I think the Guard is mostly home land defense, and honestly a WSO isn't really needed for those missions. Heck, f-106s could do that job.
For real world deployments in offensive operations, with unmaned aircraft to control and against a peer adversary, then a second officer makes much more sense.
I watched Cold Blue and also recommend it. It addressed one pet peeve I’ve had for a long time.
In every movie that has B-17s the pilots enter the cockpit by doing a pull up flip into the belly hatch. I can’t really see that as something someone would really do.
In my copy of printed version of master it says occasionally someone would do that to show off.
In Cold Blue they show several crew members, in full battle rattle going into that hatch. Using portable stairs.
I’m more scared of the commie Status Six autonomous submarine. This monster weapon could detonate an H bomb, wrapped in cobalt off of any port in the United States. This would create a radioactive tsunami that would render a huge area uninhabitable for several hundred years.
Some kind of space based EMP weapon would be a pain in the ass, but it would be as a firecracker compared to what this monster could do.
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2020/july/kanyons-reach-rethinking-nuclear-triad-autonomous-age
Speaking of the ridiculous allegation that Trump is somehow pro Putin, I wonder how happy Putin was when Trump went to Europe, and immediately began twisting arms to get our NATO partners to pay the full 2% that they agreed to when they joined?
I wondered about that. I saw a video of her flying in the backseat of an F-16. The narration was all fighter pilot this and fighter pilot that period.
It was clear to me. She wasn’t actually flying the airplane, because her elbows were on the canopy rails.
As a former F4 back seater, I recognized the posture.
I feel sorry for the young officer. It must suck to be starting pilot training in the grip of a massive public affairs frenzy.
I worked for McPeak for a little while. He was eccentric and a frustrated fashion designer. He did some good things, like reducing stovepipes to reduce support empire building .
But McPeak never openly worked against his chain of command. He wasn’t trying to be a media darling.