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Re: USS Harry S. Truman Crew Remembers Speicher

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: February 15, 2003

"Pilots On Board USS Harry S. Truman Remember Captain Scott Speicher

As America heads towards war, the pilots on board the USS Harry S. Truman are getting ready - practicing air to air combat and bombing runs.

But as they get ready to face a familiar enemy, they realize one of their own could still be alive -- held as a prisoner of war in Iraq.

And while the pilots on board the USS Harry S. Truman prepare, they know the same thing is happening in Iraq - where they lost one of their own, Captain Scott Speicher - who could still be alive. Will they still be thinking of him when they head back into Iraq?

"I think it has entered everybody's mind to some degree," says one pilot. "It's just the risk you take."

Speicher originally was declared dead after his F/A-18 was shot down the opening night of the Gulf War in 1991. But the military changed his status to missing in action a decade later, given the absence of evidence he was killed in the crash.

Speicher was flying an F/A-18C Hornet as a member of Strike Fighter Squadron Eight One (VFA-81) based at Naval Air Station Oceana. He was launched from the deck of the USS Saratoga.

Speicher's official status was changed to 'missing/captured' last October.

Pilots will tell you part of being able to do what they do is having the ability to put it aside once they close that jet canopy. Another important part - believing deep down that the worst just won't happen to them.

"I'm not worried about not going home, says another Truman aviator. "I'm more worried our cruise is indefinitely long."

Advancements in technology mean fighter jets today can carry more bombs than back in 1991...which could mean a shorter air campaign than in the Gulf War.

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