Tourist,
I have no doubt you are good at your job, courageous, confident and made of the right stuff. The sort of stuff that wins wars, hopefully not with that postumous medal that is coming your way.
I have never met you so I make a general point :-
I am weary of the arrogant gung-ho attitude that causes so much unecessary danger. From the young army officer announcing from Afghanistan that he is 'here to do a job' all the way to the matters discussed on this thread. That is - a person can't make a call on the risk if he doesn't know what that risk is. That was the case with Hercules XV179
I have seen and called a SAM miss my aircraft by 100 yards, and our cargo for Kabul was plastic cutlery & toilet roll. Worth risking your life for?
But most times, it was my own side trying to kill me.
Two Hercs flying head on, no lights, same height, and the E3 saying 'we are unable to deconflict, sir'
Almost failing to get off a lake bed 'cos the strip was too soft.
Pitot heads freezing up, loss of ASI indication in the Kabul bowl, at night, in freezing rain...in a dive.
And many more...
Even the guy in the IPT who knowingly introduced an aircraft ladder into service with disregard to the H & S and WAH regs. And that's what got me in the end! The MoD's failure will eventually get me compo over and above my medical pension, but I wish I didn't have these injuries.
There are different perceptions of 'heroes'. I believe that the guys that are willing to make a stand for what is right are fairly brave, and they are posting on this thread.
That's all from me
SPHLC