In this day of social media, you can find pretty much anything you want, yet what grabs my attention are the aircraft videos. I remember hanging around the flightline in Kandahar watching the aircraft come and go, from ‘fixed wing’ (regular planes), to ‘rotary wing’ (helicopters).

The British Harriers were an awesome thing to see. They always traveled in pairs, and a pair was always in the air around the base. Before one set landed, their replacements would take off.

And when they did, the air shook with the incredible blast causing birds to take flight. The planes were so powerful and agile, they only required a fraction of the airstrip to be airborne, and they flew just a few meters above the flightline until they reached the end. The first one would turn hard left at the end and scoot across the desert kicking up a cloud of dust behind it. The second would take off 10-15 seconds later, and when it got to the end it would angle up towards the sun and disappear. I had no way of seeing where it went.

Those amazing planes are the ones that could take off vertically. They were told they could do the vertical take off, only on the newer part of the runway that had 10″ of concrete, not the old original part with only had 5 or 6″. I remember there was a new pilot that didn’t get the memo, and the flightline commander came out pissing mad. He was pointing at the runway screeching, and probably saying words I promised Fr. Hynes I wouldn’t say.

These videos do not show the Harriers, as what we have now is much more powerful, intelligent and lethal. Because of the amazing ability of the newer aircraft, its pilots seem to be one with the plane, plus the videos show the discipline our Military maintains, enabling it to be the greatest firepower in the world. When I watch these, I know my dad would have loved to witness these, as he was at the Army Airbase in my small Texas hometown. I especially love the videos where the planes pull hard vertically, causing the air around them to be so compressed, the moisture becomes visible. In the first video, I am most certain the first jet is just a remote-control model as there is no blast under it, but the rest are the real critters.

We truly live in an amazing age, and in the years after I move on, my great- grandchildren will be a part of something I can never imagine, not even in my wildest dreams.