Skyviper

I think I still have that game floating around here somewhere. I even found an old "Marine Corps Simulator" Close Combat: First to Fight it was a double feature with the Starship Troopers game. :) I get a percentage off that right? Royalties 'n Stuff. Reminds me of an old sitcom when a shrink mumbled to himself that has enough material to start a new book...just from the one visit.

So I've been a fan of flight sims for a long time. Like Top Gun NES (yes I know it doesn't count) and Super Strike Eagle (SNES ... again I know it doesn't count) have been my favorite games. Until I bumped into Jet Fighter 3 and then picked up Strike Fighters Wings Over Europe and Vietnam (From Big Lots .. yeah they had disks in a box... remember those days? Anyone?) I also go Flanker 2.5 from Hastings (it used to be a video store) So here I have DCS A-10 and DCS Huey, Flight Simulator X, and SF2:NA, Europe ... and yet I have the strange craving to find ye olde DOS Jet Fighter 3, or Super Strike Eagle. Those games with those crappy graphics and settings. I mean I just really want to hunt them down, download them, and fire them up. What the hell is wrong with me? I now have the sims I dreamed of using back in the day and now I want to go back to the old school graphics and things? Don't tell me I'm having a mid life crisis ...

That's about right. I think.

Yeah they are.

That's impressive. I wonder how long it took to get all of those shows, especially of the subs. The film crew did a great job.

CombatACE is an awesome site to talk about aviation, flight simulation, video games in general, and other cool things. We have a lot of members here, who have or are proudly serving in the military for their country. We've had the chance to interview some of them over the years and we thought you would like to take a stroll down memory lane and read their stories. Interview with Jug (R.I.P) - United States Air Force Interview with SidDogg - United States Navy Interview with 331 Killerbee - United States Marine Corps Interview with PcPilot - United States Navy Interview with Dels - Royal Australian Air Force Interview with Captain Robert Ward - United States Air Force Interview with Wagsled - United States Air Force Interview with Typhoid - United States Navy If you haven't had the chance yet, we invite you to check out the article "A Chat with Reggie A United States Navy Veteran" CombatACE thanks those who have served or are serving in the Armed Forces for their country.

A Chat with Reggie: A United States Navy Veteran The USS San Jacinto (CG-56) A few weeks ago a local news paper, The Daily Citizen, wanted to test out a new feature where someone would interview everyday people and share their stories. I was selected to bring in some samples to see how it would work out for the paper. My first assignment came to me, literally. I was having some cable problems and a technician was sent out. He has some nice tattoos on his arm and I asked if they were related the military. They were not related to the military; but were the names of his kids and a tribute to poker, one of his favorite games. His name is Reggie and he's a Veteran of the United States Navy, with 5 six month cruises and 1 eight month cruise under his belt. He was on the USS San Jacinto (CG-56) when she made history. The San Jacinto, was among the first US Naval ships allowed inside of Russian waters after a long period of tension between the United States and Russia has been settled. A source here at CombatACE confirmed that the USS San Jacinto and another boat the USS Kaufman, an FFG, did indeed visit Russia in August of 1989. Reggie says one of the things he'll always remember. The citizens, in the part of Russia he visited with his crew, have never seen an African American, other than on TV. “We got off the boat landing and I can remember we had a translator with every group as were walking down the street.” Reggie said, “These people spotted us because we're in groups of ten and they started running and the translator explained to us what was going on.” The experience Reggie recalled involved curious children touching their skin and hair to see if he and some of his shipmates were real. They even wanted to take pictures with them. The trip to Russia went well and Reggie's service gave him the opportunity to visit many different countries.“As a kid you hear stories about different places and wonder how it is.” Reggie said “All these places over seas are just like everywhere else. You have your good times you have bad times.” Reggie went on to explain that most of the times what we see in the news is what they want people to see. The opportunities the Navy gave him allowed him to broadened his horizons and better understand different cultures around the world. He got to see first hand how people live their lives. It frustrates him to see how the news reports various events. “Me and guys at my job, the old crew, who aren't there anymore, were all ex military.” said Reggie “We used to try to tell these people that half the things they see on TV is nothing like they said. My parents would call, worried about me, because of the events they heard about on TV, and I would just laugh. When I came home my mother would ask why I was laughing. I would tell her that things weren't as bad as they news was making it seem.” Reggie was on the job and I did enjoy talking to him, as I do a lot of people. It turns that he too likes talking to veterans especially those from the WW2 era. He admires how well they did their jobs despite the challenges they faced and the equipment they had to work with. I asked Reggie what is a lesson he'd be willing to share, considering all of the time he spent in the Navy. He said “When I first joined I had an older man on the ship who said to me “I'm going to tell you one thing young man 'Always stay true to who you are.' Even though you're going to a lot of places, and will see a lot of things and even when people are going to put you on a pedestal. Stay true to who you are. At first I was thinking that makes to sense. As I got older I got to see what he was talking about... If I had to talk to someone now that was considering to join the Navy. I would tell him to work hard, be smart, and stay true to who you are.” Sound advice for those willing to enter the service or stay in civilian life. Reggie explained about not letting people talk you into doing something you're not comfortable with. Do not feel compelled to buy into the hype. Stay true to yourself and do your role. We here at CombatACE want to thank Reggie for taking the time to tell us his story, and for his service in the United States Navy. We would also like to extend our thanks to the many members here of CombatACE who too have served, or are serving in the United States Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of their countries around the world. Lastly I would like to thank Typhoid, he too is a veteran of the United Sates Navy, and I invite you to read his interview. He was also the one who confirmed the events of the article. His ship the USS Belknap got a chance to visit Russia as well but they were not with San Jacinto and Kaufman. They were called away to handle a crisis but in December 1989 they were able to visit. Speaking of crisis, when you read Typhoid's interview you'll learn about another event he was apart of, and how you can use Strike Fighter to revisit that event. CombatACE Interview with Typhoid

