Gianna Fimbres
U.S. Air Force, 1978-1983
Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm
U.S. Army, 1987-1992

Gianna Fimbres
U.S. Air Force, 1978-1983
Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm
U.S. Army, 1987-1992

After serving in the U.S. Air Force from 1978 to 1983, Gianna Fimbres, of Tucson, Arizona, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1987. Trained as a petroleum specialist, Fimbres deployed to Kuwait and Iraq during Operation Desert Storm (1990-1991). Transporting a highly flammable resource in an active war zone, Fimbres provided an essential although dangerous service. She traveled day and night to supply fuel trucks to units scattered throughout the desert. Fimbres recalled thinking, “Do I want to get into my tanker when there is a possible chance of artillery hitting my fuel?” On one occasion, her convoy became trapped in the sand and came under enemy fire. Performing a task that years earlier would have been deemed too dangerous to assign to a servicewoman, Fimbres committed her experience to memory and to paper. In a 1991 letter, she wrote, “The war has come and gone, and I want to tell you the ‘details’ because I never want to forget this as long as I live.” In 1992, Fimbres was discharged from the U.S. Army with the rank of specialist and received the Army Commendation and Army Achievement medals.