So There I Was . . .

Chaz comes back for another visit with us to tell more incredible stories of hijinks, excitement, fear, tragedy, terror and hilarity. He had an amazing career in the Navy and lived every minute to the fullest. Hear how letting a non-aviator fly caused them to lose contact with their formation. Learn the difference between Cherubs and Angels – and why not knowing can be deadly! Find out how drunken Russian […]

Single Engine, Single Seat Attack Pilot, Smytty, joins the show thi week to talk about some of the hijinks that most Marine Attack pilots will relate to immediately. Smytty flew the T-28 Trojan, A-4M, OA-4M, AV-8A and AV-8B in VMA-211, 214, and 331. He tells of the wild times in West-Pac and the time in WTI when a classmate flew into the ground without ejecting and literally walked away from […]

Bo joins Fig & RePete to talk about what it takes to be a “RIO” – Radar Intercept Officer – in the F-14 Tomcat. He talks about training to become a tactical jet crew and the process to get there. Bo tells of the time he spent on Wake Island after a particularly complex night emergency where the dominos kept falling and they were literally inches from disaster as their […]

Kemo joins Fig & RePete this week to tell how he decided to go into the Navy after finishing the first half of Marine Corps OCS because they offered him a seat in less than two months in flight school without needing a bachelor’s degree. That deal didn’t come without some, shall we say, “complications” though. It wasn’t until Kemo was already in the program that he realized how badly […]

This is the second half of our show with Adm. Mike “Nasty” Manazir this week. We chat about his new book, Learn How to Lead to Win: 33 Powerful Stories and Leadership Lessons. Plain and simply put: This book should be mandatory reading for any prospective officer or executive. What’s more, it is a fun read that will give a leg up to anyone who wants to better connect with […]

In this first of two shows this week, we welcome back Adm. Mike Manazir “Nasty” to talk about his new book, Learn How to Lead to Win – 33 Powerful Stories and Leadership Lessons. You may recall two shows with him before – Here’s to Bug Roach Episode 17, and Best Job in the Galaxy Episode 18. In this and tomorrow’s episode you will gain insight into the reason this […]

Come ride along with us and feel like you’re on the Blue Angels Team for the next hour. This is the last of five shows with Lawman. We recorded this in late fall, but in order not to put five shows in a row with the same guest, we held this in abeyance until now. This is arguably the funniest of the shows with Lawman. He tells us about learning […]

Panther checked in with us this week to talk about how he knew, before going to the Naval Academy, that he wasn’t interested in flying. After spending a few frosty nights in the woods of VA in January, he quickly reconsidered his flight options. After flight school he flew more than 100 missions in Vietnam in the A-6 Intruder with VMA-(AW)-533. He describes that time in -533 as the best […]

Our second hour with “Bonnie” as she relates her time in the fleet flying A-7’s and Hornets – and one of the funniest practical jokes ever played on someone intent on being an accurate ‘bomber.’ She tells us about her rough start at SouthWest. Then things get real, and we learn how close SWA-1380 came to being a disaster. Heroic and dedicated airmanship saved the day. Period. Full stop. Please […]

We are joined by “Bonnie” who gained attention the hard way back in 2018 when she and her first officer saved the lives of 148 people after her Southwest Airlines 737 experienced an uncontained engine failure which shattered a window, fatally injuring a passenger. Her book about that day and her life experiences which prepared her to to meet the challenges she faced that day is called Nerves of Steel. […]