[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16999]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                          THE HAPPY HOOLIGANS

  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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