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By early 1990, I joined the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. During Operation Desert Storm, I was assigned to Joint Task Force Proven Force operating from Turkey.
After Iraq crushed the Kurdish uprising, more than 500,000 refugees were trapped in the mountains along the border, dying at rates close to a thousand a day. The 10th Special Forces Group was the first ground force into northern Iraq. My job was managing HF radio teams—the communications backbone connecting SF teams spread across dozens of camps in austere terrain. Our network facilitated the interagency relief efforts that reduced the camp populations from 500,000 to 41,000 within months.
Over time, I shifted from operating systems to improving them—developing processes, refining training, and ensuring that what we built worked under pressure. I was assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group at Fort Davis, Panama—the U.S. Southern Command Commander’s In-Extremis Force. I provided signal support during counterterrorism, hostage rescue, and special reconnaissance operations. I also took part in Operation Inca Gold, a humanitarian de-mining mission, and contributed to Joint Task Force Safe Haven, processing Cuban and Haitian migrants.
During this time, I earned the Ranger Tab and the Master Parachutist Badge, and served as the detachment’s de facto technology lead—procuring new computer systems and training the unit on applications that improved daily operations. In September 1995, I officially reclassified from Signal to Infantry.
