Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guest is retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Mike 'Magoo' McGee.In the first episode about Magoo's career, we focus on his T-38 training in the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program at Sheppard AFB, TX.About Magoo:Mike was born in 1964 and grew up outside of Boston, Mass. The son of an Air Force veteran, his dad took him to the 1968 Hanscom AFB airshow as a four year old. Seeing the Thunderbirds F-100 Super Sabres in action set the hook for his lifelong dream to become a fighter pilot. A 1987 graduate of UMass Amherst, he was commissioned a 2nd Lt through Air Force ROTC. Mike earned his coveted silver pilot's wings in 1989 from the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program at Sheppard AFB, TX. After pipeline training to include Survival, Water Survival, and Lead In Fighter Training at Holloman AFB, NM in the AT-38B, he completed A-10 Warthog Replacement Training at Davis Monthan AFB, AZ. His first operational assignment was to Myrtle Beach AFB, SC as part of the 355th TFS "Fightin' Falcons." He was soon deployed to Saudi Arabia as part of Operation Desert Shield. An aviation artist as well, he killed time in the desert painting nose art on the unit's Warthogs, initially without permission. Mike flew 36 night attack combat missions in Desert Storm, usually employing the IR version of the tank killing Maverick missile to good effect. Upon return from the Gulf, he was selected for transition to the F-15C Eagle. Based out of Elmendorf AFB, AK, Mike flew the Eagle all over the Pacific rim from Singapore to Guam. After that he was an F-15 RTU Instructor and Flight Commander at Tyndall AFB, FL teaching new fighter pilots how to fly and fight in the Eagle. He then served on exchange with the US Navy as an F/A-18 instructor pilot at Strike Fighter Weapons School Pacific, NAS Lemoore, CA. He was OIC of the unit's Advanced Tactical Training Program, as well as the AIM-120 SME and a qualified SFARP instructor in all phases of Hornet air to air employment. In 2001, now a Major, Mike left the regular Air Force to join the Massachusetts Air National Guard at Otis ANGB, Cape Cod, MA to fly Eagles again. After 9/11, he flew combat air patrols over New York and Boston as part of Operation Noble Eagle and sat air defense alert as part of NORAD's Northeast Air Defense Sector. When his unit, the 102nd Fighter Wing, was deactivated by the Base Realignment Commission, Mike hung up his fighter spurs after a 20 year flying career. He is proud and privileged to have logged over 3,300 hours in three different fighters and has the somewhat rare distinction of having never being out of the cockpit at any point in his time in service. In January, 2002 Mike retired as a Lt Col and, realizing he now had to grow up and find a real job, was hired by a major US airline. He's been flying the A320 for almost 18 years and been a Captain for the last 10. He has two daughters from a previous marriage, and he and his wife Lynne live within sight of Cape Cod Bay in Plymouth, MA. When not golfing with Lynne, he golfs even more and spends his time reading military history, is a wargame nut, and occasionally paints as an aviation artist. His work has hung at the US Naval Aviation Museum and can be found in various Air Force and Navy fighter squadrons as well. About the hosts:Mitch 'TACO' Parmentier has 16 years of experience with the F/A-18 Super Hornet as a Weapons System Operator (WSO). He has a longstanding love of aviation and history that he brings to the podcast.Beth Bailey was raised by F-14 Radar Intercept Officer Glen 'Wheels' Wheless and grew up around aviators and their unique brand of storytelling for most of her childhood. Beth worked in support of Afghanistan operations as a civilian intelligence analyst for the Department of the Army between 2010 and 2013. She is a freelance contributor to Fox News Digital and the Washington Examiner, and host of The Afghanistan Project Podcast.

Welcome to the Fighter Pilots’ Guide to Living. Today’s guests are three Green Berets from ODA 595, Mark Nutsch, Paul Evans, and Mike Elmore, and three members of VF-213, Nate Bailey, Michael Peterson, and Chip King.Today, we talk about the aftermath of the first strafing run that Biff and Tung conducted in support of ODA 595 and the use of that tactic throughout the remainder of VF-213's deployment.We also talk about the remaining months of operations that ODA 595 and VF-213 conducting in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and the takeaways that each of our guests had from their participation in the early days of the Global War on Terror. About the hosts:Mitch 'TACO' Parmentier has 16 years of experience with the F/A-18 Super Hornet as a Weapons System Operator (WSO). He has a longstanding love of aviation and history that he brings to the podcast.Beth Bailey was raised by F-14 Radar Intercept Officer Glen 'Wheels' Wheless and grew up around aviators and their unique brand of storytelling for most of her childhood. Beth worked in support of Afghanistan operations as a civilian intelligence analyst for the Department of the Army between 2010 and 2013. She is a freelance contributor to Fox News Digital and the Washington Examiner, and host of The Afghanistan Project Podcast.

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

Towards the end of the episode, we address the single incident on November 5, 2001 that shifted the way that F-14 Tomcats would support ground forces working to push back the Taliban . About the hosts:Mitch 'TACO' Parmentier has 16 years of experience with the F/A-18 Super Hornet as a Weapons System Operator (WSO). He has a longstanding love of aviation and history that he brings to the podcast.Beth Bailey was raised by F-14 Radar Intercept Officer Glen 'Wheels' Wheless and grew up around aviators and their unique brand of storytelling for most of her childhood. Beth worked in support of Afghanistan operations as a civilian intelligence analyst for the Department of the Army between 2010 and 2013. She is a freelance contributor to Fox News Digital and the Washington Examiner, and host of The Afghanistan Project Podcast.