The Fighter Pilots' Guide to Living

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Lieutenant Commander Jon 'Hooter' Schreiber. In the third episode about Hooter's military career, we discuss his transition to being an instructor pilot in the TA-4J after flying the F-4 Phantom. We also cover his later transition to the F-14 Tomcat. About 'Hooter'Jon 'Hooter' Schreiber commissione...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Lieutenant Commander Jon 'Hooter' Schreiber. In the second episode about Hooter's military career, we discuss flying the F-4 Phantom during the Cold War, when trawlers followed the boat and Alert 5s were the norm, despite the squadron never entering a combat situationAbout 'Hooter'Jon 'Hooter' Schr...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Lieutenant Commander Jon 'Hooter' Schreiber. In the first episode about Hooter's military career, we discuss his desire to become an astronaut, and the "other worldly" experience of first flying the Phantom. About 'Hooter' Jon 'Hooter' Schreiber commissioned from AOCS and received his win...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Captain Dan 'Darth' Cain. In the fifth and final episode about Darth's amazing career, we talk about his participation in Task Force 20, the initial foray into Iraq, and final thoughts on an incredible career. About Darth:Captain Dan Cain USN (Ret) was born in Lake City, FL. He served 6 years in the United States...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Captain Dan 'Darth' Cain. In the fourth episode about Darth's amazing career, we talk about his tour in Atsugi, Japan as Skipper of VF-21, the Fighting FreelancersAbout Darth:Captain Dan Cain USN (Ret) was born in Lake City, Florida. He served 6 years in the United States Marine Corps with a Vietnam tour in 1966-1...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Captain Dan 'Darth' Cain. In the third episode about his illustrious career, we talk about life aboard the carrier in the days when your state room could hold a water bed, a margarita machine, and chips. About Darth:Captain Dan Cain USN (Ret) was born in Lake City, Florida. He served 6 years in the United States Marin...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Captain Dan 'Darth' Cain. In the second episode about his illustrious career, we talk about his transition to the F-14 Tomcat, adventures, and Mutha. About Darth:Captain Dan Cain USN (Ret) was born in Lake City, Florida. He served six years in the United States Marine Corps with a Vietnam tour in 1966-1967. He entered...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Captain Dan 'Darth' Cain. In the first episode about Darth's career, we discuss his Vietnam War experience as a Marine Corps infantryman and his later transition to flying in the Navy. About Darth:Captain Dan Cain USN (Ret) was born in Lake City, Florida. He served six years in the United States Marine Corps with...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today, we're talking about the Maverick Act, and the news that three beloved F-14 Tomcats are being brought out of the boneyard to be returned to the public. We've brought on retired CDR Jerry 'Ribit' Merritt and retired LCDR Jon 'Hooter' Schreiber, both of whom have considerable time in the big fighter. They talk about their...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Mike 'Magoo' McGee. In the final episode about Magoo's career flying the A-10, F-15, and F/A-18, we focus on his time in the USAF Reserves, and his participation in Operation Noble Eagle following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. We also talk about his transition out of the military, and his...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today, in honor of the military spouses who enable the success of their partners, we're bringing on two incredibly strong Navy wives, Dee Merritt and Gabrielle Parmentier, whose experiences show how much life has changed for Navy wives over the course of nearly half a century. Dee's relationship with Jerry, call sign 'Ribit,' spanned...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Mike 'Magoo' McGee. In the third episode about Magoo's career flying the A-10, F-15, and F/A-18, we focus on his transition to the F-15, and his later time training with the U.S. Navy to fly the F/A-18 Super Hornet. About Magoo:Mike was born in 1964 and grew up outside of Boston, Mass. The...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Mike 'Magoo' McGee. In the third episode about Magoo's career flying the A-10, F-15, and F/A-18, we focus on his participation in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. About Magoo:Mike was born in 1964 and grew up outside of Boston, Mass. The son of an Air Force veteran, his dad took h...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Mike 'Magoo' McGee. In the second episode about Magoo's career flying the A-10, F-15, and F/A-18, we focus on his days training on the A-10 and early days in the Warthog. About Magoo:Mike was born in 1964 and grew up outside of Boston, Mass. The son of an Air Force veteran, his dad took him...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Mike 'Magoo' McGee. In the first episode about Magoo's career, we focus on his T-38 training in the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program at Sheppard AFB, TX.About Magoo:Mike was born in 1964 and grew up outside of Boston, Mass. The son of an Air Force veteran, his dad took him to the...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guests are three Green Berets from ODA 595, Mark Nutsch, Paul Evans, and Mike Elmore, and three members of VF-213, Nate Bailey, Michael Peterson, and Chip King. Today, we talk about the aftermath of the first strafing run that Biff and Tung conducted in support of ODA 595 and the use of that tactic throughout the remainder of VF-213's dep...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guests are three Green Berets from ODA 595, Mark Nutsch, Paul Evans, and Mike Elmore, and three members of VF-213, Nate Bailey, Michael Peterson, and Chip King. Today, we dive into the evolving conditions inside and overhead in Afghanistan as Green Berets arrived in the country, and we talk about the difficulties of calling in close air suppo...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guests are three Green Berets from ODA 595, Mark Nutsch, Paul Evans, and Mike Elmore, and three members of VF-213, Nate Bailey, Michael Peterson, and Chip King. Today, we dive into the missions that ODA 595 and VF-213 had prior to the attacks of 9/11, and how those missions changed after the terror attacks that shocked the world. Our conversa...

Welcome to a special episode of Cowboy Time at The Fighter Pilots' Guide to Living. TACO and Beth are discussing U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams Jr.'s incredibly heroic dogfight in the Korean War, when the Panther pilot downed one MiG-15 and subsequently took on 6 Soviet fighters single-handedly, killing two more MiGs and sending another to crash-land in Siberia before returning to the b...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Lt. Col. James Russell 'Rusty' O'Brien, our first guest from the U.S. Air Force. In the final episode about Rusty's career, we talk about his sendoff to the F-111, Op. Provide Comfort, the enforcement of the No Fly Zone over Iraq, and Rusty's career at the Pentagon with the Air Force Deep Strike Group and...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Lt. Col. James Russell 'Rusty' O'Brien, our first guest from the U.S. Air Force. In the fourth episode about Rusty's career, we talk about his participation in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. About Rusty:James Russell 'Rusty' O’Brien grew up in Long Island, New York and attended Uniondale Hi...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Lt. Col. James Russell 'Rusty' O'Brien, our first guest from the U.S. Air Force. In the third episode about Rusty's career, we talk about his first assignment after Naval Postgraduate School as Chief of the Andean Pol- Mil Division and Director of the Latin American Counterdrug Task Force in SOUTHCOM. About Ru...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Lt. Col. James Russell 'Rusty' O'Brien, our first guest from the U.S. Air Force. In the second episode about Rusty's career, we talk about his transition to the F-111 and his work to develop laser targeting tactics that would benefit ground forces and the airborne personnel supporting them. About Rusty:James R...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Lt. Col. James Russell 'Rusty' O'Brien, our first guest from the U.S. Air Force. In the first episode about Rusty's career, we talk about his motivation to fly, his first assignment in the EC-121, and the lessons he learned while participating in the Vietnam War, including Linebacker II. We also talk about Rus...

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired Commander Chip 'Biff' King, who accumulated over 5,750 tactical jet aircraft flight hours in his career, including 3,500 hours in the F-14 Tomcat, as well as 969 arrested landings. In the fourth and final episode about Biff's naval career, we focus on his final stint at the Pentagon and his decision to transition...