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File: 120596_aaczf_19.txt19 Q: So most of the questions were directed towards equipment; did they try to get personal? A: Yes, they asked if you were married and stuff like that. They would use it against you, like well, would you like to see your family? And of course, but they never tried to say your wife was sleeping around or anything like that. Now maybe if the war had gone on longer, they would've gotten to that, but six weeks.... . .. Q: Do you think the questions would have gotten more severe? The Iraqis are obviously-very good at torture. A: Yes, they are, but I think they were afraid of the back- lash if they tortured us. They were afraid of what might happen to them. Q: That-leads me to something else. I was curious when you were talking about the videotapes. In a sense, they shot themselves in the foot with those videotapes, because had they not done that, public opinion would have been much less aroused. A: Sure, and in fact, probably it catapulted the POWs in the public eye a lot sooner than would've happened anyway. Q: You say you were reticent about making the tapes, but I think in the long run, it helped more than hurt. The only other question I have is, on an unclassified level, specifically how do you think the F-15E did in combat as opposed to some of the other planes you've flown? A: Well, I've never been shot down in another airplane, nor in combat with another airplane either. (laughter) But I wouldn't want to go to war in any other airplane. I think our capabilities, being able to drop precision guided missiles, being able to find the targets with our radar in all types of weather gave us a lot of potential. And there were a lot of missions it was used on. Talking to guys later in the war, that had never trained for specific missions...they went out and did the job. The airplane is very adaptable, flexible, so that it was able to do a lot of different things. And I personally think, we're going to need a lot more of that in the future because we're going to have a lot fewer airplanes. I think, by default, the airplane is going to have to do a lot of things....and we may not have the luxury of having just air-to-air fighters. I feel like it did a good job and I wish I could've been around to see more of it; but that's the way it goes. Q: What kind of reception were you given when you were released? -
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