Re: Why I quit being a grunt and became a pilot

03 September 2004, 03:36

Hobie...not me. 2.5 years of duckin' bullets was enough of that crap for me. I do have rather fond memories of some young ladies from back then, and I'd recycle for that endeavor though.

I saw the elephant, and got out of the way.

03 September 2004, 02:03

AnotherAZWriter

Quote:

When I later met these guys out of the Air Force Academy or West Point who thought that their shit didn't stink I was appalled.

Those poofters in Washington deserve to hang out with their fellow pin heads.

Come on now, JCN, for every West Point dick there was a fat lazy NCO who couldn't run one mile without wheezing. People are people; even 1/2 the presidents are below average.

You are right about those poofters.

03 September 2004, 08:57

lawndart

I thought those plus sized and husky NCO's were to keep buildings from blowing away in tornados, and to keep the carriers from rolling over in typhoons.
JCN

04 September 2004, 03:43

M1Tanker

Quote:

I spent 20 years as a grunt, wouldn't change it for anything. Times like the grunts in the picture are some of my fondest memories.

Rangers Lead the way.

It is funny how some of the most difficult and trying times turn into favorite memories. Some of my most memorable experiences came while deployed and in the absolute worst conditions.

06 September 2004, 04:38

Grizzly Adams

Hello;
Never been a pilot, but I always had the ambition and an interest in aircraft. One of the most enduring memories of my childhood was watching the crash of one of the Golden Hawks in Calgary. An F-86 hit a Piper Tri-pacer, while coming in for a landing. It sliced the wing off the Tri-pacer, which cork screwed to the ground and the jet just went straight down. I was with a friend, both of us about 9 or 10, about a half mile away and we rode our bicycles to the crash site, which nowadays is right in the midle of Deerfoot trail. I think about that day and the 4 people, who died, everytime I go to town.
Grizz

06 September 2004, 00:32

wallyw

Sure appreciated the air support Grpae Creek

05 September 2004, 23:19

Dave James

AH! HELL! you zoomie pilots are all the same,bitch,bitch bitch,

Was a grunt 4thID/E-58LRRP,loved it,but I will say when we needed air support it sure was nice to Marine Air on standby

Them Air Force guys couldn't hit shit

05 September 2004, 23:11

sharpsman

Grape Creek,

I was born in '62 ,so I am obviously a pup in these matters.
When I was a kid I was airplne crazy(can still name all the WWII fighter and bombers and recognize them by their silhouettes).Some kids dreamed of being a cowboy in the old west or a Knight at King Arthur's round table.I dreamed of what it would have been like to have been a Spitfire or Hurricane pilot in the RAF during the Battle of Britain in 1940.
Such are the foolish dreams of youth..........

One bit of cinema I recently saw that blew me away was the footage in the movie "We Were Soldiers",about the battle in the S.V. central highlands in November of 1965.The parts where they called in close support runs by the prop planes(Avengers?) made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.Did those planes really pack that kind of a whollop in terms of their payloads?

Did you fly any of those missions in 1965??

Just curious...

05 September 2004, 22:51

grape creek

I flew a-1 skyraiders and a-28's out of thialand for 18 months in 65-66 (didn't have grades to make jets). Flew off plantation airstrips with makeshift facilities and lived with the locals...which means ate rice with beans and sprouts and meat that you didn't ask the origin of and peppers (I had mexican heartburn for 18 months. maybe a record). Mud and monsoons and not being able to find your way back to the strip and lots of holes in the bird because it was low level (once pulled a 9mm round out of an oil line) and a bed that was damp most of the time because of the humidity ..and frigging snakes ...... and local girls who knew that i might not be back and little kids who liked hershey bars and mamasans who fed me more than they had to give and old men who were no longer able to fight and were grateful that i was there and cigarettes..... and green limestone mountains that i sometimes now dream about and rivers long and flowing with riverboats (almost sampans) and water buffalo and rice paddies and beaches that ran forever and an indiginous people trying to maintain a lifestyle that they understood in spite of the madness around them. And fear, not really thinking about the reality of death, but instead.. the fear of death. And going in on a ground target that would shoot back.... with 37's that would stream up at you like a waterhose at 5000 feet ... and with 7.62x39 that would sting your seat pan from 100 feet.......
The times that i remember are when things were tough and i had to be the best person i was able to be... when i had to rise to the occasion.... when i had to do it because no one could do it for me. Grunt, swabbie, coastie, bird....we were all the same. Jeez, it was good to be alive..........
ps (glad you guys are here)

06 September 2004, 04:21

Recono

Quote:

I have a good family friend back in Idaho who flew F4's (which I still think is the sexiest plane ever) out of Thailand in Vietnam.

I don't know much about airplanes and flying, but if you are talking about appearance, the F5 has to be the best-LOOKING aircraft I have ever seen.

06 September 2004, 03:15

M1Tanker

I have a good family friend back in Idaho who flew F4's (which I still think is the sexiest plane ever) out of Thailand in Vietnam. He was shot down providing CAS for some Marines on the ground and parachuted in about 500 meters from their position (with a broken leg). Between the Marines slugging it out with the VC and the awesome CAS the Sandy's kept pouring the Marines fought their way to him and the helos were able to come in a extract all of them. He claims as long as he is alive no Sandy pilot, helo pilot, or Marine will ever buy their own drink if he is around.

I cant imagine having the kind of the life that you guys had there. We have it real easy today compared to the vets from previous wars.