 You don't have to understand the lingo to know that this, upside down 300 feet above the ground, is pretty amazing. And as awe-inspiring as it may look from the ground, it's just as awe-inspiring to the pilot in the cockpit. All of that mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering that goes into making this airplane fly, that technology, the fact that they can put that into an airplane that can go 1.6 Mach, pull 9Gs and drop bombs is super awesome. Major Kristen Wolfe, call sign Bayo, is the pilot and commander for the F-35A Lightning II demo team. Her job is to show just how incredible her plane is to the entire world. And it's the latest and greatest technology inside of it. The Lightning II is the world's most advanced fighter jet and Bayo Wolfe and her team are happy to finally get to show it off in front of the hometown crowd. This is obviously our home base. We've been here since 2019. We started practicing, skipped the 2020 air show. So we're really excited just to get everybody out, especially the local community, onto the base just to see this airplane, the Thunderbirds, and it's going to be a huge lineup that weekend. So we're really excited to put on the show. And what you'll see in the air won't just be some simple air show tricks. Bayo puts the jet to the test each and every time she gets inside. It is pretty aggressive flying, even max performing the airplane. So a lot of Gs, a lot of strenuous maneuvers. Proving her plane is more than ready to take on any enemy. We don't modify the airplanes, paint them, take out any sensors, anything like this airplane could go to war tomorrow with bombs in it. And some of them come back from war when we fly in the Divos. So it's pretty important to show that combat capability. Showing off the might of our military and inspiring the next generation of airmen and women, just one of the many goals of the demo team and the warriors over the Wasatch air show. Gives people outside of the Finns the opportunity to come on the base and see what their neighbors do, see what goes on here at the base. It's not just about flying the aircraft, but it's about maintaining them and all the multiple things that they do here at Hill. That's why it's called an open house. It's really to invite those people in and say, look, here's what we do. We do this because we protect our country each and every day, and this is how we do that. And it just so happens that protecting our country. 40,000 pounds of thrust, we're riding down the runway and then racing around 300 feet off the ground. Also puts on a white shell. Great shots of the F-22 Raptor there. And how cool was it to talk to Beowulf and learn about the F-35? It's so cool. It's so cool. I mean, right, how cool is our job? The people we get to meet, the pilot for the Thunderbirds, Primo and Kristen and Beowulf. And it's just a privilege to be out here and sitting right here with all of this noise and smoke happening behind us. And I got to, you know, all these people out here on the tarmac out here watching this show. It's really an incredible experience. Yeah, so lots more to come. You see the A-10. That's not the A-10, but the A-10 is supposed to come up. F-22 is coming up. The F-35 is going to come up later on this afternoon. The Thunderbirds, the headline act here at the Warriors over the Wasatch Air Show, scheduled for a 3.30 p.m. start, so we hope you can make your way out here. You can watch all day here, of course, on the KSL5 TV app and the Hill Air Force Facebook page. We're going to send it back out to the air boss so you can learn more about all these incredible acts that are in the air. When you're legal to solo, he soloed in his grandfather's 1928 Travel Air 4,000 biplane. To date, this pilot has flown over 85 different types of aircraft, from the Piper Cup to the mighty B-29 bomber. He's a flight instructor, 5,000 hours, residing in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Setting up for the sectional roll, cutting a pie into 80 gold parts, hesitating on that roll every 45 degrees. Well, Matt grew up like his talented father before him, flying RC aircraft, a radio control aircraft. It gave both his father and this pilot a great advantage when they got into the real thing. They understood controls, they understood aerodynamics, they understood balance, and it made it much easier to learn aerobatics. Coming in over a right shoulder for an outstanding photo pass, get a load of this. There is the office of Matt Yonkin. This particular model aircraft came off the assembly line at the Beechcraft Corporation in Wichita, Kansas in 1943. The wartime years. It was bought new by the United States Army Air Corps. It spent the duration of the war as a navigational trainer. It was based at Ellington Field in Houston, Texas. All right, now, if you want to talk about great control, Matt has slowed the aircraft up. He has lowered the landing gear. He has put the flaps down. A 6,000 pound airplane. She is a big girl. But Matt is going to do a little dance with this big girl. And you might recognize this song as he tips it up to 90 degrees or more. He is dancing with an elephant. This is the Elephant Wolves. It's showmanship and total control. These were a very popular airplane, not only in the military but in the civilian world as well. For many years, aircraft like this, the Beech 18, crisscrossed the country at all hours of the night. They carried air mail, they carried freight, they carried film, they carried car parts and other boxes and bags throughout all weather conditions. And by the way, not going was not an option