Join the Veterans Breakfast Club for a conversation with retired Army Colonel Frank Hancock, commander of 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) during Operation Desert Storm, about his remarkable new book, Operation Desert Storm: How Two Young Intelligence Analysts and an Infantry Battalion Changed the War in Iraq.
At the heart of the book is an extraordinary story that has remained untold for more than three decades. Just 48 hours before the 101st Airborne launched the largest helicopter air assault in American military history, two young intelligence soldiers—Captain Jose Delgado and Sergeant Jesus Gonzalez—discovered a critical flaw in the division’s battle plan that had escaped every higher headquarters. They identified an Iraqi bunker-and-trench complex directly in the landing zone of the lead assault company. Their discovery forced commanders to revise the plan at the last minute and may well have prevented a devastating disaster.
That dramatic episode opens the door to a much larger story. Hancock takes us inside General Norman Schwarzkopf’s bold “Hail Mary” offensive, which sent the 101st Airborne deep into Iraq to sever the Euphrates Valley in one of the most ambitious operational maneuvers undertaken by the U.S. military since the Inchon landing during the Korean War. He explains how the division planned and executed the largest helicopter air assault in U.S. history, what worked, what nearly went wrong, and why the operation became a defining moment in modern American warfare.
Drawing on recollections from soldiers throughout the battalion—from privates to colonels—Hancock reconstructs the operation from every level of command. Along the way, he also explores a larger question: How did the U.S. Army recover from Vietnam? Desert Storm showcased an Army that had spent nearly two decades studying its failures, rebuilding its doctrine, embracing new technologies, and developing leaders capable of executing extraordinarily complex operations. The campaign’s stunning success did not happen by accident—it was the product of lessons painfully learned after Vietnam.
As always, we’ll leave plenty of time for audience questions, comments, and stories. Veterans, family members, and all who wish to learn are warmly welcome.
