A few years ago I read an article, or maybe just a blurb, about how American military leadership (possibly British, but fairly certain it was American) proposed a lottery that would designate certain pilots for death. The idea was that the overall death rate would be reduced and each individual pilot would have a higher chance of survival. The article's take was that the idea was roundly rejected because the pilots each had a firm belief—albeit, perhaps, a mistaken one—that their likelihood of survival depended not on pure chance but rather on their individual level of skill.

I have told numerous people this story. Just last night I wanted to look it up in more detail when, to my surprise, I literally could not find any mention of it anywhere. I may have read it in a book, a newspaper, or a print magazine.

I am beginning to think I made it up. Not really, but this is very frustrating.