 Welcome back to Think Tech, the military in Hawaii and the 2pm on Thursday. Here we are. And we're talking about the Hawaii Air National Guard. Let's take a look at the Hawaii Air National Guard. It's important that we understand our military, what's here, what's there, how they operate, what they like as people. Ooh, important. Okay, so we have today Kevin Horton. He's on the left side of the screen. And we have Paul Lopez. He's on the right side of the screen. And can give us your ranks, you guys, because I can't read it from here. Hey, Jay, well, thanks for, thanks for having us here today. We're so glad to be with you. You got Lieutenant Colonel Horton on the, on the left side and then Lieutenant Colonel Lopez on the right side here. We represent the 15th and 154th wing of the Hawaii Air National Guard and the active duty Air Force Station at Hickam Air Force Base. So does that mean you're active duty or are you part time? Great question. So we are both. Loco is what he, we got to call him Loco. They call me Magoo. We are, he is active duty and I am a Guardsman stationed here in Hawaii. So we work together as a total force team. That's what we call TFI. So we really kind of leverage the strengths of both of the organizations to provide air power to the United States Air Force, wherever they need us anytime, anyplace. Okay. Gee, I'm so curious. So you're in flight suits, it looks like. And that means you're ready to stand up and you might stand up right in the middle of the show and dash off for a flight. Am I right? You're ready to go, aren't you? We're ready to go. If the screen goes blank, you'll know what happened. We got called to duty and we'll be back with you when we can. Okay. So what, what aircraft are you qualified on? Big ones, little ones, medium sized ones? Right, Loco. Yep. So here at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam and then primarily at Hickam Air Force Base, we have F-22 Raptors, fighter jets. We also have KC-135 tankers that we do air refueling with. We also have C-17 globe masters to help us get that global reachable logistics across the world. And we also have C-37s for DV airlift as well. Are you qualified on all of those? That'd be something, wouldn't it? I think that'd be awesome. I think that the concept of the flight to where if you're, whatever you're flying, if you pull back, the airplane goes up, if you push forward, the airplane goes down, you move your left hand forward, the plane goes faster, pull it back, it goes slower. So I think, I think we probably could fly all the airplanes, but both of us are current and qualified in the F-22 Raptor. Oh, the Raptor, wow, that, you know, wow. A couple of thoughts about that. You know, I knew, I knew a fellow who was a pilot, the International Guard, and he said those things go straight up, like 90 degrees straight up into the sky, straight up vertical. Is that true? We can absolutely do that. We generally hold about 60 degrees, no high on takeoff at the maximum, but it's amazing airplane. Coco was the demonstration pilot for the F-22 to the United States Air Force. So he had the honor and privilege of being able to fly across the nation in air shows. So he's one of the most capable pilots in this, in this airplane. We can do that type of stuff. You know, pardon me, but I do have a lot of questions for you, Paul. Or is it Lopo, Lopo? Loco, Loco. Loco. I was trying to be nice. So what you'd like to fly in an air show, you have to be very precise and you know, you have to have a good night's sleep beforehand and be very totally alert, right? Yes, sir. That's right, Jay. And I'll tell you what, it is just pure exhilaration. The cool thing is that you find that you're embedded with a team of phenomenal airmen from our total force service, from Air National Guard Airmen to reservists to active duty airmen that come together to showcase American air power. One of the cool things about being on the demonstration teams that you get a chance to share, not only your own story, but also the story of other airmen, you know, like Lieutenant Colonel Horton or from our PA Airmen, from our Security Forces Defenders, and more importantly, for the maintainers who truly have a near and dear place to any operator's heart, because without them we wouldn't have airplanes to fly. And Kevin, no, it's not Kevin, it's, what's your nickname again? They call me Madhu. Madhu. This is like, it's like Tom Cruise, you get a special name, right? What do you guys have a special name? We don't get the cool call signs though. They name us whatever they want to name us. So do you fly these planes, these planes are fighters, aren't they? Absolutely, yeah, absolutely. So we have, we have 24 F-22 stations for Harbor Hickam. Obviously, we work in the Indo-Pacific theater, but they are fighter planes, they're the most capable airplanes in the world, and they really are an amazing feat of American technology. It represents a lot for us personally. Obviously, we take great pride in them, how they maintain them and how we fly with them is a big portion of what we do, but we're really here working for you and the state of Hawaii. So that's, that's really our mission and we take a lot of pride in it. And obviously, we enjoy having such a capable airplane, but we're here as citizens and as military members supporting the national defense strategy and doing whatever we can to make this country the best we