Wolverine,

Its really not money, its freedom! The US values individual freedom, freedom to take chances fail or succeed…We try to limit government involvement in our lives, thats why we don’t have the plethora of government programs compared to other countries, like health care, education etc . What does this freedom foster, it gives a huge incentive for dreamers and other to work hard to get ahead in life, like space ship one! to invent, innovate, and prosper, the system encourages competition so only the best succeed…and this all adds up to increased prosperity, and a higher standard of living, which ends up with more money via taxes in the nations treasury!!! its quite simple, yet billions can’t figure it out…
TTP

A-29,

The Reserves are just what the name implies, we augment the active duty force. For example at my base we had 3 active duty squadrons and 3 reserve squadrons..we fly the same aircraft, in my case the C-141 soon C-17. If there were 10 missions a week to fly the active duty guys flew 7 we flew 3, also we interfly with active duty pilots if they are short of pilots or need some experienced pilots to fly a mission. For example flying in to Guantanamo Bay Cuba can be very demanding due to very unusual conditions, so pilots must be “certified” to fly there..last month the active duty crews needed a certified pilot to fly, so they called us up and we supplied a pilot. The national Guard has a similar set-up, with one big difference each unit in the guard is owned by its respective State, so the New Jersey Guard has a chain of command headed by the governor of New Jersey, whereas the reserves chain of command is George Bush.
The guard historically were derived from the minutemen of revolutionary war days (1776) it is a force that is on call for all emergencies such as floods, natural disasters, and war…..only in the last 20 years has the roles of these organizations expanded to the point where we are all really just like the active duty military…why? because its much cheaper to keep Guard and reserves crews than active duty…I only get paid for the days I fly, yet my currency is the same as an active-duty pilot, so If it takes me 6 days a month to stay current, I recieve 6 days of pay..whereas an active duty pilot gets paid full time 30 days a month plus all the benefits! Normally its a good deal, and I do it because of the great flying and a degree of patriotism…of course when a war starts I have to leave my high paying Airline career and go back into the regular Air Force if called up…which for me will happen soon!
I flew 38’s in UPT, It was an awesome experience! When my class graduated we were only awarded 2 fighters for 28 pilots…its just the luck of the draw at the time. If I really wanted to fly fighters, I could have volunteered to fly T-38’s in the training command for 3 years and then try to get assigned to a fighter unit, though its possible it isn’t easy, since the Airlift Command essentially owned me after C-141 school. So after t-38’s they expect you you go back to Airlift. A more likely scenario would be to fly T-38’s till your committment is up, then apply to a Guard or reserve unit and hope they will accept you, but you will have a year or so of training in fighters…its just easier to pick up an ex-fighter guy!
Take Care,
TTP

Manu,
I understand your point..If you look back at earlier posts I said as much…though I think one on one in identical aircraft some pilots would do better than ones from another country..For Example take your typical Japanese pilot of WWII who had a high degree of honor and espirit de corpse..He would never surrender and He’d fight under all circumstances to the death…now look at your average Middle Eastern guys who surrender and run at first sight of the enemy….Never forgot the rows of Kuwaiti A-4’s lined up at Daharan AB SA, They just took off and ran when the Iraqii’s invaded…The list goes on….Please don’t waste your time responding to this..the facts are there for all to see, and I’m leaving the forum for some time….
Take Care,
TTP

Flex 297,

First of all there is a fifth group, everyone who likes to blame/hate the US for all the worlds ills!!
I love aircraft, But its hard to not comment on some of the absurd statements on this forum…I’m 42 years old and fly for the USAF as well as civilian airliners..I’ve seen alot of the world and have perhaps a little more insight than some others on the forum, especially the younger ones. Your remarks about the SU-30 and American cowards were ignorant…Trust me I don’t respond to 5% of the remarks about the US or our aircraft/Air Force…but sometimes I feel the urge to respond…On another thread the US is blamed entirely for Osama Bin Ladin….Gulf War One etc etc…..It gets real old…This whole thread has morfed into:
American Pilots are inferior to everyone else, if you take away all the high tech

