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| Iraq |
| Thumper has an Attitude! |
| 2003-04-10 |
| When Thumper flies an F-16, she flies solo, acting as pilot, navigator and bombardier. "I actually like it that way, because it gives me the opportunity to be in control of the jet, not have somebody second-guessing the things that I'm doing, and I like that aspect of flying this jet, " she says. Thumper is the Air Force captain's "call-sign." For security reasons, active-duty pilots use only their call signs for identification. Thumper's first mission in the war on Iraq was on March 20, the day the war started. Asked if she was scared, she says, "I know that I've been trained well to do my job, so I wasn't scared. I have a strong faith in God ... I pray before every mission, and I put it in his hands." Thumper says her faith does not conflict with duty as a fighter pilot which requires her to drop bombs which may kill people. "I know a lot of people find those to be contradictory, but I believe that God's put me in this job," she said. "Nobody really wants to go to war, but it's our job as fighter pilots to be prepared to do that. And no fighter pilot wants to get left behind when a war is going on." You go, girl! Faith was some comfort when lightning struck her plane during a bombing mission into Iraq. "We went up into northern Iraq in support of some of the Army forces, and they were calling us in ... to put the bombs on a road intersection which was right in the middle of an engagement they were having with the enemy." The bombs destroyed the road between the Iraqi and coalition troops. "They said that the bombs we put into that place actually ended up ending the conflict there," she said recalling the mission. "It was a really good feeling inside to know that we had helped support the ground troops. I know those guys are working really hard. They're getting less sleep, (they are) less comfortable than we are. And my job is to be out there to support them and to help them stay alive." Take that, ya Fedayeen scum: you got killed by a girl! During the mission, lightening struck Thumper's plane, knocking out her threat warning system, which tells her whether she is being targeted by anti-aircraft artillery fire. "That was a little bit stressful, but everything else was OK," she said, adding that she was flying next to another plane able to detect anti-aircraft fire. On another mission, Thumper dropped bombs on the Medina Republican Guard to "soften" forces before Marine troops moved into Baghdad. I'll bet she did soften them, too. Thumper showed a reporter a bomb to be loaded onto one of the F-16s. Scrawled on the top is a message: "Die Saddam." Another message says: "This one is going straight into your grave, Saddam." Ah, bomb nose art. I just hope someone has been taking pictures of the best ones. Messages like those are not unusual she says. "It's actually pretty common for our different troops. ... It's part of their motivation and their effort in the war." Thumper uses an in-flight computer screen to select a bomb or missile she will drop. "We'll display on there what types of munitions we have selected. We can toggle through the different selections and choose the one that we want to drop." Then she selects the master arms switch and presses what's called the "pickle button" to dispense the munition. Asked if she feels tense before dropping a bomb or missile, she says, "I definitely have adrenaline pumping ... kind of like getting ready for athletic competition. You just have that anticipation of making sure that you've taken all the correct steps and you are dropping on the right coordinates, that you are dropping on the right thing." What advice does Thumper have for women and girls who want to follow her career path? "This is a great and rewarding career. Right now in the military, there are opportunities open to women that they just haven't had in the past. And I would tell them to, if they have a dream, to go for it." You bet. Thanks for all your hard work, Thumper, and may you always fly safe. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 Kudos, "Thumper." But.....some one had better tell those idiots in the press that published the name of that B-1 pilot who dropped those 4 bombs trying to get Uncle Sadaam in Baghdad the other day. They even showed his face. Nice to set up a "target" for the bad guys, ain't it! |
| Posted by: Larry 2003-04-10 21:43:29 |
| #2 *Salutes Thumper* Go Thump'em girl! |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-04-10 20:37:49 |
| #1 Cool! You go, girl! Get the job done and come back safe! |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-04-10 17:44:47 |