for countless flyers, many of whom may be in the audience today. Matt would like to dedicate this performance to our active duty military members, veterans and all of the salty old pilots who cut their teeth on these fantastic airplanes. Now, minimum speed, gear down flaps down just above the stall and that's when the wings will no longer support the aircraft in the air. It is a balancing act. When Matt received the Art Shull Award via Zoom in the COVID year, we couldn't get together. He gave a lot of credit for the aircraft staying in the air for the innovation of their nighttime act when they turned the airplane into a spaceship with millions of LED lights. He said, I could not do this act without Jeff Gibbs, my crew chief. Jeff's with us here now. And each and every show Jeff is up here to guide me. Thank you so much for being a part of this award-winning team, Jeff Gibbs. Yes, a little fun with music as if I see an elephant fly, that's a theme song for this 1943 6,000 pound machine having a little fun on the landing and roll-up. All right, changing the pace from 1943 and the big twin-engine trainer and transport aircraft and by the way passenger aircraft of the award-winning Matt Yonkin. We're going to go to the world of military aircraft and present the F-A-18 Hornet, that is the Super Hornet and we're also going to present after that forming up with the T2 Buckeye, the Navy Legacy Flight. So we'll get ready to change the pace as Friday is the key to every air show we want to entertain you the best way possible. So those aircraft getting into position, if you want to take a little break, go to the facility, it'll be a few minutes. And again, stay comfortable, stay hydrated, suntan, sunblocker, suntan, lotion and lip protection. I worry about you so much. The aircraft taking off. The first aircraft taking off will be the Navy T2 Buckeye aircraft. It will be going out to hold to be ready for the second portion of the flying routine. That is the legacy portion. You'll see it red and white on the runway, low to your left. And then the F-A-18 will start its routine right after the T2 Buckeye has cleared the area. Ladies and gentlemen, today the West Coast Rhino demo team dedicates this performance to Lieutenant Max Bullock. In our message to Lieutenant Max Bullock, we have the watch. On behalf of the United States Navy, Naval Air Station LaMoure and Commander Strike Fighter Wing Pacific and Commanding Officer of Strike Fighter Squadron 122, we are proud to present the West Coast F-A-18 Super Hornet Flight Demonstration. Intended to replace retired F-14 Tomcat and the aging Legacy Hornet, the Boeing-built F-A-18 Super Hornet is the Navy's frontline tactical aircraft known as the Rhino, the Super Hornet builds on the combat-proven design of the original Hornet with improvements such as a 30% larger surface area, larger payload, longer range capability, and increased weapons lethality. The aircraft referring for you today is the F model which incorporates a two-place cockpit to accomplish the assigned missions. Our pilots today are Lieutenant Ryan Thurman, call sign Jades from Seattle, Washington. He's an old buddy and a weapon system officer, Lieutenant Thomas You, call sign Huds from Bellevue, Washington. He's been my real here for the last two days. Alright, those are your crew members. We'll call them Huds and Jades if you don't mind. That's their call sign. That's what they prefer. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, direct your attention to the left. 44,000 pounds of thrust, 130 miles per hour takeoff speed. They'll perform a 360-degree roll while building a 30-roll demonstrating the superior power and maneuverability of the Rhino. Now, after climbing through 4,000 feet, the aircraft crew will perform a one-half-cuminate maneuver or a half-loop. They'll roll up and demonstrate the super hornets in front of the pitch authority by fully squatting the jet. What does the squad mean? Well, watch. Watch for the squad. There it is right there. The super hornet is unique in its ability to operate at slow speeds and apply cable slip attack. The superior flight control computer is along the pilot tube. Needs to. Observe now how the aircraft rotates 180 degrees while in a nearly flat attitude and they name the Flatch P-R-O-N. The super hornet's engines produce over 44,000 pounds of thrust in full afterburner. This allows the aircraft to sustain eight times the force of gravity in a very tight turn radius. Whether in a dogfight or onboarding service-derror missiles, the ability to provide space is a tremendous tactical advantage to the vertical tail sails. By achieves and HUDs now setting up with a high-speed pass to an idle vertical climb bring this maneuvered-the-aircraft-full approach at nearly Mach 1 demonstrating the use of speed to surprise the enemy. You may notice the white paper coming out of the jet indicating that it is close to the speed of sound. Keep in mind speed that they are flying is nearly only one-half of the aircraft's maximum speed. I direct your judgment to the right as the super hornet approaches accelerating towards the speed of sound. Coming out of the speeds from the cockpit you heard 625 miles per hour and again only half the speed capability of the aircraft. Piles now pull the aircraft into the vertical and quickly point the jet back to the earth to reorientate for the next maneuver the vertical... Stop, slow down, vertical, pirouette, easy for you to say. Entering the maneuver at 350 miles per hour they'll pull the jet to the vertical, roll the canopy towards the crowd selecting full