I've decided on this desert tan tee-shirt for the next shirt in the quilt. There are a lot of memories and hundreds of pictures that go along with this experience. The year was 2003. I was on my way to a small country called Qatar located on the eastern side of Saudi Arabia. Another desert...Deja Vue! The accommodations were better than in 1991. This time we were billeted in tents with floors and air conditioning. My living space was 4 by 10; small but it was all mine. The humidity was 98% on any given day and the temperatures on the flightline closer to 120 degrees. I remember drenched tee-shirts under our flight suits from the heat and humidity on the ground. Once we reached altitude we froze in the aircraft due to the soaked tee-shirts. We still had a long flight ahead of us. We were tasked to bring patients out of Iraq and back to medical facilities there at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. The missions were almost surreal. We would don flak vests and helmets as soon as we reached Iraqi airspace. We went in at night and under low light conditions inside the aircraft. You held your breath hoping that nothing would be fired at the aircraft or trigger the tracers. We would land, keep the props running, and load the patients as quickly as possible. Each run included several stops within Iraq before heading back to Qatar. Returning to Al Udeid was always a welcome relief! This tan tee-shirt represents a lot of friendships through shared experiences. Also, it represents a commitment to care for the patients regardless of the danger, the conditions or the circumstances.