Look at the RAF. Want to speak to guys who have seen action up close, been shot at, had rounds through the cockpit more than once, seen death up close?...Then go to Odiham or Benson and listen to the Support Helicopter guys. The warfighters in the RAF fly helicopters, and everyone knows it. Fast jet guys fly fast jets, not fighters, because they do not fight and have not done so for years. They have no idea what true combat is like - it is all ego and bravado...go to an Odiham crewroom and you will soon know what a 1000 yard stare looks like.
The polite reply to you is you seem to ignore reality in your comment.
I know first hand about the helicopter side of this business called War....and shall leave it to young "Gums' to offer his comments re your post as he certainly knows about the FJ side of the joint venture called Air Warfare.
Yes we on the helicopter side have seen the Dragon up close and personal but then I would suggest going "Downtown" to Baghdad and Hanoi in a FJ might somehow acquaint those Pilots with another version of that same Dragon.
Basically I hold no regard for anyone that disses others who put their Lives on the line for God and Country without setting forth some bonafides to prove he knows at all what he is talking about.
Does it matter if you get killed at 30,000 feet going supersonic by a BVR misslle or an RPG while at a hover.....different means can still have equal outcomes.
What matters is putting your Life on the line and doing so willingly that earns those folks our respect.
We do not have to like FJ Pilots and their need for ego stroking but we do owe them the same kind of respect we give everyone that goes into direct combat with an armed aggressive enemy from the Infantryman in the mud to the Crew of an SR-71 at 80,000+ feet going Mach 3.25+.