-: So I'm getting airborne out of Baghdad at night
and there's a thick cloud layer
and the aircraft equipment picks up
that something has targeted us or looked at us
and then countermeasures go off.
So the aircraft pumps out all these bright, bright flares
that would sort of fool a missile
that they were the engine, not the aircraft,
so they all go in a pattern out from the aircraft.
But when that happens
and you're wearing night vision goggles,
you're suddenly blinded
because everything's so bright.
And there's nothing you can actually do
in that stage of flight just after takeoff
because the aircraft is in a critical stage of flight.
And so for a minute, it's not as long as a minute
but feels like a minute,
you have this momentary,
I'm just gonna have to wait
and see if everything's okay.