Our job is to locate threats to aircraft in the vicinity and threats to friendly ground forces like the Coalition, Army, or Marines. We pinpointed targets and passed evaluations off to V Corps or the 1st MEF and they would persecute the target with an appropriate aircraft. We located surface-to-air missile sites and passed the information to the strikers. We sifted through the data and turned it into useful information.
     — Lt. (j.g.) Thomas Louden

Good By Comparison
We had a chow hall, phones, and e-mail. When we first got there, we thought, "Man, this really sucks." But others were in situations far worse than ours. When people complained, I told them to think about the Army dudes riding out sandstorms on the border of Iraq in northern Kuwait waiting for the war to start. We had it pretty good by comparison.
     — Lt. Col. Andy Larson

Parking Spaces
We got on the ground with forty-six aircraft, and enough parking for twenty and a fuel truck. The civil engineering guys came in later and built additional parking for eighteen aircraft.
     — Maj. John Church