Jug

I was 18 Plus during that era: Name:Tim Lyle Gender:Male 1) How old were you during the Vietnam War? in 1965 I was 18 2) Where were you during the war? 65-70 in college. 70-71 in USAF pilot training. 71-72 Instructor Pilot T-37B 3) How did the war affect your life? No options coming out of college. Draft number was 2. I had already joined the AFROTC unit and was headed into the military anyway. There was a war on, how could I not join up and get in a few licks. 4) How did you follow the progress of the war? It was all over the news. I never understood the protests and protesters. Always considered them a bunch of cowards and wondered how they would explain to their children that their country was at war and they 'chose' not to participate. 5) What is your most vivid memory of the war? Being spit upon by a hippie in downtown Columbus, Mississippi, in my dress blues. I was so stunned I didn't do a thing which is in and of itself amazing because six months earlier I was playing football at Auburn and would have kicked his young ass in a most physical manner. Of course by then I was an officer and gentleman and conducted myself, for the most part, like one. 6) What was your attitude towards the war? did it change as the war went on? I suppose I was one of the naive ones who believed that we could win. As the war dragged on, that expectation dwindled and dissappeared. I think the biggest casualty of the war was the relationship betwen the American public and the military. It had always been close, but the politicians were not willing to take credit for their actions, so they just let the military be the scapegoat. At the time it was popular, but most people of that era nowdays recognize and place the credit where it should rest. 7) Did you know anyone who served it the war? What did they say about it? Mostly my service mates and they, pretty much, felt the same way that I did. They felt like the country who had sent them off to war had deserted them when all they did was volunteer to sacrifice their life for that country. Not exactly the payback they deserved. 8) How did you feel when the US withdrew in 1973? Glad and sad. We left so many behind. Better that there wouldn't be any more. 9) Why do you think that the US failed to win? The US never lost a fight in the Vietnam war. The politicians felt they could be better soldiers that the professionals and they dicked it up. Overall, we just got tired of a hopeless war, declared victory, pulled up the stakes, and came home. The other side and some of our own side have claimed victory, but the victory didn't have anything to do with the fighting. 10)What conclusions and lessons were you able to draw from the war? Probably the same as everyone else. Civil war is civil war and not necessarily communist aggression. There are some places, quite a few actually, where vast superiority in war-makeing is not enough. Politicians have to have as much backbone as the soldiers they send out to fight or you won't win anything. Senior Bush told the military when to start and when to stop in Desert Storm and limited his participation to keeping him informed (unlike Johnson). Junior Bush, pretty much did the same thing in Iraqi freedom, but who expected a 21 day war. He was not ready for what is called peace in that region. In both cases, the Commander-in-Chief let the highly trained professionals do what they do. Something that the leadership in the Vietnam era would not do. 11)What are your feelings about the war today? Sadness. A lot of good young men died for their country. Those who returned faced a hostile public. They must be feeling the pride in our country's treatment of our returning Iraqi and Afganistan veterans. A lingering longing for the same treatment they didn't get, but pride in the fact that it is now recognized that their treatment was just wrong. 12)Was the US a Hero, Villain, or Fool? No comment. 13)Are there any similarities between Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan? We have finally realized that committment to the use of arms is not a rheostat that you gradually increase hoping the change the hearts and minds of the enemy. It is pure hell and you unleash the tiger in all its fury or you keep it in the cage. Any other way is doomed to failure. 14)What was your best memory of the war? The dignity of those who returned to a thankless public and still maintained their professional attitude, no matter how bad it hurt.

I've been married to a Tennessee hillbilly for 37 years. So where does that put me? Rocky Top? Anyway congratulations to the DS team for, what looks to be, a nifty mod.

It is rare that USAF personnel (exception: aircrews, and not many of them either) get into the actual fighting. Not too many have even actually heard an enemy bullet whine by much less get into actual combat. Looks like they're up to the task though and Well Done to this young airman.

Thanks, guys. That thought was swirling around in my little brain while I am eagerly awaiting my YAP II disks. Do I update the terrain to take advantage of the beautiful work in Green Hell? Answer is: but of course. Does anyone out there have a list of mods for a clean, fully patched WoV installation that fits with YAP2??????

Congratulations, C5, on NF3. Do you know the link here in CA the download is stored? Or do I need to come to your site?

HBO movie out called "Taking Chance" starring Kevin Bacon is a moving and sensitive movie about escorting the remains of a Marine killed in action in Iraq to his home and final resting place in Wyoming. Evidently, it is a movie rendition of actual events. Kevin Bacon does a masterful job, as usual, and the movie appears pointed at the saddest intersection between civilian life and military life in the US. I came away sad and proud. This is for those who have lost family in military service and, if done like this in every case, is as it should be.

So, lazy turd, good to have your smelly self back amongst the fearless and faithful.

Remember that you have to add the objects and then add the references to the object: [FUSELAGE] SystemNumber[012]=ECM [ECM} xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx Gotta have both or it won't show up. Also, ensure the numbering for the SystemNumber item is sequential.

