‘My navigator thinks otherwise. Jack yells into the intercom.

“Leave it alone!”

‘Leave it alone! I think. This rock is going God only knows how fast and is fifty miles straight up. If I can’t shoot down a SR-71, how in hell am I going to even begin to bring missiles to bear on a meteor?

‘All I can do is to say, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll leave it be.”

‘I am laughing so hard that I can barely fly but I turn off my microphone so as not to embarrass my navigator. Leave it alone I shall.

‘I settle down, get my heartbeat rate back into double digits, and see that our time on station is over. Our night MiG CAP is over. I wonder if the SR-71 crew saw the meteor. If they did, SAC will probably put them in for a hero’s medal as a reward for avoiding it.

‘Somehow, tonight’s mission all makes perfect sense now. We spent a gorgeous evening flying over on exotic land. We accomplished a night aerial refueling to burn jet fuel for no apparent reason. We kept an invulnerable aircraft from harm’s way. We didn’t shoot down the MiGs that weren’t there. Finally, left a meteor alone. It makes a fellow proud to be a soldier.’

This article by Dario Leone originally appeared at the Aviation Geek Club in 2019.