I specifically recall him saying just that. He mentioned taking the controls at 5 feet. But, I think he also said "I took off" at some point. Either way, no pilot is going to let him do this. I took a ride in a T-38 once. The instructor pilot was seated in the back and he did not let me take the controls until we were at altitude and in an approved training area. Even then, he had the throttles and I'm sure his hand was lightly on the stick.
On a side note, several folks have said that flying a "military jet" is much harder that flying a small prop. That's isn't my opinion. I first soloed in a T-46 (Cessna 172). It was so light and has so little power that I found it quite a challenge (on take off, in flight, and landing). After that I flew and soloed in the T-37 (jet trainer). I thought take off and in-flight (including aerobatics) was much easier. Landing at a higher speed and gross weight had different challenges than the 172, but It was no more difficult.
Of course, I washed out of pilot training, so what does my opinion mean? ;)