Viper Pilot_ A Memoi..

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Epigraph There are only two types of aircraft—fighters and targets. —DOYLE “WAHOO” NICHOLSON, USMC
Contents Dedication Epigraph Author’s Note Prologue: Angel of Death 1 - YGBSM 2 - Cold War and Hot Times 3 - The Elephant 4 - Fly Like an Egyptian 5 - Patchwearer 6 - Intermission Photo Section 7 - Shock and Awe 8 - Sandstorm 9 - The Valley of the Shadow 10 - SAMbush 11 - ELI 33 12 - Endgame Epilogue Acknowledgments Glossary F-16CJ Schematic Map of Iraq Index About the Author Credits Copyright About the Publisher
Page 2 and 3: VIPER PILOT A MEMOIR OF AIR COMBAT
Page 7 and 8: Author’s Note I WROTE THIS BOOK M
Page 9 and 10: Simple. Or not. The Second Gulf War
Page 11 and 12: But men were dying. Our men. I stra
Page 13 and 14: I was now truly on my own. But my w
Page 15 and 16: “CHIEFTAIN . . . ROMAN 75 is off
Page 17 and 18: ground every aircraft on the contin
Page 19 and 20: missions, though puny by modern sta
Page 21 and 22: extract ourselves from Vietnam, and
Page 23 and 24: LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AFTER FOBAIR AN
Page 25 and 26: In November 1965, the first five Wi
Page 27 and 28: many cases, from lives lost. With t
Page 29 and 30: 2 Cold War and Hot Times “IF THE
Page 31 and 32: IT WORKED LIKE THIS. The first two
Page 33 and 34: loathed most FAIPs. So, Daddy Rabbi
Page 35 and 36: conjunction with some properly embe
Page 37 and 38: At least long enough for me to star
Page 39 and 40: We were taught the basics of our va
Page 41 and 42: Southeast Asia within the past twen
Page 43 and 44: typical Type-A FNG, I wanted to mak
Page 45 and 46: listen to a few seconds of the audi
Page 47 and 48: LEARNING THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS
Page 49 and 50: search-and-rescue in the event a je
Page 51 and 52: I nodded, now an expert on all Span
Page 53 and 54: of passage and a tradition. So, dur
Page 55 and 56:
eathing matched my heart rate as th
Page 57 and 58:
Clouds of white-feathered brown dus
Page 59 and 60:
Euphrates River was almost turquois
Page 61 and 62:
Suddenly a thin, pole-shaped object
Page 63 and 64:
firing solution and a visual on the
Page 65 and 66:
As I watched the jets spiral down a
Page 67 and 68:
ackup targets, weapons, and timing.
Page 69 and 70:
“I—” “C’mon boy . . . spi
Page 71 and 72:
clueless non-fighter type (male, th
Page 73 and 74:
pilot who spoke up was called “Li
Page 75 and 76:
“Well, he happens to be correct.
Page 77 and 78:
nice quarters had to go to the tran
Page 79 and 80:
extra flying time with no brief or
Page 81 and 82:
the flight controls working. Everyt
Page 83 and 84:
was still up, which was bad. Pullin
Page 85 and 86:
Mubarak was very definitely in powe
Page 87 and 88:
shaking their heads. I thought it w
Page 89 and 90:
around. In fact, there was a wrecke
Page 91 and 92:
disconnected. But he couldn’t get
Page 93 and 94:
family with brains—and weapons. I
Page 95 and 96:
“Sir” “Look at the fucking gr
Page 97 and 98:
5 Patchwearer FIGHTER SQUADRONS, LI
Page 99 and 100:
currencies, and upgrades, must also
Page 101 and 102:
Where the commander is the personal
Page 103 and 104:
weapons. In this case, barring a mi
Page 105 and 106:
The point is, as a Target Arm, you
Page 107 and 108:
6 Intermission SINCE I WAS ONE OF T
Page 109 and 110:
societies. Restrictions upon these
Page 111 and 112:
attlefield thinking, and they insti
Page 113 and 114:
until the building shook and I sudd
Page 115 and 116:
one of the rooftop sentries could d
Page 117 and 118:
any event, neither worked out very
Page 119 and 120:
looming when the Twin Towers came d
Page 121 and 122:
iver side . . . and the point of im
Page 123 and 124:
face. Hijackers are cowards. In my
Page 125 and 126:
took off the next day for the bleak
Page 127 and 128:
Photo Section Undergraduate Pilot T
Page 129 and 130:
Inbound SCUD missile being destroye
Page 131 and 132:
Self-portrait during a surface-to-a
Page 133 and 134:
Beni Suef, Egypt, 1992. A shot of m
Page 135 and 136:
Baghdad reeling from Shock and Awe,
Page 137 and 138:
77th Fighter Squadron “Gamblers
Page 139 and 140:
Like father, like son . . . Me and
Page 141 and 142:
7 Shock and Awe March 19, 2003 0530
Page 143 and 144:
wingman on a two-mile string, allow
Page 145 and 146:
Even as I watched, the fiery plume
Page 147 and 148:
could fly through the green world o
Page 149 and 150:
problematic. And irrelevant. I coul
Page 151 and 152:
17,000 feet, panting hard. The RWR
Page 153 and 154:
8 Sandstorm SOUTH OF NASIRIYAH, I P
Page 155 and 156:
“Loud and clear, ROMAN . . . we
Page 157 and 158:
“None of us have ever seen the bu
Page 159 and 160:
uneasiness poked up through my bell
Page 161 and 162:
tell him my heading, altitude, airs
Page 163 and 164:
“Ali Tower, ROMAN 75.” No reply
Page 165 and 166:
There. I’d just created an instru
Page 167 and 168:
“Five copies.” “Seven copies.
