"Here I Come To Save the Day!"

A grass-roots movement may be afoot to adopt a mascot for the Army Aviation Assn of America in the form of Mighty Mouse.

Quad A became linked to mice at its recent annual convention marking the 25th anniversary of the Army aviation branch. It was held at the brand-new Gaylord National resort, just south of Washington, which was infested with the small rodents. They were so evident that at least one speaker at the convention’s professional sessions mentioned them in the introduction to his panel. One general officer fretted that, in Washington’s hyper-politcally correct environment, he might face charges of animal cruelty if he dispatched a mouse caught in a trap in his room. (He moved the trap, live mouse and all, into the hallway).

True to their traditional of finding solutions where others see problems, Army aviators pondered how to make the best of the matter of their scurrying roommates. That led to discussion of Mighty Mouse, the World War Two-era cartoon character created by Terrytoons Studios and known for his declaration: "Here I come to save the day!" He seems a good fit. In addition to his rodent pedigree, Mighty Mouse has quite respectable vertical takeoff and landing and hover capabilities, not too mention a high cruise speed.