I'm working on a small surprise for CombatACE. I think some of you will really like it. It's an article by the way. But a cool one.

Grizzly Bear ...I'm not fat I'm just fluffy

Stand Aside Sir Isaac Newton and make way for Sir Erik

The character or the actor? If the actor then https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stockwell_(actor) He slid into the directors chair and produced a couple of thing. If the character. Then he probably got into either crop dusting or called that truck driving school Goose was thinking about calling.

Top Gun 2 the video game: You still can't land on the carrier.

So I just ran into this. Nicely done if you ask me. Top Gun the FSX version. The original I saw years ago has lost it's audio because of copyright issues.

Top Gun 2: The Ice Man Melts. Top Gun 2: May the real MiG Stand Up Please. It would actually be cool to see them do the program some justice though. And actually poke a little bit at the original. "You can take all of that Top Gun shit and through it out the window." "What? You thought you could come here and bang your instructor? This isn't Top Gun." "If you say 'talk to me Goose' I'll crack your face like an egg." Okay so I'll let the fighter pilots here at CombatACE continue if they wish. I'm sure they'll come up with something much better.

Yeah. We'll see. I'd rather be so wrong about this one. That's the thing these days isn't it? Audience is getting smarter and more impatient for the tactics that used to work. Then you have to navigate the deep waters of political correctness very well. Take Ender's Game the movie for instance. Orson Scott Card offended the wrong crowd and now all of the production companies dropped him like a lead brick. That movie series could've gone somewhere...probably. I love Top Gun, look at my avatar for crying out loud. It's the movie that really helped spark my love for aircraft and F-14s. I've always liked aircraft but once I found that movie (at a really young age mind you) I really loved it. I'm thinking about watching it tonight or tomorrow. I'm just tired of my nostalgia being used to get me to buy something that is crap.

Can it make a phone call without dropping it?

F-14s to F-35s is a big jump in the sense you're proposing. Perhaps F-14s to F-18s could work. Or F-18s to F-35s. From some documentaries I've seen there can be a lot of action for an instructor pilot. But we'll just have to see.

No we're talking about the Concorde too.

Call me skeptical but I'm not getting my hopes up. Of course I like knowing this. But then recently several things I've been waiting for over the years have just turned out less that what was anticipated. It will be interesting to see what the end product will be.

I saw this video and wondered how many people got screwed by this deal. I ask because I remember a documentary about a certain special operations unit that consisted of very intelligent men back in WW2. Patton pulled them from their staging area and had them in thick in stuff i.e the Rhine, and when he left them behind so he could "rescue" the 101st. I say "rescue" as there is some disagreement about that moment.

I'm entering this as more evidence as to why I love various aircraft.

That's pretty neat.

What do you think will happen, if someone finds it years later and determines that it was a terrorist attack or if some other form fowl play took place

Me too. Makes me sick to stomach to even think about what happened.

I really don't get that one too often though. Like 1 in a hundred times I think. I'm usually getting runways, fuel tanks, hangars. Once I got a bridge to take out.