The Bombing of Khobar Towers

On the fourth floor of Building 131, Sergeant Harold Jautakis sat in his recliner, watching the evening news on TV.� Down the hall, Senior Airman Eric Castor, 22, was standing up, using� the telephone.�

General Terry J. Schwailer

Across the compound Brigadier General Terry J. Schwailer, the 4404th's' wing commander, was in his room at his desk, writing a note to his successor, Brigadier General Daniel M. Dick, who would be replacing him the next day.� Schwailer had completed his one-year tour.

A half-mile away at Al Rushaid Village No. 3, a residential complex for foreigners, American civilians Ruth and Tom Rosser had just finished their dinner and were about to have dessert.�� Tom Rosser worked for a Saudi company in Dhahran.�

Staff Sergeant Guerrero

At the same time, on the roof of Building 131, Sergeant Guerrero saw something he didn't like. At about 9:45 p.m., a Datsun drove into the parking lot.� The compact car circled the lot, then stopped and flashed its headlights before leaving.� Two other vehicles then entered the lot a white Chevrolet Caprice and a large sewage tanker truck.� The truck drove down the second-to-last row of the lot, then turned left as if it were heading back in the direction that it had come.� But the truck pulled to a stop, and Sergeant Guerrero heard the grinding of gears as it went into reverse.� The driver started backing up toward the fence directly across from Building 131.

Guerrero and his men wasted no time.� As the truck was still in motion, they contacted the wing operations center to issue an evacuation alert.� Running back into the building, they initiated a "waterfall evacuation," yelling to residents on the top floor to vacate the building.� These airmen were trained to notify the residents on the floor below as they departed, each floor notifying the next until the entire building was empty.� During a false alarm the previous month, Building 129 had been evacuated in five minutes.� But that night only the residents of the top three floors ever received the warning.