In March 1979 two E-3s temporarily operating at Kadena Air Base, Japan, were deployed to Saudi Arabia in light of an ongoing border dispute between North and South Yemen.  The 964th Airborne Air Control Squadron, a unit of the 552d Air Control Wing, undertook the E-3's first real-world operational deployment to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  In 1980 Iran and Iraq declared war, causing international concern.  Crews and aircraft from the 552nd Airborne Warning and Control Wing were deployed to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to augment the Royal Saudi Air Force's radar coverage of Saudi airspace. In the fall of 1980, four E-3's and almost 200 wing personnel deployed to Saudi Arabia in an operation that was called ELF-1 (European Liaison Force) and the deployment continued for more than eight+ years.

During those eight+ years, deployed crew and support personnel were billeted in the world famous Al Yamamah Hotel on Airport Road, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  It was not a four star hotel by any stretch of the imagination but thousands of personnel from Tinker AFB called it home during the 1980's.  The one thing that stood out to all who passed through the Al Yamamah was a seventy+ pound marble ball sitting on the floor in the middle of a massive marble floored lobby.  Apparently, it was used to cover up a water faucet in the floor that was used to mop the floors.   Over the years, the Ball was known to take the occasional dip in the hotel pool and once it was rumored to have visited Rein Main AB, Germany.

In April of 1989 ELF-1 was spinning down and the last two crews and support personnel from the 965th AWACS were making preparations for their final departure from the Kingdom.  They had piled their bags in the lobby around the ball, as was customary for departing personnel.  Except this time, a mobility bag had landed literally around the ball.  It didn't take a road map for someone to zip it up and load it on the baggage truck.  This did not escape the notice of the hotel management nor the senior deployed staff and the ball was released from its Government Issue quarters.  Subsequently, some of the more skilled negotiators that ever graced a uniform approached the Hotel Manager and asked if the ball could be taken back to the USA as a remembrance for the thousands of personnel that spent more days in the Al Yamamah than they cared to remember.  The ball was released into the custody of the departing personnel in a brief ceremony as they were boarding the buses. 

For the next three years the Al Yamamah Ball lead a peaceful life at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, outside the 552nd Operations Wing auditorium.  Then one day in 1994 the Ball was gone!  Initial suspicions were that the Navy had taken it in retaliation for their 30-ton anchor receiving a coat of hot pink paint.  But as time passed, alarming reports filtered back from the far western reaches of the Pacific Air Force (PACAF) of the amazing travels and harrowing events of the Al Yamamah Ball.  Eventually, in early 1997, the Ball returned to Tinker and the truth of its escapades became known.

In 1994, the Ball was kidnapped right off of its pedestal outside of the Wing Auditorium and subjected to the humiliation of being shipped via a freight carrier to the wilds of Elmendorf AB, Alaska in a crate labeled 'Cheeze Cowboys'.   From there, it was transported to the island of Okinawa and Kadena AB where it remained in the custody of the 961st AACS in the squadron lounge called the 'Lower Lobe'.   Soon after a crew from a visiting E-3 from the 962nd AACS, Elmendorf AB, Alaska, absconded with the Ball.  However, when the crew made an Ops Stop at Osan AB, South Korea, they lost possession to a band of enterprising 7AF hooligans headed by a character known only as Dingus.  Dingus, along with his cohorts, met the crew bus at Base Operations and convinced the unsuspecting 962nd crew that some high-ranking ROKAF officials would like to have their picture taken with an AWACS crew.  While the crew dutifully posed for the camera, Dingus and Company proceeded to extract the Ball via the rear exit door and retired undetected with their booty.   For the remainder of its incarceration in the Republic of Korea, the Al Yamamah Ball remained sequestered away deep in the bowels of the HTACC.

In July of 1995, the 961st returned to Osan when they were evacuated from Okinawa for an impending typhoon.   Once their feet were on the ground the crew immediately began executing Sentry Ball 95-1.  Sentry Ball was a well-planned rescue mission to relieve the Osan ground-pounders of the Ball.  A critical component of this mission was the Ball Reconnaissance and Intelligence Group, code named BRIG.  Their job was to locate the spherical paperweight and provide a diversion while the snatch and roll team relocated the massive marble orb to a safe house in Song Ton City until the final egress to Kadena could be accomplished via Sentry Air.  Once the Ball was back in the 'Lower Lobe' Lounge at Kadena AB, the attentive crew and support personnel nurtured it back to health.   During the next year or so, the Ball lead a relatively quiet life, punctuated by the occasional short-lived abductions by the local contingent of ground-pounders.  It is rumored that the Ball also took up scuba diving in the clear waters of the western pacific.  A photo is said to exist verifying this.

Finally the time had come - the Ball was ready to return home after an exhausting tour of the Western Pacific and the Far East.  In 1997, with the help of some accommodating PCS hold baggage, the Ball slipped away and returned to its adopted home at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.  Returning in time to make a much-hailed appearance at the 552 ACW 20th Anniversary banquet in June of 1997.  The grand entrance was made under a security detail of Men In Black replicants and all in attendance acclaimed the Marvelous Marble with cheers and merriment and to the tune of AC-DC's "Big Balls".   Since that festive night, the Ball has led a more dignified and peaceful existence with only the occasional abduction attempt being made.   In June of 2002 the Spherical Globe once again made a public appearance at the 25th Anniversary festivities, pressed the flesh and posed for photos with many old comrades from the ELF-1 Campaign before returning to the retired life as a battle-scarred marble ball with the 552nd ACW, Tinker AFB, OK.

The Al Yamamah Ball is a constant reminder to AWAC'ers everywhere that despite the hectic pace and circumstances of the moment, you can always look back to the Ball, the anchor point for all that AWACS stands for, and in its hazy reflection you might see the ghosts of those who went before you and flew or worked the line as you do now. 

The End
(Narrative written by Bill Richards, aka 'Wild Bill')