afterburner, the airspeed will slow to 220 miles an hour and they'll perform a very enjoyable negative G push over and set up for the vertical pirouette. As they pull the nose up watch how the aircraft swaps from nose high to nose low rapidly pointing back towards the ground. Ladies and gentlemen the super hornet vertical pirouette. Now the aircraft will be setting up for my favorite maneuver it's called the square loop or the box in the sky. Selecting afterburner as the jet approaches their show center they will reposition the nose four times while flying a square box through the sky. The maneuver is an air crew favorite as the rhino approaches from your right they will accelerate the aircraft to 450 miles per hour at an altitude of 500 feet approaching show center they'll roll the aircraft inverted, reduce power to idle and hold level attitude. Ladies and gentlemen from your right the inverted. The tenants Jeeves and Hudson are setting up for the high of a pass. This maneuver will showcase the incredible slow speed handling characteristics of the super hornet. Sometimes the aircraft with the ability to fly the slowest will have the advantage in air to air combat as the potential adversary may be forced to fly in front of the fighter thus becoming defensive. Few other aircraft in the world would attempt this maneuver at this slow speed a nose high attitude. The 40,000 pound FAA-18 Hornet remains completely controllable at less than 100 miles per hour with the two digital flight control computers aiding the air crew. From your left we'll go to the cockpit for the super hornet high alpha pass. Ladies and gentlemen watch as Jeeves and Hudson roll the aircraft inverted point right back to the earth set up for the next maneuver. The aircraft will be approaching from your right. The air crew will demonstrate the incredible pitch authority of the super hornet approaching show center. They'll roll the aircraft 90 degrees angle of bank and abruptly pull away from the crowd showcasing the rhino's ability to change direction quickly. Now setting up for the touch and go landing as they circle the land they'll ensure the gear locks in the down position. The flaps are extended to an enhanced lift at the slower speed required for the landing. Once lined up with a runway or in the groove they'll slow the on speed angle of attack which is how Navy tail hook aircraft determine their landing speed. This on speed AOA correctly positions the aircraft's hook to engage a wire aboard a nuclear aircraft carrier at sea. After the touch and go the aircraft accelerates a few feet above the ground to reach its minimum vertical speed. Whether to quickly climb out of a forward deployed air base or expeditiously get altitude out of surface to air missile range they'll pull back out of the controls stick the aircraft nearly to the vertical position. Now the two aircraft that you saw earlier are going to get back into position as we get ready for the FAA-18 T2 legacy flight. As America progresses through the 21st century it becomes increasingly important that we reflect on our nation's proud history, people, events, and technological advances which have made our country great by remembering, appreciating, and fully understanding the touchstones of our past will we be able to successfully chart the course for America's future. With this thought in mind Commander Naval Forces developed the Tail Hook Legacy Flight a dynamic flight demonstration program designed to keep naval aviation's ties to its proud heritage alive and viable. Under this program vintage warbirds from naval aviation's past are flown alongside the high tech weaponry representative of present day naval carrier aviation. Through these unique formation flight demonstrations we hope to provide inspiration for the men and women who currently serve attracting the best and brightest of the next generation of young Americans to join the future ranks of naval aviation. During World War II the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway the full capabilities of Navy tactical air power began to be realized it was from this time that the course of naval carrier aviation changed forever although it has been nearly 80 years since the conclusion of World War II Navy tactical aviation has transformed in many different ways. Today the T2 Buckeye will be leading the Tail Hook Legacy Flight although the T2 Buckeye has never seen combat it has been the backbone for Navy and Marine Corps tactical jet crew training starting back in 1959 it has served as a stepping stone to esteemed aircraft such as the F-4 the F-14 for naval aviators Officially retired in 2008 the Navy T2 Buckeye has been in service for 15 years Every tactical jet naval aviator from the Vietnam War to the global war on terror has flown the T2 Buckeye During the course of the air show season different aircraft will alternatively participate in Tail Hook Legacy Flight flyovers The pilots who fly these vintage war birds joined the Tail Hook Legacy Flight program on a strictly volunteer basis Please take a moment to stop by and visit them after the show and thank them for sharing naval aviation history with us here today We invite you now to turn around and look up as the Legacy Flight passes directly overhead or the split break aircraft that are going to be coming back here and by the way you'll see that some of our performers I would say mostly the civilians may not be landing here after their performance either going to make it back home or try to get towards home or position over to the Ogden Airport for an early morning departure getting back to