Viper Pilot_ A Memoi..

6
Intermission
SINCE I WAS ONE OF THE FEW VIPER PILOTS WHO’D STARTED AS a Wild Weasel, I was
especially eager to apply what I’d learned from the Fighter Weapons School and
Operation Desert Storm to the newly fielded F-16CJ. The F-16CJ, called a CeeJay,
was a quantum leap forward in technology. Tremendously versatile, with an
amazing capacity for adaptation, the F-16 is a natural Weasel. Due to its
composite-material construction, it was difficult to see on radar and nearly
impossible to see with the naked eye. The engines didn’t smoke and it was the most
maneuverable fighter in the world. This meant it was as deadly to enemy fighters as
it was to SAMs and, unlike the F-4G, it didn’t require escort. Its only shortcoming,
due to the relatively small size, was a smaller weapons payload. To compensate, the
CeeJay carried precision-guided munitions, like laser-guided bombs and air-toground
missiles, the rationale being that if you could put a bomb within three feet
of its target, then you didn’t need to carry many of them.
It was during these years that the pace of deployments to Southwest Asia moved
into high gear. George Bush’s rush to claim a victory in 1991 had left us with
another war to fight, and anyone with a working brain knew this was inevitable.
You see, Iraq was basically quarantined between the wars. This meant they owned
the ground but we controlled the air, so we really controlled most of the country.
No-fly zones were established above the 34th Parallel north to Turkey, and from
the 32nd Parallel south to the Kuwaiti/Saudi border. These were patrolled by
fighter squadrons that continuously rotated in theater for over ten years. Not just
fighters, but the aerial tankers, transports, AWACS, and everything else needed to
support them.
It was a colossal drain on our resources, immensely expensive, and an overall
pain in the ass. Aircraft service life was shortened by at least 50 percent, due to the
added hours flown, and we missed a lot of Christmas holidays, kids’ birthdays, and
wedding anniversaries. Divorce rates skyrocketed and the fabric of the Air Force
was permanently altered as general officers and policy-makers strove mightily to
create a replacement threat for the Soviet Union. A military—and most nations—
need at least one enemy to grease industry and keep everyone on their toes.
The Air Force and Army particularly needed the Iraqi threat to justify their