Having been part of rotary wing, military and civil, aviation for the best part of 40 years I can appreciate the Marine Corps and the V-22 community’s loyalty to their machine. Over the years I have seen many perish through no fault of their own. I have seen H-1s lost due to stabilizer bar failures, CH-46s due to blade and rotor problems, H-60s lost due to spindle failures, and a T-2 due to an in flight elevator failure just to name a few. At the top of the list are those who perished in my own pride and joy, the H-53. As part of that 53 experience, we endured the wrath of an Orange County Resister reporter that crucified the H-53 in the press looking to a either win a Pulitzer Price or looking to close MCAS Tustin, CA. In the end, the machine survived, in part by having its laundry hung out for everyone to scrutinize. I believe that, in the end, all any of us want to see is an honest scrutiny of the machine. We owe that to those lost up to this point and to hopefully minimize future problems.