A KC-130 tanker demonstrates refuels an F/A-18D while F-35B fighter jets fly in formation during the 42nd Maritime Self-Defense Force-Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni Friendship Day at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture last May. | U.S. MARINE CORPS
Two U.S. Marine aircraft crashed early Thursday during a refueling drill, leaving five crew members missing after two were rescued off the coast of Kochi Prefecture later in the day.
A KC-130 air-refueling tanker and an F/A-18 fighter jet were involved in what the military termed a “mishap” in the early morning hours. One crew member was rescued later in the morning by the Maritime Self Defense Force and sent to a hospital, while another was rescued later in the day, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry. The Marine Corps said the second marine had been transported to a local hospital. One of the two was a crew member of the F/A-18. [Japan Times]
Civilians–and many military–don’t understand that “training exercises” are often as deadly as actual combat. Mind you, there’s typically less shooting; but dead is dead regardless of the reason.
johnhenry
5 years ago
Another thing that civilians don’t understand is that any operation other than an actual combat operation is a training exercise. That’s why you have a grand total of two different types of schedules in the military: training and combat.
Civilians–and many military–don’t understand that “training exercises” are often as deadly as actual combat. Mind you, there’s typically less shooting; but dead is dead regardless of the reason.
Another thing that civilians don’t understand is that any operation other than an actual combat operation is a training exercise. That’s why you have a grand total of two different types of schedules in the military: training and combat.