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	                                  The Deployment
            
             		On 2 August 1990, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait. The following day,
             President George Bush ordered the United States naval force into the
             Persian Gulf area, and on 7 August, he ordered combat troops and planes
             into the area. Three days later Headquarters Air Force Reserve (HQ
             AFRES) notified the commander of the 94th Tactical Airlift Wing (TAW),
             Colonel Jack W. Blair, stationed at Dobbins AFB, Georgia, that the potential
             existed for Reserve volunteers to deploy on short notice to "an unknown
             location" in the Persian Gulf to provide tactical airlift support to Operation
             Desert Shield. Sixteen C-130s and 400 personnel would be required.'
            
             		Personnel of the 94th had trained to respond as a unit in time of war
             or national emergency. When mobilized, it was their job to provide the
             operational functions necessary to provide air transportation for airborne
             forces and their cargo, provide aeromedical evacuation within the theater
             of operation, and conduct aerial spray missions for the Department of
             Defense.2
            
             		Desert Shield proved to be an entirely different experience from the
             way 94th personnel had trained to perform their mission however. Instead
             of being mobilized or called up as an entire unit, the active force asked for
             people with specific unit type codes (UTCs) to volunteer.3
            
             With not enough aircraft or personnel assigned to his unit to satisfy
             the tasking using only volunteers, Col Blair contacted several other AFRES
             C-130 units requesting personnel, equipment and aircraft for the deploy-
             ment. These units included the 908th Tactical Airlift Group (TAG), Maxwell
             AFB, Alabama; the 911 TAG, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the 440 TAG,
             General Mitchell Air Reserve Forces Facility (ARFF), Wisconsin; and the 928
             TAG, O'Hare International Airport, Illinois. Col Blair also canvassed a
             number of his unit's key personnel whom he felt would be needed for a
             successful deployment. Most volunteered when asked.4
            
            
            ----------------------
            	1 Intvw, P.R. Stone and D.G. Lanfear with Col Jack Blair, 94 TAW/CC,
            29 Jan 91 [hereafter cited as Blair Intvw].
            
              2 USAF Fact Sheet, "94th Tactical Airlift Wing," Oct 89.
            
               3Blair Intvw.
            
               4Ibid.
                        

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