Flying Tigers fly flags

Courtesy Photo | Pilot in Command Capt. Jeffrey Maxwell holds up a flag that he is flying for a soldier stationed on Camp Taji, Iraq, while flying an AH-64D Apache Longbow Attack Helicopter. (Photo by: Chief Warrant Officer 4 Allan Kidwell)  

CAMP TAJI, IRAQ

05.31.2011

Story by Spc. Darriel Swatts 

40th Combat Aviation Brigade

CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Most people, when thinking of flying a flag, think of a flag majestically waiving atop a flagpole; however, the 8th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 229th Aviation Regiment, fly the flag a bit differently. They fly their flags inside an Apache attack helicopter while patrolling the skies of Iraq.

“The American flag is a great honor and a great symbol of our country. To have a flag that was over in combat, flown on a mission; it’s very powerful to a lot of people,” said 1st Lt. Michael Moran, an Apache pilot for B Company, 8-229th, based out of Ft. Knox, Ky., stationed on Camp Taji, Iraq, in support of Operation New Dawn. “It’s a way we can give something back to those who have given to us and to show people back home that we appreciate them, by giving a large token of respect.”

The pilots of the 8-229th, deployed under the 40th Combat Aviation Brigade from Fresno, Calif., have been flying flags for people back home since their arrival in Iraq. They have logged more than 6,000 hours of flight time flying more than 250 flags.

“We started as soon as we got here. We took over from our predecessors, and it has really exploded from there. We’ve flown flags for people from everywhere back home; the VFW, schools, employers and even individual people,” said Maj. Alan Hardin, Task Force Tiger Executive Officer for the 8-229th. “I personally have flown a couple flags for people who mean a lot to me. It’s a way to let them know you’re thinking of them and to say thanks for what they do us back home. Sometimes we forget while we’re forward doing our job, as hard as it may be for us, it’s equally as hard if not harder for them back home.”

The flag flying program is open to any and all soldiers stationed on Camp Taji with the Flying Tigers.

“I’ve flown tons of flags since we got here in late February, early March,” said Moran. “I enjoy flying the flags because it's a way of showing respect to the people back home, and it’s a way of thanking them for what they have done. When I’m out there flying that flag, I realize the importance of it all.”

Soldiers have been flying the flags while in country since the beginning of the war, and the tradition has been passed along to each new incoming unit. "It’s something that says ‘hey, I’m thinking of you and even though we are half the world apart, you are with me in my mind, heart and soul,’" Hardin said.

“We couldn’t do this program without the help and support of our flight ops people,” said Hardin. “People come in and ask for us to fly a flag, and they accept the flag, document what needs to be done, hand it off to the pilots before the flight, get it back, and make a certificate of flight and have to pilots sign it to authenticate the cert, then they send it back home and all over the states.”

“For people back home, it’s like ‘wow, this flag was flown on an Apache helicopter in Iraq’…” said Staff Sgt. Robert Ethridge, S3 Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge for the 8-229th, “… ‘My son, daughter, husband, wife, friend or colleague is there and they were thinking of me when they asked to have this flag flown.’ It’s just a great ‘thank you for everything’ for whoever is fortunate enough to receive the flag.”

• Date Taken: 05.31.2011
• Date Posted: 06.12.2011 04:48
• Story ID: 71974
• Location: CAMP TAJI, IQ