7, 1990, by the National Command Authority, they had a lot of work to do and tankers played an integral role in getting forces and aircraft to the deployed theater of operations. General Keller said once the deployment order was given on Aug. As a matter of fact, (Iraq) had nine and a third divisions lined up on the Saudi border." It was expected they would attack Saudi Arabia. "No one had a clue what he was intending to do. "At the time, Saddam had a 1.1-million-man army, 7,000 tanks and 700 fighter aircraft and they crossed the border (and invaded)," said General Keller, who served as Headquarters Strategic Air Command Director of Communication and Control and for two months of DESERT SHIELD as the headquarters director of operations. Additionally, those tankers off-loaded more than 28.2 million gallons of fuel to 14,588 receivers. History shows that during Desert Shield, tankers flew 4,967 sorties and 19,700 flying hours. Bush formed a coalition of nations to oppose Iraq's aggression and at the same time began Operation DESERT SHIELD on Aug. Within days of the invasion, President George H.W. "A ploy to boost Iraq's sagging economic position by raising oil prices, the invasion sparked both condemnation and action from the leaders of other nations," according to "Anything, Anywhere, Anytime: An Illustrated History of the Military Airlift Command, 1941-1991." In August 1990, Saddam Hussein's military forces from Iraq invaded and then annexed the nation of Kuwait. Central Air Forces' air campaign planner and commander directing strategic forces in Saudi Arabia for both DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM. "Without the phenomenal tanker support we had for the war, we could not have accomplished what we did," said General Caruana, who served as a U.S. All four played a key role in managing more than 300 tanker aircraft and their sorties for the operations. Reliving their experiences in the "largest air refueling operation in history" for Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM, a panel of four retired Air Force officers took part in the Tanker Living Legends Speaker Series in the Global Reach Planning Center on Aug.
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