We conclude our 4-part series on why we want to become fighter pilots with the promise that the pursuit of our dreams brings. It may be a bigger promise than you realize.
It’s the promise that no matter what happens on the road to becoming a fighter pilot, you WILL be a winner!
As the legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi is quoted, “Winning is not a sometime thing. Winning is an All-the-time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do the right thing once in a while. You do the right thing all of the time! Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”
If there’s one trait that is common to ALL fighter pilots throughout every branch of the U.S. military, it is that they are the type of people who HATE to lose; so much that whenever we come in a ANY place other than number one, it makes our blood boil.
Of course, even fighter pilots don’t come in first every single time, but the important thing is that they always try, and they do the right thing all of the time!
Of course, doing the right thing can mean a lot of things. When most people think of doing the “right thing”, they think of it in terms of morality; as in doing the fair, legal, and ethical way. And yes, fighter pilot candidates DO things in ways that are fair, legal and ethical. After all, that is the ideal that we stand for.
But for a fighter pilot candidate, doing the right thing means more than that. It means taking the initiative, doing what is right even when it might bring humiliation or harm, and having the guts to put in no less than 100% of everything they’ve got into achieving their goals.
If you’ve seen the movie “Gattica” with Ethan Hawke, you know what I’m talking about. Hawke’s character, Vincent, was an “invalid” in a society where only certain people with the “right genetics” could fly with Gattica, but he made it anyway. Swimming out farther than his brother and competitor because he was giving his all. His brother tells him, “But you’ll never make it back!”
Vincent says, “That’s why I will win! Because I’m not saving anything for the trip back!”
Vincent didn’t just invest time, energy, and money into himself by learning what he needed to do to achieve his dream…he took action, regardless of how painful and arduous it was. He did the right thing all of the time because his society gave him no choice.
Of course, in our free society, you have all of the choice that you want. And that freedom of choice is what you will be fighting for others to have and to keep by serving your country. It’s really just a question of how badly you want it.
And if you give it everything you’ve got…everything…not saving anything for anything else, then no matter what happens- mark my words- you will be glad that you did it!
But if you are under 30 and in reasonably good shape, you can be a fighter pilot. There is no reason for you not to be if you just arm yourself with the right information and implement it! In fact, with the level of dedication that I’m talking about, it is almost a guarantee!!
Don’t save anything! Do the right thing all of the time by your nation, your fellow man, and yourself!
Arm yourself with the tools and become a fighter pilot!!!

Semper Fi!