** As for all the others you mentioned, I am not sure I ever saw them fly but maybe they did. **

Maybe at gunpoint, Bob. Other than that, they rarely came in contact with actual aircraft. They are the guys who ran for the bunkers when the rest of us were running for our helicopters.

I guarantee you they wore the wings and banked that flight pay, tax-free, every month though. On our flight hours, flown by us, paid in our blood. And their friend, the supply NCO at Artillery Hill, picked up a few hours also. On our hours, paid in our blood. And their other friend, the Mess Sgt at Battalion, got his share. On our hours, on our dead friends' hours, paid in blood and guts and puke and snot and bile ... All of which translated into miserable promotion points, very important, a bureaucratic advantage over all the rest of the other fat bastards competing for promotion slots.

These fat, lazy bastards are the guys who almost destroyed our Army. Our compatriots, guys like Bilbee and Shakey, not only prevented them from doing it, they then went to work under the worst possible circumstances through the 70s and 80s and rebuilt the Army into the one that hit the desert at a run during the Gulf War. God bless 'em.

Sorry for the tirade.

Bob