can. Well, we want you to do that, especially now. You know, I think anybody who watches the Ukraine conflict, I shouldn't say conflict, I'll just say invasion, that's what I'll say, knows how important fighter planes are. If we didn't know before, we certainly learned over the past few weeks how much in demand they are and the kinds of things they can do and the kinds of things they can do to stop the other guy. So I think the world has taken note over the last few weeks about the importance and the high-tech qualities and systems on fighter plane. So you said that the Raptor is the best fighter in the world, is it better than the Russian fighters? Oh, absolutely. I mean, we definitely take a lot of pride in our jet being the best. Just to highlight on that last point that you made it, I think sometimes we forget that American air superiority is something we earned. So the last time that any troops took any type of attack from the air in the United States Air Forces, April 15, 1953. So as fighter pilots, that's something that we take very, very seriously. And air superiority is crucial in the type of campaign that we have. And it's certainly one of the strengths of the United States Air Force and our pilots are very well equipped, we're very well trained, and we certainly are looking, we are ready to do whatever tasking that we're asked by the United States Air Force and the Indo-Pacific region. Well, who knows what will happen, you know? Hopefully nothing like that. We're ready. Yeah, well, but you know, but there's all these threats coming from Russia, and of course, the administration doesn't want to get into a shooting war, but the reality is that remains a possibility. So you can wake up in the morning one morning and get a special call, and you might have to go east fast. The 15th and the 154th wing is ready for our nation's call whenever that may come. And hopefully, obviously, we don't want that to happen, but we're ready whenever we're needed. So one thing that interests me is, you know, there are all kinds of variations on the seam about how you would get these, you know, migs that are somehow around Europe into Ukraine. And I say to myself, or even from Latin America, I say to myself, gee, does a fighter plane have a kind of range? Can you cross the world in a fighter plane? Oh, by the way, I remember during Vietnam, Zaps Latiper, a Navy pilot and Admiral, he was very senior Admiral, he's retired, of course, now. We asked him, I think it was on, yeah, it was on July 4th, we celebrated July 4th, and we said, what's the most extraordinary experience you ever had as a fighter plane pilot? And he said, well, they told me to ferry a fighter plane from the east coast of Vietnam, and I did. I guess he had to stop on the west coast or somewhere, because I didn't think the range was that far. He said, as I was crossing the country, following the sun at sunset, and it was getting dark into the evening as I was flying, I could see below me the fireworks all across the country. It was like watching the biggest fireworks display you could ever imagine in your whole life. He said, it touched my heart as I watched all these cities and towns all along the way doing their fireworks on July 4th. Never forget that. What a story that was. But it opens the question of, how far can you fly with a fighter plane? You can't fly around the world, right? Got that one. So fighter jets come with just like cars where you may have a large fuel tank or a small fuel tank, but I think one of the cool things about being in the military, as well as with our sister services, is that we all have tankers that help extend the range for the fighter jets. So a fighter jet can typically fly anywhere from about 500 to 1200 miles before they'll need to land and get gas, or they can stay here more for an extended period of time. For example, we have the ability to do global reach, global power and global logistics to fly all the way from here to Japan, which is like 10 to 11 hours in the jet, which is a couple of thousand miles. So that's just part of the capability that we're able to bring to the fight. Oh, that's really, that's important. So that if you, if you had to go to a distant theater, you could go without too much trouble. Might have to land somewhere for fuel. Sorry, say. Oh, we actually have the tanker squadron that's located here at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam. They can provide air air capability. So we refuel airborne and can go unlimited amount of range based on their ability to refuel us. So what's it like flying a fighter plane? It must be one of the most thrilling experiences in the world. You probably say every second to yourself, you're saying, what a blessing that I, I'm a human being who can do this. I'm one in 100,000 that can actually do this thing. It must be a real thrill, eh? I'll let local cover that one, but I'll tell you that we are very blessed. Go for it. Yeah, I would say it's just a humbling opportunity. You know, it's definitely a privilege and an honor to put on this uniform. I like to refer to it as like putting on our superhero outfit and turning into Superman or superwoman because we have men and women from various backgrounds that are privileged to serve our country and to be a part of the team and to fulfill our role flying these high performance multi-million dollar airplanes and train that way we're ready as Mugu talked about