I have a few trips to Afghanistan and I can tell you before the ROE was changed we used the A-10 a lot. I owe my life to some damn fine A-10s and pilots.
When I was in 'Nam, we didn't have the A-10 (of course) but we had the A-1.
A Naval Aircraft that was theoretically outdated and given to the Vietnamese Air Force.
Believe me when I tell you (I don't care either way) I called in a lot of Air Strikes in support from my position on the ground.... Super Sabres, Spooky, Huey Gunships and once, the new Cobra Gunship with the 40mm in the nose.
And nothing was as intimidating as the A-1.
Nothing.
I can only imagine the capabilities of the A-10.
As to being shot down by bad guys?
Guess what? Any of them can be shot down. Any of them. Even the F-22. But you don't expose Ground Attack Aircraft to Mach II Fighter Jets unless you're an idiot. Which explains a lot.
If you don't have Air Supremacy or even Air Superiority, you send in some Fast Movers with the Ground Support Aircraft.
Sheesh.
I guess the Brass in the Pentagon feels the A-10 and the Apache do essentially the same job and they don't want redundant weapons systems.
They're wrong. They're the same ******* geniuses that declared the day of the Dogfight was over when they produced the F4 without a Gun, only missiles.
******* Idiots. I swear to God, I think the higher these guys go, the higher they're promoted, the stupider they get.
Most of them are theoreticians anyway with their noses stuck so far up Politicians' asses they couldn't recognize a Battlefield from a 100 feet away.
Most of them have never seen one anyway. Except maybe in a bunker from a satellite feed.