MaverickMike

Change of plan. Im going to fly for the IDF. Starting with the first campaign to see if I can make my way through the three of them. SF2:I with no mods. Pilot name: Amzi Ben-Gurion Campaign: six day war 1967 Squadron: No. 117 First Jet sqdn Aircraft: Mirage 3 Wish me luck

My CF-18 campaign just ended in the same way POW. Tasked with hitting an airfield , I dropped my bombs from around 6000ft and noticed the enemy fuel supply as I was pulling up. It was to inviting a target so i switched to cannon and blew them up. However there was a rather sneakily place Shilka waiting for me. I ejected and was captured..... Im thinking of going back to 'Nam for my next campaign. F-4J in one of the 72' campaings.... Mike

I guess this begs the question of whether winning this war is worth stooping to this level. Killing families of terrorists makes us war criminals, but may be exactly what is needed to bring Al qaeda and the rest of the nutters down. I agree with Gepards view. All or nothing.

Its not that I don't get it.I fully understand that extremism is not a country that you can go and blow up. Surely stopping taliban operations in afghanistan will hurt the extremists though? I can understand your point. How do you fight an ideology? The extremists will have an upper hand against conventional forces as they are willing to die. Maybe, as was mentioned earlier, we should switch to using a religious approach...

Surely if we pull out then the taliban and al-qaeda will then continue to grow. They would rally more to their cause by using the fact that we have pulled out as a victory. Civil war will begin raging, and by pulling out the ordinary afghans will most probably turn against us. We have to finish the job now. If we pull owt we will only end up back doing the same thing within the next 10 years, only this time without the hearts and minds of the citizens.

I was recently having a drink with an old school buddy of mine who is currently serving in the british army and has seen action in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It wasnt long before the subject of the war came up and without quite realising what I was saying (alcohol may have influenced my words) I went on and told him that all the troops should be brought home and that we should just leave them to it. His reply was to look my straight in the eyes and say 'what about the guys who have died there? If we pull out now, wouldnt their deaths mean absoloutely nothing?' I was left dumbfounded because, I simply didnt have an answer. This conversion made me realise that no matter what us civilians think, its the thoughts of soldiers that should matter the most. I already had the greatest of respect for the guy but my opinion of him went through the roof at that moment. Imagine how difficult it must be seeing friends shot and blown up, civilians caught in the crossfire and the general feeling of being in a warzone, knowing that some of the people at home do not support what you are doing. I know fully support the war. Is there anyone here that shares my views, or if you oppose them please let me know. It would be interesting to hear other peoples thoughts on the matter... Mike

Not to dampen your spirits in any way but I tried signing up to the A-team site at the end of the summer last year. Still no reply. Mike

Chavez is a nutjob who needs to be taken down a peg or two. Quite frankly IF the US is flying over Venezuelan airspace conducting 'recon' missions then good luck to them. Keeping check on nutter like chavez is quite important to US national security aswell as the security of the entire region. Mike

I had the priveledge to see the red arrows at RIAT 2009. Im not being biased but I certaintly felt they were the best display team on the day. You could see the difference in precision between each of the aerobatic moves. I would love to see the Blue angels though as the F-18 is one of my favorite aircraft. Mike

Vicar, maybe it would be an idea that if your shot down and KIA, switch 2 an AAR from another pilot from the same flight 2 describe how your pilot died? Just an idea. Keep these excellent stories coming!

I like the way Dave keeps us all on edge before something big arrives. Makes me get all excited

Im more of a randomer, although I do tend to look at the aircraft before i sign up with the squadron. At the moment im really enjoying flying any version of the F-18. I have a DiD campaign going with the CF-18 and i like taking the super hornet out for a spin in vietnam. Mike

Keep the rports coming vicar. I find myself hoping you survive each mission just so we can hear your excellent AAR. Are you keeping copies of these for yourself? Putting them all together in a sort diary format would make interesting reading. Mike

Couple of shots from my new DiD campaign:

Congrats Lt. My first mission in the CF-18 was also a success. CAP over Hamburg. Got home safely after expending all ammunition and NO KILLS!!!!!! Mike

Ok. Well if I have any CAS missions then I will change my loadout. If not then I won't. I do add fuel tanks aswell if I feel im going to need them. This is ok right? Mike

Ok my new pilot is as follows: Stewart 'Rocky' Robinson Flying NF4+ 86 campaign with No 439 sqd (Canadian Armed forces) in the CF-18 Hornet. Again all settings on hard except for campaign which is on medium. Quick question is the 'no loadout change' criteria a rule? Can we fly without this as tbh the game, when flying the CF-18 in CAS role, picks 500lb dumb bombs rather than CBUs or GBU's. If its a rule then no problem. Mike P.S. LT im thinking of taking a leaf out of your book and spending the campaign cooped up in a hospital with some lovely nurses looking after me

Im beginning to realise how difficult this is. Just got shot down on my second mission with current pilot. Im going to give my next pilot more thought. Will report on the details when decided. Mike

My latest pilot is KIA. He was hit by AAA fire over bad hersfeld. Next pilot: Nigel 'Bulldog' Evans Flying for No.1 Sqdn RAF with the Hunter FGA.9 during Red Thunder. My last two pilots tbh, were not taken very seriously. I intend to do my utmost to survive this campaign however. Mike

Great report vicar! Its good to hear things from the 'red' side. Good luck with your campaign

Update on my latest pilot. Dead..... First mission into Iraq to strike the runway on an airfield and i got hit by 3 consecutive sa-13s. Decided to reduce the SAM threat i will be facing by flying an earlier campaign... My new pilot will be flying an NF4+ Campaign. Here are the details: Pilot: Klaus Von Richthofen aka 'Black Baron' Klaus is a direct descendant of the great Red Baron. Joins 1/JG-71 'Richthofen' Sqd at the beginning of 1962. Campaign: Red thunder 62' Squadron: 1/JG-71 Richthofen (German Air Force) Aircraft: CL-13B Saber All settings on hard apart from campaign which is on medium. Supply set to limited. Mods installed are stary's hd tile repaint for germanyCE and the ENB series mod. Wish me luck Mike

Ok my new pilot is Miguel 'Manny' Santa Cruz. Flying for the VFA-81 Sunliners during Operation Desert Storm in the FA-18A Hornet. Only mods (apart from ODS itself ) is the END mod. Im not going in to as much detail with this pilot as it is too time consuming for me at the moment. Mike

My pilot just bought the farm. Just went up on a MiG-CAP over Noi Bai airfield and ignored one too may 'SAM launch' calls by my wingman. an SA-2B hit me straight in the face as I was chasing a MiG-17. Unfortunately I forgot to start up FRAPS before going into combat so I have no shots of what was a rather spectacular death. Round two. Im going to fly an FA/18 Hornet in ODS for the USN. Will post pilot details etc once I get it set up. Mike

I was into Rome:Total war for a long while and ended up buying all of the total war series except empire. I still think Rome is the best of them however. Im currently in to Arma 2 and am enjoying the various mods and user made missions available for it. Mike

I did have the intention of flying at least 1 mission a day but so far I have only managed 1. I plan on flying when I get home from work later though. I don't think I will go into as much detail with the AAR this time however.