being ready whenever our nation calls on us to execute the mission. But I mean, we think about it like we're able to fly faster than the speed of sound in flying fighter jets, you know, which means you're able to go faster than 10 miles a minute. And that was a big deal back in the day when Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, but every time we fly we have the ability to go faster than the speed of sound. But then also we have our air refueling pilots where they are flying around and they are extending our ability to do more training airborne by passing us gas in the air. And I think when you think about that, you have two airplanes going about 350 miles an hour about four miles high in the sky and transferring gas through a boom from one aircraft to another. I'm like, that is amazing. And not only do we do that in the daytime, Jay, we do that in the nighttime. And also we do that in the nighttime in the clouds, which is like, well, you know, a pretty crazy environment. But then we'd also have the ability to integrate with our C-17 warfighters as well and get a chance to learn about their missions, to where they get fly low, fly fast, do assault landings or even drop down their ramp and get that unobstructed, unopposed view of the world while sending out some of our sister's members, sending the army out the back, sending tanks out the back during air drops and doing the things of that nature. Or even getting a chance to see that premier service in flight with our DB airlift team of the 65th Airlift Squadron. So it's just amazing. Not only flying the airplane, but realizing the team that we're a part of. You know, if you ever feel lonesome up there, would you give me a call? I'll come up and sit behind you, okay? Yes, sir. I might not be able to help, but I'll sure be enthusiastic. I'll tell you that. So how often do you have to train to stay current? How often do you have to train to be up on it and ready? Our training program is robust and certainly our young pilots, they'll fly up to like 15 times a month just because it takes a lot of repetition. It's like a professional sport in a lot of ways as I describe it, is the preparation that it takes, the teamwork, and then also the debrief. We'll focus an hour brief and discuss it. They'll probably have studied a couple of days or so before, and then there's the brief given for an hour, and then you go execute the mission. And then when you come back, it may be eight to 12 hours of just focusing in on the minutiae of that sortie to really get the most learning out of it. And the Air Force has a great technique for being able to teach us. And we have the longevity and the great instructors. We have the most instructors, pilots in the NEF-22 squadron, between the 19th and the 199th fighter squadron here on the Joint Base. So we really have a great ability, and it really just depends on your, on how old you are, how young you are, and get the fly as much as we're mostly talking to people like you and taking care of our airmen. But overall, we fly 15 times a month for the young pilots. How about your eyes? You know, if I was up there in the cockpit behind you, I don't think I could see very well because I'm old. But what happens when a pilot can't see as well as he used to see? We don't talk about sensitive subjects like that, especially we keep that stuff far away from us. You know, you could show up in the tarmac one day with some glasses on and see what the commander says. Yeah, that would be terrible. You know what's interesting, Jay, is that I think it's a testament to American air power and innovation and ingenuity because these aircraft that we fly are very sophisticated with modern technology and we have radars in the front of the fighter jet. So we have the ability to see other aircraft at a beyond visual range as well. One misconception is that you have to have 2020 eyesight to be, if you have any interest in flying to be in the military, but you don't. As long as your vision is correctable to 2020 weather, because we have pilot to fly wearing glasses and pilot to fly wearing lenses. So Freddie, any young people out there, young and old, a desire to want to be a part of the world's greatest air force, you know, we're looking for some members of your team. I think we're ready. Yeah, no, I'm ready. I'm ready. I'll go everywhere, everywhere, anywhere that the Air Force wants me to go. But just like you, but let me ask, I mean, you know, what are the general physical specs that the Air Force is going to require from a fighter pilot? It's not everybody qualifies. Is it better if I'm a big athlete? Is it better if I'm strong as an ox? Is it, you know, what do I need to be and do and study if I want to get the job? Great, great question. So really the main thing that is not a physical attribute is really your heart and your willingness to put in the effort. Because like I mentioned before, it is a professional sport in a lot of ways, and it takes a commitment. There's a lot of pulling the things that we get to do, but there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes that's just, you know, playing hard to do and a lot of work. And you have to be self-motivated, you have to be disciplined. And certainly the Air Force has a good way to get you there, but you have to have the desire and urge to get better every day. And not everyone's cut out for that to be able to say, hey, I could do