Page 169 and 170:
There! White painted runway marking
Page 171 and 172:
and burned bread—but it smelled h
Page 173 and 174:
particular day he happened to be to
Page 175 and 176:
no mass uprising of the people to t
Page 177 and 178:
“WICKED 23, this is RAMROD.” Th
Page 179 and 180:
Taking a deep breath, I pushed the
Page 181 and 182:
SAMs or big stuff, I couldn’t tel
Page 183 and 184:
own villages lined the banks and I
Page 185 and 186:
This went on for a few minutes whil
Page 187 and 188:
10 SAMbush April 6, 2003 1104 local
Page 189 and 190:
and— “BEEP . . . BEEP . . . BEE
Page 191 and 192:
ombs. These things are terrific Wea
Page 193 and 194:
the main canal and everything down
Page 195 and 196:
SA-6s, so we’d give it a wide ber
Page 197 and 198:
well, which rarely happens, when th
Page 199 and 200:
tracers cut through the sky. “ELI
Page 201 and 202:
on the way out.” I turned down th
Page 203 and 204:
the boy. He didn’t have any HARMs
Page 205 and 206:
I sent a data-link, turned hard to
Page 207 and 208:
11 ELI 33 April 7, 2003 1046 local
Page 209 and 210:
obviously tracking and others just
Page 211 and 212:
The second missile had disappeared,
Page 213 and 214:
clear of downtown. Sixty-one hundre
Page 215 and 216:
6.1 miles. I leaned back and center
Page 217 and 218:
the Gs that pressed me into the sea
Page 219 and 220:
His reply was instantaneous. “ELI
Page 221 and 222:
12 Endgame IT LOOKED LIKE A GIRAFFE
Page 223 and 224:
us, we accounted for seven tanks an
Page 225 and 226:
were two big runways that came toge
Page 227 and 228:
moments. When they did open up, the
Page 229 and 230:
morning Hunter Killer mission. We w
Page 231 and 232:
“Affirmative. Clear all friendlie
Page 233 and 234:
and stared down at the intersection
Page 235 and 236:
eneath me, I stared across the pond
Page 237 and 238:
as he hung in perfect formation off
Page 239 and 240:
Epilogue SEVEN MONTHS AFTER THE GAM
Page 241 and 242:
July parade. Her son, a young Marin
Page 243 and 244:
Acknowledgments NO ONE WRITES A BOO
Page 245 and 246:
FOX ONE/TWO/THREE: Air-to-air missi
Page 247 and 248:
VUL: Short for “Vulnerability”
Page 249 and 250:
Map of Iraq
Page 251 and 252:
warriors in, 306 washing out of, 37
Page 253 and 254:
Basra (Iraq), 145, 179 Battle Damag
Page 255 and 256:
CONAN (Desert Storm call sign), 68,
Page 257 and 258:
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 155 electro-
Page 259 and 260:
F-117 jets, 179 FABLE (Iraq War cal
Page 261 and 262:
generation gaps, among pilots, 47-4
Page 263 and 264:
statue of, 285 U.S. attempts to kil
Page 265 and 266:
Jackson, Mike, 155 jamming in Deser
Page 267 and 268:
iefings about, 83 Desert Storm and,
Page 269 and 270:
offensive jamming pods, 18 Office o
Page 271 and 272:
Kosovo and, 155 low-altitude flying
Page 273 and 274:
Sheikh Isa Air Field (Bahrain), 193
Page 275 and 276:
U.S. invasion of Iraq as act of, 18
Page 277 and 278:
U.S. casualties in, 27 U.S. pullout
Page 279 and 280:
About the Author U.S. Air Force Lie
Page 281 and 282:
Copyright VIPER PILOT. Copyright ©
Page 283:
*For help along the way with acrony
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