Harrier is still my favorite combat aircraft.
When you command a Marine battalion, they give you the opportunity to cross-train with the Air Wing in the aircaft of your choice. I picked the Harrier. I got tested in the pressure chamber, then went through the ejection seat training, then got some simulator training - and then a TAV-8B showed up for me in Yuma.
My captain pilot got us off the ground and handed her off to me! Flew to Camp Pendleton after doing a lot of maneuvering and crossing the Salton Sea at 200 feet, 500 knots. I did some low-altitude donuts over my battalion CP and landed it three times - once vertical - at el Toro.
It was a great experience but it wore me out! Don’t know how those guys deal with all those Gs all the time.