Wild blue yonder is quite safe these days

Dating back to Desert Storm in 1991, Lt. Col. Buster Delmonte of the U.S. Air Force has been deployed 18 times to Iraq — that's once a year — and not only is he still in one piece, he's looking forward to embarking on No. 19 in the near future.

You want proof positive that being a fighter pilot isn't as hazardous as it once was? Salute Delmonte.

The 42-year-old Air Force veteran isn't above complaining about the demands of his chosen profession. He says his back hurts most of the time, his neck hurts all the time, and what he wouldn't give for a full night's sleep.

But then he'll give you that Top Gun grin and admit it can't be all bad. He's still flying those $25 million jets, isn't he?

Delmonte is one of the many exhibits the Air Force is trotting out along the Wasatch Front this week as part of Air Force Week, or, as the acronym-loving military likes to call it, "A.F. Week."

Each year, three metropolitan areas in the country are selected to host A.F. Week. Salt Lake City gets the honor this year, along with Sacramento, Calif., and Hampton Roads, Va. All sorts of free activities are taking place, culminating with an air show this weekend at Hill Air Force Base.

Delmonte was at the IMAX Theater at The Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City on Tuesday, where a 40-minute film on fighter pilots was presented free of charge. Before the movie started, he stood at ease in the lobby in his flight suit and patiently answered any and all questions posed to him by his employers, the taxpayers.

"What this whole week is about, and this comes down from the chief of staff," he said, "is letting the American public know more about their Air Force and see what it is capable of."

He recited the Air Force mission statement: "Global ready, global power."

What that means, he said, is "there's not much in space we don't command. We have minimum resistance and unfettered access."

"That's not just fighter aircraft," he went on to explain. "Far beyond striking targets with bombs, we have very good intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. We can see and hear things that we want to see and hear."

As an example, he talked about the new planes that operate without a pilot on board — what the Air Force calls Unmanned Aircraft Systems.

"The UAS enable us to do ISR at a higher level," he said.

When he's in Iraq, where his deployments last on average 60 days, he can fly his F-16 high above the danger zone while a UAS flies thousands of feet below him, scoping out the situation on the ground below.

"I'll be talking to a guy in Nevada who is flying that (UAS) plane from halfway around the world," he said with a hint of don't-ask-me-how-it-works incredulity in his voice.