Aviation Adventures
 

While stationed in Germany immediately after the Gulf War my unit (55th Avn Co) was deployed to Turkey for Operation Provide Comfort. The purpose of this operation was to help feed all of the Kurds displaced by Sadam. After the war Sadam was trying to annihilate the Kurds so they all fled north to Turkey. The Turkish government would not allow the Kurds into Turkey so they were stuck up in the mountains along the Turkish border. They had very little with them and most were starving (if they hadn't been blown up by the many land mines along the border.) We spent two months in Turkey and Iraq providing clean water and food to these people. The following are some pictures I took on the trip to and while in Turkey and Iraq. This page is somewhat misnamed because the pictures of the camps and people are actually taken in Iraq.

This is a picture of a Chinook on the way to Turkey. It was taken in Austria.

Another picture in Austria. This was taken on April 15th.

Another shot in Austria.

An island in the Mediterranean Sea. The water there was beautiful and clear.

Some more islands in the Mediterranean. Looks like a nice place to stop and dive.

Looks like someone brought their girlfriend along!

Some of the terrain in Turkey. You can see snow on the mountains in the background.

Some of the mountains in Turkey. You can see a helicopter in the distance.

Some of the terrain in Iraq was very rugged. If you look very closely you can see the helicopter in the larger picture.

Some of the less rugged terrain in northern Iraq. You can see the snow in the background. In our camp it would be 80 degrees and it would be snowing in the mountains.

I don't think I would like to hike through this terrain although the Kurds were forced to.

Another picture showing some of the less rugged terrain in Iraq.

Here you can see some of the Kurds camping in a ravine. Most of the Kurds were higher up on the mountains.

A look approaching one of the camps high on the mountain along the Turkish border.

A close up of one of the camps. There were a lot of these camps along the border.

Here an Air Force C-130 drops supplies to the Kurds. Many Kurds were killed trying to be the first to the air dropped supplies which would land on them so helicopters were brought in to deliver supplies.

One of the headquarters in the outlying area.

One of the landing zones set up by the Special Forces to control the area where supplies were dropped off. Prior to the establishment of these landing zones helicopters would have to off load supplies at a hover to avoid being swamped by "helpful" Kurds.

One of the villages between our camp in Silopi (on the Turkey-Iraq border) and Incirlic Air Base in Ankara, Turkey.

A Kurdish house near a stream.

A closer view of one of the Kurdish houses. You can tell something about their construction from this picture.

Some of the locals come out to see what is going on. I don't know if this is normal dress for them or if they were dressed up for something.

A couple of people out collecting firewood. This became more and more difficult because people were even stripping the wood off of the trees as high as they could reach as firewood became more scarce.

A couple of men out watching us as well as their sheep.

Some of the kids at one of the camps. They were always willing to come over and check out what was going on.

The kids were always friendly and loved to look at the helicopters. They had probably never seen a helicopter before this operation.