With 150 veterans on this weeks Story County Freedom Flight to Washington, D.C., there are at least 150 stories to tell. Probably more.

You can find any kind of story in the military, said veteran Stanley Twedt, of McCallsburg. Humor, bravery, loss, romance anything. There are a lot of stories out there.

The Story County Freedom Flight a flight providing veterans a chance to visit Washington, D.C., that took place Tuesday included stories during every part of the flight. They were swapped at 3:30 a.m. in the parking lot, waiting to board the buses for the airport, on the plane headed to Washington, on park benches in front of war memorials and on the bus returning to Ames.

Interestingly enough, however, the story the veterans seemed to be involved in at the World War II Memorial seemed to be discussed the least.

Sure, there was talk about the government shutdown that occurred only a few hours before the flight was to take place.

(Renee Twedt) and I both had a lot of phone calls yesterday from different TV channels, Story County Veterans Affair Director and Freedom Flight organizer Brett McClain said on the flight Tuesday. A lot of people asking questions. A lot of veterans asking us, Are we still going today? Yes. Were still going.

Aside from occasional small talk about the shutdown and whether restrooms at the monuments would be open or closed, the main topic of discussion in the buses and planes of Story County veterans didnt involve battles between Congress and the Senate or resolution meetings.

For James Tustison, a Vietnam veteran from Ames, the topic was foreign airplanes.

Fresh out of high school in 1957, Tustison joined the U.S. Air Force. Before he knew it, he was working as a traffic analyst, monitoring radio traffic and breaking codes to determine where Russian aircraft were flying.

At that time, we could tell you where almost every Russian airplane was, if it was in the air, what unit he belonged to, where he was going and frequently what he was carrying, Tustison said. Wed intercept that traffic, decipher their code words and track the airplanes.

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Freedom Flight 2013: A day full of stories