This should be a given but- I do a lot of combat flight simming, my autistic special interest is cold war equipment, but I need y'all to sit down and understand that the most important lesson I can impart is not to worship the military, the military-industrial complex, and least of all fucking defense contractors. The real-world machine that feeds warfare is a fucking monstrosity that turns human lives into tragedies, warfare is primarily a means by which the rich and the powerful soothe their egos by annihilating the lives and bodies of the poor. There is nothing noble in its pursuit, nothing heroic in its prosecution, and it is the worst impulse of the human character. Don't get pulled into the empty-headed game of going "rah rah go team!" for one set of cataclysm architects over the other just because they fly a flag you like or use gear you're obsessed with. Have a brain.
Jets are rad. War is fucking bad.
That's basically the nature of it, yep. Kit cool, kit fun in games and in stories, actual real world uses of kit heinous.