It's easy to laugh, make light of something you don't know about. Everyone know's the Army's history, the Marines, the Navy. But the only contact most have if they ever do with the Air Force's own infantry is that prick at the gate with the beret. So a brief lesson is in order.

During the Korean War, several incidents occurred which called attention to the small arms training provided to Air Force personnel. The most significant was the tragedy at Kimpo Air Base Korea, which was overrun by a numerically superior Chinese communist force. The Air Police Squadron was so overwhelmed that they basically fought a rear guard action before being annihilated. The general base population was then easily defeated before reinforcements arrived to drive the enemy back. The remaining personnel found alive by the Chinese were hung in the main hanger on Kimpo. This hanger still stands today as a memorial to those who died without a chance to fight.

The legend has it, to this day, SP working dogs will not enter that hanger. They didn't just hang the living, the bodies of the fallen AP's were mutilated and hung on hooks. A testement to the price they exacted from the enemy.

We were born from that day at Kimpo, standing on the shoulders of our brothers, we became what we now are. This is a good source for our contributions in Vietnam. Our numbers will never be as great as the Army, or Marines, we are never remembered except by each other. So be it. But how many husbands and fathers made it home because of us? How many didn't die because we were very good at what we do? Many of us identified with Marines because of a simple fact, we were expendable, to the last man if necessary. There were evacuation plans for bases, for equipment, personel, but not for us, never for us. Hold until relieved was our religion, no matter the cost. Retreat was for everyone else. In that sense we are unique among combat units.

A personal note in history, FE Warren AFB, 1981. President Reagan had been shot, we went on full nuclear alert, never before has the DEFCON status been so high. We were told it was a possible decapitation shot by the Soviets. We armed and went to prepared positions to counter any possible attacks on the ICBM force on the ground. About two hundred Warsaw PACT intelligence operative's were known to operate in the region. Do not say there was no threat. I cannot say how many of us there were, I'm bound by my oath, but is was alot less than that. We went out and waited, thankfully the Soviet's weren't the source of the attack. But we couldn't know that then. Imagine sitting on ground zero for 12 hours, not knowing if you would be alive tomorrow. The Soviets used warheads in the megaton range, there was no chance of survivng a strike. Imagine you're 21 and guess what kind of emotions that will bring..........Imagine knowing if the launch order had come, everyone else would evacuate, everyone except the Command Post, the missile crews, and you. They were in deep bunkers, we sat behind sandbags. We would have stayed, and died, that was the mission, hold your ground.

The tradition continues, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in every flea bite godforsaken chunk of rock that our father who art in Washington decides to send the Fighters and bombers. I haven't been in the ranks for nearly two decades, but once, for a time, I was graced....I would go again if I could, I feel shame that I cannot. But I know these men, and they will keep faith with the mission. They will not run, no matter the cost.

Someday, I'll buy that ring. When the children are grown and we are free to spend a little on ourselves. Someday, and when I pass on, I'll leave it to my son. A reminder that once upon a time there were Dragons to be slain, and walls to be held. I pray that it's just history to him, of a dangerous age that passed before he grew.

I write this not in anger, but as a way to show my pride, and let go. The torch has long been passed, and I trust the men and women who now serve in all the services. Broken down, and tired, but never yielding, I keep faith in my own way, still holding my own line.