The Herald-Dispatch (Huntington, WV) May 14, 2003
Home at last
Ryan Harrah returns to W.Va. after 5 months at Kuwaiti base
By Robert C. Withers
HUNTINGTON - Staff Sgt. Ryan Harrah is home after five months of security duty and helping to win a war in the Kuwaiti desert. And apparently, he finally has time to stop and smell the roses.
"It's overwhelming," Harrah said Tuesday as he relaxed in his East End apartment. "You almost can't believe you're here. Everything looks so clean and so green. And it smells so good."
Harrah, 24, was one of 13 security police officers from the West Virginia Air National Guard's 130th Airlift Wing who deployed to Kuwait in December in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and returned Monday to the Mountain State.
Harrah, a son of Dr. J.D. and Phyllis Harrah of Huntington, joined the Air Guard in June 1997 after graduating from Huntington High School.
"I had always wanted to serve in the military, just like my dad and both my grandfathers," he said.
He trained in security at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, in 1998, but most of the time, his National Guard duty was a one-weekend-a-month affair - until 9/11.
"That night, I was mobilized and went on active duty on Oct. 2," he said. "A month later, they sent me to Raven school. Since then, I have been in 23 foreign countries."
"Ravens" fly on Department of Defense aircraft with congressmen and other important leaders when they are bound for countries that have no U.S. bases or are deemed insecure for whatever reason.
"We train like air marshals and as security advisers to air crews," he said. "We pick the routes they take to hotels and tell them which floors to stay on." vFor example, when driving from an airport to a hotel, you choose a well-lighted route that has a police station, fire station or some other governmental or public facility on it. And you stay away from bottlenecks such as traffic lights and checkpoints.
At the hotel, you stay anywhere from the third floor to the seventh.
"The third floor is high enough to protect you from break-ins and drive-by shootings, and fire truck ladders can't reach beyond the seventh," he said.
Harrah and his colleagues were attached to the 332nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron at Ahmed al-Jaber Air Base in the center of southern Kuwait. He was assigned a mission of air base ground security. He worked 12-hour shifts.
"I was either in a machine gun turret on an armored Hummer or was a fire team leader of a four-man mobile team in a Hummer," he said. "We patrolled on base or in the desert around the base. We were responsible for an area 15 kilometers out on all sides."
Harrah was not injured, but he did hear some action.
"There was a little bit of small-arms fire right off the base a couple of times," he said. "Someone, possibly Bedouins, were shooting up into the air for no apparent reason. By the time we responded and got out there, no one was there."
Iraqi forces sent 14 Scud missiles toward the base, too, but the closest one landed 23 miles away.
"The majority of them were shot down by Patriots," he said.
Al-Jaber was a busy place, because it was the main departure point for fighters going into Iraq. There were more than 400 Air Force, Marine and British sorties a day.
"It was extremely noisy," he said. vCol. Tim Frye, commander of the 130th Airlift Wing, was complimentary of Harrah and his buddies.
"I am very proud of these men and women for the service they have given to our country," he said. "It is the personal sacrifice of our airmen and their families that enables us to accomplish the mission, and I'm grateful for their commitment and dedication to our unit."
About 350 members of the 130th continue to serve on active duty, supporting Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
Harrah is on leave until May 27 and expects to be on active duty about two more months. His short-term goals, he said, are to attend Glenn Beck's Rally for America at Marshall University Stadium on May 24 - and find a job.
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Lori Wolfe/The Herald-Dispatch
Staff Sgt. Ryan Harrah of the 130th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard discusses his experiences overseas. Harrah left for Kuwait on Dec. 12, returning Monday to Huntington.
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Lori Wolfe/The Herald-Dispatch
Staff Sgt. Ryan Harrah of the 130th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard left for Kuwait on Dec. 12 and returned to Huntington on Monday.
On the Web
To find out more about the Air Mobility Warfare Center, log on to www.mcquire.af.mil/AMWC1. To learn about the Phoenix Raven training course, go to http://usmilitary.about.com library milinfo milarticles blraven.htm. For more about Ahmed al-Jaber Air Base, visit www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/ahmed-al-jaber.htm.
On the Web
To find out more about the Air Mobility Warfare Center, log on to www.mcquire.af.mil/AMWC1.
To learn about the Phoenix Raven training course, go to http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/milarticles/ blraven.htm
. For more about Ahmed al-Jaber Air Base, visit www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/ahmed-al-jaber.htm.
Lori Wolfe/The Herald-Dispatch
Staff Sgt. Ryan Harrah of the 130th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard left for Kuwait on Dec. 12 and returned to Huntington on Monday.
Staff Sgt. Ryan Harrah of the 130th Airlift Wing of the West Virginia Air National Guard patrols an off-base area in an armored Hummer during his first week in Kuwait.
Courtesy of Ryan Harrah
Copyright © 2003, The Herald-Dispatch (Huntington, WV)