better. Here's something I can improve on. And that's really the goodness of what the Air Force brings, because not only do we have that here, we have that across the industry of just airmen who want to be the best at what they do. Physically, there's a lot of variance that is acceptable, and they have a process in the beginning when you get, when you put your application in to see for qualified. You know, and most people are, to be honest, it's not as rigorous as one might think, but the training is very rigorous. And you really have to have a hard for it and a desire to serve your country and a desire to kind of sacrifice. And certainly it's not without sacrifice. And our families are really the ones who, you know, I think about my family and what they give me and how much they support us. And it isn't a super important aspect of it to have that complete concept, because the Ohanas and the families are not behind you. It's impossible to do our mission correctly. So hopefully that answered somewhat of your question, but it's pretty big. It's a pretty wide net overall. It does, but it also evokes a lot of other questions. So it's a true, it's a true that pilots, especially fighter pilots, are able to put their pants on one leg at a time. You got that one. Actually, we levitate into them. It's a different, you have to have a different mindset. And it's not, just while you're flying, it's in life. You have to see things differently. Am I right? It's a special profession that calls for a special lens, so to speak, on the world, on how you interact with the world and the machinery and then the country for that matter is true. I would definitely agree that it is a calling in the beginning. And then the Air Force kind of trains you to be able to do that. And you really need to be able to compartmentalize. That's probably the one and most important thing that I would say. And it is really a good aspect of just in life, because there's a lot of bad in the world. There's a lot of good in the world. And really how you choose to focus on that good and bad, it changes your perspective. So we're tall early on when we fail to forget it quickly because the airplane is not stopping for you to get that right. You are on to the next problem. So we certainly fail a lot when we get up quickly. And then you're quickly to forget it and keep that confidence that, hey, the next time you're going to do better and learn from that. And that corporate culture of just the Air Force is the way that we improve and the way the tenacity that we bring to it is really the difference that makes us a force to be reckoned with across the world. So I certainly do think it does change you. You certainly have to have a very unique view of life. A lot of that the Air Force gives you, but ultimately the desire to serve and the love for this country is what's going to drive you to that spot. Yeah, sometimes we forget how important patriotism is. I mean, as you mentioned, I was in the service. I carry that every day of my life. I'm so completely, totally patriotic. I know you guys ought to. So the question also is if you're a pilot, not only in the Air Force, but in the Navy as well, that distinguishes you for promotion. It distinguishes you for flag officer, doesn't it? I mean, in the Coast Guard, if you were a pilot, you were golden. You were on the way to heaven, literally. And so a lot of the flag officers were. Well, a lot of them were ship drivers, of course, but a good number of them were pilots. It was a great career track. Is that true in the Air Force too? No, Jay, I would say that starting out on the Air Force, you know, it all starts with the core values of excellence in all we do. And that's what the Air Force and Greens and all of our warfighters is that regardless of doing to the best of your ability and that's going to help make you competitive or promotion. You know, one of the couple of things in the Air Force, one of them being that our mission is to fly, fight and win in airspace and cyberspace. So it's all about how well are you executing the mission by doing your job? How well are you being a team player by leading the, how well are you managing resources? And are you improving the unit that you're a part of as well? I think that sometimes when people think about the Air Force, they think that all we do is fly. And, you know, one of those visual symbols is the fight suit. But nowadays, our pilots that are wearing the OCP uniform are, trying to think of what the OCP stands for, like operational camouflage pattern, uniform to fly as well. So now it's kind of changing that mental model. And it's no longer, there's nothing that gives you, that makes a pilot better than anybody else. We're all here because we want to be a part of the greatest team or serve the greatest Air Force. So everybody's important from the security forces defenders, the defending the gate, to the men and women that are cooking food in a dining facility. Because if your crew chief has a bad meal, they're going to be on the flight line. And you know, you want them to be happy when they're servicing airplane, you want your pilots to be happy to have a good, to have a great go to work out of that civil engineering they work in. So everybody's important and the Air Force great job in highlighting that everybody contributes to the team that no member of the team is important to anybody else because the sum of us as a team