[Robert A Cook PE]

"In harms way" also includes pilots of single seat fighter jets ...

Which happen to suffer some 1/4 - 1/5 loss rates over time.

Remember, it is fighter pilots (not combat infantrymen!) who are charged extra insurance premiums..... There's a reason.

[CedarDave]

Please understand the context in my use of the term "in harm's way". There is a distinct difference from being an engineering officer on a ship offshore and being up close enough to be shot at by small arms fire while on a swift boat. If you generalize, however, military pilots operating fast jet planes are always in harm's way because you have literally only seconds to decide the proper course of action and to take that action in the event of an accidental or deliberate (in the case of combat) malfunction of the aircraft. That is why, IMO, President Bush's pilot service in the guard was as dangerous, in a different way, as Kerry's was. Except that as a pilot Bush knew that anytime he left the ground he could very possibly return in an uncontrolled condition. And for him that went on a lot longer than 90-days. He knew the risk, accepted it and by anyone's standard of measure was a competent jet fighter pilot.