Since I started this thread on instructors who have have combat experience
versus those who have not, 100% of the replies were in favor of instructors who
have never been to combat. Many state that they would rather have an instructor
who was skilled at instructing suggesting that once you have been to combat
you were automatically a bad instructor. Hard to buy.

There is another factor. when you have an instructor who has never fought and
probably never will, and you know that you damn well will, he goes down a notch
in respect because he is in a job that "protects": him from combat while you
will soon be sent into the thick of it.. So when we all talk of combat
experiences and one among us says " well I wasn't there, I was an instructor
in the states" he is now out of the loop.. Not that his job wasn't
critically important. It sure was. . At any rate things sure have changed since
WW II. We considered a combat veteran as an instructor a gift from the gods.
Your mileage may vary.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer