Fightersweep

My 9/11 story is a little different than many. For me, it wasn’t a morning story. I was based in Germany at the time; the first plane’s impact didn’t even occur until mid-afternoon, and it was nearly dinner time before the full enormity was evident. I was far away from family, sharing the events unfolding […]

When it comes to travel, there is an old adage that says, “Getting there is half the fun!” I considered those words and applied them to the context of my present situation, arriving at a very grim truth: the old adage is a steaming pile of crap! Whoever coined the phrase had obviously never been […]

Today we give you the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, named after its WWII-era ground attack predecessor, the P-47 Thunderbolt. The A-10 is the aircraft most requested by JTACs, the one whose BRRRRRPPPPP of its gun has a profound psychological effect on both enemies and friendlies alike, and the one that specializes in protecting said friendlies whenever […]

The fighter community has dirty laundry – there’s absolutely no denying it. But without that culture, the brotherhood and sisterhood that fighter pilots share would cease to exist.

If you don’t care about your people then you aren’t a leader, you’re just a manager and would be better served working in Corporate America – certainly not in the U.S. Military.

The same is expected of the men and women who actually fly them, and that is why fighter pilots are elite. To the chagrin of overly-sensitive and plainly ignorant folk – even the mainstream media – the fighter pilot’s culture is far from politically correct and, dare I say it, it shouldn’t be.

If you’re in High School and have dreams of becoming a U.S. Air Force pilot, here’s my advice: the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) is where you should go to school. While obtaining an appointment to USAFA is extremely competitive and completing the four-year course of study is monumentally challenging, it will give you the […]

In air-to-air combat, getting a missile off the rail is infinitely more complex than starting your car. The weapon needs to actually come off of the pylon, the rocket motor needs to ignite, and then it needs to successfully guide to the target. Ever had your car not start? Remember how frustrating that is? Needless to say, missiles don’t […]

Building and teaching is the standard for any institution of higher learning, and like any tactical course, there is a phenomenal amount of information to be assimilated through the hours of classroom learning, mission planning, briefs, and debriefs. But not to be underscored in the forging of a weapons officer are the installation of characteristics […]

Captain Joshua Arki graduated from the U.S. Air Force academy in 2004. He went straight to pilot training and earned himself a fighter slot, his initial assignment being F-16s with the 55th Fighter Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. His follow-on assignment took him across the world to Osan Air Base in the […]

How is a U.S. Air Force Weapons School candidate chosen? What kind of person winds up on the career path placing them at Nellis Air Force Base for six months?

The F-5 was the enabler of this amazing flying club. It was a link between the pure era of fighting machines to the modern age of digital combat. The plane was essentially a jet-powered P-51 Mustang, and those days if you flew it well, you were really flying well. Cables linked the stick to the […]