So There I Was . . .

Marine Cobra pilot X-Man joins RePete and Fig to share what it was like to fly attack helicopters in two of the most consequential — and compressed — events of the early 1980s: the invasion of Grenada and the Beirut peacekeeping mission, both in October 1983. X-Man traces his path from building RC model airplanes in Northern Virginia, to a neighbor test pilot who handed him his first ride in […]

This week’s episode was recorded live at King Mackerel’s Beach Tavern Bar & Grill in Moorehead City, NC, right after the historic Harrier Sundown Ceremony at Cherry Point. In Segment 1, call sign Ag—a Texas Aggie and former Harrier XO—takes you on an unforgettable journey crossing the Atlantic to Desert Storm. From a midnight “Casablanca” goodbye at Cherry Point to dangerous night tanking with KC‑10s, metal-to-metal probe contact, a thunderstorm […]

Marine Harrier pilot stories usually start in a cockpit. This one starts with a Navy recruiter blocking a hallway. Wait, what? Actually, Buggsy walked into the recruiting station to join the Marines. The Marine recruiter was out PT-ing. Consequently, a “fast-talking squid in his Good Humor uniform” signed him up for the Navy instead. It worked out. Buggsy turned wrenches on A-6 Intruders with VA-75, the Sunday Punchers. He launched […]

Episode 214 is packed with everything that makes aviation storytelling great: close calls, call signs, Harrier legends, and plenty of laughs along the way. Fig and RePete kick things off by reflecting on their trip to the AV-8B Harrier Sundown celebration at MCAS Cherry Point, marking the end of an iconic chapter in Marine Corps aviation. The guys share some behind-the-scenes thoughts from the event and discuss future plans to […]

The stories told by Marine Corps aviators who flew during the Vietnam War are the kind that make younger pilots stop mid-sip and listen in absolute awe. In Episode 213, Fig and RePete have the immense honor of sitting down with retired Colonel Bill Wehrung, “Horny” — an 87-year-old Naval Academy graduate, Marine A-4 Skyhawk driver, Vietnam combat veteran, and a living piece of aviation history. From flying before NATOPS […]

It starts with a simple aviation truth: the procedures matter because the aircraft do not care about your confidence. Consequently, Fig & RePete walk through how a bad rejoin, a bad angle, and bad timing can stack up fast. They also talk through why four aviators got out alive, which is the best ending any bad day can ask for.Actually, the episode does not stay in one lane for long. […]

Brain joins us to talk about Marine aviation over the last 35 years. Consequently, the conversation turns into a time machine through flight school disasters, deployment memories, and the strange logic behind becoming a military test pilot.   We start north of Kandahar and immediately settle into the kind of storytelling that only happens after too much coffee and too many flight hours. Furthermore, there are stories about Bulldog, VMU-2, […]

Bonk, Top Gun, Marine MAWTS-1 and Test Pilot Stories kick off with him bobbing in the Pacific after less than 500 flight hours in total flight time! Actually, that’s just the warmup. This week on So There I Was, Fig and RePete sit down with Bonk, a former Test Pilot School graduate, Top Gun instructor, and MAWTS pilot whose career somehow became more insane every decade. One minute he’s failing […]

This week kicks off with Kemo back in the saddle, and it goes sideways immediately! Actually, this one starts fast. No warmup. No easing in. Just straight into stories that make you stop and go, wait… what? Kemo’s back. And if you’ve heard him before, you already know this is going to be ridiculous. If you haven’t—well, buckle up. This is one of those episodes where the stories don’t just […]

Doober comes back to tell of his acquisition of former US Marine Corps H-34 helicopter, YL-37. The helicopter restoration story starts with a mission that sounds simple. It is not. Actually, it quickly turns into a “wait, what?” situation. This episode picks up with Doober and the ongoing saga of bringing YL-37 back from the brink. The aircraft is not just old. It is stubborn. Furthermore, every step forward seems […]