Well, I'll take it as one anyway.

Back in Yakima, I'm part of an attack helicopter battalion. The top brass likes helicopters. But they need to "prove" that helicopters are effective. So we're playing war games and our helicopters have to take out the "enemy" tanks.

We know how many tanks, where they are and where they are going.

The "enemy" commander knows that we know this.

So, in the middle of the NIGHT, he advances his tanks under BLACKOUT conditions.

The next morning, his objective wakes up with him waving at them.

BZZZZZZZTTTTTTT!!!!!!!

He is pulled in and talked to.

New rules are issued. NO ONE moves at night. "It's not SAFE and we practice SAFETY."

The entire battlefield is reset and we "prove" that Cobras kick tank ass!

The NEXT time we're playing against this guy, he puts everyone he can on the ridgelines with stingers to take out our helicopters as they pop over them.

Helicopters are GREAT, in the roles that they are great in.

And, in the desert, they take severe environmental damage. The cockpit glass is sandblasted. Dust clogs the filters. If there's anyway for dirt to get into the lube, it will and it will wear out parts.

Not to mention the thermal expansion (day) and contraction (night) that opens lots of problems.