Eric Schmitt New Yoprk Times

As Capt. Ryan Thulin steered his F-16 fighter jet over the central Libyan coast early last Sunday, he peered into the inky darkness to hunt his target: Libyan tanks, artillery and other fielded forces. Suddenly, red tracers of antiaircraft fire streaked up from the desert below. Captain Thulin, a 28-year-old Air Force Academy graduate on his first ...

As Capt. Ryan Thulin steered his F-16 fighter jet over the central Libyan coast early last Sunday, he peered into the inky darkness to hunt his target: Libyan tanks, artillery and other fielded forces. Suddenly, red tracers of antiaircraft fire streaked up from the desert below. Captain Thulin, a 28-year-old Air Force Academy graduate on his first ...