Colonel Trey Morriss: The Secret 35-Hour Mission That Kicked Off Desert Storm | Author of DOOM 34
Team Never Quit
Marcus Luttrell
4.9 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2026
⏱️ 87 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
DOOM 34: The 35-Hour Mission That Helped Launch Desert Storm
Colonel Trey Morriss, U.S. Air Force (Ret.) is a former B-52 aviator, commander, and decorated combat veteran who served more than 31 years in support of the legendary Eighth Air Force. He joins Marcus and Melanie in the Team Never Quit podcast studio today. Colonel Morriss, a key figure in one of the most daring missions in modern military aviation, Trey was part of the record-setting opening strike of Desert Storm—the longest combat sortie in history at the time. After 9/11, he went on to fly 32 combat missions over Afghanistan and Iraq.
In this week’s episode, Trey takes us inside Operation Senior Surprise, the highly classified 35-hour, 14,000-mile mission—nicknamed Secret Squirrel—that helped launch Operation Desert Storm. Before the first bombs ever hit Iraq in 1991, seven B-52s quietly lifted off from Louisiana carrying the weight of a mission so secret most of the crews hadn’t even known it existed until months earlier.
What followed was one of the most extraordinary combat operations ever attempted: the first combat use of GPS-guided cruise missiles, a nonstop endurance test of grit and discipline, and a no-fail mission filled with life-or-death challenges. Trey recounts losing an engine minutes after takeoff, a near midair collision during night aerial refueling, and a dangerously low-fuel return across the Mediterranean.
But this conversation is about more than aviation history. It’s about leadership under pressure, trust in the cockpit, accountability when everything is on the line, and the responsibility of earning the right to come home. Trey also reflects on the deeper meaning behind service and honoring those who have “gone west.”
If you’re into B-52 bombers, Desert Storm, military aviation, leadership under stress, and stories of endurance against the odds, this is an episode you do not want to miss.
In this episode you will hear:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Team Never Quit podcast is proudly sponsored by Navy Federal Credit Union. |
| 0:05.3 | Navy Federal is here to help you dominate your debt with a platinum card. |
| 0:09.7 | Go check out how they can help you at NavyFederal.org. |
| 0:13.9 | None of us had any combat experience except for one individual. |
| 0:17.7 | We were all 26 years old on average. no combat experience, and hardly any of us, |
| 0:23.9 | maybe save one or two of us that ever even fired one of these missiles. |
| 0:42.9 | All right, everybody, welcome back to the TNQ podcast. |
| 0:45.0 | I'm your host, Marcus Latrell. |
| 0:51.0 | Every week, it's my job to fire you up to ignite the legend inside of you and to push you to your greatness. |
| 0:55.4 | Join me every week as I take you into my briefing room with some of the most hard charge of people on the planet. |
| 0:56.4 | They're going to show you how to embrace the suck of life, teach you the values of working |
| 1:00.5 | your ass off, and charge through whatever life throws at you. |
| 1:04.2 | This is the Team Never Quit Podcasts. |
| 1:06.7 | Don't buckle up, Buttercup. |
| 1:21.0 | Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the Team Never Quit podcast. |
| 1:23.9 | As always, thank you guys so much for listening and watching. |
| 1:27.8 | And please don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button wherever you're getting this show so today before we get into our two really special guests let's kick it off |
| 1:34.1 | with our weekly patreon question and this week we've got if you had a warning label what would |
| 1:42.8 | that say oh that's a good one who gets answer this first? You're talking about like on your person? Yeah. Yeah. You just had a straight-up warning label. See, this is one of those ones I wish they had a little bit of time with. Mm-hmm. I know what mine is. What is it? Mine warning, I tend to tell long stories. |
| 2:03.2 | That's pretty good, actually. I love to tell you the background for like every story. |
| 2:07.0 | Yeah, that's funny. |
| 2:09.0 | I have no idea what mine would be. |
... |
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