Excerpt from AIR WARRIORS: The Inside Story
of the Making of a Navy Pilot
Dear
God, please get me through this flight
alive! I thought as I sucked down air
as fast as I could from the oxygen mask
pasted to my face. I was strapped into
the back seat of Navy Lieutenant Kevin
Nibblelink's cockpit during the dogfight,
praying that I wouldn't throw up from
the violent turns his T-45 jet trainer
was taking.
So far, the dogfight for me had been
a dizzying blur of earth, sky and horizon
jumbled up in no particular order. I was
so confused I had no idea what had been
happening during the engagement.
Nibblelink flipped the radio switch down
on the throttle that he gripped with his
left hand so he could talk to me.
"Okay, you can go ahead and take the
stick," he said over the radio. [I was
going to] be a fighter pilot for a few
minutes, even though the only thing I
had flown before this was a paper plane.
"You want me to take it?" I asked, my
voice cracking, not believing what I'd
just heard.
"Yeah, you take the stick," Nibblelink
said nonchalantly as if he was giving
me the wheel of the car for a Sunday drive.
But this was more like the Daytona Speedway.
Dear
God, please get me through this flight
alive! I thought as I sucked down air
as fast as I could from the oxygen mask
pasted to my face. I was strapped into
the back seat of Navy Lieutenant Kevin
Nibblelink's cockpit during the dogfight,
praying that I wouldn't throw up from
the violent turns his T-45 jet trainer
was taking. 
