Secrets and Scuds: An Untold Story of Desert Shield and Desert Storm

During Operation Desert Shield the United States Army sent several hundreds of thousands of men and women to the Saudi Desert as part of the Coalition which would eventually liberate Kuwait. Some of these soldiers were Air Defense Artillerymen. Secrets and Scuds focuses on one of these units, "B" Battery, 2nd Battalion 1st ADA, as it is put on a war footing at Fort Bliss, TX, travels to the Middle East, and uses its Hawk surface-to-air missile system to help create an impressive network of antiaircraft systems in the region. What was not revealed at the time was that 2-1 ADA was equipped with a second, secret, weapon system. Where most medium-range SAM systems (like Hawk) employ radar to detect, track and destroy targets, the Alpha system employed an entirely new principle undetectable to the enemy. Desert Storm would be the first opportunity to test this weapon system. James "Doc" Crabtree served during the Persian Gulf War as a Tactical Control Officer for the Hawk missile system and an operator of the notorious Alpha system. Crabtree's humorous insights, photos and cartoons tell the story of Bravo Battery in a way no other medium could.