CliffAnderson92

During this past Summer I decided to try to get as many of my Desert Storm cards autographed as possible. I had previously gotten a card signed by Gen.Colin Powell and former secretary of state James Baker. I still had 300+ un-signed Desert Storm cards and they were mostly just taking up space. It was interesting to read the information on the back of them and learn a bit about the war, but that was pretty much it.

Then one day while I was looking around online for information about other kinds of people that sign autographs, I came across a website where a lady had gotten a couple Desert Storm cards autographed by Gen.Tommy Franks. Gen.Franks served in the military for a long time and late in his career he led the Army into Afghanistan to fight the Taliban and hunt for Osama Bin Laden. After that, he led the Army into Iraq in 2003 to remove Iraqi president Saddam Hussein from power and search for weapons of mass destruction.

When I found that out I quickly wrote Gen.Franks a letter and sent him a few cards for him to sign. That's when a light bulb went off in my head. I started thinking that instead of treating my Desert Storm cards like sports cards where I only send a card to the person that is on the card, Desert Storm cards are very generic and I can send them to any number of veterans or politicians that served during that time period!

I also thought to myself about how amazing it would be to look at a collection of hundreds/thousands of autographs of people that served in WWII or any other war. Each autograph is like a piece of history. But unlike an old coin, book, spoon etc.... Autographs kind of help to "preserve" a person. Someone signs an autograph, and if properly taken care of, the object that they personally touched and signed can live on forever and be seen and admired by countless numbers of people for many generations to come.

As I was thinking about all that, I realized that it's perfect. Most Desert Storm veterans are alive and very well. WWII veterans are dying at a rate of I think of 1,000+ each day, Korean war veterans are 80+, Vietnam veterans are 60+ and another thing is that even though there are still a lot of veterans from those wars that are still alive, most of the high ranking military personnel and government officials have long since died. Most of the Desert Storm veterans that have signed autographs for me had previously seen extensive combat in Vietnam early on in their military careers and those guys are 70-80+ years old, at least a handful of hi-ranking members of the military from Desert Storm have passed away in the last few years, and I'm sure it's going to sadly continue as they age.

But as they're getting "old", there are a lot of Desert Storm veterans that are in their mid 40's and 50's so they still have a very long life ahead of them which means that I have the chance to build a really big collection of their autographs if I continue to work hard at it like I currently am. But to be honest, I've mostly been sending cards out to veterans that retired as generals and admirals and after I get more of those, I'll start sending a lot more cards out to the other veterans that served then.

As I've been getting autographs from veterans, it has amazed me that some of them have even taken the time to write to me! Some wish me good luck with my Desert Storm collection, some write a little about their career and hobbies, and others give me good life advice. Some of them were once even the highest ranking uniformed people in the United States military!

The longer I've been collecting autographs, the more people I meet and the more help I get! A little while back I asked a friend from Russia if she knew anyone that served in the Russian military during the time that Desert Storm was going on because I had a Soviet Union card that I wanted to get signed, but former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev never signed for me so I decided to find someone else. My friend told me that she knew someone, but instead of me sending her the card for the guy to sign, she printed out a picture and had the guy autograph it for me and she sent me the picture in the mail. The guy was an officer in the Russian army during the Soviet-Afghan war and earned two medals for his service there.

Before that, a fellow autograph collector contacted me about my collection, telling me that he had served in the United States Air Force for 25 years and that he'd sign a card for me, and try to get other Desert Storm veterans to sign for me if I sent him extra cards. Autograph collecting is an amazing hobby, and other collectors are very helpful and friendly.

For the future of my Desert Storm collection I would like to get autographs from more political figures, more hi-ranking military officers, foreign veterans, and lots of autographs from any veterans that served during that time in a military that was involved in the war on either side of the battle.

List of people that have signed Desert Storm cards for me:
-Sec. Of State James Baker
-Gen.Colin Powell
-Gen.Charles Horner
-Adm.Charles Abbot
-RADM.David Bill III
-Capt. John Gay
-Adm. Stanley Arthur
-Adm.William Fallon
-Gen.Tommy Franks
-Gen.John Abizaid
-Gen.Raymond Odierno
-Gen.Mastin Robeson
-Adm.Leighton Smith
-Gen.Henry Shelton
-Gen.Michael Hagee
-Capt.Chad Hennings
-Lt.Gen.Edgar R. Anderson Jr. M.D.
-Edward Allen (25 year USAF vet)
-Unknown (USAF vet)
-Don Young (congressman-AK)
-Jerry Jones (owner of Dallas Cowboys)