<p>HNeedle, I wouldn’t say the moral of the story is to go to heavies, as even rhe guys in those cockpits will have non-flying assignments as well. It’s called “professional development”. No, I would say the moral of the story is that the typical “hollywood” version of a fighter pilot career is slightly off from reality (except the part where they say all the WSOs are debonaire, god-like superheroes, ruggedly handsome to a fault, with big watches and even bigger egos, and the female WSOs all look like Jennifer Beal or Gwen Stephanie). </p>
<p>NEVER GIVE UP YOUR DREAM just because you may have to put up with a couple of “bad deals” in your career. There will come a day when you take-off in full blower, barely lifting off the runway because your loaded down for bear, pushing into bad guy land to dispense America’s justice against those foolish enough to threaten us. You’ll come off the target, listening to the guys on the ground you just provided air support for offering to buy you the next 10 rounds because you just probaly saved thier lives. AND YOU"LL NEVER BE PROUDER, AND YOU"LL THANK GOD YOU BUSTED YOUR HUMP TO GET WHERE YOU ARE AT THAT MOMENT.</p>
<p>No, the moral is dreams are worth it, and you sometimes have to pay the piper to live them…</p>