Nearly 60 staff members and cadets with the Wisconsin Challenge Academy participated in learning about the Operation Desert Shield/Operation Desert Storm history at Fort McCoy and in general during the Desert Storm History Day event Feb. 26 at the Fort McCoy History Center.
The event featured displays and discussion from the 88th Readiness Division Historian Ward Zischke. The 88th is an Army Reserve tenant organization at Fort McCoy.
For this event, the Fort McCoy History Center was open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and had a special 30-minute lunch and learn discussion by Zischke that was broadcast over Microsoft Teams to the installation. A copy of that discussion can be seen online at [https://www.dvidshub.net/video/997579/army-historian-gives-presentation-operation-desert-storm-35th-anniversary-lunch-and-learn-event](https://www.dvidshub.net/video/997579/army-historian-gives-presentation-operation-desert-storm-35th-anniversary-lunch-and-learn-event). Zischke also gave two 45-minute presentations to the Challenge Academy visitors.
During the talk, Zischke talked about Fort McCoy’s role in supporting Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. The date of this event was picked to line up with the exact 35th anniversary of the ground war for Operation Desert Storm.
“Today, the ground offensive of February 1991 was going on,” Zischke said. … The liberation of Kuwait — that was the reason for the offensive.”
According to history, Operation Desert Storm (Jan. 17 – Feb. 28, 1991,) was a U.S.-led coalition military campaign to liberate Kuwait after Iraq’s August 1990 invasion. Following months of buildup (Desert Shield), a five-week air campaign crippled Iraqi defenses, followed by a decisive 100-hour ground assault that expelled Iraqi forces.
The Challenge Academy brought along two different squads of students (about 25 people each) as well as instructors. And for each of the squads, Zischke provided a presentation about Operation Desert Storm history as well as overall 1990s military history.
Challenge Academy cadets were seen enjoying learning about the equipment. When the first group of cadets had arrived, Public Affairs Specialist Melissa Dubois mentioned to the teen cadets, “Come over and see and learn from Ward about what military life was like back in the late-1900s.”
Zischke was happy to have the Challenge Academy personnel join in on the first history day event at this history center.
“The idea to contact the Challenge Academy to send the youths to the Commemorative Area turned a two-hour stretch … into a very lively, fun, and educational time,” Zischke said.
The Wisconsin Challenge Academy is a tenant organization at Fort McCoy. These cadets are with Class 56.
The Challenge Academy offers youth the opportunity to change the direction of their lives and develop the strength of character and life skills necessary to become successful, responsible citizens, according to the academy. The program begins with a 5 1/2-month residential phase, followed by a one-year, post-residential phase.
According to its website, https://challengeacademy.org, the academy was founded in 1988.
“The Wisconsin Challenge Academy is an alternative education program designed to reclaim the lives of at-risk youth and produce graduates with the values, skills, education, and self-discipline necessary to succeed as adults,” the website states. “The academy is part of the (Wisconsin) National Guard Youth Challenge Program, a community-based program that leads, trains, and mentors 16–18-year-olds so that they may become productive citizens in America’s future.”
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at [https://home.army.mil/mccoy](https://home.army.mil/mccoy), on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: |
03.11.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
03.11.2026 15:37 |
| Story ID: |
560310 |
| Location: |
FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: |
11 |
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This work, Wisconsin Challenge Academy cadets learn about Operation Desert Storm during History Day event, by Scott Sturkol, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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