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View Full Version : The Desert One Op


WillBrink
09-10-21, 15:21
This may be the best summary of that terrible day I have read to date, which makes sense as the author wrote Black Hawk Down and others. I met Burruss once at the International SWAT Challenge where he spoke and walked around the range and such. Larger than life kinda guy. I have wondered more than a few times what if it had taken place and been successful:

I learned some details about the op I didn't know, such as the sand clouds the helos went through and such. Great read that does have a happy ending:

The Desert One Debacle

In April 1980, President Jimmy Carter sent the Army’s Delta Force to bring back fifty-three American citizens held hostage in Iran. Everything went wrong. The fireball in the Iranian desert took the Carter presidency with it.
By Mark Bowden

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/05/the-desert-one-debacle/304803/
chuckman
09-10-21, 15:34
Burruss is a legend.

A great book about Desert One and the whole op is "The Guts To Try," written, I think, by the USAF general in charge of the air component.
Hank6046
09-10-21, 15:36
Have you read Marks book Guests of the Ayatollah? It is a decent retelling of that story. You need to watch the Silent Warrior Foundations videos on Youtube on the gear and memories some of the guys share, really great stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA9yok7tFbs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHVvpnvlkz4&t=594s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSqnG5l9wiM&t=731s
T2C
09-10-21, 15:37
I thought the US Navy helicopters were not equipped to prevent sand from entering the engines. I also recollect some complaints about the lack of communication between different branches of the military who were involved during the planning stages of the operation.

Wasn't the outcome at Desert One the impetus for creating the 160th SOAR?
chuckman
09-10-21, 15:41
I thought the US Navy helicopters were not equipped to prevent sand from entering the engines. I also recollect some complaints about the lack of communication between different branches of the military who were involved during the planning stages of the operation.

Wasn't the outcome at Desert One the impetus for creating the 160th SOAR?

Marine helos, not Navy. Yes, the whole Iran thing was the genesis of not just the 160th but all of SOCOM/JSOC.
T2C
09-10-21, 15:46
Marine helos, not Navy. Yes, the whole Iran thing was the genesis of not just the 160th but all of SOCOM/JSOC.

Some of the ships assigned to patrol Gonzo Station had a lot of wear and tear on them.
Hank6046
09-10-21, 15:46
Marine helos, not Navy. Yes, the whole Iran thing was the genesis of not just the 160th but all of SOCOM/JSOC.

Navy helos, They were the HH-53 flown by Marine CH-53D pilots
Hank6046
09-10-21, 15:47
I thought the US Navy helicopters were not equipped to prevent sand from entering the engines.

They now call it an EAPS (Engine Air Particle Separator)
T2C
09-10-21, 15:51
They now call it an EAPS (Engine Air Particle Separator)

Makes sense. I only know what was heard through scuttlebutt.
Hank6046
09-10-21, 16:43
Makes sense. I only know what was heard through scuttlebutt.

While Desert One gave the initial push to start the 160th and JSOC as stated above it also helped to inivate the CH-53E which then came with 3 T64-GE-416 engines for increased payload, as well as the EAPS system, Flarepods and external fuel tanks as well as refueling capability in hopes to sell to the Air Force in an enhanced "Pave Low" or CSAR capability, but that never came to fruition, instead the older Delta models were upgraded with certain features which the Air Force used well into the 2010s until the Osprey became the lead in that role.
Esq.
09-10-21, 17:02
The Operator that threw the satchel charge into the in operable chopper destroying it is a good friend of mine. He of course was a Delta plank holder. Finished his career working for DOE. Many, many funny stories apart from all the blood and guts stuff.....
chuckman
09-10-21, 17:35
Navy helos, They were the HH-53 flown by Marine CH-53D pilots

Yep. My bad.
Slater
09-10-21, 19:05
The pilots were USMC supposedly because they had more experience with overland operations than the Navy guys. The co-pilots were Navy because they had more familiarity with the RH-53D version of the helicopter.

In one of the books (possibly "The Guts To Try") it was questioned why USAF H-53 pilots weren't considered for this mission, because there were still a number of them in the service that had flown long range, low altitude Special Ops missions in Vietnam and had experience with this type of flying. I believe the consensus was that rounding them up from all around the USAF might have posed a security problem.

Col. Beckwith wasn't impressed with the performance of the Marine pilots, and (IIRC) he even referred to them as "cowards". Of course, they were put through the wringer just getting to Desert One, and afterwards I believe he regretted his statement.
El Cid
09-10-21, 19:35
Really good interview here with SGM Vining who was there.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MeN-GpBDnKM
Hank6046
09-10-21, 22:45
Really good interview here with SGM Vining who was there.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MeN-GpBDnKM

The Team House is a great program, I've bought so many books based off of a few hours of a podcast.
WillieThom
09-10-21, 22:51
History channel is premiering Desert One on Sunday night.

https://www.history.com/specials/desert-one