In 1989, after years of getting the job done with the C-130As, the 143rd TAG was finally selected for conversion to the C-130E model "Hercules". Hard work and determination during the conversion paid off in the summer of 1990 when volunteers answered the call to provide support during Operation Desert Shield. The 143rd TAG was among the first of the National Guard units to provide Flight Crews and Maintenance personnel needed by the USAF when additional trained manpower was needed. The first volunteers, in September 1990, flew out of Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany and provided backfill support for active duty personnel transferred into Turkey and Saudi Arabia in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The second group of volunteers departed in January 1991 and were stationed at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom. Again, flying backfill operation, this crew had the distinction of being in the "Theater of Operation" when Operation Desert Shield turned into Operation Desert Storm, the Gulf War. This second group of volunteers returned home in February after completing a one-month rotation at Mildenhall ready to return to civilian life and jobs. However, about one week after their return these civilian soldiers were again asked to answer the call to duty, this time by the President of the United States. Not since World War II had members of the Rhode Island Air National Guard flying squadron been called to Federal Service. As in the Second World War the unit initially provided support in the United States doing the jobs vacated by active duty personnel transferred to the Gulf; but in April the unit finally got into the action again returning to RAF Mildenhall. With the defeat of the Iraqi forces and the end of the Gulf War, members returned home in June 1991 and were released from active duty.