Flight,

This applies to the GIB's (Guys in Back) also. We all remember our time in Nam as flight crew and we all had it better than the guys today. The "Flag Pole" has finally arrive on the battle field. Salute and ask permission before you shoot at the person who is about to kill you.

Tom Gator 851

Subject: Where have all the fighter pilots gone? Great article. Much truth to this. Glad I'm not in today's Modern Action Army.

Where Have All The Fighter Pilots Gone?

Got this in the morning mail. Note that I'm passing it along rather quickly. I happen to be one of those who would agree with the sentiments expressed herein.

Think about this when you read the rest of the letter below. What happened to our Air Force? We used to go to the Officers Club Stag Bar on Friday afternoons to drink, smoke and swap lies with our comrades. (The same thing is happening in the Navy and Marines).

Drinking became frowned on. Smoking caused cancer and could "harm you". Stag bars became sexist. Gradually, our men quit patronizing their clubs because what happened in the Club became fodder for a Performance Report. Same thing at the Airman's Club and the NCO and/or Top 3 clubs.

Now we don't have separate clubs for the ranks. Instead we have something called "xxx" Air Force Base Club. It's open to men and women of all ranks - from Airman Basic to General Officer. Still, no one is there.

Gee, I wonder why.

The latest brilliant thought out of Washington is that the "pilots?" flying remote aircraft in combat areas from their duty station in Nevada or Arizona should draw the same combat pay as those real world pilots actually on board a plane in a hostile environment. The Politically Correct Logic? The remote vehicle operator is subject to the same stress levels as the combat pilot actually flying in combat. REALLY!

Now that I've primed you a little, read on.
~

There are many who will agree with these sentiments, but they apply to more than just fighter pilots. Unfortunately, the ones with the guts to speak up or push for what they believe in are beat down by the "system".

Unfortunately there is a lot of truth here.

Supposedly, Secretary Gates probably has a force beating the bushes to learn who wrote this.

Subject: Where Have All The Fighter Pilots Gone?

Good Question.

Here is a rant from a retired fighter pilot that is worth reading:

It is rumored that our current secretary of defense recently asked the question, "Where are all the dynamic leaders of the past?"

I can only assume, if that is true, that he was referring to Robin Olds, Jimmy Doolittle, Patton, Ike, Boyington, Nimitz, etc. I've got the answer. They were fired before they made Major.

Our nation doesn't want those kinds of leaders anymore. Squadron commanders don't run squadrons and wing commanders don't run wings. They are managed by higher ranking dildos with other esoteric goals in mind.

Can you imagine someone today looking for a LEADER to execute that Doolittle Raid and suggesting that it be given to a dare-devil boozer-his only attributes: he had the respect of his men, an awesome ability to fly, and the organizational skills to put it all together. If someone told me there was a chance in hell of selecting that man today, I would tell them they were either a liar or dumber than shit.

I find it ironic that the Air Force put Gen Olds on the cover of the company rag last month. While it made me extremely proud to see his face, he wouldn't make it across any base in America (or overseas) without ten enlisted folks telling him to zip up his flight suit and shave his mustache off. I have a feeling that his response would be predictable and for that crime he would probably get a trip home and an Article 15.

We have lost the war on rugged individualism and that, unfortunately, is what fighter pilots want to follow; not because they have to but because they respect leaders of that ilk. We've all run across that leader that made us proud to follow him because you wanted to be like him and make a difference. The individual who you would drag your testicles through glass for rather than disappoint him.

We better wake the hell up! We're asking our young men and women to go to shitty places, some with unbearable climates, never have a drink, have little or no contact with the opposite sex, not look at magazines of a suggestive nature of any type, and adhere to ridiculous regs that require you to tuck your shirt into your PT uniform on the way to the porta-shitter at night in a dust storm because it's a uniform.

These people we're sending to combat are some of the brightest I've met but they are looking for a little sanity, which they will only find on the outside if we don't get a friggin' clue. You can't continue asking people to live for months or years at a time acting like nuns and priests. Hell, even they get to have a beer.

Who are we afraid of offending? The guys that already hate us enough to strap C4 to their own bodies and walk into a crowd of us? Think about it.

I'm extremely proud of our young men and women who continue to serve. I'm also very in tune with what they are considering for the future and I've got news for whoever sits in the White House, congress, and our so-called military leaders. Much talent has and will continue to hemorrhage from our services, because wanna-be warriors are tired of fighting on two fronts--one with our enemies, another against our lack of common sense.

Anonymous