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Written by my shipmate, retired Command Master Chief, USN, Peter Yeschenko.TODAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY: 17 JANUARY 1991.DO YOU REMEMBER WHERE YOU WERE AND WHAT YOU WERE DOING?!When Operation Desert Storm commenced today on 17 January 1991...do you remember what you were doing or how you found out that the war started?I was the Chief Master-at-Arms aka MAC on board the hospital ship, USNS Mercy T-AH-19 and we were steaming in in the Persian Gulf.At approximately 0315, I was sleeping in my rack when one of my MA's came down to my berthing and woke me up. He shook my curtain and and in real calm voice said..."Chief, wake up...it started." In dazed I looked at him in the red berthing light and said....What?! And he tells me..."The war started.....we are dropping bombs."I told him...I'll be in the office in a few minutes....after he left...I laid in my rack for a couple of minutes....said a prayer. Got up, put on my uniform and headed to my office via the weatherdeck.Once I got out on the weatherdeck...the seas were calm and I could see an orange glow on the horizon....But I didn't know if that orange glow was from the start of the war or from one of the oil refinery at sea that we would see every so often.It felt kind of surreal.Can't believe that was 31 years ago... #navy #operationdesertstorm #history #memorial #military #battle #heroes