Black Bandits

For those who know me, they know that four years ago I was fortunate enough to get to go to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I wasn’t going for the sights, or the entertainment. I went to meet some of the best people that I will ever know. I met a group of people that set the standard on what it is like to be an American. I left there knowing that these men had sacrificed everything to have everything. They were soldiers!
Every year in September a Wiley group of helicopter pilots, their crew chiefs, and their accomplices meet up to celebrate a time in their life when they were fighting for each other’s lives. They didn’t fight for themselves, they fought for the guy standing next to them. They flew into places that nowadays would be considered suicide. No wasn’t an option for them and turning back was unheard of. They were simply soldiers doing what needed to be done.
I am proud to call one of these fine pilots my father and I am proud to meet the men that served with him. I am proud to know the men that flew beside him to protect him and all the men on the ground. They didn’t brag one bit when I met them, instead they took the time to brag on the person that stood next to them. I believe my older brother and I were delighted that we could be sight see’ers for this awesome spectacle. They were everything that we hoped to be.
As Rick and I left there we both knew we wanted to come back. We knew we were destined to tell the stories we heard. My one hope was that my young son could be able to meet these men and understand what they stood for and what they did for their country. This year we planned our family vacation to coincide with their reunion. Even though my son is only 10, I hope that when he is old enough to understand that he was part of something great. That he was able to be part of something that forever will be in the hearts and minds of my father and his comrades. So one day he can say that out of all the great things and great places he has been that in September of 2012 he met Black Bandits!
God bless you Lt. Colonel Larry Charles Hall, the Black Bandits, and every person that fought beside or with these great men!