I had a retired career British SAS vet tell me the A-10 was directly responsible for him being alive some 30 years later.
It is possible he loves the thing even more then I do.
My nephew, as he and his unit were heading home, stopped in Germany and ran into some pilots that were in the bar on base. Turns out they were the some of the A10 pilots that saved some bacon while he and his boys were deployed.
I worked with some former AF guys on a military sales contract. For the ones that worked on the A10s at some point in their careers, that was the only plane that mattered in the US Air Force.
Grunts in the Sky ............... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpCvySLGuOA&t=519s