Because of its ungainliness and relative low flying speed, the A-10 Warthog is the butt of many jokes. But no one can deny that it carries a great deal of tonnage. Once, while I was out on the flight line in Saudi Arabia doing an inspection, I overheard two crew chiefs -- one an F-16 chief and the other an A-10 chief -- talking about the merits of their respective aircraft. The F-16 crew chief pointed out his jet, loaded with massive bombs on pylons under the wings. \"Just look at that baby sitting there with those thousand-pounders,\" he bragged. \"Can you believe that armament?\" \"Nice,\" the A-10 crew chief said, \"but do you see those two empty pylons under my jet?\" \"Yeah -- what do you hang there?\" \"F-16s!\"

--Contributed to \"Humor In Uniform\" by MSgt. Daniel J. Gillespie