On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 23:54:17 GMT, Juvat
wrote:

Dude...did you read that last sentence before you hit "send?" You
think any of your UPT buds in C-130s hauling bullets and beans would
buy that self-serving BS? Think KC-135/-10 guys passing gas would nod
their head in agreement?

How about the EWOs or DSOs in your jet? How many SAM or AI radars have
they battled since 1995?

...And if it's true that your F-16/F-15E classmates have not dropped
live in Iraq or Afghanistan...the system is ****ed up 'cause every
swinging dick ANG air-to-mud guy/gal has over the course of several
deployments since 1991.

Hey easy for me...I wanted to be the commander of USAFE, or TAC, say
"Two, Bingo, Mayday...Lead you're on fire." I wanted to eat jager
schnitzel mit pomme frites in the german village where I lived for
three year; I didn't want to spend all my career PCS'd to CONUS; I
wanted to fly fast and low and hear BRASSMONKEY on Guard; Ivan and Kim
Il-Sung were the enemy.

I didn't ask myself, "Self...which aerial platform will most likely
provide the greatest benefit in terms of standoff weapons employement
with the concomitant minimum sorties."

I wanted to have fun while running around in a green and brown mottled
Phantoms with my fangs out, hair on fire.

A noble jesture on your part, you had the prescience to select the
B-52...every UPT grad I ever asked says they wanted to fly fighters,
but they busted a check-ride, the wife/girlfriend rejected the notion,
etc. NOBODY ever said they wanted to fly BUFFS or tankers.

Bottom line...I respect you as an air warrior. I don't know you but
your claim that BUFFs (not even BONEs) were your first choice is
interesting.

Juvat

Twoop!!

And, "Lead, you really are on fire...."


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8