I have a "famous" childhood friend!

When I was growing up, I lived next door to a family with three boys. They were the closest thing to brothers I had. We went back and forth between our houses and almost didn't even have to knock. We played war games and matchbox cars and Legos and did lots of running around in the woods, swimming, climbing trees, and riding bikes. And when they had been bad, I'd help them pick up pine cones to speed their punishment along so we could get back to crawling through the underbrush and shooting down enemy combatants with water guns.

Now, two of those neighborhood boys are in the Air Force. The brother who is my age is Scott. He just celebrated his birthday last week, the day before Russia invaded Georgia. And I just got an amazing e-mail from his dad about something related to those events that happened this past week:

Scott was in Europe and had just flown a mission into Afghanistan. They landed back at Ramstein, Germany, after delivering their cargo in Kabul. They were supposed to come home to Delaware, but were tagged for the first humanitarian mission going into Georgia. They took off enroute to Tbilisi, Georgia [on Wednesday, Aug. 13th]. Just after takeoff, the President started a news conference in the Rose Garden with Cheney on one side and [the] Sec of State standing on the other side. He said a humanitarian C-17 was enroute to Tbilisi and the Soviets had better honor their commitments to humanitarian aid and allow the aircraft to deliver their cargo. The Soviets control all the airspace in Georgia, and it was basically a free fire zone. Scott said the Soviet aircraft had taken out all the radar sites, and Bucharest center and Ankara center both told them that the airspace and airport in Tbilisi were closed. The ambassador to Georgia met the airplane and they delivered the cargo...

Can you imagine the President of the United States waiting for Scott Motley to make his takeoff so he can start his news conference?!

Scott and his crew even landed themselves on the front page of the New York Times! I know he's in the picture with his crew, but I can't figure out which one he is. Scott's tall and lanky and I think he may be in the middle, turned to one side, standing in the cargo hold of the C-17. I thought that was really cool! He may not be named, but honestly, how many people can you say who you know have had their picture on the front page of the Times? :)

There was even a news story about the event on the local Alabama affiliate, WSFA: Conflict Between Georgia and Russia Hits Close to Home

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