European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 16, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Ory 39, says. We just did t know  the colonel in charge of the provisional Wing told his men How he wished he were going with them. He sent them Back to their tents and encouraged them to rest. The meeting lasted about 15 minutes. Am i going to be dead in 12 hours Benyshek re Calls asking himself or Are my friends going to be dead Powell the Pitburg f-15 Pilot who deployed to saudi Arabia remembers receiving similar advice about sleep. But he and. His ten mates wound up sitting on their veranda until 2 . I guess excitement would be the Best Way to describe How they Felt says Powell who was credited with shooting Down two enemy planes during the War. We were All excited in an Odd.  Stimpert Wright who was As signed to Doha a Qatar stood on the other Side of the lectern. The 42-year-old commander briefed about 40 pilots on the first night s raid which he led. There were no questions. You could see Young men look older immedi lately look older because of the Gravity of the Situa Tion Wright says. Several Hundred Miles to the Southwest two dozen of the most sophisticated aircraft on the planet were being prepped for War. The f-117 stealth fighters situated at a Remote saudi air base High in the coast Al mountains near the red sea would soon be at the Vanguard of the allies air strike. Maj. Scott Stimpert now an f-15 Pilot at Pitburg recalls waking up at 3 . The Day before the War and walking Over to the operations room at Khamis Musait a. There he ran into col. Klaus Klause the 37th tac fighter Wing s Deputy commander for operations. It was unusual for him to be in the operations room at that time says Stimpert whose Hometown is new Ulm Minn. He had a funny look on his  the nightly briefing was pushed Back from 8 to 10, Klause informed him. Klause suggested that Stim pert and others to go Back to their rooms and sleep because it was going to be a Long night. Since f-117 missions occurred at night pilots would usually snooze after Daybreak. Stimpert was t sleepy and he did t feel like taking his daily jog so he went to the Wing s planning cell. There he studied a packet he had received two weeks before that Laid out exactly what his first combat Mission would entail. For the previous several weeks he and his fellow pilots had speculated about when or if they would go off to War. Some thought the allies would launch an attack on Christmas Day 1990. Everybody had their own version of what made sense Stimpert says. Of course everybody was wrong. But people thought Saddam would blink. Nobody could believe that he was t going to take the Allied coalition seriously. Most people thought he was going to Back  the Squadron deployed to saudi Arabia from its secluded base in Tonopah nev., in late november. When they weren t flying or sleeping Squadron members would while away the time studying plans and missions Reading books or watching videos. The pretty woman movie video played almost every night. It got to a Point Stimpert says where people knew the lines As Well As the actors. Playing cards was another pastime. Las vegas Ca Sinos had sent the Squadron dozens of decks and solitaire was the game of Choice for Many. I did t play solitaire before i left Tonopah Andi Haven t played since i got Back Stimpert 35, says. With their first combat Mission in the Gulf hours away pilots sought a different kind of Solitude. Most spent the remaining time studying flight plans. Stim pert s Mission involved two targets a telecommunications building in downtown Baghdad and a hardened. Radar shelter Southwest of the City. Some Guys were studying photo packets up until continued on Page 6 a v is a Louis wins twin deployed from Pitburg prepares 500-Pound bomb fins in saudi Arabia during the War. A South Carolina National guard unit loads a missile onto an f-16 in saudi during desert storm. January 16,1994 sunday pages