And let me add this opinion. In Desert Shield we lost an AC-130. An officer I served with had the job of going to tell some of the next of kin. I was shocked - and I'm still shocked - that we were using such a weapons system in daylight against an enemy as well equipped with AAA and SAMs as the Iraqis. At night, against forces equipped with not much more than small arms, or plinking trucks on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, it is fine, given suitable precautions. In daylight, under clear air conditions against forces that have a dozen different ways to shoot down that lumbering beast from miles away, such employment is sheer insanity in my book. There were plenty of other aircraft available that could have done the job with much better survivability.