papasan51,

I know just how you feel, there was a bond between air crews and our bird. When something new was injected you just did not have the same comfort level and it seemed to upset the balance of everything. I sure when we crew a another bird they felt the same way.

Regarding R&R: I canceled my R&R the day before I was to go. I spent a good part of that day thinking about my bird and the crew and what might happen while gone. I also thought about other CEs that had been on R&R. They came back broke, hung over, and usually had a case of the Clapp. To this day I don't regret not going. If I had gone and something happened I would still be in the funny farm.

Tom Gator 851.