is greater than us as individuals. Yeah, I think that's one of the things that going to be on the final exam. Make sure your crew chief is happy. Make sure he's well fed. This is very, very important for your own, for your own job. So actually, you know, Loco, you were talking about operations, but you are the operations director of the wing, right? Can you talk about what it means to be operations director? Yep, so I'm one of the director of operations for the Hawaiian Raptors and Lieutenant Colonel Horan is one of the commanders for the Hawaiian Raptors. So the commander sets the vision and essentially I am helping to oversee and facilitate daily operations to ensure that we are aligning with the bosses in the commander's vision to look for individual readiness, unit readiness and training opportunities. So that includes making sure that four fighters are that we create an environment to remove any obstacles to their training to try to provide an environment that's going to have them prepared for our nation calls on us and that's across the organization for both wings and for all the other flying units as well as organization as a commander as well as our director of operations. How much of what Paul said do you agree with Kevin? Above what he's executing our vision and then I'm executing the wing commander's vision for the 15th and 15th fourth wing and they're working for the PACAF commander and the Indo-Pacific overall commander as well as the national defense strategy. That's really what makes this whole thing works is that we have a central vision, we have a mission, we have a plan and then everybody at each phase of this plan has to have their side of it and how they contribute to that and ultimately that is the vision that keeps us going without a vision that people perish and certainly we have great commanders, we have great leaders in this country. We are still the greatest nation in the world, we all have our problems but we are so proud to be Americans, we're so proud to serve this country and we really just take those that vision and turn it into how do we support that from the top down and that's really what makes it that's what makes the magic work. The teamwork together we take we put ourselves aside, we focus in on the team, we don't care who gets the credit for it between the 154th and 15th wing, that total force is really the only way it works is if we can put the mission first, put the vision at the top of that and then execute with vengeance and with a lot of enthusiasm. Whenever you're flying, whatever the aircraft is, you're up there and there's a certain risk that something will fail or you will fail and you'll be out of the sky and killed because I mean it's just it's not a compromise and so I wonder how you deal with that as a pilot or other pilots, how they deal with it. You know right now for example we see tremendous courage among the people you know in Ukraine and they will tell you they're going to fight no matter what and it doesn't matter if they get killed. How do you deal with that if you're up there in the sky and you're at risk all the time the whole time you're flying how do you deal with that? I think one key word Jay is trust. You know every day we come to work trusting and knowing in our heart of hearts that everyone who plays a part in the team to get those airplanes airborne has done their job to the best of their ability that they're competent, they're knowledgeable and they've been trained correctly and that they are not going to cut corners but follow the TO and adhere to the guidance and sometimes there are times where we do have to take some operational risk to achieve the mission but before we accept that risk we look at how are we going to mitigate that risk or how are we going to transfer that risk. I think every pilot doesn't think about getting killed when they fly because there's inherent risk in everything you do I mean even if you want to ride your bike on the sidewalk or walking across the street there's a chance that something may happen from a wayward driver so we're fine we believe that we are sitting on the best ejection seats that the industry has to offer and that those those ejection seats have been serviced and maintained by our phenomenal egress equipment technicians and our aircrew flight equipment specialists so in your worst case scenario on your worst day if you do have to eject out of the aircraft you know due to safety reasons or to preserve your own life that you believe that that equipment is going to keep you safe to get you on the ground safely or get you in the water safely as well. Yeah well that really that does answer my question I had one other question I wanted to pose to you and that is we have two wings here don't we have the 15th wing and we have the 154th wing of the Hawaii Air National Guard and it reminds me of when I asked you the difference between 1971 and 2022 you were immediate you did the math so if I do the math between the 15th wing and the 154th wing I get a difference of 139 I get a difference of 139 so what happened to the other 139 wings I need to know where they went. That's a great question I'm sure there's going to be a congressional inquiry into that we'll figure the missing 139 wings. Why are they named that way? You know that's a great question I don't know the answer to that I know from the from the 15th wing obviously they are an active duty wing Colonel