 Hi, I'm Brigadier General Evan Pettus, the commander of the 378th Air Expeditionary Wing at Prince Sultan Air Base in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I'm here with Captain Brandon from the 77th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron. And Brandon is going to tell us a little bit about his unique story. He was one of the first 100 Air Force officers to go through tactical air control party or TACP officers training, and he was the first of those TACP officers to transition to being a fighter pilot flying the F-16. So Brandon, tell me a little bit about why you wanted to become a TACP. Having met some enlisted TACPs at the Academy when I was there through different symposiums, it was very unique to have that perspective as a cadet and be able to interact with that career field. I stayed in contact and stayed in touch with many of them, and when I found out that the TACP officer career field was starting, I knew it was something that I wanted to do when I graduated. And we talk about this career field starting. It's not that we didn't have that function. It was in the past for officers in that field. They would tend to detour out of the cockpit usually as flyers. Do the job for a couple of years maybe, sometimes longer, sometimes less, and then go back to the cockpit, which kind of left that function, that career field with an episodic officer corps. So the Air Force decided a change was appropriate. You were part of the beginning of that change. What was the training like? Yes, sir. So I graduated from the Academy in 2012, and my senior year, I had a one-week selection course. So you attend a selection course. Mine was at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. I was selected out of there to attend the pipeline training. So after graduation, I went to my first assignment at Fort Drum in upstate New York with the 20th Air Support Operations Squadron. I was only there a couple of weeks before I attended training down in Florida. It's about a six-month pipeline course where I go through training with my enlisted TACP counterparts, and after graduation from there, we have additional follow-on courses and assignments, and then we'll go back to our unit where we'll continue to train in order to deploy. Fantastic. And you did this for how long? I did this for about five-and-a-half years. So I graduated from the TACP Schoolhouse with Hawk 9-1 in 2013, and then left for pilot training in 2017. So Brandon, what made you decide to make the transition from being a tactical air control party officer to the aviation role? Initially, my hope was to be able to have expertise in both career fields and be able to connect those two career fields together. So by making that change and having the experience that I had with the tactical air control party and then now being on the fighter side, I thought that making that transition would be better for both career fields and being able to connect the two career fields together closer than ever before. Did you see that result? I mean, you feel like you're able to offer a bigger bridge, if you will? Absolutely. I think we see it, especially on this deployment. We've been able to connect many of the pilots with the Joint Terminal Attack Controllers on the ground, and I see a lot of phone calls happening between the two and just a lot of connection, being able to support each other in whatever role we need. Yeah, it's really, those functions are inexorably tied, right? But building those relationships is really important. Helping the mission happen and, of course, makes the training far more effective. Absolutely. And I think even more so, you're able to connect with a person on a deeper level, and now when you're supporting them wherever it may be, you feel that connection with the guys on the ground and what they're going through. Would you say, I mean, I guess I'm putting words in your mouth. Let me rephrase that as a question. What's the most rewarding part about the job? The most rewarding part for me is just being able to work with many of my colleagues and friends that I've been able to support on the ground and also being able to connect the fighter pilot community and especially the gamblers with those guys that they're supporting. And the gamblers are your squadron? Absolutely, yes, sir. As we sign off, is there anything you want to say to the gamblers? For me, it'd be double down, and then to my tacky brothers, it'd be the strong shall stand. Alright, double down.