Why the F-16 Will Always Be Special to Me

"I wish I could do it one more time" THAT GOT ME!

In 1967, I was in college and i joined the Marine Corps without telling my parents in order to avoid being drafted into the Army. I went to OCS which was a brutal 10 weeks. My OCS platoon started with 50 candidates and we only graduated somewhere between 25-30. My dad was an Air Force pilot. He flew B-17s in WW II and was shot down over Germany on June 26, 1943 on his 3d mission and spent the rest of the war as a POW. He stayed in the Air Force and flew B-47's and B-52's during the Cold War. He was on tough guy and he was my hero and idol. He and my mother attended the OCS graduation parade and ceremonies. It was the only time I ever saw tears in his eyes and my mother was also emotional. Obviously my parents were proud seeing that I was going to be commissioned as a 2nd Lt in the Marines, but I suspect part of that emotion they felt was knowing that there was a 99% chance I'd end up in Vietnam where my brother, a Marine infantry captain, was currently serving. My parents also attended my commissioning. I was wearing my Marine Dress Whites and he was wearing his Air Force uniform with a chest full of ribbons. I didn't do that well in college and I felt that perhaps I made up for it by becoming a Marine officer. I did end up in Vietnam as an infantry platoon commander from December 22, 1968 to December 1969. There was three days of orientation in Da Nang before eventually arriving at my battalion's cantonment (in the middle of nowhere) on December 31 to be assigned to a company and take command of a platoon. That night, New Year's Eve, the battalion was attacked by a pea pot of Viet Cong that had managed to make it half way through the crazy wire around the battalion when Marines on the security berm stated shooting off hand flares to celebrate the New Year at midnight thus exposing all of the Viet Cong in the wire and all Hell broke loose. Small arms, machineguns, and tracers crisscrossing the terrain under hand flares and later artillery flares made a surreal picture of what Hell might be like. The next morning the battalion had to remove the bodies of the Viet Cong. Beyond the crazy wire was a tree line where more Viet Cong were prepared to attack once the wire had been breached. The Recoilless Rifle on the perimeter of the battalion was firing flechette rounds (hundreds of inch and a half nails with tiny fins). There Viet Cong literally "nailed" to trees by the flechettes. Welcome to Vietnam. On January 1, 1969 I took command of my platoon. It was a hard year. I lost too many great Marines to mines, ambushes, booby-traps, mortars both killed and wounded. Combat is a mixture of miracles and heartbreaks. The worst day of my life was in Vietnam when the sun rose I had 34 Marines (including myself). When the sun set that day, only 4 of us were still alive and unwounded. The miracle occurred one day while the company was on line conducting a sweep of an area of huge dried rice paddies with tree lines separating them. My platoon was about half way across and about 200 yards from a tree line when North Vietnamese soldiers opened fire on us. That was one of those situations where you have to make decision without having the time to think about options. It's pure training and intuition. I decided that I'd take more casualties trying to retreat another 200 yards than if I aggressively made a frontal assault. Thank God I didn't have to inspire my Marines to be aggressive--they just are. So I ordered a frontal attack. However, at that time I only had one radio to communicate with my company commander. The only way to communicate with my three squads was with hand and arm signals or by running up and down the assault line to give my squad leaders directions. If you've never been in a firefight, bullets travel faster than speed of sound and they make a loud "snapping pop" or a small firecracker sonic boom. If you hear it, you are still alive. If you don't hear it you are either dead, wounded, or the bullet was too far away. I clearly remember running up and down the line of the assault giving my squad leaders where I wanted them to direct their fire. The snapping and popping around me and my radio operator were like a string of small firecrackers going off. The enemy always focused on whoever was near the radio operator and so me and JJ Jones were the prime targets. We entered the tree line and for some of my Marines there was a brief hand-to-hand encounter. The NVA soldiers retreated. I told my platoon sergeant to get a count of the dead and wounded while I notified my company commander to expect emergency medivacs. After a few minutes, my platoon sergeant returned and said, "Sir, you ain't gonna believe this, but we only have on Marine with a slight bayonet wound and he doesn't want to be evacuated. Question: How do you cross 200 yards of completely open terrain under intense enemy fire and only end up with one Marine with a bayonet wound and he doesn't want to be evacuated? Answer: Miracle. There were multiple enemy dead and many blood trails in the direction of their retreat. We collected dozens of AK-47's and some intelligence from the bodies. Like I said, that was a hard year. The physical and mental stress was intense. My brother was severely wounded only 5 miles from my position. I didn't know about it until I got a letter from my parents. He spent a year in the hospital but he remained in the Marines and retired as a Colonel with a Silver Star and a Purple Heart. I served 21 years in the Marines with 2 more years in combat. The greatest honor in my life was leading Marines, especially in combat. I'm 78 years old now, but I'm still a Marine.