Attached is my Phantom addon file. It explains how to do this for the B, C, D, and E models. Phantom_Addons.txt

Being somewhat of a lazy butt, I like to take what ever new weapon's INI entry from the source (Readme file or other in the install package), copy the entry to a blank notepad file, replace the XXX with any numbers, put the notepad file in a folder I call MergeWeaponINIs. Then I change my new notepad file's extension to "INI". I then open up the Weapons Editor and open my game's WeaponData.ini in the editor. I click on the merge button in the editor and through the folder dialog that appears, I point to my notepad INI file. Click SAVE in the editor. Bingo Bango Done. I then preserve and add to my notepad INI file all the new stuff as it comes out and go through the same process. I also keep a sub-folder titled WEAPONS in my MergeWeaponINIs folder that has all of the additional files that come with a new weapons install. That way, when I screw up some other install (usually because I fail to backup properly) and have to start with a new install, getting the weapons up to current status is a matter of copying all of the files from my WEAPONS folder to the new install and doing the merge thing with my notepad file. There are lots of weapon mods out there and this way makes it easy when you also want to make a stand alone game such as our fine new Desert Storm campaign without trying to find all of those weapons again.

Well Done Mirage Factory Team!!!!

We could train them as combat teams, one chimp (or more) to one animal rights activist (or more). Then they would all be more effective at what they do. They could nuzzle in the night and look after each other on the field of combat. We could call them the "Bozo" Teams or the "Rock" squads. The activists could get some special training on "human shields" from Sean Penn, patriotism from Jane Fonda, and communications from Sylvester Stallone. If they don't strike terror in the hearts of our enemies, I don't know what would.

I graduated from USAF undergraduate pilot training at Columbus and then spent three and a half years there as an instructor pilot in the T-37 and class commander in the 70s. Sleepy southern town of around 40K with a whole "passle" of good looking chicks as MSCW (or whatever it is called now). Probably hasn't changed a lot since I was there. Don't know how it is organized for your program, but I am sure you will get a professional introduction to the flying business. Don't miss going out to eat at one of the Catfish houses around the base. Gooooooooood food! Get used to fried food. Everything is fried in the south including your skin (read that it is hot there). Beware of the Greenville thunderstorms. During the summer and early fall, you can watch them grow starting around 1100 hours and they start to move toward the base right about 1500 hours. They tend to plaster the base for about an hour and then sun comes out and it hot and wet. Good time for the bar call (used to be called happy hour, but I hear that is not PC anymore). Interesting place on base is Blase Hall, named after the unknown soldier from Viet Nam, whose remains were finally identified by the Military lab boys and girls in Hawaii. Bill was in the pilot training class ahead of me and, though I didn't know him well, he seemed to be a quiet, nice guy. He was killed attacking a 57mm AA site in an A-37 in 1972. I attended the ceremony dedicating the building. If you want some fun, try taking on a 57 mm AA site in WoV with an A-37. You almost always lose. There is a lesson in there somewhere. Best of luck in your school and tour. Don't forget to let us know how you are doing.

I just put ECM and decoy dispensers on my Phantoms. It's cheating, but I can live with that because, according to what I have read, the real missions up north did not encounter the volume of SAMs that the game throws at you. They cost money and the NVA's source (USSR) was not a bottomless pit. They were very carefull and insisted on very tight launch parameters for their actual shots. That is also why they were pretty effective, given the technology of the day and feared by the aviators, who we all know are absolutely fearless.

I suggest you look at the critical files, the aircraft ini and the aircraft.data.ini to start with. The aircraft.ini is listing the pointers for the system to find the collection of files that makes up your aircraft. Open the aircraft.ini in notepad and open a windows explorer with your aircraft folder highlighted in the left panel which should list the files in that folder in the right panel. Look very carefully at each of the files in the open notepad and try to find it in the file listing in Windows Explorer. Check carefully for spelling and dashes and underlines. The notepad list is the master and you should have each file in your file list referenced in the top section of the aircraft.ini. Once you have validated that, make sure the aircraft.ini file is named the same as the aircraft folder in the left panel in Windows Explorer. If all that doesn't work then you may have made a change in one of the .ini files that is incomplete. The program demands to see everything right and if anything does not match, the program just gives up and moves on to the next aircraft and leaves your wounded bird off the list. If you suspect you may have made a mistake changing an .ini file, then go through each change you have made. If all else fails, delete the aircraft and reinstall. Then modify carefully next time.

Thinking about you and hope you pass that puppy soon, Prop-Wasche.

Ouch!!!!

I might add that it depends on what you're driving too. A BUFF is very stable behind a tanker, but needs a great deal of anticipation (call that experience) to be done without a lot of work. I have heard that the Rhino is also very stable behind a tanker. I have also heard that the Viper is just as squirrely in real life as in the F4 sim. It is not necessarily the size of the bird, but the stability that will determine how much work it takes to gas up. My vote goes to Carrier landings as the most challenging thing a pilot has to do for a living. It is nothing less than a high-speed, constantly changing, do-or-die environment. Just the thing a real pilot goes for............

Mood swings, FC. Get help soon........

Always good to have more flyers here. Welcome.

Hey, of course its pro-USAF. Who invented the concept and paid for the whole shootin' match? Bye the way, Navy crowd, who's your daddy now!! First time I saw this in the IMAX theater at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum, I marched out the exit and bought it. Slippin' the surlies never looked so good.....

It is a very tough movie to watch if you have family casualties. What makes it worthwhile and makes me very proud is that in an era of disconnected media and poor-mouthing A**holes around every corner, one thing remains certain, the services and the American people will take care of their own with honor, dignity, and care.

Ditto. Looks like a beauty to me.

Wow!! Great work and I, like the rest of the planet CA, cannot wait. Excellent work to the team. Crapped pants falls in the category of TMI................... Well Done!

An American Fiddler! Who says copying didn't go both ways across the Pole in the Cold War. Given the power plants available at the time, I would guess she'd be somewhat like the Mirage III, all day to get to maneuvering energy level, one good maneuver and she's done.