So There I Was

Latest Episodes:

4 MiG Kills, 1 Fight Mar 09, 2023

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Meet Capt Royce Williams, USN (Ret) - Hear how he went out as part of a four-ship and soon found himself alone, in a fur-ball with 6 Russian MiG-15s. When the smoke cleared and the shooting was over, Capt Williams brought his crippled F9F Panther back aboard the USS Oriskany and was sworn to secrecy. The ONLY American to ever shoot down 4 enemy aircraft in the same fight wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about it for more than 50 years! The fight was classified Top Secret to keep it quiet that Russians were fighting against America in the Korean War. When the Soviet Union broke up in 1992 documents revealed the truth behind the fight, including the names of the Russians he downed that fateful day in November of 1952. Royce Williams was awarded the Navy Cross on Jan 20, 2023 for his heroism that day. Please write your senator and ask them to pass the resolution calling for the Medal of Honor for this American Hero.

120Kts, 10' Off the Ground & I was Bored Episode 44 Mar 02, 2023

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Former Marine "Grunt" and current Army BlackHawk Pilot "CandyMan" takes us on a ride through the dust bowl that is Afghanistan. Hair-raising stories of taking fire, near mid-airs with other helicopters, and a C-17 are just a few of the adventures he talks about… But what scared him most? Dust landings. Find out why, and what he did about it. You won't be disappointed. This is a fun ride. In another first, we have a transcript for this episode. For a link to the transcript of this episode, click here.

The Honeypot Mission Episode 43 Feb 23, 2023

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Chaz comes back for another visit with us to tell more incredible stories of hijinks, excitement, fear, tragedy, terror and hilarity. He had an amazing career in the Navy and lived every minute to the fullest. Hear how letting a non-aviator fly caused them to lose contact with their formation. Learn the difference between Cherubs and Angels - and why not knowing can be deadly! Find out how drunken Russian sailors inadvertently gave up some serious intel without realizing their mistake. Chaz recounts much of his fantastic career and tells how it lead him to lead his life in service to others. The audio was difficult for some of this show, but we pieced it together. Thanks for your patience.

I Crashed Every Time Episode 42 Feb 16, 2023

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Single Engine, Single Seat Attack Pilot, Smytty, joins the show thi week to talk about some of the hijinks that most Marine Attack pilots will relate to immediately. Smytty flew the T-28 Trojan, A-4M, OA-4M, AV-8A and AV-8B in VMA-211, 214, and 331. He tells of the wild times in West-Pac and the time in WTI when a classmate flew into the ground without ejecting and literally walked away from the crash. You read that correctly. Come join us for a discussion of what many consider to be the 'Golden Age' of Marine Attack Aviation!

That's NOT a Tanker! Episode 41 Feb 09, 2023

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Bo joins Fig & RePete to talk about what it takes to be a "RIO" - Radar Intercept Officer - in the F-14 Tomcat. He talks about training to become a tactical jet crew and the process to get there. Bo tells of the time he spent on Wake Island after a particularly complex night emergency where the dominos kept falling and they were literally inches from disaster as their tail hook destroyed the Fresnel Lens (aka Meatball) on the aircraft carrier preventing them from coming aboard. Fortunately they were just close enough to Wake Island to divert there. He describes how they lost aircraft and crewmen in the disastrous first two weeks of their second cruise. It's truly a dangerous profession and we all know too many people who have paid the ultimate price serving this great nation. He closes out talking about how close he came one night as they were joining on what they initially thought was the tanker aircraft - but it turned out to be something quite different and far more deadly had their 'spidey-senses' not kicked in!

You Can't Be Married Episode 40 Feb 02, 2023

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Kemo joins Fig & RePete this week to tell how he decided to go into the Navy after finishing the first half of Marine Corps OCS because they offered him a seat in less than two months in flight school without needing a bachelor's degree. That deal didn't come without some, shall we say, "complications" though. It wasn't until Kemo was already in the program that he realized how badly things could go if he didn't succeed: Motivation! Additionally, restrictions on his personal life added even more complications to the mix, but Kemo was not deterred. In fact he went on to fly the Tomcat in the same squadron as our previous guest, Nasty. While that is a story in and of itself, Kemo performed well; so well in fact, he went on to become a Top Gun Adversary Pilot and Instructor. This put him in the cockpit for most of his career flying the F-5, F-16, and A-4 among other cool jets. Come give Kemo a listen and learn how he almost ruined his own day in the middle of a 'roller' fight!

