Jacko nic
I suggest you read the following post from a Harrier pilot. I also suggest you drop your rather pathetic quest to find a female American pilot to blame. You do your profession no favours.
"I've just spent a while reading this excellent thread, which has some very well thought out posts on it.
As a Harrier mate who has done more than one tour out there & who will be back out there again soon, I thought I'd offer my thoughts.
Firstly, nobody in the Harrier community has taken the Major's comments to heart. The Paras are up against it big time out there & the stress levels must be enormous to everyone on the ground & he can have all the slack he wants!
I suspect that he may be frustrated by our ROE. The no.1 rule is very simple and strictly adhered to: If we can't positively ID the location of friendlies AND the enemy, we do not drop any weapons.
This may seem a little anal and perhaps slows down our response time however, I'd rather delay dropping than kill any Brits. If the guys on the ground have a decent FAC, he will get a clear brief up to us & get our SA up to speed.
Another rule we always stick to is something nobody needs to be told to do: We will never leave the fight until the fuel situation dictates that we must RTB. It's hellish down there and we are always desperate to help out.
From the cockpit persective, please understand that it's a bloody busy place to be during CAS & the workload is very high. It's not always easy to spot the target and like I said earlier, that is essential if we are to be of any use to the guys on the ground.
PartTimePongo,
you mentioned the Jaguar. It's a superb platform however, it simply cannot operate hot & high with any sort of payload that will be of any use so, unfortunately, it won't be playing any part.
Any Paras out there... you doing a bloody amazing job in the sh*ttiest situation I have ever seen. The Royal Marines are going to have very big boots to fill."