Page 10 - Desert Lightning News July 1 2016

10
Documenting a tragedy: GlobalFacebook.com/DesertLightningNews Strike historian
recalls Khobar Towers
Joe Thomas
Air Force Global Strike Command Public A airs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE,
La. (AFNS) -- “Our Nomads have
Ceased eir Wandering.”
e epitaph, etched into a monu-
ment at Eglin Air Force Base, Flori-
da, refers to the 33rd Fighter Wing
Airmen who lost their lives in the
terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia.
Yancy Mailes, the Air Force
Global Strike Command historian,
was a 27-year-old staff sergeant at
the time. It was June 25, 1996, and
he had been the wing’s historian for
three months. With little training
and less experience, he found him-
self as one of the key contributors to
documenting the tragedy.
“I had been a weapons guy for
eight years,” Mailes said. “I was look-
ing to do something different and I
knew I liked history, so I applied for
this career field.”
Several months later, Mailes
found himself scribbling furiously
to capture every detail of the attack
as bits of information came through
the command post. He often found
himself rescuing documents from
the shredder, an act of forethought
that would save information for fu-
ture historical works.
“I was working 18 hours a day and
I was terrified,” Mailes said. “I knew
I was going to miss something. So I
put everything I could find in paper
boxes -- message traffic, (situation
reports), anything, just stacking it.
Later, I would sort it and organize
it according to topic. I didn’t know
what was important. All the infor-
mation I gathered was used for so
much later, such as awards, decora-
tions and memories and also con-
tributed to some historical works
on the attack.”
Unlike garrisoned operations,
where historians gather informa-
tion slowly and write annual his-
tories, deployed historians archive
events on the fly and submit his-
tories once a month, a task that
can easily absorb 12-14 hours of
effort a day. Mailes quickly found
July 1, 2016
www.aerotechnews.com/davis-monthanafb
himself performing duties like a
deployed historian.
“I had been to tech school, which
taught me how to write, but not
7-level school which teaches you
how to serve as a deployed histo-
rian,” he said. “I was a 5-level, so I
hadn’t received that level of training. attack in terms of those who died
As a result, I didn’t really know what
questions to ask, especially when it
came to recording oral histories of
the attack. It was all really discovery ways regained their composure and
learning on my part.”
Mailes conducted 30 inter-
views with victims of the attack
and others who played a role in
mitigating the disaster. Although
he lacked required training, the
young historian knew he had a
mission to accomplish for the
sake of future generations.
“I’m in the forever business,”
Mailes said. “As historians we don’t
just document the past, we preserve
the here and now for our grandchil-
dren’s grandchildren. So here I am as
a young Airman thrust into this posi-
tion and I’m not sure what questions
to ask. I would usually begin by say-
ing ‘just tell me what happened,’ and
they would. ose who experienced
the attack would break down emo-
tionally and it was very sobering.”
Mailes shared some of their sto-
ries, which are still preserved in the
33rd FW’s archives.
“One Airman described the event
as an out-of-body experience. He
said he could see the shape of his sil-
houette from behind, as if he were
looking at his back,” Mailes said. “He
tried to use a flashlight to find survi-
vors, but the light couldn’t penetrate
the cloud of dust and debris so he
had to follow blood trails. Another
Airman said he could only hear wa-
ter running, wires snapping and peo-
ple crying.”
ese one-on-one sessions proved
challenging and involved skills out-
side the scope of Mailes’ training as
a historian. However, he recognizes
that his listening served as an essen-
tial piece of the healing process.
“ ese people were shattered,”
Mailes said. “ ey were just crushed
On June 25, 1996, a tanker truck lled with explosives erupted at the Khobar Towers housing
complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Nineteen Airmen were killed and hundreds more were
wounded in the attack; of those killed, 12 were members of the 33rd Fighter Wing based out of
Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
spiritually. We tend to think of this
or were wounded, but these people
were scarred emotionally. Several
sobbed uncontrollably, but they al-
asked me if I needed anything else,
almost as if they knew how impor-
tant this was. All I could do was sit
and listen. I’m not a chaplain or a
psychologist, but soon the word got
around and more and more people
would come to me. I believe it was
very cathartic for them.”
Despite the challenge of becom-
ing an inadvertent caregiver, Mailes
knew he had to press forward as a
historian and an Airman. e oral
histories he collected would serve
as a crucial piece in the book, “Kho-
bar Towers: Tragedy and Response,”
by Dr. Perry D. Jamieson, a historian
who mentored Mailes.
“He had a lot of patience with me,”
Mailes said. “He sort of took me un-
der his wing. I was able to do a lot of AFGSC where he is part of a team
ground work that helped with docu-
menting the attack, but there were
so many other historians that con-
tributed and took the lead for larger
works. I was just in the unique posi-
tion of not having higher education
or extensive formal training.”
Shortly after the attack, then-Air
Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald R.
Fogleman visited Eglin AFB to meet
the survivors as they arrived back
to the U.S. Mailes and others stood
with him as he did.
“Here I am as a staff sergeant
standing next to the chief of staff
of the Air Force,” Mailes said. “I
Desert Lightning News
(Courtesy photo/Yancy Mailes)
watched as he made time for every
single person as they came off the
plane. He gave so much of himself;
very kind and compassionate.
e experience of documenting
the disaster at Khobar has not only
shaped the way Mailes approaches
his work, but also how he sees histo-
rians in general.
“Credentialing by itself doesn’t
make you a historian,” he said. “It’s a
key part, but you have to have a pas-
sion for actually documenting histo-
ry. e things our Airmen are doing
today are just as important as what
has been done in the past. If we don’t
document what we do, if we don’t
have someone on the ground wit-
nessing and collecting documents,
then it won’t be considered a part of
our heritage 25 years from now.”
Mailes has since earned his mas-
ter’s degree in history and currently
serves as command historian for
responsible for maintaining ar-
chives on all things nuclear and long
range strike. Mailes continues his
love for collecting, preserving and
presenting history. e Office of the
Command Historian plays a crucial
role in current operations and doc-
umenting the important AFGSC
missions for posterity.
“I am never a doer, but rather a
watcher,” Mailes said. “I am a witness
to history. It’s my responsibility to
make sure that these events are cap-
tured and that the memories of these
people live on.”