This seems to be circulating around the net. My apologies if everyone has seen it. Not sure that it is "authentic". I hope it isn't "political" (don't think so). But, it is kinda interesting.
Best, Jim > > > > > Subject: Night Flying in Iraq off the Theodore > Roosevelt CVN 71 in the Med. Thought you might enjoy. > > > > > Was fragged as the strike lead for last night's insertion of > some > 1000 paratroopers into Northern Iraq. Our mission was to provide > close air support for the guys as they were hitting the ground. > Per any military operation, it didn't exactly go as planned. > > > My strike package consisted of a dozen strike fighters loaded > to the > gills. In fact, the cat shot was the heaviest I had ever been > shot off the boat. I had rallied the forces in eastern Turkey, > waited for the C-17s (who were also loaded to the gill....with > troops) and then took the package in country. The overall resistance > was actually pretty spectacular to see under the night vision > goggles and I can honestly say that I gained a hell of a lot > of respect for the Army guys who were jumping at low altitude > out of those perfectly good airplanes. And doing it into harm's > way. There was about as much triple "A" as I've seen since > being out here directly going in their direction. > > That's where the Hunters come in. > > We were operating in the vicinity of the drop when we got the > call from "higher authority" that our mission had changed and > to contact the AWACS who was controlling the entire north of > the country. I contacted him and he passed that we were retasked > to take our package "a bit further south and prosecute two targets > of interest". He passed the coordinates and target descriptions > and asked us to meet a certain "time on target" (TOT). > Things happened extremely fast from that point and I gathered > up a Prowler > (electronic jammer) and three other Hunters to go "down South". > I then quickly passed targets to each member and then pushed > out to meet our TOT. > The trek south took some 15 minutes and it was clear that where > we were going was more heavily defended than anywhere else (outside > of Baghdad) that we had been before. The heavy flak and triple > A was coming up from all directions and we were continually > jinking to offset the threat. Fortunately, no one was tagged > prior to the release of their ordnance and the section of aircraft > to my east reported that they were flowing back north. > That's when the "fun" started. > My section had just released our ordnance on an SA-3 site in > western > Tikrit and was starting our turn back to the north when a "voice > of God" as I like to call it, came up and said, "SAM Launch, > vicinity of XXXX". Hello! I looked down at my moving map and > guess who was EXACTLY where that voice called the launch at? > It only took about 3 nanoseconds for me to start defending > and roll inverted to pick up the incoming threat. Sure as shit! > there it was right below and left of my wingline. I made calls > to my wingee who still hadn't gained sight of the incoming missile > and talked his eyes onto the threat. As a side note, I have > to admit that my voice sounds like a girl on the tape and it's > obvious I'm sucking the seat cushion into my ass. Just when > I made a counter defensive manuever I picked up another launch > about 1000 meters from the first site that had shot. Great, > two missiles coming my way, two aircraft maneuvering like crazy > within a mile of each other, and every Republican Guard in Tikrit > getting a show above them of two! guys shucking and jiving their > way > outta there. > > The missiles fired went stupid at about the same time that I > was really getting into it. I called out that they weren't > guiding (obvious when they went pure vertical) and gave my wingee > a heading to turn to so that we could leave this "hornet's nest". > I was actually considering not looking out the window anymore > and just pressing straight ahead. Upon looking around (I couldn't > help it), it was clear that we created quite a stir down there > as every gun in the city was pointed up and firing. We managed > to climb back up into the moronosphere and left the show behind! > > > In hindsight, it's amazing to me how quickly things went from > the proverbial "milk run" to "hell in a handbasket"! I suppose > I won't ever let my guard down again when flying above people > who want to kill you. A lesson for all us. > > After tanking for the third time of the night (one of 6 tanking > evolutions over the 7 hour flight), I re-rallied the forces > and looked for more tasking. Each of us still had enough firepower > on board to take out most small towns in America. We then were > tasked to help out the guys we had really gone out there in the > first place for: those 1000 "Armies of One". All of us were assigned > to take out artillery pieces the rest of the night in direct > support of the troops on the ground. Was a sight to behold > seeing so much metal flying around the Iraqi countryside and > knowing that it wasn't going to be used again about our troops. > > > Well, I could ramble on for days, but will save more for later. > > > Hope everything's great at home. Miss all of you and hope to > see you > all before the year's out! > > XXXXXX .! ..out. > > > _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
