Time to honor a long time sim pilot.
I first met him about 4 years ago in Kali. Warbirds version 1.1 or something like that. A fellow by the name of Vondoom introduced us and suggested we go head to head. The beginning of a long friendship. At first he was an easy kill. I had no problem hooking on to his six and staying there. As the weeks wore on it was increasingly more difficult each time we flew. I don't remember when he finally shot me down but the text buffer was full of YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! and the like.
Was around that time I opened a Warbirds account and began to fly in the arena, but the two of us kept flying h/h several times a week. After a couple of months I started the 332nd Flying Mongrels and he went another direction by forming a head to head squadron called the Black Aces with kieren. Kieren also hosted a BB for our squads and naturally Mongrels formed a sister squad relationship with the Black Aces. The Black Aces were active on the dueling ladder hosted by the Red Falcons. A few in my squad participated in the ladder, but I was no too interested. By the time our squads had several members each the student was now the teacher. When we had time for h/h he would often best me. I know for a time he was near the top of the ladder but with so many good sticks it was tough for anyone to stay there long. Certainly kieren handed me my chute more than once when he and I went head to head. Vondoom, well when I finally did shoot him down the whole Glazier house hold heard about it. I never could do it consistently.
The Black Aces had there up's and downs. Many went to flying on line when "Fighter Ops" opened the door. That gave the Mongrels and the Black Aces a chance to fly together quite often. In time a few of the Black Aces joined the Mongrels and the head to head squadron faded into history. Around that time I put my old Warbirds Kali head to head partner on our roster. He was pleased and for once speechless.
To this day he is the ONLY member of the 332nd Flying Mongrels that was never voted on. Not sure if he even realizes that. I went through several good X.O. but this guy was the only one who stuck around. We seemed to complement each other and still do today. He tends to have more of a bark than I do and sees things more black and white while I tend to be more diplomatic. Nevertheless we made a good team.
It was his lead that brought the whole squad to Aces High. At the time of the move we were one of the largest squads in Warbirds. On our roster we had 42 members. Of course like most squads you only get about 50% showing up, but on a good day there were nearly 30 Mongrels in the historical arena.
Coming to Aces High was difficult and our ranks for various reasons were cut to about ¼ of what we had. To this day I am thankful that he started the charge and lead the squadron to Aces High. For a while he ran the Mongrels when my system was down for about 3 months and if not for him I am sure our ranks would be even less then they are.
We have been here now for well over a year. Both of us took a break for a few months as C.O. and X.O. of the 332nd Flying Mongrels and handed it off to Gospel and Ozark. They did a great job, which allowed us to concentrate on our CM duties and for me getting the Snapshots and Check 6 events off the ground. For him he also had to help train which is something he has enjoyed for years and still does.
More recently he has become instrumental in helping with the Large Multi frame events we have had, and in setting up the Tour of Duties. He is the only fellow I know that can set up an arena and dog fight at the same time.
Just yesterday he had a bit of a mile stone with our squad.
He flew his 100th mission with the 332nd Flying Mongrels. Each week we have a chance for members to fly and add "1" to their number of missions. One hundred missions is 100 weeks of attending our squad nights. He has earned no less then 13 of our squadron awards and deserves twice that.
Ghosth I want to publicly thank you for all you have done for the Aces High community, for the CM Group, for the Instructor Corps, for our squad, and for me personally. My life is better for knowing you and for having the pleasure to meet you personally.
<S>
Your friend,
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CM CO daddog
332nd Flying Mongrels Snapshots & TODNoses in the wind since 1997. 
Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.John Adams, 1808