Good segment. In the old days we literally "strapped" on the A-4 Skyhawk and went flying. It was tight in the Scooter cockpit, no afterburner, no fancy avionics, but you could roll 720 degs/sec. Fun to fly and a good iron bomber! A-4s Forever!

Same goes for the Tomcat guys. We never forget our first love.

The calling your dad part was really powerful

I enlisted in the USAF in 1977 and my first assignment was as a weapons mechanic on F4's at Hill AFB, UT. I was there in January 1979 when the first F16A, tail #78-001 arrived. I was fortunate to be transferred to the 16th TFTS and was one on one of the first load crews certified on the Viper. It was amazing how much better it was working on the F16 than the F4. It was really special being there when it all began, and it still gives me great pride knowing I was there from the beginning of the operation life of this amazing jet. The fact that the VIPER is still a top tier fighter 50 years later is amazing!

Great comments on how lucky we were to fly fighters. I liked flying the A10 and the F4 but nothing compares to the F16. The first time I lowered the canopy to go fly I was kind of freaked out by the lack of a canopy bow. The coolest thing I did flying the F16 was leading my 4 ship to pre-contact and then refueling with my dad in the back of the KC-135 and talking to him on the intercom.

Same here and I only sat in them as a maintainer. IMO, it is the most beautiful jet fighter aircraft ever built. A beautiful, multi-angle, elevated shot of Wisconsin ANG F-16s in a hangar that I wish I could link to without getting this comment deleted is one of my favorites.

Being Pakistani we spacialy thankful to USA for providing F16s. One of the best aircraft ever made.

I loved flying the Viper more than any other plane that I've ever flown. I also got the privilege to fly Lee Lauderback's P-51 Mustang, which was a great second best... two aircraft flying in totally different worlds but same exact mission.

Pilots and Maintainers always remember your first Airframe. Mine was the Marine F4-S Phanrom. Love that bird.

I only have ever flown bug smashers. I am so grateful you guys are willing to share your flight experience with us. Thank you for that! When I was doing my cross country solo, I took off from Bellingham international, and was transitioning NAS Whidbey's air space en route to Port Angeles. I heard the Navy controller talking to a pair of F-18s clearing them to climb. Now, I saw them off in the distance, watching that climb as I am practically flying backwards because of a headwind, and the controller called me to call out the traffic "Archer322 traffic two Navy F18s climbing to whatever," I just repsonded with have the traffic. I think she was pointing out that they were having way more fun than I was. I will never forget that performance watching those guys climb like that. Just seemed different up in the air. My only regret was not saying back, "traffic in sight, not a factor unless I get out and push!"

not a pilot, but as a FTE on the Viper even that will always be my first love for fast-jet.....and fortunately son of a long time Viper driver 2:00 "I AM THE ONE WITH THE VIPER AND THE VIPER IS THE ONE WITH ME...."

50 years. It's crazy that the Viper has been around that long. It completely changed the game for BFM. The fact that it's still a mainstay around the world is incredible.

I believe it was Wayne Gretzky that said “you miss 100 % of the shots you don’t take!” Love your channel. My son flys CF18’s for the RCAF.

Thanks to The Green Mountain Boys 86-0309. The day I saw my precious.

Very cool clip. Love to see pilots get emotional about their jets! Thanks for sharing, M & G!

Thanks to both your dads for their service! Glad to hear about Gonky's dad! No wonder you dudes turned out so well! Gonky, what's that crap about a failure? You two dudes are studs! I'll adopt you both! So grateful for your example and work to forward military aviation.

I fully concur that the first time seeing a Viper live is a special thing. For me it was SoloTürk, he put on a good show too boot.

I really like hearing these guys talk about their experiences, great show! But, Mover, I really want to hear, what it's really like to do an unrestricted climb clean take off in the viper! You guys always talk so modestly about it, haha. I'm a civilian pilot and I've always enjoyed pushing the throttle forward in anything from a 172 to the little baby jet Citation. But I know it can't even remotely come close to the feeling of the viper! That's one thing I've always wanted to feel but likely never will. Thanks for the great show guys!