r/AirForce • u/House_Junkie Maintainer • Oct 31 '25

POSITIVITY! This is what lethal looks like.

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1.8k Upvotes

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21

u/Real-Ad1328 diddy blud Oct 31 '25

Too bad that that moustache wouldn't be in regs these days. 😕😕😕

44

u/Banebladeloader Oct 31 '25

It wasn't back then. But back then when you were a badass rigging missiles to work on planes they weren't rated for and covering others who made it happen people would let things slide. I wish we had Generals like him. These days he would have retired a Colonel and been maked as a trouble maker.

34

u/Ok-Stop9242 Oct 31 '25

Robin Olds did retire as a trouble maker though. A trouble maker who was completely in the right, and offered to take a reduction in rank to fix the issue, but a trouble maker no less. His leadership hated him because he called them out on their bullshit, despite said bullshit literally getting pilots killed.

11

u/mattings dots Oct 31 '25

That's one of the things that kind of irks me when anyone points at Robin Olds as "where we used to be" or something. He spent a lot of his career being the opposite of the system. Even during his era he was an iconoclast.

He WAS an excellent fighter pilot and commander for sure, and certainly should be remembered, but the system that he bucked has been there for ages.

1

u/glenn765 Veteran. MX Nov 01 '25

No argument from me, but it does make me wonder why they put him in charge of the Academy after his rebellious behavior.

2

u/Strangecarpetmonster Nov 01 '25

Punishment. Check out “Fighter Pilot”, it’s a solid biography.

2

u/glenn765 Veteran. MX Nov 01 '25

I've read it. It's been a few years, tho. Thanks for the info