There I Was... flying a "typical" Market Time Patrol, rigging suspicious ships/boats off of Vietnam. Our Plane Commander was sick, so Lt. Rambo ( his real name; VP-22) took his seat. We had a suspicious boat that we thought might be a "gun runner", so we dropped a paraflare.
This was not unusual, except as I sat at the radar station, the tube lit up like daylight! Lt. Rambo, for whatever reason, flew BETWEEN THE FLARE AND THE SUSPECTED GUNBOAT! We were like a large pinata, illuminated by the flare, that could have been easily shot out of the sky! The entire crew was trying to get to the cockpit to either strangle him or to get a good reason for that dumb move. Fortunately it was not a gunboat, everyone was safe,and the mission continued without mishap.....and I never flew with Lt. Rambo again!

Lessons Learned:
Don't take any other crewman's actions for granted..especially a stand-in from another crew. Understand how each flight maneuver is "suppose" to be flown

Fly safe and come back dry
Joe Hazel
AWC Retired