Dobbles is commander here on the Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam and then we have the 154th wing with Brigadier Brigadier General Carlson is the hang of the 154th wing commander so the 154th wing in itself is the guard unit here and we are actually the largest international guard wing in the entire nation we have about 2,500 people we certainly do support the state with our reporting to the governor and then we're also ready for federal service if needed to by the President of the United States so and then the 15th wing those are active duty servicemen and women who are stationed here and they cycle in and out but we work together as a team because there's a lot of strengths that we can leverage from both of us i.e. that they have a lot of of excited people a lot of energy that comes in we also have a lot of people that have been here a long time that can help train those new airmen that may show up with a new a new task and then they also have a lot of support from the from PACF here so it really is a it is a teamwork situation a total force it is some work but it is worth it because of this transfer we bring to the game and it really is not a difficult problem if you can keep that mission that we talked about in mind things kind of just solve themselves so what is an ace i have a question here i'm gonna add what is an ace and why is it important is that an ace pilot like in world war one or is it something else important i know you got this i know you're both ace pilots i know that yeah yep and for the viewers out there they may be wondering what is an ace well an ace in aerial combat is once you shoot down five aircraft and you become an ace but in the air force that term ace is an acronym for agile combat employment and it's kind of going back to the basics of what we used to do back in the world war era where we would try to operate from different locations other than your main operating location that way you just have options to project enable and employ that combat power well i have one last area i'd like to cover with you guys and that is this um you know what is the difference between you know regular air force and the air national guard what is it like in one and the other and do you talk to them they talk to you do you talk nice and do you talk often and do you compare notes and collaborate on all the things that we have been discussing here today or are you in different silos in any way well there's obviously always barriers to break down in any any any walk of life but in our organization we are man from and we have men and women from both uh components that work together in the same building and we've kind of adapted the we have the 19th fighter squadron the 199th fighter squadron those are the two units but we really uh the the people who set up this organization back in 2010 when we got the f-22 raptor initially but they had a vision where we basically uh the way we did that was under the Hawaiian raptors was the low was the name and we kind of adopted the kink maya maya of silhouette because he united the Hawaiian islands uh and uh we figured that he could do that for that he could also unite us so we really worked hand in hand uh day in day out most people can't tell the difference when they walk in our squadron of whom is of what component and there's always things there's always different challenges anytime you meet somebody who's from a different walk of life with a different perspective the key is is being open minded to understand that not everything you know is correct and not everything you're doing is the right way to do it you have to be open to other people's visions other people's ideas and that is really the strength that of the Hawaiian raptors is because we are open to those ideas even if they're not your own and certainly we are accommodating to those and it really is just a lesson in life if you want to be as good as you can be you have to be willing to adapt you have to be able to listen you have to be able to take criticism and be able to work together and i i think that's really what the Hawaiian raptors are about uh and certainly the team that logo uh and his active duty counterpart spring we couldn't we would not be as good as we are without them and i i like to think the same for them so i think that teamwork is really what where the magic is uh and keeping the perspective of the mission in mind now what about what about the navy we haven't talked about the navy i told you about admiral's latter per and um and he was definitely a pilot fighter pilot does the navy in the air force they talk together to do absolutely are they better than you are you better than them and i think i think that's on the list of things i was not supposed to say but you know we'll we'll leave that open to your viewers to be able to make the determination but i certainly couldn't do it without the joint force right i mean that's again a piece of what makes america america is it's not just fighter planes it's not just boats uh there's all types of walks and and every layer is covered from from top to bottom and it's the same like minded people so uh we cannot win any wars without the navy and uh we certainly like to provide the air security that we talked about earlier as well so we feel like that we bring we contribute to the fight uh and we look forward to working to him whenever we need to okay last question i like