their home bases or their next air show destination so number of aircraft in the air some of which have to land others getting ready to take off others taxing out heading for another location and remember if you're purchasing a gift for yourself you have come to the right place wearing apparel high quality great prices we don't pay mall rents only at air shows are these items offered it is great for you and if you're looking for shopping for an upcoming occasion a birthday and anniversary or a graduation or as Super Dave Olmsted likes to say 182 days until Christmas not so early Christmas shopping just as Dave said remember where you put it over the top once again this is the place to do your shopping and if hunger is once eating you you've come to the right place as well your favorite air show food item is here your favorite beverage is here the T2 Buckeye is landing and rolling out Brad Wilson is ready to take off the FAA teens ready to come in and land we have a busy sky and while we're doing all that if you have to make a run to the facilities you can do that now and get back quickly for the next bit of variety the job of naval aviators not complete until their aircraft is back aboard its floating pole look at the aircraft he's looking out the left and right side of the canopy at the horizon to maintain an angle that he is trying to desire from straight up now straight down after a series of rolls pull up to the vertical roll the aircraft one quarter roll another quarter roll a third quarter roll the four point ascending vertical climb smoke goes off vertical reverse the hammer head the snack roll on the descending line twice alright pulling back on the stick to a grueling six times the force of gravity at least the aircraft stops shifts into reverse backs up on the tail recovering with the weight of the nose and the prop and the pilot maintaining controls to a nose down attitude what you're seeing is a choreographed sky dance these are just not random maneuvers that are thrown together they are rehearsed they are practiced to be able without a break to do the turnarounds in the stage area to do the maneuvers in the stage area and but to have the altitude and the speed to do the next maneuver that is planning it's a unique sky dance that each one of these pilots do differently based on their favorite maneuvers based on the capability of the aircraft and based on how the pilot feels about the whole routine this sky dance is unique from all others Brad Worston is the dedicated pilot stamp rolling the aircraft multiple stamp roll you should call that maneuver the flick roll it takes about as long to get around and snap it your finger Brad is working with the Ryan P. Pohl Foundation it's a youth program to elevate your life it's founded by air show performer our late friend Greg Pohl as a result of a tragic drug related death of his son Ryan J. Pohl foundation mission statement utilize aviation to inspire, motivate, and provide a path for young people to realize their dreams the encouragement that these people receive to follow their dreams has truly been a lifelong dream of this man Brad Worston some of the maneuvers are gyroscopic maneuvers the airplane takes a tremendous speeding for that reason they are comprised of space age materials they are light but not flimsy continuous high G both negative and positive on the aircraft take its toll on most aircraft but with space age materials as Brad does a little dance on the runner spins it off on top smoke deliberately off looking back for his line brain is racing 400 miles an hour where am I what position am I in where do I need to go next this comes after many many lonely hours of rehearsal usually with a ground crew member on the ground and a camera half roll then gyroscopic turn around then force the airplane to fly it does not want to fly it wants to mush you can see the smoke billowing up behind the aircraft Brad right there got some buffeting in the cockpit because the wing is telling him I can't fly you're forcing me to do something I don't want to do all right dynamite and Danny is on discreet Brad are you on discreet all right Brad Rick Myers and I are ready for you all right from the ground level watch for him to gain altitude put the airplane on the side and gain altitude while sliding from right to left rolling the aircraft off the top at minimum speed then descending for two lengths of the airplane and then looking down at the pyro field Rick Myers is pyro's technique crew the guy out there on the bill I think they shouldn't be there well we always get intruders but be nice to them they have let's say they have made their presence known earlier today be careful well that's Rick Myers on the ground it's like a matador waving the red flag oh wait Brad Thurston laid down a bomb wait who's bombing who smoke rings in the sky right through the ring Brad Thurston right on the target right on the bullseye little friendly rivalry between Rick Myers the guy they call Sarge and his experience crew with over 150 hours 150 years that is a pyro technique experience again through the smoke rings in the sky these guys are just having fun that's all they're doing it's all about fun and they're sharing that fun with you friendly rivalry Brad with a knife edge pass laying the aircraft on the fuselage one wing up one wing down spoiling the lift of those wings lying on the fuselage in a ballistic pattern much like a bullet does Brad's been cleared for landing and again to keep you entertained alright Brad Thurston in his MX wowing the crowd a lot of pyro techniques Dan Hawkins alongside