Quote Originally Posted by tweakstick View Post
They made short work of the taxi and runway at full AB the whole way immediately turning north. When they returned, one of them landed with no missiles on the rails.
Before I say anything dumb, I was wondering what your MOS was.

Secondly, having had a short career in Marine Corps Aviation, specifically ordnance, I can tell you EXACTLY what the paper trail may (or may not) be in place for military hardware. Just curious.

EDIT: Though I would entertain a conspiracy theory if it had at least a bit of merit, the chain of custody that an ordnance officer follows is insanely rigid. Not a chance in hell that a sortie came back with an empty launch rail and an unaccounted for weapon. Never happened, never could happen.

Also if a shoot down order were carried out, there'd already be about a dozen or more personnel aware of it before the pilot toggled step-reset and pickle. WAY too many people to hush it up.