The Virginian-Pilot adds information to the story of US Navy Captain Timothy Dorsey, who shot down an Air Force F-4 during a training exercise in 1987.  Turns out the pilot he shot down has issues with Dorsey’s promotion:

Dorsey’s…critics, including the pilot he shot down, say he should have been forced out of the service more than two decades ago. Some said they are contacting their senators to ask that his appointment be stopped.

The pilot Dorsey shot down, Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Ross, said his own military career was hampered due to the debilitating back injury he suffered in the crash and eventually cut short by a medical discharge just months before he qualified for a regular pension.
 
“It cost me a lot,” said Ross, who estimated he has undergone more than two dozen back surgeries in the years since the crash.
 
“I don’t go a day without thinking about the guy who did this.”

Some have said the Navy was different then, so “one mistake” wasn’t the career-killer it now is.  Others have said a shootdown is bad in any era — and Dorsey got off because of who his father was:

Ross and others who oppose Dorsey’s nomination contend that his career was saved in part because his father is Vice Adm. James Dorsey Jr., who was assistant deputy chief of naval operations at the time of the missile attack.

Some critics pointed out US Navy Capt Owen Honors was fired from his command of the carrier USS Enterprise for making inappropriate videos — and eventually selected for retirement rather than promotion.