Yeah, I upgrade to "Early Bird Check-in" on Southwest.

Pretty cool.

90-91

This thread really makes me regret not joining the air force coming out of HS. I was offered a free ride in terms of college tuition and my GF at the time talked me into not joining.

My dream as a kid was always to be a fighter pilot.

**** women and college, i shoulda joined the air force.

Bad-ass. Love it... Rep!

Ha! I went in to get away from a chick I was supposed to go to college with (not the ONLY reason, but it was there). Where I ****ed up was not making a career out of it. Never realized how good I had it, especially when I was in Okinawa.

And the Air Force really does (or did) take care of its people.

The operational history of the F-14 is pretty funny if you ever feeling like going down that rabbithole.

It was essentially an interceptor built around a missile (the phoenix) in the same way that the A-10 was built around its main gun. The difference is that the phoenix was only fired something like 3 times in combat and it never actually hit what it was aiming at. There's a decent chance that the phoenix wasn't a very good weapon.

That said, it's radar was incredibly sophisticated at the time (it had to be to take advantage of the phoenix's range). It had multi-target capability, fire and forget; all kinds of neat shit. The radar signal was distinct enough that the Tomcat would pick guys up at 100 miles out and as soon as they got pinged they'd recognize the tomcat signature and bug out.

It's hard saying whether or not the F-14 was actually as great an interceptor as its reputation...nobody ever really ****ed with it. There are stories of 8-10 enemy fighters being engaged by 2 Tomcats and before the fighters were even in range to do anything they got the hell out of dodge because the F-14 had already put them in lock.

It was the ultimate in deterrence. The Iranians claim to have put up some pretty impressive air-to-air kill figures with them but as far as I can tell, the US didn't ever really have to put them through their paces - everyone ran away.

I got wait listed for JAG and took another job. I had that job for a few months when the JAG slot opened up but by then I felt committed to the people I was working with (still am) so I didn't take it.

I'm not sure if I regret it or not. Like you've said, the USAF seems to destroy pretty much every other branch of service when it comes to how they take care of their own. I'd be sitting at Major right now which would be a pretty sweet gig but I'd also be looking at getting moved every 3 years or so. Getting stuck in Minot or Canon sure sounds shitty and I'm sure my wife wouldn't have bothered with her masters or anything. All told, I think I made the right call but there are definitely times I wonder.

I loved the F-14, but I wouldn't have wanted to be in one this day:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qfM5FxnWPm4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

and with audio:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ha54tjfav6Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

That's what over-the-horizon do!

LMAO. I was there from 88-91.





I was 8 years old when we moved there.

LMAO

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gt-jMhmUonA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Man toys!!! Sound of freedom....

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JNrck2VLai4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Not gonna lie, it moved when that thing emerged from the trees.

That's impressive as hell. I'd imagine it's childs play compared to what they can do with the lighter jets that also have thrust vectoring, but getting a plane that big to climb like that so early after takeoff is pretty impressive stuff.

Yep. "Boys will be boys!" was playing in my head while watching that.

http://themellowjihadi.com/wp-conten...-low-pass1.jpg

I remember reading that the guy with his hands behind his back was an admiral.

LMAO