I figure it was like this.
I really wanted to fly in the military when I was in high school. I lived, ate, breathed, thought about and secreted from my skin military aviation. I'd have slapped a nun in order to even have a five minute conversation with a military aviator because where I grew up, you farmed, worked at a dairy or worked at a creamery and there wasn't the series of tubes which is the internet.
It turns out that I didn't meet the physical requirements and from what I learned during college, not a whole heck of a lot of your overall duties in the military revolves around flying and you need a thirst to be an officer first, and then an aviator second. Kind of like the point that every Marine, whether he be an officer or enlisted, O-1 to O-Whatever is a Rifleman first and everything else second.
So when I see a thread where present and former military aviators are calmly and patiently giving out insight and information on their first hand experiences and there's a couple of us that are doing the "Yeah, but" dance and attempting to debate with the way things ought to work in their eyes, it's good to see that we have military aviators that are here answering questions. I'd have KILLED for an opportunity like this while I was in high school and college. But then it's sad because some on the other side of the thread don't have a grasp of who (and what) they're trying to debate.
I see reservists, current military aviators, IP's, folks who've been shot at, folks who have done the shooting, pilots that have put and ARE putting their butts on the line for our country, their fellow airmen and their mission. Me? I've been a civilian professional pilot for almost 16 or so years and I'm all ears man. I don't have a lick of experience in the military.... so me? Personally? I'm doing waaaaaaaaaaaay more listening in the thread than even attempting to counter the argument.
Hell, there's no argument to be made because they're telling it like it is.
Speaking of that, here's a little public service announcement. I sat down for a nice turkey dinner with my family out here in California on thursday, in safety, whereas the world was falling apart in India... on television. Thank you for your service to our nation. I could have easily been nibbling on a can of spam in the smoldering wreckage of my hometown as MiGs and Sukhois flew sorties overhead or hiding from some crazed jihadist without the ability to empathize with those that don't share his worldview lobs grenades at innocent people... But it's folks like you that keep the bad guys thousands of miles away on the cable news, rather than my mom's front yard. Thanks! I mean it too.
