[bdunbar]

> the USMC didn't buy up all of these things

There was, iirc, an article in the Gazette about this. Guy ran the numbers, and it worked out okay: the Corps could run X squadrons per wing, at cost Y per year, plus buy up the spare parts inventory and keep them running for Z years.

It is certainly the kind of airplane a Marine would love, and would fit the Corp's persona.

> the only pilots that ever allowed us to shoot 81mm

Well .. you know. A mortar round would bounce off an A-10. Kinda trash a Harrier.