Mike joins forces with The Afterburn Podcast’s John “Rain” Waters to co-host an epic interview with the Commander of the Air Force Thunderbirds AND the Executive Officer of the Navy Blue Angels to hear about leadership, flying, and teamwork in a way you’ve never heard before.

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Show Notes
(01:20) intro
(2:45) icebreaker
(10:06) sitting in the same room
(12:53) learning from each other
(13:55) T-birds rough period
(14:47) sometimes you can see culture
(15:40) cultural waves in the two teams
(16:36) The T-birds T-38 cultural problem
(19:02) President Carter’s Crisis of Confidence
(26:02) Blue’s “glad to be here” culture
(27:59) how tough is the flying?
(29:44) there is no off-season
(33:37) team dynamics of an exemplar squadron
(35:08) The T-birds’ hangar
(36:27) contagious culture of excellence
(36:42) Agile Combat Employment
(37:27) Blue Angels' hangar
(39:57) how they travel
(43:28) authority and trust are key
(45:19) Fat Albert
(46:12) Van Halen M&Ms
(47:15) they’ve never canceled due to maintenance
(48:47) Blue Angels on arrival
(50:01) debrief culture
(50:52) Fat Albert JATO
(52:18) Top Gun Maverick
(54:10) new Super Hornets
(57:30) T-Birds’ tricks to flying that good
(1:03:00) Blue Angels’ tricks to flying that good
(1:04:43) counting feathers
(1:06:17) aiming to crash
(1:07:57) most memorable experience on the teams
(1:08:59) Chris Darnell
(1:14:12) outro