‘We Became Family’: Desert Storm Veterans reunite
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - More than three decades after serving together in Operation Desert Storm, of the US Army’s 47th Battalion gathered in Odessa for a reunion filled with laughter, memories – and the unmistakable smell of Kansas City barbeque.
The man behind the grill. One of their own.
Mike Powell was just 18 years old when his fellow soldiers handed him a spatula and told him to man the grill. Back then, he its he didn’t know much about barbeque. But that small act of trust planted a seed that’s now grown into a full-blown ion – and a successful BBQ brand bearing the name his battalion gave him all those years ago: Mike P.
“They were getting me when I didn’t know what I was doing,” Powell said, laughing. “But now they getting the real Mike P.”
What started as a makeshift cookout on base has turned into a lifelong love for barbeque. For Powell and the dozens of veterans who made the trip from across the country, this weekend’s reunion at his house was about much more than food.
“When you’re in the military and you’re in those conditions like that – war – you become more than just fellow soldiers,” Powell said. “You become family.”
Lisa Jones made the trip from Alton, Illinois, and agreed wholeheartedly. She was the mastermind behind the first reunion that happened back in 2017.
“These are my kids extended aunts and uncles,” she said. “And they called them as such.”
The gathering included music, games, and plenty of stories. But it also provided something less visible and more powerful – healing.
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“This really helped my rehab,” said Alfarata Griffin, who traveled from Houston, Texas. “Dealing with some of the symptoms that I’m going through – as far as the situation that we experienced while we was in Desert Storm.”
An emotional moment of the reunion came during a balloon release, where each veteran said the name of a fellow soldier no longer here.
“The name that I chose was Pamela Rogers,” Jones said. “She ed away from COVID. So, yeah, that was hard. It was a hard pill to swallow.”
Donald Monk from Augusta, Georgia, honored a soldier who once served under him.
“Sergeant Oscar Johnson,” Monk said. “He deployed to Saudi Arabia, and he ed away several years ago.”
As for the reunion itself, Powell said the years seemed to melt away the moment they were all back together.
“In less than five minutes,” he said, “it’s like we back to where we was 34 years ago.”
A bond built in war – preserved through time.
Though the uniforms may be folded away, the connection between these veterans remains.
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