Start With the End in Mind Episode 39 Jan 27, 2023

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This is the second half of our show with Adm. Mike "Nasty" Manazir this week. We chat about his new book, Learn How to Lead to Win: 33 Powerful Stories and Leadership Lessons. Plain and simply put: This book should be mandatory reading for any prospective officer or executive. What's more, it is a fun read that will give a leg up to anyone who wants to better connect with the people around them and make their organization perform better. Don't pass up the opportunity to learn the lessons from a master who breaks down leadership into real-world examples. You don't need to spend 8 years at sea and 36 years on active duty. You only need a few hours of your time and a willingness to be thoroughly entertained. Aside from being entertaining and captivating, this book puts leadership techniques into easy to understand, real-life examples that work. Adm. Manazir does more than talk theory here. He has walked the walk. He learned how to humble himself and follow. He perceived when to take command and ownership well above his station when he saw the need; and saved lives. He discovered the fear and loneliness of being responsible for thousands of lives and how to keep a cool head and trust the professionals on his team. He accomplished so much in his career because of the deeply personal connections he created in his various assignments that motivated his people to give everything they had to make the team better. Most prophetically, he describes how a good leader is one who views his position as one of service and sacrifice rather than power and authority. What I wouldn't have given to know these things as a 22 year-old 2d Lieutenant!

Learn How to Lead to Win Episode 38 Jan 26, 2023

Show notes

In this first of two shows this week, we welcome back Adm. Mike Manazir "Nasty" to talk about his new book, Learn How to Lead to Win - 33 Powerful Stories and Leadership Lessons. You may recall two shows with him before - Here's to Bug Roach Episode 17, and Best Job in the Galaxy Episode 18. In this and tomorrow's episode you will gain insight into the reason this man became a Fighter Squadron Commander, Executive Officer of a Large Deck Nuclear Carrier, Commanding Officer of the supply ship Sacramento and the USS Nimitz, and the Strike Group Commander as an Admiral aboard the USS Carl Vinson. Listening to Nasty his genuine passion for the Sailors and Marines he led comes through loud and clear. His ability to connect with people and lead by example is only part of it. Throughout his book, it becomes clear that his approach to leadership was one of sacrifice and service rather than power and authority. If you were the most junior Sailor in his command and he knew your name, it was NOT because you were in trouble; it was because he wanted to know more about you. He wanted to know your story and your challenges and strengths. By caring enough to know every member of his command Nasty elicited in people a genuine desire to perform their best and everyone reaped the benefits of a strong and battle-ready unit. Laugh with us at the successes and failures that helped mold a world-class leader. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone who has others looking to them for answers. If only we'd known what is shared here; how much easier would all of our careers have been?

Today We're Flying Beer Can Width Episode 37 Jan 19, 2023

Show notes

Come ride along with us and feel like you're on the Blue Angels Team for the next hour. This is the last of five shows with Lawman. We recorded this in late fall, but in order not to put five shows in a row with the same guest, we held this in abeyance until now. This is arguably the funniest of the shows with Lawman. He tells us about learning to fly the various maneuvers like the Fleur de L'is for the first time, "swapping paint" (i.e. the occasional mid-air collisions) between the Blue Angels, flying exchange shows with the Thunderbirds, how they map out a show at a new field, and the finest Sailors and Marines on the planet providing the best maintenance in the world.

Like a Couple Gorillas in Your Chest Episode 36 Jan 12, 2023

Show notes

Panther checked in with us this week to talk about how he knew, before going to the Naval Academy, that he wasn't interested in flying. After spending a few frosty nights in the woods of VA in January, he quickly reconsidered his flight options. After flight school he flew more than 100 missions in Vietnam in the A-6 Intruder with VMA-(AW)-533. He describes that time in -533 as the best job he ever had; being a squadron pilot. After returning from Vietnam, Panther went to Naval Test Pilot school and spent a couple years developing weapons delivery tables and flying other engineering testing profiles. It was from there he was selected to go to NASA. He spent 14 years there and flew in space on four missions. His descriptions of the training and the missions are enlightening - come listen as he describes the preparation and the missions which include many details of the process involved in launching the Hubble Space Telescope. He talked about why a fifteen minute operation took more than an hour to complete and how close they came to losing Hubble before it even powered up. Big brains and intense training saved the day!

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