your views the views of each of you actually if you would please express to our young viewers um why why they might consider joining the air force or for that matter the navy uh with a view toward being a pilot or being involved in you know aircraft and you know air training and and you know all the things that our various aircraft do uh from maintenance to pilot why should they do that could you tell me what you think the air force of the air national guard offers to young people who you know might might want to consider that in our time okay so kevin you first okay well loco is an expert on this but i'll tell you the thing that i i really uh i think is the most important piece is for people who want to be better and to be the best version of themselves that they can be i certainly think the air force is the way i mean flying jets is awesome but you know the real piece that makes and makes me i'll keep waking up every morning to do this job is the teamwork that i have in the ability to improve and that that piece that you're going to find that kind of the locker locker room feel if you will of just knowing that that's your team they've got your back you're not going to you're not going to replicate that in the uh in the civilian world and i think that is the the most important thing uh is that obviously you know you're serving your country you're flying a cool airplane but ultimately the team your brothers and sisters you're left and right that's why you do the job and that's what keeps me coming back and why i i i love i love what i do i loco is going to have a much better answer because he's really good at this but yeah loco now you uh and you could also add what it means when you get out of the service and you've had a career of flying aircraft what does that mean in the job market oh great great questions jay and uh just to add on to all the great things that magoo said but um exposure you know you're if you are looking for a challenge in life if you look at for an opportunity to be the best version of yourself and just to be a part of something that is better than yourself i say come on and join the team regardless of what what you think you know you want to do just come and join the team um because you'll be exposed to different people different missions various walks of life you come as friends but you're going to leave you're going to be part of the ohana and leave ask any members and you're going to make lifelong relationships the air force really prides itself on education so i think as long as you have the propensity to serve and you have any type of desire to just want to be a better version of yourself and get better one percent every day then come on in because the air force are definitely challenging help you get you to where you need to be and also where you want to be as well as there are moving opportunities so if you just want to see the world you mean i have the resources to do that on your own but you want to join a team well come on into the air force because we'll figure out what your talents are and find a job for you that's going to help us optimize your capability to help us accomplish the mission while moving you every couple of years to different locations to increase your depth and breadth and making you that much more better of a warfighter i think that all helps out with the total person because you're going to build up build on all these skills which is going to make you very marketable and competitive out there in the civilian sector regardless of what it is you want to do whether you want to start a nonprofit going into education system or go into corporate america because you're able to rely on those experiences that you've learned from your peers your subordinates and your leaders because the cool thing about the air force is that everybody wants to see everybody succeed and we just want to posh you for greatness whenever it is time for you to transition and take off like i said i got started out before take off the superhero outfit yeah i you've alluded to this and i want to i want to make my statement now okay um you know since the draft uh was terminated and i was there when it was terminated in the 70s um you know we haven't really had national service and the pscore hasn't been you know a robust replacement for it and um people go through their whole lives and the only contact they have with the federal government is they pay taxes not everybody does pay taxes but they most of them pay taxes and so you don't have the same kind of connection that there was before between the ordinary citizen and the country and so being in the military i feel very strongly about this being in the military connects you with the country it gives you a role it makes you a a valuable citizen a citizen who is connected and i think that's so important not only for you and all the benefits you can get out of being in the service but for the country uh we need to do that we all need to do that so thank you very much for your service gentlemen and you're a great team obviously and we really appreciate you're coming on the show and telling us about these things okay we'll keep the uh coaster coast guard jokes later but we really appreciate your service and thank you so much for having local and i today uh but we uh we really do appreciate the opportunity thanks very much gentlemen appreciate it 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