Sunsherpa,

Good point. He was on AWACS and felt that the community was dying and he wanted to be a pilot. He went to the JSTARS and still didn't like the job. He wanted to fly.

You are no less valuable a crewmember (whether you serve as a pilot or nav) and like everything else in life; you get out of it what you put into it. The alternative is not flying at all...in which case you have to honestly ask yourself if a successful military flying career can only be defined if you're occupying the L/R seat. I suspect their are aviators from the first B-17 crews to Air Force One (which does have a nav) who would say otherwise...

Concur...I had many a crew cheif in the back of the helo that made pilots look weak compared to what they had to do.