CAPT Boone quotes from JAG

We will be flying a Tomcat that has been modified for re-con and training missions. There's a complete set of controls in your cockpit. But if you touch anything other than your personal joystick, I will eject you over the Adriatic and forget where I did it.

Chief, if I bagged a Klingon I believe you would know what flag to paint on her.

CPO Ned Bannon

Klingons are easy, sir. Now a Romulan warship, that might be a problem. They're invisible.

You don't like female pilots, do you, son?

No sir, I do not.

Neither do I. Don't believe they have the stomach for battle.

You got that right, CAG.

But if one of my LSOs ever intentionally waved a pilot off because she was a female, I'd keelhaul him.

Before this gets embarrassing for both of us, you don't have to thank me.

Thank you for what? You're a naval aviator, I damn well expected you to get us back.

If I were you, talking hypothetically, of course, I'd be asking for a deal.

Well, I'm not, but since we're talking hypothetically, what would that deal be?

CAG resigns, admits his responsibility, court-martial never happens.

You can go to hell. Hypothetically.

Does the Crusader's profile look anything like that of a MiG?

No it does not.

But that's what the pilot saw. He is in enemy airspace, and having encountered MiGs earlier in the day, his brain turned your Crusader into a MiG.

He was an Air Force pilot.

Gentlemen, since I am not a lawyer, I'll be brief.

Good God, we're dealing with Abe Lincoln.

I am a naval aviator. With 11000 flying hours, 908 of which were in combat. I know gunfire when I see it; I did not imagine it. The Hind was firing at my men while they hung helpless in their chutes. What I did, I would do again without hesitation even if doing so meant ending my naval career. God knows it is not a career I wish to end, that will happen soon enough. But better that than to break the sacred trust between an officer and those he commands to do what ever is in his power to protect them, not only when such action is obvious or politically correct, but even when it is sure to be unpopular and questioned. The day that I can no longer live up to that trust you will not have to ask for my resignation, gentleman, it will be tendered without hesitation.

I'd love to see the faces of the three officers who voted guilty when they hear about this.

No way of knowing who they are.

Oh, I know who they are.

You do?

Hell yes, I do.

How would he know?

He's the CAG!

I was just writing the funeral oration for Lieutenant Li.

Well, I would consider it an honour if you would read it to us, general.

‘Like an eagle he soared above the clouds, as light as a feather in the breeze, until his life was snuffed out like a candle in the wind.’ I think I will amend that last.

A little too much Elton John, huh, general?

Precisely.