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Do not kid yourself, Brother Lumpy. You DID fight for it, just as surely as did the grunts and the shooters and the aircrews who flew in and out of the dang bush. Your skills and professionalism is what kept the machinery going, and THAT'S what brought the rest of us all back. And don't think we don't know it and appreciate it. For eight months the 317 ran like a top and never once let me down; and there was nothing accidental about that. You guys in avionics and maintenance were a lot more important than us bus drivers in being able to do our jobs of supporting the legs safely. The extraordinarily low failure rate of the 119th's aircraft in her 7 years in-country is a shouting testimony to superior mechanics doing superior work day after day (and night after night). And you guys had to pull nightly guard duty on top of that! Nosir, in my book you fought for freedom and liberty just as surely as anyone else did who was over there.

Pickett
Gator 317