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From: biow@tove.cs.umd.edu (Christopher Biow)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Side arms for Fly boys.
Summary: Side arms have practical uses
Keywords: Aviation, side arms
Message-ID: <1990Oct24.115557.4740@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 24 Oct 90 11:55:57 GMT
References: <1990Oct15.033827.12908@cbnews.att.com>
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From: biow@tove.cs.umd.edu (Christopher Biow)

In article <1990Oct23.010042.3467@cbnews.att.com> sean%limerick@Sun.COM (Sean Browne) writes:

>When my father flew AD`s off the Ticonderoga during
>Vietnam he wore a .357 revolver. He seemed to think
>it was more for those who wanted the option of doing
>themselves in rather than defending themselves. You
>can't exactly "Rambo-fy" the country with your revolver.

No, you're not going to be able to fight off an infantry platoon with a 
sidearm, but there are other uses. If the first people on the scene are
four farmers with pitchforks, intent upon killing you, that sidearm could make 
all the difference. In a water landing, it might prevent your capture by
fishermen. In a close-cut rescue situation, it would be handy (lots of 
stories from Viet Nam along these lines). And finally, in a long-term 
survival/evasion situation, it would be useful to hunt.

My preference was to carry a S&W 469, blue steel 12 shot 9mm with night sights,
which just barely fit in the survival vest. I also had an AMT .380 back-up, 
which is sort of an automatic derringer. Depending upon the situation, I 
intended to either ditch it, or put it in my underwear, hoping it would 
avoid notice by captors who didn't do a very thorough pat-down. Again, 
depending upon the situation, it might be usable to effect an escape, or 
might better be dropped when no one was looking. Escapes using violence
can be a problem, as Law of Armed Combat allows prosecution of POW's
according to local laws for acts committed after capture.

Having bought those weapons, they never made it out of the ship's armory
until the day before we flew off, when we did target practice off the 
fantail, with the Pacific Ocean as our target (I didn't miss once!)