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Here at a far-superior U.S. Army task force — which flies more than 30 intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sorties per day with various aircraft and works 12-hour-plus shifts, pushes every limit on crew rest, and spends 365 days away from its families about every 12 months — I just read your awesomely pathetic article ("The War Room," Oct. 27). Congratulations! Your whole team, from top to bottom, just solidified Creech Air Force Base’s role as the biggest herd of prancing unicorns the military has ever known.

[Our] task force comprises Rangers, paratroops, tankers, scouts, AH-64 drivers, OH-58 drivers and intel analysts. Oh, and did I mention that we have real-live pilots who still fly?

We all took this job for two reasons:

1. We save lives and destroy the enemy, loving every waking minute of it.

2. It is our duty, and conducted without complaint. We too are relegated to life in a box, even at the end of the day when we go home to compartmental housing, only our roommate isn’t our wife/husband — it’s some big hairy guy or gal we barely know! The difference is, we don’t complain … we execute.

Here’s another observation: Whom did you pay to put that ridiculous article next to "14 die in U.S. helo crashes"? Take a minute with that one.

We suggest reaching down deep, grabbing some of that infamous pilot machismo, and never approaching this topic again. Don’t worry, you’re sure to receive the venerated "call sign" that all U.S. Air Force personnel seem to have, only yours might be changed to "Starbucks." That might work out well in the movie about your life, which I’m sure your 27 dedicated staff officers have already provoked Hollywood to produce.

Capt. Eric "Wild Bill" OlsonCamp Speicher, Iraq

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