Matt Gephardt and Matt it has been a lot of fun lots of great acts and we still got some really great acts coming up it has been so cool to be out here and watching this stuff and those of the F-14's F-18's the F-18 that was flying over I mean you know they're loud right anybody who lives in the shadow of Hill Air Force Base knows that these things are loud right there as they're you know buzzing for lack of a better word buzzing the crowd and stuff I mean it is impossible not to get goosebumps absolutely we want to bring in our next guest Staff Sergeant Jeremy Hansen an Air Force recruiter he's based in Salt Lake City so just down the road here from Ogden, Utah and an Air Transportation Specialist by trade right yes sir alright so tell us a little bit about yourself and your Air Force story so I am actually from Salt Lake I grew up in Riverton and then I joined when I was about 24 years old ended up with Germany as my first assignment so I ended up staying there for five years I did Air Transportation which is helping load and unload cargo and pastures on aircraft and then after that they sent me to Virginia traveled up and down the East Coast and then I became a recruiter and I'm based out of Taylorsville you are a recruiter yes sir make the sales bitch so the big thing with the Air Force is you know we are able to help people get a good solid career get them a lot of benefits help pay for education and get them in a solid trajectory for their life you know even if they serve four years or 24 years it really helps them to get on a good path for their career field so obviously there's a lot of different ways or paths you can take whether it's you know joining the Air Force enlisted which is what you handle but there's also different paths for officers even professionals right like lawyers doctors etc you know can you just kind of maybe just give a broad overview of of maybe kind of the different paths that people can take and then maybe focus in specifically on enlistment specifically yeah absolutely so yeah we have two major aspects of the Air Force we have enlisted we have officer and we have civilian for enlisted it really just requires a high school education and then for officer you have to have a bachelor's degree that's the bare minimum it still takes a lot to get it from there and then our civilian force we wouldn't be anywhere without them because they they stay out afterwards where we are constantly moving from one base to another so they kind of help with continuity and making sure we have everything go on every throughout our our bases and everything you mentioned that there's lots of different jobs I mean really almost every civilian job in some aspect it becomes part of the Air Force and so much of the Air Force is civilian but I would imagine in your recruiting role you get a lot of people we interviewed what a great job we have we've been interviewed fighter pilots all morning right for every one of them there's you know 15, 20, 30 men and women absolutely on the tarmac I would imagine people who walk into your office and say to a certain extent say I want to fly that is the minority not the majority not only 4% of the Air Force actually flies the other 96% stay on the ground to support them from various roles of aircraft mechanics to the cyber people to medical to our personalities and our finance people everyone has a position and we need to have all those positions to make sure we're able to support our air mission you're one of the major employers here it's funny every time my civilian job go out and I conduct interviews you know I meet people every day who work on the air for oh do you know so it's like you just play third largest city or something like that I mean it's a major thing up here it is a major operation it's a major mission yeah I mean we have I believe 300 some odd thousand people in the Air Force for active duty alone we also have our reserve counterparts and our national guard counterparts that work part time and then our civilian force so we have a very large amount of people and it we get at that a lot you know people ask us oh hey do you know so-and-so and you know there's probably several you know tens of thousands of people stationed at Hill Air Force base and it's hard to know them all so true story yeah I got recruited out of a small high school in Iowa three of my classmates joined the Air Force alongside with me my recruiter was actually security forces he was a staff sergeant fast forward 10 years I'm stationed at Osan Korea and who's the mass sergeant flight chief that I work for in the same cop squad my recruiter true story I'm not making awesome is it is it Dan is it a brotherhood I mean I imagine in the military and you see the movies right it's brotherhood the sisterhood within a unit within a barracks what have you but one thing about the military is it is it breaks up right it's you know you'll be in my neighbor you know was in Salt Lake City for two and a half years working here at Hill Air Force base and now he's you know and it's is it but everyone is working towards the same mission of national security talk about the brother both the brotherhood the sisterhood of being in the armed forces well I think a big part of it is everyone has gone through the same thing you have you know all the enlisted forces gone through basic training they've gone through that experience for our officers they've gone through field training or the academy or OTS officer training school so everyone has that foundation that we can fall on and then as well you know everybody's gone through similar