An Arabian Nightmare Ends for Airman
Some wanted war to break out , others just want it to be resolved peacefully . ( For me), it was just whatever would get me out of there. . . . The waiting, that was the fear; the war wasn’t really a fear . . . . Not knowing when you’re going to go home, not knowing when anything’s going to happen, that was the fear. --James Erlick, 48th Tactical Fighting Unit airman
All of 21, Jim Erlick sounds as if he could be auditioning for a part in the next flyboy recruiting commercial. Glowingly, he speaks of traveling to distant lands, learning a trade, serving as electronics trouble-shooter for the F-111 bomber, all opportunities offered by the Air Force.
“Oh, I’ve definitely enjoyed it,” he says of his ongoing military service, his voice falling flat, “up until the last three months.”
The last three months. For the graduate of Fullerton’s Sonora High School, they were alternately “a nightmare” and “an eye-opener.”
For his mother, Pauline, they were “three of the most miserable months of my life.”
Jim Erlick has spent the last three months in Saudi Arabia, maintaining and fixing the electronic tracking systems of the two-seat bombers that may have to drop their payloads on Iraqi targets. Through some fortunate military scheduling, his temporary assignment with his tactical unit out of Lakenheath, England, ended earlier this month, so now he is home in Fullerton for the holidays. Then he’ll be off to a new assignment in Utah in February.
The airman is one of a handful of military personnel from Orange County who have served a stint in Saudi Arabia and already returned. Like most of them, Erlick is hoping that he will never have to go back.
He never saw any of the scorpions and lizards that are lore among GIs in Saudi Arabia. But Erlick says there were enough other downsides to his stay there to ensure that he will not be booking vacation flights to the Persian Gulf soon.
Sandstorms. The endless sea of sandy terrain, virtually devoid of vegetation. The dry, 110-degree daytime heat. The 12-hour work shifts to prep the F-111, starting at 6 p.m. Sleeping on the floor of the air shelter his first few nights there.
Worst of all was the boredom.
“The boredom was the toughest part--not knowing when anything is going to happen,” Erlick says. “Basically, you’re just sitting around; no alcohol, no women. It’s just monotonous. . . . I couldn’t party, couldn’t go out and do things.”
The lifestyle got better over his three months, Erlick says; by the end, his base was even known by other units--some of which stay in tents out on the sand--as the Club Med of the Air Force.
The base had a chow hall with a choice of spaghetti, dried fruit, punch mix and about a dozen selections in all. Some men still preferred Meals Ready to Eat rations.
A base exchange for purchases was set up. And the airmen even got a TV and videocassette recorder; “Mississippi Burning” was a base favorite.
Yellow balloons inside and out of the Erlicks’ Fullerton home marked his Dec. 20 return from England. It will be a nice holiday, all say. Erlick plans to relax mostly, see some friends, travel a little--and look into colleges.
He is getting out of the Air Force in a year or so and wants to go back to school, thanks in part to the “eye-opening” experience of Saudi Arabia. He says he will not miss much about the service, except some friends left behind.
He never did get a chance to see the scorpions, but Erlick’s not complaining; he missed a possible war.
