The Cost?

[Dave239]

We all here at S.O.H. have been brought together because we love simming in some form or manner. I myself love Combat Simulator 2, and I find it very useful in keeping my flight skills up. I could never do in a real aircraft the acrobats and stunts that I do while simming.

This would put any real aircraft in serious danger and the just the fuel and repairs alone would break anyone’s budget. I assume that most of us sometimes just like getting on the game and blowing a bad guy clean to hell, or taking on five adversaries at a time. It is a lot of fun and it relaxes us or sometimes makes us clamp down our sphincters and wish we never started playing.

With all that, have you really considered the cost of the game we love? I am not talking about money nor equipment that we each have spent on the game. This game which we love is about war and the deadly act of taking someone else’s life. If you keep your game true and real to the history of the moment that you are playing, someone lost in the worst way.

Whether or not it was an American flyer defending our great United States, or a flyer of another country defending that he loved. These where human beings thrown into a situation which I am sure they thought at one point or another “I may not come home to see my loved one’s.” or the most tragic thought I know all military aviators have had “I hope I don’t burn in this crate.”

After any encounter all Army, Air force, Navy and Marine aviators have had, they are still faced with the task of finding there way home and in Navy and Marine situations placing the aircraft on a 1000 ft. moving runway which pitches and rolls at the worst moment.

Having lost someone that I knew because of some stupid mistake while landing. It makes you think is it worth the cost? Then you realize that there are some people in this world who would stop at nothing to take away all that we know and love. So yes it is worth the cost.

To all aviators who have paid the price to defend our country and to the aviators of past and present foes, there are some of us who value your sacrifice for that which you loved. For each of us know you did not ask for the situation you where thrown into but did your best to defend whatever government you plead allegiance to.

So next time you play a realistically based simulation remember, that in life these men and women had feelings. So if you see or know a aviator or a veteran that has served with honor, remember they have a family and the task that was assigned to them was completed to the best of there ability, and should be thanked for protecting our right’s and freedoms which we often take for granted.

And for those who paid the ultimate price some of us will never forget and honor your memory.

Respectfully
Becky

[Collin]

Hi Becky,

I agree with you that the veterans and others who fought in the various wars that are available in the cfs2 addons and default sim should be remembered for the outstanding job they did, but thats for real life, this is a game, for better or worse.

When researching the HMS Ocean Campaign for Fox Four, we made contact with the veterans, not only aircrew but also the hangar 'erks' and ordinary seamen. These guys were only too pleased to help and did so by sending me their photos of the ship and aircraft used on the Korean deployment. As you can imagine, this was a great help to us for the texturing of the aircraft and ship and making the aircraft fly as properly as the sim would allow. But, these fellows realised it was a game depicting their actions in some way but were still happy for it to go ahead.

This sim was developed by Microsoft with the advice of veterans and so are all the other war games/sims whether its flight, land or naval. Some people try cfs2 once and don't like it because of the historical violence it depicts in its cold electronic way, others don't like the campaigns that place them against their own country-men. Personally, I think of the computer as my enemy and try to shoot the crap outta the AI.

regards Collin:ernae:

[Dave239]

I realize that the game is what it is; there is nothing wrong with that. I love this game. All I really would like to state to the guy’s. Take the time to reflect that situations like this are happening now and really have happened and no matter what time period W.W. 2, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Operations Dessert Storm and Operation Iraq Freedom. Someone may have had the same adventure, event, problem, salvation or death, which you can experience in the game. Just food for thought.

Becky

[mariereid]

For me, it's about trying to fly these great old warbirds. Taking off, using the power, feeling the effects of the wind, maoeuvring(?), gunnery, and then return to the ground. It feels pretty good when you do it all right, and it does not cost anything when you do it wrong. The best thing is, if you make a mistake, you can do it again. I know all wars are crappy to say the least. Lives are ruined forever. I am just trying hit targets and survive in the sim. We all have our moments to think about the horrible cost of war and terror, millions of innocent people who died, brave military people who did what they were asked to do and more. CFS2 is just a hobby, sometimes it helps you forget all the crappy stuff in the wolrd for an hour or two

[Dave239]

The world has so many issues and escaping from them is one of the way’s we can in this game. I love that we could try landing an aircraft over and over again and actually learn to do it right. I have known people that can take what they have learned using CFS 2 or any other Microsoft Simulator program and apply it to real world aircraft. If you set-up your system correctly.

Becky

[Cowboy1968]

For me it is all about the history behind the machines. The men who designed them, the men who flew them. I think of men like "Butch" O"Hare, Billy Thatch, Greg Boyington. I think of the deeds they did. and I stand in awe of them. I think of my Grandfather who had to get up each morning. stumble to the ready room, drink down his coffee..........and then climb into an airplane that just the day before had returned with bullet holes in both wings, looking at the patches made from tin cans, and then praying the R-2800 would turn over, or else the crate would be shoved over the side so the next guy could go through the same patterns of thought. The same prayer his "baby" would get off the deck, only to know that he would have to return back to the ship with holes in his wings all over again.

These same thoughts were shared by Germans, Japanese, American, British and all those other brave soles who dared to do what only the birds were meant to do. They ruled the skies, they lived for it, and yes some died for it, but i believe in the hear after all those men and women who died are all setting around the ready room swapping war stories until God sends them out in their "crate" to guide the next one home to the final airfield where he can set drink coffee and enjoy the rest he so dutifully earned.

God Bless the fliers of the world and here is absent Comrades. May we never forget.

God Bless!

A personal thought. My Grandfather faced and defeated ten men in his flying career during World War II and he added another four in Korea. Every Sunday night i can remember him saying a prayer for those 14 men. and then I remember his solatery toast to them. "May God, please look after my bothers who have gone to where I should be, but am not because i had more luck."