MC-130 Special Operations Aircrew and Navigator | 8th Special Operations Squadron | Mike LaFeve (Round 2)

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Today we go for our second Combat Story with a member of the Air Force’s aerial special operations community: Mike LaFeve, an MC-130 Navigator in the Air Force’s 8th Special Operations Squadron (8th SOS).

Mike was deployed consistently from 2001 to 2006 with the 8th SOS as the most deployed Air Force special operations squadron at the time. This included trips to both Afghanistan and Iraq as both the aircraft technology improved and bases in theater become more fortified. 

In the MC-130, Mike was responsible for a variety of mission sets supporting, primarily, the special operations community, including DEVGRU as we hear in this episode. The MC-130 is designed to support the special operations community with airdrops, delivery and extraction of special operators, refueling, combat search and rescue and so much more. 

In this episode, we pick up where we left off as Mike goes from the first deployment post-9/11 into the next and more established operational tempo going from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan to Kuwait to Iraq and back again and I hope you enjoy this set of combat stories in the versatile MC-130 as much as I did. =======

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Show Notes: 00:00 - Intro  00:53 - Guest Introduction (Mike LaFeve) 02:02 - Interview begins 02:45 - K-2 11:30 - Coming back from first deployment and OIF 26:18 - Night the war kicked off 30:00 - OIF stories 36:50 - GPS guided DZ drops 42:30 - Kuwait deployment 46:22 - Big mission 50:28 - What makes a good crew in the cockpit 59:37 - Funny story from '05 01:05:39 - Keeping it light during missions 01:12:58 - Last deployment to Bagram  01:44:40 - Military persona into the civilian world 01:54:06 - Strong Hold Freedom Foundation 01:57:17 -  Listener comments and shout outs