It was just before Christmas, 1990. I had been reassigned from the 7th Communication Battalion, where I and the Battalion had been attached to the III Marine Air Wing at Al Jubayl airfield in Saudi Arabia.   I was an enlisted Marine, recently promoted to Corporal with my stripes handed to me one day without ceremony, though with congratulations from the Staff Sergeant (I wondered if he just carried extra Corporal chevrons out there in the desert). I had already spent my 22nd