Originally Posted by
Ftrooppilot
Being a "fighter pilot" is a state of mind not which airplane you fly. The most rewarding flying for me was C-141 airevac missions. The most challenging was an RB-57F at 70,000 feet in a small airspeed coffin corner. The most dangerous was as a Ranch Hand pilot in Vietnam spraying at 100 feet, 60 degree bank turns while a bunch of bad guys tried to shoot your a** off. In all of them I considered myself to have a "fighter pilot attitude."
I definitely share your sentiments here. While the fighter pilot lifestyle is glamorized and celebrated, the memories of flying non-stop aerial refuel medevac missions in the C-141 from Baghdad to the burn center in San Antonio, TX or resupply missions for Operation Deep Freeze down to the Antarctic seem to have more significant and meaningful to me than the concept of pulling 7 G's.
Having said that, I've always wanted to get an F-16 incentive ride in a fighter plane and almost got one back in my enlisted days when I was "Airman of the Quarter" but missed out on making "Airman of the Year"