Operation Eagle Claw

 

Book report time so you have a clear idea what is going on, or you might not, depending on your thought capacity. 

Background

The Dhofar Rebellion was fought from 1963-1976, that's when they 'say' it ended. The Dhofar Liberation Front was a Marxist group, you can call them the Houthi's today, in those days they were backed by East Germany and the Soviets (different than Russians). They had been hard at it trying to take Oman and the area north east of Yemen, the Dhofar region. In 1976 the Liberation front by any other name, went into gorilla mode and later lost funding due to the fall of the Soviets and East Germany, but never stopped. Sometime in the 1990's they were re-funded by Iran (probably funded by money funneled from the United States of America (I don't know the exact year of the infiltration of the communist ideology people (individuals) into the apparatus that is the Federal State of the USA) and probably a few other entities, big and small. 

1966

Sultan bin Said Taimur father of Sultan bin Said Qaboos was the man in charge until his son, Qaboos, over threw him after he had been held under house arrest on return from his education years at Sandhurst and serving in the British Army in the 1st Battalion, The Camaronians. Sultan Qaboos had the backing of Great Britain and the U.S.

1974

The Freedom fighters had arrived to stop the forward push of an ideology that removed the soul from the human, they were there to fight the Dhofar Rebellion and propel Oman into the future.

1st Building, 1st Apartment.

Our new home is a battleship grey concrete 4 story building with no frills, inside and out. A hurricane fence surrounds the egg shaped compound, at this time there are not snipers and machine gun carrying soldiers on our roof top watching over the Sultan's palace with a Birds Eye view, that would come a bit later. All the requirements for our safety in this moment would be an Omani in a dishdasha that would raise the gate when we needed to leave or we were arriving.  

There is one road in the entire country and it's not even a good road. 

I'm three years old and have just had my body cast removed and I don't know how to walk. 

Helicopters in formation are always flying over head, off to war on the other side of the place we called home. 

1975

I'm four years old, time to head to school, Royal Flight, a small concert building, one room for all of us, built for the children of the fighters. We were from the U.S. and the U.K. Back then the United Kingdom consisted of Australia (left in 1984), Canada (left in 1982), and many other territories, they all served the Crown, and we Americans were sovereign with might. 

1978

It was normal for us to vacation in Iran, Lebanon, and Pakistan in those 'days'. 

Early in the year there is a CIA briefing that all is fine and dandy in Iran, no need to worry. We knew this to not be the truth on the ground. National Security Advisor to Carter, and communist to his core, Zbigniew Brazinski, father of Mika, The Morning Joe show on MSNBC, he was the one with the 'bad' information. This is where you should not see incompetence but malice. 

1979

In the beginning of February, Khomeini returns to Iran and we are now persona no grata. 

Our battleship grey building is now maned with snipers and soldiers carrying machine guns. 

The end of February the Queen of England comes for a visit with one of her dearest friends, Sultan bin Said Qaboos. The tension in the region has ramped up.

31 October, everyone arrives for the great all Hallows eve party that is well known to the expats and patriots alike around and chat in the open is on hand, with costumes and masks as is the way of the night when we wake the dead. 

4 November, the United States embassy is taken and 52 Americans are held hostage.

I'm 8 years old. 

"Remember, Remember the 5th of November, gun powder, treason and plot..." The bon fire was huge that year as all gathered, to remember.  

1980

27 January, 6 American hostages fly out undercover in the open with Canadian Passports. You might have seen the film, Operation Argo. 

The talk all around the 'Pan Am' compound was, "how do we rescue the rest of the hostages?"

Some honcho in the U.S. comes up with a retarded plan. 

All of our parents warn and signal sending a fleet of helicopters into Tehran is the dumbest plan and soldiers are going to die. This is our parents forte, they are gorilla fighters, also by any other name, tactics is their game.   

24 April, Operation Eagle Claw commences, it was Delta Forces first mission; 8 soldiers died. 

November, Ronald Reagan is elected.

1981

6 January, I love an epiphany, the hostages are released. 

The snipers and machine gun carrying soldiers remain on top of our buildings as planes fly in and out carrying world leaders, this is where they treated. 

I'm 10 years old and I live in Apartment 1, Building 1, in an armed compound in Seeb, Oman, next to the Sultan's Palace, during a war against communism that no one knew we were even fighting. 

Hijackings become the normal in our world. 

The Dhofar gorilla war is still happening, Iraq is lighting up here and there and Iran is also in play. The Soviets have been in Afghanistan since 1979. 

1982

Some hot month at the end of summer, I took my last swim in the pool at the Khanjar Club where I would eat my chips splashed with vinegar then dipped in catchup, my fingers still wet with pool water as the wicked sun beat down upon us. 

I'm 11 years old 

It was time for me to become an American. 

Be still and listen 

One day I will tell you a story

These were my formative years. 

This is an ideological war. 

It didn't end. 

Dhofar was home of one of the magicians that met the Prophet Jesus

and brought him the gift of Myrrh.