| This was a tragic and preventable loss. It's incredible that a software bug might have been the root cause. At the time, this incident really stuck out because it broke the illusion of our fabled Patriot missile shield protecting us. Civilian expats really believed the inflated Patriot interception rates parroted to us by mainstream media and our American military expat buddies. A large number of remaining expats who had stuck out the Gulf War to that point decided to pack it in and leave when word got out that the Dhahran barracks were hit. Although history shows that Iraq surrendered days after this incident, at the time there was heightened fear and confusion amongst the remaining expats, especially the non-Americans. We left on the last Lufthansa flight (crewed by military personnel) after hearing about this. Nostalgic edit: During the Gulf War embassies issued equipment and rations to expat citizens who chose to stay behind. Americans were issued full body suits (for adults and youths) due to the biological and chemical weapon payloads that Saddam boasted his SCUDs were carrying, along with MREs that tasted fabulous! In stark contrast, Commonwealth citizens were issued a bare gas mask (adult size only) and mono-flavour MREs that tasted like cardboard. The British embassy sticks out in my mind: with stern stone-faced expressions they admonished us all for not evacuating and thus endangering children in a war zone. In addition to the terrible rations and gas masks, they wordlessly gave us a stack of translucent stickers. When asked what they were for, embassy staff explained that in the event of the air siren going off, we should get under our sturdiest tables and don our gas masks (standard procedure), and then slap the stickers on. If the stickers changed colour, it meant we were in the presence of a biochemical agent and would have approximately 10 seconds before we died a horrific death. You kind of had to be there to appreciate the grim humour. |