Colonel’s training saved his life

SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- A colonel at this forward-deployed location credits his survival from a terrorist attack to his military training, and he is now passing that training on to others.

More than a year after Lt. Col. Ed O’Neal redeployed from Saudi Arabia, where he was shot five times in a vicious terrorist attack, he is back in theater.

While at this location, he is sharing his life experiences with other Airmen and teaches them tactics and techniques for survival.

Colonel O’Neal, the U.S. Central Command Air Forces Forward director of manpower and personnel, acknowledges a single training course he took 12 years ago as the reason he is alive, and his devotion to duty as the reason he is deployed again, despite some apprehensions.

In preparation for a deployment to Africa as a U.N. observer in 1992, then-Captain O’Neal went to a terrorism awareness training course at Fort Bragg, N.C. There he learned to be familiar with his surroundings, practice good security, make himself a hard target and maintain vigilance.

His instructors planted fake car bombs on students’ rental cars and sent anonymous letters and packages to their hotels to train them in situational awareness.

Almost 12 years later, those lessons were put to the test in Dhahran when Colonel O’Neal was tipped off of an impending terrorist attack. He and a few others managed to barricade themselves on the roof of a nearby building while an ensuing 12-hour battle raged below between the terrorists and Saudi security forces. Ricocheting bullets struck Colonel O’Neal in five places. His wounds were not life threatening, but 22 people died in the attack.

“I’m here today because of what I learned in that course,” he said. “You’ll use whatever you learn -- you just don’t know when you’ll use it. You’ve got to be prepared. When the time comes, you can’t say you need a ‘re-do’ on the class.”

He said he was able to take the appropriate actions during the attack because he paid attention to his training instructors. He hopes others realize how important that is.

“Your brain is the ultimate weapons system,” he said. “Physical fitness and training determines your ability as a professional Airman.”

Training builds confidence, he said.

“You’ll be amazed at how you’ll react when the time comes, and you need to react in the right way,” he said. “Nothing you learn is wasted.”

Before he was repatriated to Germany, one of the medics there asked the imposing 6-foot-3-inch colonel incredulously, “We don’t see many senior officers wounded, what’s your job?”

He replied with a snicker, “I’m a personnel officer.” When the medic asked what he was doing to get shot, he replied, “My job.”

“They didn’t ask me what was my (specialty) when they opened fire,” he said. “Special operators are not the only Air Force combatants in this ubiquitous battlefield.”

The colonel decided to return to Saudi Arabia and complete the remaining 50 days of that deployment. He said it was painful to go back, but he was glad to have faced his fears.

“I knew I would stay in the Air Force and needed to complete that mission so I could continue to do my job with confidence,” he said.

He went back, finishing his tour there July 21, 2004.

One year later, Colonel O’Neal arrived here for another yearlong deployment.

“There’s going to be others like me who are going to have to come back here,” he said. “Each person has to come to terms with what’s happened to them.”