The Kuwait story began, for me, in June 1990. At that time, I was teaching a Drilling Practices Seminar in London. I had six participants from Kuwait, two of which would later become part of the Kuwaiti Wild Well Killers (KWWK Kuwait's own fire fighting team during the Al-Awda Project). These were wonderful fellows. We endlessly discussed the situation in the Middle East. It was obvious they were not fans of Saddam Hussein and Iraq.

Shortly after our seminar ended, the Iraqi army invaded their homeland. As Iraqi journals would later reveal, within days of the initial invasion, the Iraqis began to deliberately and systematically prepare to destroy the Kuwaiti oilfields. Explosives were placed around the wellheads and wired to common points in order that one man could destroy many wells with the push of a button. Kuwaitis familiar with the oil fields were forced to help.

One of the major contributors to the planning and preparation for the Al-Awda project was Adel Sheshtawy, a native Egyptian and U.S. citizen. Adel taught Petroleum Engineering at the University of Oklahoma from 1973 to 1978, roughly. In that capacity, he had many Kuwaiti engineers in his classes and those engineers had moved into responsible positions within Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).

In addition, Adel had offered short courses in various petroleum engineering subjects. In one of those short courses, he had the opportunity to meet Saud Al-Nashmi. Ultimately, Saud became responsible for the Al-Awda Project, battling the oil fires of Kuwait.

Soon after the...