Great! Thank you for your service.
Since you've actually "been there, done that" could you please tell us some A-10 facts, experiences and stories. I'm sure many of us here would like to hear and talk about it.
Leading a 4-ship to a live range in Germany, just about 15 miles West of the IGB (inner-Gernam Border). Full load of Mk-82’s, full load of 30MM, full load chaff/flare and jammers on. . .Attack was in trail formation, 20-sec between aircraft to avoid frag, I led and went to the hold point. Saw another A-10 arrive, then a third. . .then waited and waited for the fourth. I called No. 4 and asked, where are you? He said he was at the egress point. Wait. . .what? I counted two other jets at the egress point and had asked no. 3 to rock his wings. He did. Oh-oh. . .WHERE ARE YOU No. 4!? I radio’d. He said he was heading to the egress point, thought he over-shot as his INS dumped and it was cloudy and hazy and hard to find reference points.
Yikes, I asked what direction he was heading and he said “EAST.” I yelled; “TURN WEST NOW!” and I immediately left the egress point and headed East to find No. 2. As I was approaching the IGB I saw No. 2 cresting a small hill to the East, heading West, clearly in East Germany. Double-Yikes. Somehow he made in back across the border into West Germany and AWACS didn’t call us on it. . .whew.
Doing practice CAS with the Brits in the UK, did a simulated gun pass on the troops in the open, pulled up, rolled 135 degress, rolled out, re-masked low level and received immediate clearance for re-attack. Young and eager, I didn’t realize how low and slow I was and I immediately yanked around and did a re-attack and pulled off, rolled 135 degrees, rolled out and dumped the nose down to re-mask and looked over my should, looking for smoke trails from simulated SAMs. . .but then something didn’t feel right. . .I looked to the front and saw a windscreen full of trees and Brit soldiers running away from my upcoming impact point!!! Yanking back on the jet, still sinking. . .saw trees come up round me. . .felt the ground approaching. . .too low with a sink rate to eject, I PRAYED. . .slowly (it seemed), the jet climbed and I rolled 90 degrees and saw dust being kicked up by my whooshing by at VERY low level.
During Gulf War I, I was a ground FAC, calling in A-10 airstrikes/CAS, as well as lesser jets.
Worked a 4-ship of A-10’s on a bunker and it did the high-angle strafe things and that is when I saw from the ground the Fist of Gawd pound them into dust. . .awesome. Also was working a 4-ship of Hogs and we were pounding the piss out of Iraqi troops when a 2-ship of F-16’s showed up. . .five minutes playtime and two Mk084’s apiece. Great. Held the Hogs high and dry and passed GPOS coordinates to the F-16’s, one pass and they were out of gas and bombs and flew away and I brought the Hogs back to do man’s work.
I can go on. . .
The famous “GUN:”
Ever apply your brakes suddenly and the shoulder-harness of your seat-belt ‘locks’ up? Same thing happens when you pull the trigger on the 30MM. . .aircraft shakes like heck and for a brief moment (sec or less is all you hold the trigger otherwise you melt the barrels), the jet slows in an instant, not much but very quickly—like tapping the brakes, locking the shoulder harnesses.
Gawd. . .I only miss the jet when I talk about it. . . ;-)