The Heritage Room of the 92nd Air Refueling Squadron, stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, contains items to make the airmen comfortable when they take a break from the stress and pressure of active duty.

There is a sofa or two and several comfortable chairs. Plus a runway-type wooden table where several airmen sit on bar stools to visit. A microwave, refrigerator, sink, kitchen counters and cupboards provide the space for limited food preparation.

The walls are covered with historical aircraft photos of refueling in progress. One has the tanker above a second airplane with a long, but gas station type refueling hose providing the fuel for the lower airplane.

A space on one wall is dedicated to mugs, one for each airman, identified with their nickname or call sign. The unit bought me one with a huey on the back and Stingray 3, my call sign in Vietnam, on the front.

An airman can use the Heritage Room as a place to eat lunch, plus breakfast or dinner, if working early or late.

Garnet and I visit the room during the monthly Hail and Farewell. This is a gathering of the members of the unit who are not working at the moment, such as refueling a fighter jet over Afghanistan or a cargo plane over the Pacific Ocean. Wives and children are also invited.

The squadron commander, Lt Col Jeromie Sheldon, uses this meeting as a chance to disseminate any information he deems important, but the hail and farewell gatherings are traditionally a chance to say hello to the new members and farewell to the departing members.

When Jeromie is finished, he allows me a chance to do the same. Each departing airmen is presented a honey bear, courtesy of Silverbow Honey, a chance to take an item from Moses Lake with them in their travels around the world.

When the formalities are complete, the eating and visiting begins. The wives provide a tableful of various types of food. Garnet and I usually bring a slow cooker or two with stew or soup of some type.

At the Thanksgiving celebration dinner last November, I asked what was on top of their wish list for the Heritage Room. The first item was a popcorn machine. One of the airmen found one at a reasonable price a month later and it is now in use.

The second item was a toaster oven. Research pointed to an Oster oven for around $70. I mentioned the oven and where it would be going during a radio show, when Gary Harmon called and suggested the next larger size of oven, which will hold two 16-inch pizzas or a 9- by 13-inch baking pan. The price was around $100.

Not only was his suggestion accepted, but Gary also wanted to contribute. In the end we had five people pitching in money: Larry Godden, Harlan Beagley, Gary Harmon, Christy Price and Garnet Wilson.

One of the wives told me there are times during the every-other-month training day, when the trainees need to be fed. There are times when food items are brought to the lunch in aluminum containers. The oven will allow these foods to be cooked or warmed in their original containers, instead of having to transfer the food to a microwave-safe container.

Gary arrived at the radio station a couple of Saturdays ago and handed me $25. I explained the cost per person, after dividing by five, was $20 and tried to hand the extra $5 back to him.

"Seed money," he said, meaning I should