ORNEVILLE – Randy Kluj, 26, is a team player, an attribute that plays a leading role in his life as an Apache Longbow attack helicopter pilot working in the combat zone in Iraq.

“The mission we face every day is basically to provide support to friendly forces on the ground any way we can,” the Orneville resident and Foxcroft Academy graduate said recently in an e-mail.

Kluj, who entered the U.S. Army more than three years ago, was sent to Iraq on Oct. 11, 2006, as part of the 1st Cavalry Division and expects to remain there until September.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kluj said he searches from the sky for possible insurgents and for those who implant explosive devices in the roadway hoping to kill or maim the servicemen and women working to support the Iraqi people.

“We provide close combat attacks for friendly ground forces under fire, and really that’s why we fly every day and do our job; we do it for the guys on the ground,” Kluj said.

“Hearing the relief in the voices of the ground troops when we arrive on station is very rewarding in itself,” Kluj wrote. “All the ground troops tell us that they love hearing us overhead ’cause they know that we will do what it takes to support them, especially when they are in contact with the enemy. We are also able to see a lot of things from the air that the ground forces aren’t able to see, and we can talk them onto different locations such as weapon caches.”

His two-pilot helicopter, which is equipped with a 30 mm chain gun, folding fin rockets and Hellfire missiles, is intimidating to most insurgents. Having nothing to do with ammunition but everything to do with patriotism, Randy Kluj also carries with him one of 39 American flags that residents from California to Maine have asked him to fly over Iraqi soil and return to them. But it is his training and the weapons that make the difference in battle.

“When we arrive on station, the bad guys usually stop shooting ’cause they know we shoot back,” Kluj said.

That’s not always the case. One of the attack helicopters in Kluj’s unit was shot down by insurgents.

Kluj knows the risks when he dons his headgear and steps into the Apache, but his patriotism overshadows his fear. He finds it comforting that despite the dangers involved, the military goes to great lengths to retrieve the bodies of servicemen and women killed in action.

That, too, is comforting to Kluj’s parents, Randy and Janet Kluj of Orneville, who are troop greeters at Bangor International Airport.

“We pray a lot,” his mother said Wednesday. Since their son’s deployment, Janet Kluj said, the family’s faith, their prayers and the support they give each other have made life bearable.

His father, commander of Joseph Chaisson American Legion in Milo, understands the dangers his son faces. Randy Kluj said he served in Vietnam as a crew chief door gunner. “I pretty much know what he’s going through,” he said Wednesday.

“It’s pretty tough knowing your son’s in harm’s way every day, but you have to rely on faith and his training that he’ll be safe,” his mother said.

When the couple heard on television that the helicopter in Kluj’s unit had crashed, they waited anxiously for word that their son was safe. They knew he was flying that day. Relief flooded them when he was able to call several hours later, but it soon was followed by grief for the families of the pilots who died.

The couple said they came to realize early on that their son would make a career with the military. “I think he has always known what his career goal was,” Janet Kluj said.

In school, Kluj was considered a “quiet leader,” who participated in school activities and was supportive of others. Humble, as well, Kluj was somewhat reluctant to have a story written about him because so many others give of themselves for their country.

“We’re very proud of his dedication to his country,” his parents said.