of just being there really.
The trepidation before you start out in the first place
is on the ground in the briefing.
The not knowing what you're going to face
one day to the next.
I didn't fly combat missions for the first three days,
as I was only newly arrived in theater
and so pilots were coming back with stories
of what they'd experienced
and how successful or otherwise their missions had been,
some of it due to errors they'd made at times so
we would all learn from mistakes they'd made
and didn't want to repeat them,
so we took that as improving our skills
in developing our own capabilities.
It's a funny thing, flying into combat.
You don't think that you're going to be targeted,
but then it's in the back of your mind that you may get hit
and finish up.
My greatest concern was being shot down
and having to leave the aircraft.
I don't think I thought of anything else, that was the...
And then, because you'd seen on the TV what was happening
to people who had been shot down and captured.
So that was my greatest concern,
but you put that out of your mind really
and just concentrate on your place in the formation
and mission that you've got
and that you understand your part
and everything that you've been practicing
day after day doing.
