Good article. Kinda strikes a chord.
Typed a rather long paragraph about some of my flight experiences, but decided it to be somewhat irrelevant. Synopsis:
Living under the final approach to an Air Force base here, I will still run out of the garage to see the various planes overhead. Kinda like a prairie dog... Can usually tell by engine sounds what they are. Most are KC-135's, some are the "execu-jets" of general staff folk and periodically a flight of Osprey, or some foreign F-5's on training missions. F-16's and Warthogs doing same, with an occasional C-17. Got to be "backseat baggage" in an F-106-B model for my first real performance aircraft ride and numerous jumps in stuff from F-4's, A-10's, O-2's to UH-1's and HH-53's. Likely got to ride through some of the terrain in Vietnam with guys having been through the training mentioned in that article. Never got to get an F-15 ride, bumped by a MSgt about to retire, saying: "You'll have plenty of chances later." That was as the plane still had orange wingtips, during the: "Fly Before You Buy" appraisal out of Nellis. The ride never happened, I left the USAF after my first enlistment.
Sometimes I miss it all.