THE HAPPY HOOLIGANS
(Senate - September 13, 2001)

[Page: S9388]
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Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, when the Pentagon was attacked and F-16s were scrambled from Langley Air Force Base, those fighter planes were the 119th Fighter Wing of the North Dakota National Guard. I didn't know that myself when I saw those planes flying. I can tell you, they made an awful lot of us feel much more secure when we saw F-16 fighter planes in the air protecting Washington, DC. So imagine my surprise and my pride when I learned that those were North Dakota National Guard fighter planes.

This is the group we affectionately call in North Dakota the Happy Hooligans. The Happy Hooligans are America's best. The Happy Hooligans have been called the best fighter unit on the planet Earth. They have been called that because the Happy Hooligans have been recognized in competition after competition as America's best. Not only have they won the competitions--the William Tell award, for example--as the best active fighting unit in the United States, but they have not only been in competition with other National Guard units but the regular Air Force. The Happy Hooligans come out No. 1.

So not only are we incredibly proud in North Dakota that a key part of this Nation's defense at this time of tragedy and attack was from North Dakota but that we sent our very best and that our very best are America's very best.

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