re: How hard is it to be a fighter pilot?

My wife’s 1st cousin who lives in South Carolina was literally a real Top Gun academy pilot

When it was time to meet him I was expecting the biggest alpha jock with every “iceman” or movie cliche imaginable

The guy was the biggest brilliant “nerd” type guy I could meet. He had zero soldier type tendencies but you could tell was a brilliant individual, with a strong confidence of knowing he just landed a fighter plane because he knew he was a bad motherfricker

But not a competitive a-hole who would put you down cause you are not in his class of species