CHEYENNE — Capt. Reed “Roller” Barrett remembers growing up in Cheyenne and watching the U.S. Air Force’s Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team come to town each summer during Cheyenne Frontier Days. He also remembers learning to fly in Cheyenne on a Cessna 172.

Now, he flies an F-16 Fighting Falcon, the same aircraft flown by the Thunderbirds, for the Red Eyes of the 120th Fighter Squadron, 140th Wing, Colorado Air National Guard. For the first time in CFD history, Barrett helped bring those jets to the rodeo for a squadron flyover, a fact brought to light in a Sept. 5 news release from the Colorado Air National Guard.

“To be able to bring a four-ship of F-16s to my hometown and open up the world’s largest outdoor cash-prize rodeo, that’s a very significant event, and not only that, bu

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