Back From Iraq

[FeltzE]

Hi, ya'll ... I'm back from Iraq.  11 Months of the last 12 gone.   I looked all over for trees but didn't find anything worth sawing!    Unfortunately the geneva convention doesn't consider sawing insurgents with a sawmill fair play. So I didn't get any sawing in this year.

The good news, I havn't been home for a week and I'm still pulling lumber calls! I've got some pictures, I just have to remember how to upload them.

Eric

[breederman]

Welcome home, and thank you for your service. 8)

[Norm]

I'll 2nd that. Thanks to all of you folks pulling the hard duty.

[zopi]

Welcome Home!

How long does it take to air dry an insurgent?

[Burlkraft]

Welcome home  8)   8)   8)   8)

Good to have ya back.

I have a Special Forces friend of mine that will be back in 3 weeks  ;D  ;D  ;D

I thank you all for your service and sacrifice  ;)  ;)  ;)

[pigman]

Dang Eric, I knew you had been gone from the forum for a long time, but didn't know that you had been on vacation in Iraq.   What have you been doing in Iraq except having fun. : Good to have you back. 8)

[Reddog]

Welcome Home.
Glad to have you back.

[wi woodcutter]

welcome back!! 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

My sister is in the national guard and I thank all of you

[Tim L]

on behalf of the state of New Hampshire I thank you for your service and thank God you came home safely .

[blaze83]

welcome Home Eric,

god bless you for serving us and this great nation



steve

[Woodchuck53]

Welcome home Eric. Thank you from central Louisisana. CV

[DanG]

Welcome home Eric! 8) 8) 8)

I missed you, but didn't know why you weren't with us.  Did you get unretired or something?  Did ya get a little stick time over there?  What was on the other end of the stick?

[Corley5]

Welcome Home and Thank You for your service 8) 8) 8)

[Warbird]

Thank you for your service, sir.  And welcome home. 

[dewwood]

Glad you're back safe and sound!  Thanks for all you have given.

[Whit Spurzon]

Many thanks for your service!  Thank God for men like you.  Welcome home.

[Tom]

Welcome home, Eric.  We need some help.  There's too many logs to be sawed in the USA, we need some help.  Other worlds for later.  :D

[okie]

Welcome home and thank you.

[srt]

Appreciate your service.  Glad to have you back!

[deeker]

Thanks for your unselfish service.     Semper Fi

[thedeeredude]

 8) 8)Glad ya made it back safe and sound and a big thank you to all you folks in the military now and before 8) 8)

[zopi]

Y'know...what you guys have said here makes the job so much easier...alot of vets weren't treated so well..

[Warbird]

We had one other soldier who recently returned (within the last couple of months).  Don't remember his screen name but sure hope he knows we are thankful for his service, too.

[zopi]

Didn't mean to imply they weren't treated well here...just in general... Viet Nam vets in particular..

[Warbird]

I hear you, zopi and understood what you were getting at.  Just wanted to make certain that all of our soldiers here (including you ) know we appreciate them.

[thecfarm]

Back just in time for Thanksgiving.lucky you.  ;D   Are you staying home for awhile?

[FeltzE]

Hey guys, I have to say... thanks for the welcome home!!!!

I should clarify though I went over as a contractor. I am retired Army, 21 years active duty, then 4 yrs civil service in the basement of Army Special Ops.  Somehow I was always in the wrong theater of operations to see combat. An opportunity arose along with the right connections and family situation. So off I went.   Unlike a lot of other contractors I was out over the fence 6 out of 7 days a week and some times more. It's wierd to consider I had zero combat flight hours as a military pilot but now have about a thousand combat hours in Army aircraft as a civilian pilot working for the Army.

An interesting note is that my son was over there before me and was on the ground in southern Bagdad. So occasionally while doing my mission, I'd look out there and wonder how he was doing somewhere down under me. IT always gave me goose bumps to think about it.

I'm putting off starting up my WM due to the fact it hasn't been run in a year, and I just am not ready to fight the old wisconson through a cold start and probably some gummy carb issues. I did take the batteries out, put them on a tender, and run stabil in all the fuel systems, to include running the engines for 30 min after adding the stabil to ensure it ran throughout the system.  Hopefully I will be rewarded with an easy start, and no mouse eaten wires.

Eric

[JimMoore]

thank you for your service as a civilian pilot and as a active duty pilot

[DanG]

I second that emotion, Jim!  When I was flying in 'Nam, there were civilian pilots going places we weren't allowed to go.  We always heard and believed that the Air America pilots were a branch of the CIA, and I have no reason to doubt that.  They were all ex-military contractors, just like Eric, and we had ultimate respect for them.  They were pretty much the sort of guys that just couldn't leave a fight unfought.  I had the privilege of having Eric visit here for a day, a few years back, and I'm pretty sure he is cut from that same cloth. ;)

[cheyenne]

Welcome home & thank you for your lifetime of service....cheyenne

[FeltzE]

Dan,

In a way we are todays Air America.  The rules are different, we are a little more on the books. Some time if we get together again I can fill in some of the information, which I cannot print here.

Eric

[ellmoe]

   Glad you're back safe. Just in time for the holidays and the cold weather. 8)

Mark

[DanG]

I'd love to have another visit with you Eric.  If you get back down to Rucker, let me know.  I'm staying away from the raw oysters these days, so maybe I'll be in a bit better shape next time. ;) :D :D :D