Kuwait celebrates 50/20 anniversary with coalition forces

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Angelique N. Smythe
  • U.S. Air Forces Central Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) --  Members of U.S. Central Command, and several coalition countries, helped commemorate Kuwait's 50/20 celebration with an airshow and parade Feb. 26.

The event celebrated Kuwait's 20th year of liberation from invading forces from Iraq and its 50th year of independence from Great Britain.

Some of the world's leaders and top dignitaries participated in the celebration. Among them was Lt. Gen. Michael Hostage III, the U.S. Air Forces Central Command commander.

General Hostage, a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, flew 33 missions as a lieutenant colonel in an F-15 Eagle over Kuwait during the war.

"Twenty years seems like a million years ago, and yet it seems like just yesterday," he said. "I'm very proud of our Middle East friends and how far we've all come. Our partnership and our relationships are stronger than ever, and I think it's the lynchpin of what will mean security and stability in the Middle East for a very long time."

The airshow kicked off the two-hour long parade, which included tanks, rocket launchers, multi-barrelled guns and military formations of service members from countries, such as Kuwait, the U.S., U.K., France, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Qatar.

Within the U.S. formation were 117 Soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Army Infantry Regiment, 23 Soldiers from U.S. Forces-Iraq, 25 Marines and 7 service members from U.S. CENTCOM.

One Airman, who was the only Airman to represent the Air Force within the joint-services formation, participated in the celebration as part of U.S. CENTCOM's color guard. 

"This is a really cool thing to be a part of," said Staff Sgt. John Nelson, an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance collections manager at U.S. CENTCOM. "It's a great opportunity to be a part of this celebration in which we helped to liberate the Kuwaitis from the invasion, and it's also great to see all the other countries and their militaries here."

Approximately 85 aircraft were flown by U.S., French, Omani, Saudi, Italian, Kuwaiti and Qatari pilots, said Maj. Jesus Semintal, the U.S. AFCENT Air Force Forces airfield operations manager and the air traffic control leader for the event.

The Air Force flew a C-130 Hercules and F-15 Eagles during the air show, he said.