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| Nighthawks |
March 27, 2003 |
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Dear Friends,
On Monday I went to Alamogordo. I was there in the afternoon for the third of our economic forums, but went early to go to Holloman Air Force Base - the home of America`s F-117 Stealth fighters. And I had lunch with a dozen or so wives of men who are deployed.
The Air Force is a pretty close family. But special units like the 117s are even more so. That`s particularly true at times like these.
There was one young wife who had been married for a month before her husband was deployed. She was from out of state and she had just moved into base housing. The woman standing next to me who had kids in college asked the newlywed warmly if she had made many friends yet. "No. Not yet," the young bride replied. "Well, you are my friend now," she said, "I gotcha."
There was the squadron commander`s wife with the wonderful sense of humor who said that the wives were talking after the opening night in Bagdad when two F-117s attacked a bunker. "If they hit the target, it was my husband. If they missed, it was yours!"
And every day, the wing commander at Holloman talks to his flyers in Southwest Asia and gets the word when all the 117s are back after their missions. The wing commander calls the Squadron Commander`s wife. She calls the wives of the three flight commanders. They have a telephone tree. And every night by tuck in time in New Mexico every spouse and parent is reassured and every child knows that Dad`s okay.
Spirits are high even though every one of them admits to being afraid sometimes. And when they are, they have each other. They are proud of their husbands and proud of this country. We are proud of them.
Wish you were here,
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