Veterans share memories By ROBBY LUCKE Staff The president's name was George Bush. The American economy was starting a downturn. The hottest rap star was a white guy. And the United States was launching missiles to deal with the aggression of Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein. Does history tend to repeat itself, or what? Yet with the Middle East part of the equation, the situation was much more intense 10 years ago. This month marks the 10th anniversary of the end of the Gulf War. Three Alleghany County veterans of operations in the Persian Gulf shared their respective memories of that time. Harrol Blevins was a training and reconnaissance weapons systems officer at the Air Force's central command headquarters from the time it was set up at the beginning of Desert Shield. Janet Garvey was commander of the Army Reserve's 343rd Medical Company during Desert Storm. And Donny A. McCall was a Navy avionics technician during Southern Watch, after the war.

Janet Garvey, a captain during Desert Storm, was the commander of the 343rd Army medical company.

Harrol Blevins

Born in the Ennice section of Alleghany, Blevins served in the Air Force from 1972 to 1992. In the summer of 1990, he was a major under Gen. Chuck Horner, who became commander of the air forces of Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Blevins was involved in a training exercise in Florida. "The exercise we were on was a paper war, but the scenario we were practicing was Iraq invading Kuwait," he said.

After that happened for real, Blevins' unit was one the first sent to the Middle East to prepare for the war. He was there for seven and a half months, starting in August 1990.

Because Centaf (Central Air Force) staff and Air Force planes were the first to arrive in Saudi Arabia, there was little protection. "There wasn't much between us and Hussein except the Saudi army,? Blevins said. Later, an Army unit from South Carolina arrived with M-1 Abram tanks providing armor and fire power. "We relaxed then," he said.

He added, "Almost all of the war was the air campaign. That was Centaf's war....The early part of the preparation stages came from Centaf headquarters."
 
 

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