Hey Badger, I was in the Air Force but I don't remember you.

Seriously, it makes me feel like I already know you. I obviously new here also but I wanted to say hello.

I left the Air Force a month before Dessert Storm cause I figured I would become a rock star. My squadron's (5077 TACC) area of operation was the Mideast (mostly Riyadh). All my friends shipped out a month after I left and I felt incredibly guilty. I wanted to call up and take it all back, tell them I wanted to stay in after all. I don't even know why.

I spent most of my tour in the Mideast, especially Saudia where my unit went. So I knew the drill (hell, I had in part deveoped the drill). I still feel that guilt. That I wasn't there helping them. I knew they were pretty safe there in Riyadh, so it wasn't that kind of guilt, it was this feeling of lost brotherhood that I can't fully explain.

Well, I'm a 35 year old man, and this is actually making me tear up. I guess I should have been a Marine. I'll leave off with another welcome, brother.