MC-130 Special Operations Aircrew and Navigator | 8th Special Operations Squadron | Mike LaFeve (Round 1)

This episode is brought to you by the OSS Society. Use the link below to register for the Tuesday, June 13 · 6 - 7pm EDT 'Oh So Social' Conversation between General Jim Mattis and Dr. Michael Vickers. They'll discuss Vickers upcoming book In By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operation and Strategy and his remarkable career. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mattis-vickers-an-oh-so-social-conversation-tickets-627293320207

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======= Today we hear our first Combat Story from a member of the Air Force’s aerial special operations community: Mike LaFeve. Mike was an MC-130 Navigator in the Air Force’s 8th Special Operations Squadron (8th SOS).

The MC-130 is an incredible airframe and we dig into it’s configuration, aircrews, and mission sets in this episode. The platform is specifically designed to support the special operations community with airdrops, delivery and extraction of special operators, refueling, combat search and rescue and so much more, including something called the Fulton Recovery which is straight out of a James Bond movie. 

In this episode we go through Mike’s first deployment immediately following 9/11 in what can only be described as the Wild West of Afghanistan. We’ll do a second round interview in which we delve into several more deployments and the varied mission set as the battlefield becomes more established.

I hope you enjoy this detailed behind the scenes look at a very cool airframe from someone inside the cockpit as much as I did.

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Show Notes: 00:00 - Intro  01:00 - Guest Introduction (Mike LaFeve) 02:00 - Interview begins 02:23 - Influential Media 04:29 - Desire to fly 05:57 - Childhood 08:15 - Family Military history 09:08 - Deciding on the Air Force 14:59 - Air Maintenance Officer 20:18 - OSS Society 21:24 - Difference between Navigator and Pilot 29:20 - Heavy instead of Fighter 32:35 - Path to MC-130 and Special Forces 36:28 - In depth look at the C-130s 40:35 - 4 Patriots 41:58 - Aircrew and Mission sets 46:57 - Flying at 250 feet at night 51:00 - Retired plane-escape system 53:46 - Special Ops during 9/11 01:05:42 - Time in Pakistan 01:19:57 - First operation of the War 01:28:26 - Time in the War 01:32:20 - Texas 12 01:42:23 - ODA teamleader 01:46:47 - Last mission on first deployment 01:50:58 - Sentimental item 01:52:33 - Would you do it all again 01:56:35 - Final thoughts 01:57:54 -  Listener comments and shout outs