WEBVTT 00:05.159 --> 00:07.103 If you're not stressed out in , in 00:07.103 --> 00:09.270 every flight flying , the talent too , 00:09.270 --> 00:11.270 then you're doing something wrong . 00:11.270 --> 00:13.381 That was the mentality is we're gonna 00:13.381 --> 00:15.603 push hard and we're gonna train hard so 00:15.603 --> 00:17.715 that when we do it for real and we do 00:17.715 --> 00:19.715 it in combat , it's not stressful . 00:19.715 --> 00:21.937 There's at some point there's something 00:21.937 --> 00:21.610 that clicks one day , you're just 00:21.620 --> 00:23.676 stressing about it and then the next 00:23.676 --> 00:25.787 day , you know , you're just cruising 00:25.787 --> 00:28.009 down a fjord in Norway at 250 ft in the 00:28.009 --> 00:30.231 middle of the night going . Oh , yeah , 00:30.231 --> 00:32.398 this is cool . The civilians that were 00:32.398 --> 00:34.453 training you in the sem , these were 00:34.453 --> 00:36.676 Vietnam vets . So the stories they tell 00:36.676 --> 00:36.360 you , you're like , ok , I'm gonna go 00:36.369 --> 00:38.840 out to war , you know , uh you know , 00:38.849 --> 00:41.389 I'm gonna get mortar like when you're 00:41.400 --> 00:43.567 younger you're very excited to do that 00:43.567 --> 00:45.678 stuff . Uh So when I got picked up to 00:45.678 --> 00:47.900 come to a , so I was just over the moon 00:47.900 --> 00:50.122 excited a couple of things stick out of 00:50.122 --> 00:52.067 my life . Uh You know , definitely 00:52.067 --> 00:55.229 danger like um Afghanistan was a prime , 00:55.240 --> 00:57.819 prime example of probably the uh the 00:57.830 --> 00:59.659 purest of the combat town to 00:59.669 --> 01:01.891 utilization throughout the years here , 01:01.891 --> 01:04.002 you have a place that is , you know , 01:04.002 --> 01:06.113 highly mountainous . The weather is , 01:06.113 --> 01:08.113 it's bad , especially in the winter 01:08.113 --> 01:10.280 time . It's high altitude . And on any 01:10.280 --> 01:12.280 given of those missions , you would 01:12.280 --> 01:14.336 basically , you would come down into 01:14.336 --> 01:14.010 some valley in the middle of the night 01:14.019 --> 01:16.241 and you're dropping , you know , 23,000 01:16.241 --> 01:18.241 pounds of , you know , bundles only 01:18.241 --> 01:20.352 then once you get the drop off , like 01:20.352 --> 01:22.408 your mission is not over because you 01:22.408 --> 01:24.630 have to escape this terrain at the same 01:24.630 --> 01:24.065 point in time . And then you can throw 01:24.074 --> 01:25.963 on the whole um you know , people 01:25.963 --> 01:28.074 trying to shoot at you , you get back 01:28.074 --> 01:30.241 to the child hall and you kind of look 01:30.241 --> 01:30.004 at your rest of your CRE like I can't 01:30.014 --> 01:32.014 believe we pulled that off . Like I 01:32.014 --> 01:34.125 can't believe we pulled it off . Some 01:34.125 --> 01:34.014 of the most meaningful missions that I 01:34.025 --> 01:36.764 took part of were in the Philippines . 01:36.775 --> 01:39.614 Uh after a typhoon devastated kind of 01:39.625 --> 01:41.635 the middle section of the , the 01:41.644 --> 01:44.305 Philippine Islands um and displaced , 01:44.589 --> 01:46.589 you know , hundreds of thousands of 01:46.589 --> 01:48.700 people uh destroyed entire towns . It 01:48.700 --> 01:50.867 was a category five typhoon and seeing 01:50.867 --> 01:53.050 the faces of , you know , the 01:53.059 --> 01:55.170 Philippine women and Children and the 01:55.170 --> 01:57.650 families that we evacuated uh and got 01:57.660 --> 01:59.819 to safety . I think that was , those 01:59.830 --> 02:01.552 were probably some of the more 02:01.552 --> 02:03.663 meaningful missions that I was a part 02:03.663 --> 02:05.830 of . Uh and knowing that I was , I was 02:05.830 --> 02:07.830 doing good for uh for fellow humans 02:07.830 --> 02:09.941 that were in need I was so sad to see 02:09.941 --> 02:11.886 the aircraft retire , but I was so 02:11.886 --> 02:14.399 happy that I could be a part of it . It 02:14.410 --> 02:16.021 was probably one of the most 02:16.021 --> 02:17.966 bittersweet moments that I've ever 02:17.966 --> 02:20.021 experienced in my entire life , that 02:20.021 --> 02:22.188 community , the , the talent mafia out 02:22.188 --> 02:24.330 there , like it gets its hooks in you 02:24.339 --> 02:27.610 and you just can't let go . It truly 02:27.619 --> 02:30.070 was an amazing community 02:32.240 --> 02:34.462 and one that I'm so thankful that I got 02:34.462 --> 02:36.518 to be part of . And so like I said , 02:36.518 --> 02:38.573 I'll always consider myself a talent 02:38.573 --> 02:41.259 guy . I can honestly say that whatever 02:41.270 --> 02:44.119 my destiny led me to this spot . Um 02:45.509 --> 02:47.729 Like I was meant to do it like it was 02:47.740 --> 02:50.039 the perfect fit for me . One of my last 02:50.050 --> 02:52.217 moments that I had with the talent was 02:52.217 --> 02:54.161 at the boneyard as we were getting 02:54.161 --> 02:56.272 ready to walk away . And I , I took a 02:56.272 --> 02:58.494 moment and just put my hand on her nose 02:58.494 --> 03:00.717 and that was a , a tradition that I had 03:00.717 --> 03:02.883 done on every flight in the town too . 03:02.883 --> 03:05.039 Um I would take a moment for myself . 03:05.050 --> 03:07.106 Uh and I would stand in front of the 03:07.106 --> 03:10.740 nose and , and say quiet prayer um and 03:10.750 --> 03:13.529 touch the nose . I would drive out of 03:13.539 --> 03:15.650 my way , you know , I would go to the 03:15.650 --> 03:17.817 air park and , you know , I'm gonna be 03:17.817 --> 03:19.928 that old guy that's gonna be standing 03:19.928 --> 03:22.150 there with a walker , just , you know , 03:22.150 --> 03:24.261 just waiting for somebody to ask me a 03:24.261 --> 03:24.029 question about this airplane . Because 03:24.039 --> 03:26.150 I would love to tell you about it . I 03:26.150 --> 03:29.279 look forward to uh sharing with my kids 03:29.619 --> 03:32.130 uh when they grow up , uh and , and 03:32.139 --> 03:34.320 telling them , you know , all the 03:34.330 --> 03:36.850 amazing uh things that , 03:38.630 --> 03:41.089 that we accomplished in the talent too . 03:41.710 --> 03:44.330 Um And I will , I will bring my 03:44.339 --> 03:46.490 Children and my family back here for 03:46.500 --> 03:48.830 years to show off the talent to , to 03:48.839 --> 03:49.119 them .