The Guitar Heroes

You’d likely have a hard time picking a Guitar Hero out of a crowd. They might look like ordinary folks, but appearances can be deceiving. These men and this woman are engaged in very dangerous combat, going literally eye to eye with the enemy and defeating him nearly every time. And it’s important to note that the enemy is a worthy adversary and this is not a turkey shoot. If you go to the memorial of a helicopter pilot, it will be because they saved us from ten other memorials. These pilots know the chances they are taking. They do it anyway, for which thousands of soldiers, and this writer, are grateful. Very, very grateful.

Sometimes I sit up on a hill and watch them in the air. The other day two Kiowas were screaming low right over the rooftops and doing hard turns. I couldn’t see the combat because they were too far away, but I knew they were toe to toe and there was plenty of shooting going on or they wouldn’t have been flying so violently. It’s scary watching them because I’ve met them and know they are mortals doing the work of immortals. At any second there could be a fireball. A “fallen angel.” I remember the call over the radio last year of a “fallen angel” down by Baghdad. All aboard had been lost.

If I am down on the street and they pass overhead, I wave. In the dining facility, I step respectfully out of their way. All the time thinking, these folks are more than Guitar Heroes.