experiences we've gone through a move through the military we've gone through our tech school training you know we've gone through all these experiences and had to deal with the same things so it absolutely helps pull us together and you you know when I moved from Germany I did a cross-country trip and I just found a bunch of friends that had been stationed all across the US and was able to stay at their places overnight you know as I'm doing that trip and I didn't have to use hotels and he was able to catch up with a bunch of people there's a recruitment tool right there save money on VRBOs absolutely the P-51 Mustang Korean War era plane wowing the crowd here at the Warriors over the Wasatch we're here with Staff Sergeant Jeremy Hansen an Air Force recruiter based in Salt Lake City almost near the end of his recruiter tour about to go back to the operational Air Force as an air transportation specialist but Jeremy we talked about and we touched on it some of those benefits that you talked about but what are some of the things that an Air Force career can provide men and women who enlist absolutely so one of the big things with enlisting is we have the community college of the Air Force and that actually has a degree plan tied to every single career field in the Air Force so that is something that you know you come in you get college credit just for learning how to do your job and then you know you end up only being usually five classes away from running your associate's degree and you're able to use tuition assistance to pay for all that so you're not having to pay any out of pocket expenses I ended up racking up $20,000 in student loans before I joined the Air Force because I made the mistake of going to a college you know and paying for that out of my own pocket so that was one of the really big things and then you know we get 30 days of vacation that is paid every year that you're able to use for traveling and you know things like that so you really need to go tour through Europe, tour through the East Coast and then come home for any of those events that we had going on you know weddings and you know things like that. There's a theme that I've noticed this morning as we've interviewed fighter pilots they remember being five, six, seven, eight, nine years old and attending an event like this. Is this a recruitment tool? Is this a productive recruitment tool? Are you getting people signing up as they walk off the base today? We're going to talk about those benefits. We're going to plant that seed and then if they have that interest they can definitely reach out. We have areas where they can put their information in but for the most part we're here just to let people know that we're here and talk to them about those benefits and see if it's something they want to learn more about at a later point. I wanted to go back to one of those benefits because Sergeant Zaniga actually brought it up yesterday and I think it's a great combination of benefits in the GI Bill but it's actually something like with tuition assistance it's one of those benefits that you can actually transfer to members of your family. Absolutely. Yes, we have the Post 9-11 GI Bill. This is something that is basically it's over $100,000 scholarship and it helps pay for housing so it pays for college dorm and stuff like that and so if you're in the Air Force you're using your tuition assistance it'll pay all the way up to and so if you end up not needing to use that GI Bill they'll allow you to transfer that to a spouse or any kids so you can help pay for their college. If you have one kid it can pay for four years of school, you have two kids it can pay for an associate's fee for each, you have three kids maybe decide if you love one a little bit more or try and find some way to divide it up evenly but it's definitely something that's really beneficial if you end up getting all your education paid for while you're in the Air Force. So my wife is retired from both used tuition assistance we were able to put our daughter through engineering school at Texas A&M and it got her through four years of college at Texas A&M and we didn't have to pay for her tuition and all those things and housing and dorm yep it was paid for through this great benefit that we were able to utilize from our service so that's a real life example Texas A&M is not cheap it's a great school for caring and the G.I. Bill took care of it. Yeah it pays 100% of any public in-state tuition and if it's private or out of state then it's capped it changes every year last I checked is like $26,000 a year so it ends up being well over $100,000 scholarship plus you get your housing you get a book stipend you know to help pay for those books since those are super expensive and it's definitely something that's really beneficial. Can anybody do it? Do I have to be I'm supposed to be a pilot I have to be a certain height but anything can anybody anybody who's watching right now I wouldn't work in the Air Force on 41 and overweight or is there a job for me so there is a cut off of 39 to be able to join the actual military aspect of the Air Force we do have the civilian service that can hire at any point and then there are height and weight requirements there's medical requirements you know if you're having a lot of medical issues and that's something that we have a hard time dealing with with the military side because you have to work hard to be able to deploy and things like that but if you're curious on whether you're qualified without any commitment aspect of it you're able to reach out to any recruiting