"I, myself, stand by my original opinion, though it seems genuine asthmatics or others with so much as a slight wheeze are looked at in distaste by too many people. Would you go into a home for the blind and mock them because the way their genes are coded are make them 'pathetic' human beings? Yeah, alright, two pretty different extremes, lol, but both are merely down to the way genes happen to exist. And OK, sometimes people joke about it, which is fine, but others really are serious and seem to have some sort of superiority complex..."
Jonesyboy, firstly, nobody is mocking asthmatics. Secondly I have witnessed several asthma attacks throughout my life of variable severity. All of which cause a certain amount of debilitation and discomfort.
Now think of the scenario when our intrepid pilot has got to the front line in which ever fleet you choose. He has been shot down in hostile lands; his co-pilot has a broken leg and cant walk. The hun are coming over the hill at a great rate of knots so our pilot decides to lift him up and carry him, he manages 100m before he feels the chest tightness and wheezing. He knows that an attack is coming but he cant do anything about it as its now life or death because the hun are right on their heels. He cant get enough air into his lungs and eventually both him and his co-pilot are caught 500m from a PB.
Its not always about the individual, its also be about the "team". You are only as fit as the least fit member of your team. There are several occasions and circumstances when it just isn't practical for any trade, not just pilot.
A few examples -
RAF Regiment - Training in Kenya at 6500', suffers shortness of breath anyway due to the altitude but worse due to asthma. Our Gunner starts to wheeze after tabbing 5kms in 25 degree heat in full kit, body armour and a bergan weighing 25kgs. He is wheezing so much and is getting very anxious now that he starts to over heat due to the effort of trying to breath and is now a heat casualty with no quick access to medical aid. His life is now in the balance!
Medic - Deploys to Afghanistan to do the relatively low physical workload job of IRT. They get a call out to go to a Patrol Base after an IED strike. On arrival there are mass casualties that need CasEvaced ASAP. Our medic runs around treating casualties and lifting stretchers, he is working hard and now is out of breath. His work rate is high and he is getting so little oxygen due to his asthma that he collapses unconscious. His patients now have no medic to treat them and one of them dies.
Chef - Its the yearly CCS currency and our asthmatic chef is in the respirator test facility. He goes for a canister change and screws his drills up and ingests a few lungs full of CS gas. Guess what happens..... He suffers an asthma attack.
Storeman - Is in R & D where the main doors are open, like most days. He is in the back of the warehouse when he hears some noise at the back of some boxes. He scrabbles under some shelving between some boxes where he finds some kittens. He instantly gets the tightness in his chest, he doesn't have his inhaler because he only needs it when he is round animals. As he is wedged between some boxes he panics and feels claustrophobic. This makes everything worse and its now a vicious circle. He collapses between the boxes at the back of the warehouse in the storage area that nobody visits. He lies there for 2 days before someone finds him.
The bluntest trade you can think of - In Afghanistan and a mortar lands nearby and covers our service person in shrapnel. They are screaming at the top of their voice with the pain of losing a leg. They start to panic because they can see their own leg lying next to them. This triggers their asthma. Very quickly someone arrives and sees how much distress our unlucky airman is and very quickly injects them with Morphine (which everybody carries). This now lowers the airmans respiratory rate (side effect of Morphine) so low that they fall unconscious. As he was screaming in pain before bystanders assume he has went quiet because the pain relief is working. It isn't he has now swallowed his tongue and died of asphyxiation!
I could go on but you get the point, you would not believe some of the random and ridiculous places you find yourself in, in the military where these things CAN happen. The medical guidelines are there for very good reason and that is to keep the machine working as it should.
Short version, tough luck! I want to win the lottery but life just isn't fair sometimes.
HG