Part One: Billings

We flew out of Fort Smith and headed for Billings in the middle of the afternoon. Swinging west we passed south of Pryor then headed northeast to Billings. The city was in flames when we got there and I tried to see if the refineries were still intact but the smoke was too thick. There was a tremendous fire raging on the rimrocks to the northwest indicating that Logan International was no longer functioning and therefore no longer a threat. Our LZ was to the southeast of the city near an old microwave station that had been built nuke proof during the cold war. Twenty kilometers out we saw the eight empty Hueys taking off to join us. A couple were smoking and I wasn't sure they would be able to make it but then, it wasn't my problem.