office and they can run through that pre-qualification and find out if there's anything major that prevent you from joining the Air Force and there are a lot of things that people think are disqualifying that are either waverable or are no longer an issue like pre-service drug use and I know that's a really common thing that a lot of people think they aren't able to join if they've done that and that is something beautiful shots there from our second audio visual squad and crew of the P-51 Mustang and Sergeant Hanson obviously we've talked a lot about enlistment but I wanted to just touch on Air Force Special Warfare because you actually have a program where people interested in those career fields can be physically developed before they actually ever join the Air Force and go to BMT just maybe touch on that with our Special Warfare program it is a very difficult program that we are trying to get the elite and so to try and prevent people from not being physically or mentally capable of going through those technical training programs we have this program called Development where we're going to work with you before you leave for basic training and help get you mentally and physically prepared to be able to go into those training pipelines and minimize the chances that you're not going to make it through and we actually have a developer in our local area he came into the Air Force under tactical air control party TACP cross trained over to combat control and served for 26 years and he works along with our Special Warfare recruiter to make sure that you are as capable as possible that they're really confident that you're going to be able to succeed through your training and prepare you all before you even leave for basic training Is this a 24-7 if I'm a member of the Air Force is it a 24-7 gig? It's 24-7 in the aspect that you have to be available for duty at that point but you're really just working your shifts you're going to be coming in 7-4 or maybe you do some swing shifts or some night shifts but really you're working 5 days a week 40-45 hour weeks and your time off is your own when you are done with work you will go back to your room you can sit there and play Xbox or you can go out and travel I chose the latter when I was in Germany and I hit all the countries bordering Germany plus Italy, Ireland and Sweden and most of that was all my time off my weekends I used my vacation time to come home Let me give you another fun fact the Air Force believe it or not has a gaming community the Air Force gaming team and they actually just competed in the DoD Armed Forces eSports championships I mean there's a lot of cool things about the Air Force that really would appeal to our younger folks Yeah we have the eSports we have regular sports and all of it you know we have various levels of it so we have you know different squadron units where it's really low level and then we have base level units and we have Air Force level units where they're playing against other branches so really you know if you're really good you can get work your way up to those other levels but yeah it's definitely something that we have it for all aspects So is that all work in no play? No no no that's right well to that end though what are you a family man sir? Yes I have a wife, two dogs right now Congratulations good luck What's it like having a family? So having a family it can be a little difficult at times you know here I am on a Sunday when normally I'm at home and with the family Tell us about it Yeah exactly but you know having that 30 days of vacation, having your guaranteed pay check having a housing allowance that helps pay for housing especially in this difficult housing market all those things really make it beneficial and then not to touch on or not to forget about our medical the health insurance for the Air Force is free we don't pay any diamond to it, we don't pay for prescriptions we don't pay copays, deductibles all that is covered and we don't have to worry about anything you know if we end up having a kid we don't have to worry about any hospital bills for them Does it take a certain amount of courage to do this job? I think there's a lot more courage stepping up than it is to actually go through it it's really hard to get that confidence to go and talk to a recruiter pick up that phone call to go onto the website put in your information and it is really stressful to think about going to basic training or officer training school or things like that but once you get there these programs designed to help people succeed we aren't there to try and fail people out of these programs we want them to succeed and so as you're going through your training everything there is to help push you forward not hold you back civilian freeloader here one of the things that I know most of what I know from the movies and it is drill sergeants and I know that's army but it is intimidating some of what we see in pop culture but it is also an encouraging atmosphere to go through I suppose any branch of the military but your experience with the air force yeah so in basic training you can get yelled at the thing that I realize though is they are not yelling at you yes it is directed at you but really they are speaking loud enough so everybody learns that lesson if you make a mistake they don't want everybody to keep making that mistake so they are going to speak loud enough so 60 people can hear and not repeat that same mistake later on and the first two weeks of basic training is the worst because you are making all these mistakes you don't know what you are supposed