Now, as an USAF pilot thats hard to swallow, especially when someone who may not even fly, much less be old enough to drive a car!! Your remark about cowards (I Know you apologized) but that one hit home!!! Read about D-Day, Iwo Jima, Bastogne,,,I know for a fact our boys don’t run away from a fight!! I’ve been on exercises where we had to bring back half a plane load of para-troopers from a foreign army because they were afraid to jump!!! so Like I said its hard to stand by and not respond.
A good example, Headline”””””Boeing wins award for P-3 replacement”
Most posts were intelligent discussing the merits of each aircraft, then some Yahoo has to start some Anti-American crap about how the US forced everyone to Buy Boeings etc etc….By the way my heritage is Italian…My Father’s family CHOSE to come to AMERICA FOR A BETTER LIFE, similar to You going to Germany…The US doesn’t force anyone to come here, yet the line is long…like this post! Sorry
TTP

GarryB,

Your missing the point, the Mig-25 was developed and produced in large numbers by a Government!! and I’m sure it cost way more than 20,000,000 dollars!! these guys are jsut a small group of highly skilled technicians who were able to design and build an new and innovative sytem without any outside help from the government! God Bless America!!!! This could be the first seminal step, you never know!!!
TTP

There are quite a few airports in the States that can cause this to happen. Two that come to mind are Savannah international, and Hunter Army Airfield, the other is Biggs Army Air field and El paso International…..You ask how this can happen, quite easily..
I was flying a spec-ops mission on NVG’s it was very intence and alot of action going on for a couple of hours…all night flying by the way..when the mission was completed, off came the NVG’s and we had the nav give us vectors to Hunter AAF…I saw the runway and called visual, everyone on the crew was relaxing after the op, and luckily I dialed in the ILS freq and it wasn’t corresponding to what I saw outside..I quickly figured it out and turned slightly to my right and set up for the approach to Hunter (I was looking at Savahnna Int!!! I don’t think anybody on the crew knew what we almost did, since we were so burned out from the mission….a close call
There but for the grace of God go I
TTP

Wolverine,

I’m a little confused about your last post concerning the US over-reliance on AEW etc…what we are talking about here is WAR, DEATH..your posts are taking on the aspect that this is a game, and essentially Americans don’t play fair….RIGHT!!! Thats the whole point!!! we didn’t play fair by dropping atom bombs on Japan, and the Germans didn’t play fair invading little Denmark and Belgium….One on one, any pilot is the equal of another..but this is not a video game…If I’m going into combat I want overwhelming force, I’m not trying to play fair!! The real power of America is not our military per se it is the economic and industrail strength we possess so we can build, pay for, and fly 3000 top of the line fighters, 15 aircraft carriers etc etc…and if a war erupts we could ramp up production and start spitting out F-22’s at 50 a day…thats how we won World War II, sure our soldiers were brave, but no braver than the Germans or Japanese, the big difference was our guys were supported by a huge arsenal, they were never alone..and never will be, that is why you see 200 Marines with Cobra gunships and 12 F-18’s attacking an Al-Quieda target…Some people think its cowardice to use such force…but its smart!! and if your the enemy and you look out your window and see that, it can change the tactical situation.
Look at the Iran-Iraq war, lots of bloodshed, 8 years of fighting, yet in Gulf War One the US and our Allies destroyed the Iraquis in a matter of days!! this isn’t cowardice its War!!! not a game…as much as you would like it to be.

TTP

Golden Dragon,

Thanks for your intelligent and refreshing posts. As far as your airline question, for whats its worth , maybe initially a transport pilot has more CRM skills than your average fighter guy, but these are skills easily learned and applied. I have the upmost respect for fighter pilots of any nation. It was my dream to fly them, but unfortunately when my class recieved its “drop” of aircraft we were given 2 fighters for 28 pilots to choose from (we started with 58 pilots, and 5 add on’s) Its the nature of the military…I still got to fly T-37’s and 38’s for a year! But in order for a USAF pilot to get a fighter He/she must be at the very top of their class! So in my example, out of 63 pilots who started only 28 graduated, and only 2 got fighters! Therefore if a fighter pilot is flying a 767 you should feel quite safe!!! Pilot training was by far the hardest endevour of my life…and after a year and a half of training, and watching all those other friends wash out of the program, we were all happy to get our wings!
TTP