Imet Colin Rich in Delta ; just a few selection classes behind me, he was. Born in Massachusetts, he had the accent and temperament of our fiery New England brothers. His accent and his sense of humor were two things that gravitated me to him during downtime, to tell preposterous lies and shoot the breeze (BKSE). My call sign then was Chik; Colin’s was Chainsaw.

“So how does it feel, Chik, to be a flat-landah?” He would often ask.

A flat-lander was a term of moderate disrespect, but more so endearment for anyone who was from a low plains state such as Oklahoma, where I was born.

“Just peachy, Chainsaw… how does it feel to be a Yankee S.O.B.?”

“Yorra stinkah, you ahh Chik,” and so it went.

I was blessed with many great years in Delta with Colin, many trips, many opportunities to su

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