to be doing and so as you make those mistakes and stop making them it gets easier and you also kind of get used to it when you first go to high school it is super overwhelming by the time you are a senior you are sitting back and able to just walk through it and it is the same thing with basic training and there is a great series out on youtube it was done by the third audio visual squadron it is called basic and you can actually go watch it on youtube if you just google it up and it will take you from day one to day two and it was shot two years ago some of it was during covid it is really up to date and really gives you a solid picture of what is going on in basic training today and it actually follows a few people through some people make it, some people don't but you get to see their story and see what happened and get that experience and help prepare you for it something that didn't exist when I went through are you able to tell that guy that gal is going to make it so when people walk into my office as bad as it sounds the first thing I am doing is looking them up and down and see hey you are probably outside of height and weight standards but the majority of people that go through do make it like I said the program is designed to have to get people through it is very rare that somebody doesn't make it most of the time it is due to pre-existing issues that flare up medical issues that are found while they are there it is very rare for somebody to fail out because of not cutting it for the physical aspect of it or not passing the academic portion because they are designed to get people through yeah so tons of great information and there is a lot of different ways that people can reach out not just physically in the office can you talk about some of the ways so we have airforce.com that is our official recruiting website on there they have you can throw in your zip code you can find out a recruiter they have a chat they have a 1-800 number or you can even just go to google and find on google maps we have all recruiting offices located on there with phone numbers where you can talk to a direct recruiter there is a lot of different ways you can reach out to your recruiter or to somebody involved in the recruiting process to start answering some of those questions we certainly appreciate your time today and best of luck as you transition back to the operational airforce but thanks for what you do for our nation thank you. good to meet you alright you see the great pictures of Paul Strickland flying and fun fact Matt the current pilot out there flying that aircraft right now Paul Strickland used to be an Air Force Thunderbird really? yeah so pretty cool he is actually a pilot now for Southwest Airlines and so he has over 3,000 hours in military aircraft obviously including the F-16 but also the A-10 so pretty cool stuff alright so next time my southwest flight catches a couple of G's I can just assume that it's Mr. Strickland behind the Y-yoke I was just going to say I had a couple of flights recently that now it all kind of comes together you can often it's like you or a fighter pilot makes a ton of sense so you can see the great pictures of the crowd and look at that crowd I still continue to file it kind of the same flight passage yesterday as the day went on and we got closer to the Thunderbirds the headlining act the little blank spaces that are getting fewer and far further between filled up. yeah well there's no bad seat in the house because you know unlike a stage show everything's happening above you or I suppose like a stage show right there's no bad seat in the house everything's happening to your you would call it north to your above and it's I gotta tell you this is my first air show and as the F-18s were flying over top gun music playing through the PA system and it really doesn't do justice to just how noisy these things can be the whole earth shakes I mean it feels like an earthquake the hair on my arms is still standing up it's really a cool experience out here well I'm really glad you enjoyed your day with us I know Dan Spindles come out ready to come on and take your leave but any parting thoughts before you head out thank you, thank you to you nice to meet you thank you to the Air Force it's really a cool experience out here when they asked if I was available to do it sure this sounds fun in my mind I underestimated how fun this really we had an hour break a minute ago and I just stood out there with my mouth catching flies in my mouth with my jaw just watching these things go around it's really a cool experience thank you to you, thank you to the Air Force thank you to KSL for giving me a job that allows me to have this kind of experience I feel very grateful let's learn a little bit more about how officers can be recruited into the Air Force the Gold Bar program is pretty unique because it offers newly commissioned second lieutenants a one year special duty purely focused on recruiting for Air Force ROTC now the Gold Bars are able to get outside of the university and reach out into the local community that focused on proctoring tests volunteering helping on the base and heading up base events as well this has allowed us to now utilize Air Force recruiting services to where we can better reach out to the community through local community involvement events through reaching high schools and universities and by collaborating to conduct total force recruiting efforts if you aspire to be something look out for a mentor someone who can guide you along the way and be that visible person for someone in the future