Been there and done that as well, albeit in an A-4. It's the sticky
little
problem of the wild card that gets thrown into that otherwise controllable
mix. Particularly sticky, even after a 2 kill result, because you must
leave the hostile arena (perhaps 50-100 NM from feet wet) starting with
150
knots and a wee bit less fuel than you'd probably like.

Some comments from an airchair amateur here (had a similiar discussion
with Ed and a few others in r.a.m. last year or so). I'm with Doug 100% for
the following reasons: modern missiles, modern agility, modern thrust,
modern awacs. Modern missiles make dogfighting much more dangerous, and
reduce the importance of maintaining speed. Sure, keeping up your E for a
break is good, but unlike a gun solution or early a-a missiles, you might
not be able to spoil a good R-73 or -9X shot by pulling anything less than
13g's. Modern agility (and modern missiles) means that the bad guy has far
more opportunities to fire those missiles (doesn't have to maneuver to a
strong tail position). Modern thrust lets you get that energy back in a
hurry, and modern awacs keeps you apprised of the situation. I suppose you
could also add that modern speed and missiles make it very difficult to
disengage (without getting a BVR missile up the tail).
Even assuming there's no awacs (something very rare for a U.S.
engagement), I would still imagine the best thing to maneuver as
aggressively as realistically possible (i.e., worrying about angles more
than energy), get a super-agile missile off at the bad guy pronto, put him
on the defense (I'm going to assume that anyone with a missile launched at
them is going to attend to it rather than returning the favor), then take
advantage of his missile evasion to get better position (assuming he manages
to dodge the missile). Repeat (you've got 4 IR and 4 BVR shots in most
fighters). Deal with the possibility of an unknown by ending the fight
ASAP. Also, deal with low fuel by ending the fight quickly, rather than a
longer, higher-speed engagement. By going full offensive ASAP (= high alpha
vs. high speed), you trade a lower ability to quit or dodge a missile (less
e) for a lower chance of him shooting at you (put him on the defense), and a
higher chance of you hitting him and ending the engagement. Given that the
odds of being able to quit the fight or dodge a missile are low any how, and
that you can regain e like never before, I would think that the advantages
of cashing in that speed, currently or will soon (unlike in the past),
outweigh the disadvantages.
It boils down to the best defense being an extremely aggressive offense.
Of course, stealthily smacking him in the teeth BVR from outside his range
is really the best way to go! And that's my two cents (again, with the
caveat of being an armchair pilot who has no firm data on the performance of
new-gen missiles).

Tony