Australian contribution to the 1991 Gulf War of Operation Provide Comfort. While there were proposals to deploy other units (including an apparent US request for RF-111 reconnaissance aircraft) these proposals came to nothing and no Australian Army or Royal Australian Air Force combat units were deployed. The Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) did not take part in the war. In 1993, a book was published on a British SAS patrol Bravo Two Zero with an Australian member using the pseudonym of Stan. Subsequent media reports stated that SASR soldiers on exchange took part in the war, however, in 2005 it was disclosed that Stan was a
Australian contribution to the 1991 Gulf War crews as well as the multi-national Naval Forces. In addition to the naval contingent, Australian service personnel were seconded to British and United States ground troops. The government position was not to deploy ground troops with "no boots in the sand". The RAAF deployed a unit of photo-interpreters which were based in Saudi Arabia. Four medical teams were also deployed. At the end of Desert Storm, 75 ADF personnel were deployed to Northern Iraq to assist in the provision of humanitarian aid to the Kurds living in the UN-declared exclusion zone. Whilst there were no casualties of ADF personnel during