*** Posted by Rapier ***
Hi,

That's right I knew that was his name, I was siting here for 5 min's trying to remember it. Yeah your right he did do some serious mistakes! Did'nt he get a first blip on his TWS (Threat Warning System) that there was a ground threat? I dont think he was flying lead that day but his lead told him to push it up so they both did. You know I still find bit's of that story a bit strange, like when he said "When I was commin down in the shute, it was, well it was kinda like sureal, like a dream! I could'nt beleive or understand what just happened to me ya know", well it's a bit obvious what just happened to you matey, you made a stupid error and your damn lucky to be alive. He just lost millions of dollars of expensive F-16 from doing stupid mistakes. If I was his commander I would have given him a right roasting when he returned. Those damn SAM's are tricky to avoid but not with the classified systems on the F-16 help's alot. If I was lead that day I would have pushed it up to mil power and gone low, very low and ordered a spread formation. No good if both of you get hit by the same missle. The thing is that SAM'z of today use clever tactics like placing their radars over a large area network. You could be tracked from 2 miles away and think that the SAM threat is in that direction but really the threat is much closer than you think because they are conected by a LAN (Local Area Network) or WAN (Wide Area Network).

LOL about the GPS system! It's very difficult to know where your going at night if your stranded in strange unfamiliar territory, it's not recommended to travel at night, only if you have to really do so. In the book I got it tell's you that dont look at objets straight on in the night, try to find the shape of a tree line for instance against the sky or using the moonlight. It also say's if your in enemy territory never ever use a torch you stand out easily. Instead carry around a compass that iluminates at night or if you dont have one of these get hold of those starlight things that fishermen use to put on the end of their floats at night. They give adequate and excellent light for the whole night and are not illuminating your position to the enemy that are in your visinity. I do think he did a few things right though like using his consealment tactics to hide himself from searching enemy soldiers.

Everyone did treat him like a Hero. My definition of a hero is protecting other's from fatality and recording your own exceptional personal bravery and acheivement. What did he protect? Nothing! What did he do that was so brave? His survival in the world? I dont think so he is trained to do this so it's not much of a personal acheivement. His achevement? Being damn lucky to survive, not to forget there was a large SAR package when trying to rescue him. They risked their lives to save him. Not to mention that a couple of Cobra's or Apache's that were involved in the SAR were fired apon by hand held rocket launchers. It is they that are the true hero's. When I fly in F4 I make this rule: Look out and protect your fellow pilot's you'll never know when you might need their help. I hope other pilot's have this attitude as well.

Well sorry for the essay but it is an interesting and worthy subject to discuss.

Med Venlig Hilsen!

Rapier