I was not born in Russia, but in some Eastern European country. In my country, during the Communism, and the decade after (and maybe even to this day, but I hav

I was not born in Russia, but in some Eastern European country. In my country, during the Communism, and the decade after (and maybe even to this day, but I haven't lived there since 2000), the competition to become a jet fighter pilot was absolutely insane. But that was because the kids just liked jet fighters, (some probably from watching Top Gun). However, it was known that lots of the pilots died in crashes (e.g. [1]). It was also rumored that the pilots ended up having reproductive problems because of radiation from its radar, or something. It's possible that this was an unsubstantiated urban legend, but the rumor existed, and that's what mattered. Given this, I doubt the sons of the well-connected big shots were really flocking to become pilots. Nowadays, those sons most likely prefer to go and study in Switzerland, or the UK or the US. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doru_Davidovici https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doru_Davidovici