SteveG75 said:scab,
Just joshing you, that A-10 is one sweet toy.
The nice thing about MERs and TERs was the ability to go parent rack for the 84's and such and then hang a buttload of smaller stuff if necessary. After all, we only had 5 station on the mighty war pig. When I closed the door on my Intruder squadron, the only thing in the Navy inventory at the time that we were not cleared to carry were AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-54 Phoenix. Everything else was fair game.
In my short time, I carried SLAM, IR Mav, Laser Mav, Sidewinder and HARM (some CATM, some live for OSW). I managed to drop 82 slick, 82 snake, 83 slick, 83 with the ballute retard, 84 slick, LGTR, Mk-20 Rockeye, Walleye I (1000lb variant) and of course 76's and 33's.
It was all good. You are now flying the only TRUE ATTACK platform in the United States Armed Forces inventory (even if it is USAF). So as a Navy Attack pilot, I give you:
THE MISSION - ATTACK
"FIGHTER PILOTS MAKE MOVIES; ATTACK PILOTS MAKE HISTORY"
Steven Coonts
1) The mission of the aircraft carrier is to put ordnance on target. Everything else such as Indian Country, unreps, the grid, SSC, and anything else starting with F- is simply support for the attack mission.
2 )You win the war by killing the enemy by the thousands, not one at a time at twenty thousand feet.
3) In peacetime, DCM is something the attack pilot uses to rejoin off the range.
4) In wartime, DCM is something the attack pilot uses to turn and shoot some ******* in the face who's trying to stop the attack pilot before he destroys his high value target.
5) There is no such thing as defensive DCM. I become offended when someone jumps me enroute to my target, and much offense is intended when I have to take the time to blow his ass off.
6) Concerning the tally of Medal of Honor winners in southeast Asia, the score tells it all: Attack = 5, Fighter = 0.
7) In wartime, our POW's were not released because the enemy sent representatives to sit smugly at peace talks. They were not released because domestic antiwar groups unwittingly played into the hands of the enemy, and tied the hands of their countrymen at arms. They were not released because the enemy lost five aircraft to a select few called aces. They were released because brave men took their bombers downtown and spoke personally to their captors in the only language the enemy understands:
Iron bombs raining down on their heads!
8) These lessons have been forged in blood and steel by all those attack pilots and bombadiers who have gone before you; back when happiness was flying Spads; back when jets were hard-lighting and mean, and only quiche-eatin' airline pukes flew fans; back when Spads roamed valleys and spit death to those who would try to stop them; in an earlier time when the biggest cadillac in town was called "BUFF" and when men took pride in decorating their leather flight jackets with; "I've Been There" Patches, and the enemy hid every 1 + 45 because he knew the next cycle of the attack carrier was headed his way. Times change, technology changes, but the men in the cockpit must be the same brave warriors every age has counted upon in time of peril.
9)Finally, and this is the bottom line! Real men fly attack because they understand the most fundamental law of wartime negotiations; you negotiate with the enemy with your knee in his chest and your knife at his throat.
I would caveat that with real men fly CAS because it is not the aviator who kicks in the door to an enemy's house throws him to the ground, puts a knife to jis throat and tells him "this is how it will be". It is a 19 year old Lance Corporal.
It matters not how much steel is rained on a city it matters when you stand on the enemies dirt, plant a flag on it and start the war crimes trials.
