On Thu, 5 Jul 2007 00:01:57 -0400, "TV" wrote:

Just finished the book Ed. A good read. The most depressing part is that
once again, it's clear that the military works like too many other human
endeavours. Who you know matters more than what you know in terms of how
the organization runs. And in a very real way, like other organizations,
skill actually works AGAINST promotion. Good pilots are more likely to take
risks and pay the price, good politicians serve their constituents instead
of their re-election interests, good professors their research instead of
their careers, etc.

Strangely enough, in the USAF, the aviator career specialty is the
only profession in which comment in performance reports on your
primary duty was expressly prohibited. While a personnel weenie could
get a glowing write-up about his/her skill at manageing the paperwork,
a fighter pilot got his comments on how he performed his additional
duties. (See comments regarding CTF Officer or Roscoe Control Officer
in Palace Cobra.)

As for the book, one more question: What happened to Sopin? If it's in
there, I must have missed how the relationship ended.

Left in Thailand. It's often a harsh world. Divorced the wife when I
returned to US and proceeded to several years of assignments in
Europe.

Oh, and one more question (I sound like Columbo!): it just struck me that in
almost every fighter book I've read, heavy drinking features prominently.
Was alcoholism (vs. binge drinking) ever a real problem?

Folks deal with their fears in many ways. Some used alcohol to cope.
Fighter pilots tend to live life very strenuously and inevitably some
pay a price.


TV


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com