Combat flag flying for ALERT

It might seem a small thing to some but not to veterans: The ALERT crew at Kalispell Regional Medical Center had a lot of veterans but no flag at the helicopter hangar.

Scott Bare, a former crew member, decided to do something about it. While serving as a reservist in Iraq, Bare sent a flag back for the rescue helicopter crew to fly over the ALERT hangar.

It wasn't just a new, out-of-the factory flag. Bare took this flag in his helmet bag as he flew a Black Hawk helicopter over Iraq.

"There were a lot of us who carried flags onboard our aircraft when we flew missions," Bare said.

He deployed in January 2005 with the 1st Battalion, 189th Aviation, an assault helicopter battalion. Bare flew over some of the hottest spots in Iraq.

"I know it's [the flag] been over Baghdad, Mosul, Tikrit and Fallujah," he said. Bare returned just before Thanksgiving 2005.

Although ALERT kept his part-time job open, Bare moved on to a full-time position as a flight instructor with the guard in Helena. But he left the flag as a memento.

Chief pilot George Taylor said Bare was a popular member of the ALERT team.

"He was real conscientious," he said.

Getting Bare's flag up and flying became a priority from the day ALERT received the gift. But with no flagpole in place, it wasn't a simple matter.

First the hospital agreed to buy the pole. Then Doug Miller Construction provided the backhoe work for the pole's foundation.

Swank Enterprises donated the labor to install the pole, and Kalispell Electric agreed to donate a fixture and the electrical work for a light. The electrical work is unfinished, but the colors went up.

"We put it up daily," Taylor said. "It's something we're kind of proud of."