POWERGRAMS

5 Felton with her basic training graduating class 30 years ago; she is far left on top row wearing her squad leader stripes. "It was medieval," Felton said with a laugh. "There were no flushing toilets." Receiving reports that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein ordered aacks on his own people, the platoon was prepared for chemical aacks. Enemy Scud missiles carried chemical weapons. "When the alarms would go off, we'd don our suit and mask," Felton said. "We had to keep the gear with us at all times. We put those suits on and off a countless number of times." With so many perils, Felton realized that she could face death. "I remember being over there and, at my age, I don't know what I had to give, but I wanted my two sisters to get anything I had," she said. "I wrote a last will and testament, just in case." She saw smoke billowing into the sky during the ground war as Iraqis burned more than 600 Kuwaiti oil wells. "I was close enough to see and smell the fires off the Kuwaiti desert," Felton said. "There was a lot of toxic stuff in the air. The Iraqis were being driven out of Kuwait and were seing fires and doing damage before they le. Iraq was just trying to destroy Kuwait." As the maze of Army convoys and tractors made its way out of Kuwait, she saw burned out cars containing what appeared to be human remains. "There was devastation all around us," Felton said. Aer she was released from overseas duty, Felton was sent to Fort Benning. Her family was there to greet her as she got off the plane. "I was highly influenced by my Dad," Felton said of her father, who served during the Vietnam War and was Perry County sheriff for 37 years. "In all my years, I never saw my Dad cry. But I saw tears when I returned from Kuwait." Army helped shape Felton's future Felton saved the money she earned in the Army to buy a car for school. The GI Bill helped finance her education when she returned to the University of Alabama in 1991. Felton graduated Kuwait oil fires during Operation Desert Storm.

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