Sunday marked the 25th anniversary of the start of the Persian Gulf War. While official combat operations were finished by the end of February 1991, it was only the beginning of a continued long-term presence by the United States in the Middle East. And, some veterans continue to live with health problems they link to the original conflict.
Following the August 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the United States and numerous allies built up a military presence in the Persian Gulf and warned that hostile action would be taken against Iraqi forces if Hussein failed to withdraw his troops from Kuwait.
In the early morning hours of January 18, 1991 (the evening of January 17 Eastern Standard Time), the first of hundreds of air raids commenced.
"At that point, now I know if we're bombing them, now we're in danger," said Marine Sergeant Robert Garus, Jr., a Buffalo-area native whose unit had arrived in Riyahd, Saudi Arabia on Christmas Day 1990. "That was a life-changing event. It may not sound like it, but when you know at any moment your life is in danger from that point on, it was... I felt it, and I'd seen the change in the men in my unit."
Grand Island native Thomas Heldwein was also on the ground as the war broke out, as a combat engineer for the U.S. Army. He and his comrades were living out of their respective vehicles, spotting mines in the field and assisting in various roles.
He recalled how Iraqi front-line soldiers had little morale, and how some would loiter all day with the hope of being captured.
"They had no real motive," Heldwin said. "The United States military is one hundred percent all-volunteer military. We all volunteer to do it. They were dragged out by gunpoint and told 'you will go, or we'll kill your family.' They really didn't want to be there."
Formal combat operations ceased at the end of February. 146 Americans died in the conflict. But thousands more would soon come home and develop long-term health problems. Garus was among them.
In addition to PTSD, Garus developed symptoms including a rash, sore joints - sometimes se severe he could barely hold a toothbrush - and other problems. He told WBFO that numerous trips to various specialists turned up no cause, and often times his cases were denied by the Veterans Administration.
"Still to this day, 25 years later, I can go to the VA Hospital - all the appointments, all the medical professionals I have spoken with - still to this day, 'we know nothing about Gulf War Illness'," Garus said.
He has conducted his own research and, upon reviewing a 465-page independent report, believes his problems are, as suggested in other studies, rooted in one of the two pills he and his men were required to take: Pyridostigmine Bromide, or PB. Garus says after the fact, he learned the pills should have been taken after a nerve agent attack. But he and his men were taking them on a regular, daily basis.
He is now a disabled veteran who is hoping his own report will gain the attention of elected officials.
Meanwhile, many looking back in hindsight question whether history would be different had the US continued into Baghdad to topple Saddam Hussein's government upon the liberation of Kuwait. Then-president George H.W. Bush was criticized by many for not doing so, but the administration at the time argued that taking further action would jeopardize the alliance with other nations who took part in the war.
Heldwein, who recalled being able to see the distant glow of Baghdad's city lights at night when his unit was close enough to that city, agrees that it was the right call.
"We basically wanted to have Iraq withdraw from Kuwait," he said.
