Dropping Danger Close with F-15E Strike Eagle Fighter Pilot Tom Moser (Round 2)
Combat Story
Ryan Fugit
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 2 March 2024
⏱️ 103 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today we hear round two of our two-part Combat Story from seasoned F-15E Strike Eagle fighter pilot Tom “Gunny” Moser. Moser would go on to be a Weapons Fighter School graduate (the Air Force’s Top Gun), in addition to a Squadron and Wing Weapons Officer, and Squadron Commander.
In this episode, we dig into several combat experiences from the F-15’s front seat and what makes this aircraft so lethal. This includes the very first strikes into Syria in 2014 taking on ISIS where Gunny helped plan these missions and lead some of the first attacks into theater.
If you didn’t hear round one with Gunny, he’s finally made it to his Squadron after three years as a Marine infantryman (hence the call sign!) and a stint as a Police Officer (something he loved). He’s got an incredibly supportive spouse who told him to not come home if he didn’t get F-15s because there are only winners in their house!!
Gunny is good friends with both former guest Ryan “Stinger” Fishel and our next guest coming in one week - Mike “Pako” Benitez - another F-15E Strike Eagle aviator. Stay tuned after our interviews with Pako to hear Gunny and Pako interviewed together about their time downrange as a front seater and back seater as standard bearer Weapons Officers!
Join hundreds of others with our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan each week about the show, life, and the military.
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- Intro Song: Sport Rock from Audio Jungle
Join hundreds of others with our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan each week about the show, life, and the military.
👇 Show Notes:
00:00 - Introduction
00:55 - Guest Profile: Tom Moser
02:17 - Start of Interview
03:10 - After Mission Debrief
06:06 - '07 Deployment
20:25 - Providing Cover for Marines on the Ground
25:54 - Home Life
29:24 - '09 Deployment pt. 1
32:20 - Verstreppo Inspiration
37:00 - '09 Tough Missions
51:34 - Moral After Losing A Teammate
54:40 - The Officer's Club
56:20 - '14 Deployment
01:15:00 - After The Last Deployment
01:20:50 - Cutting Edge Technology
01:23:49 - Deciding to Retire
01:29:04 - New Career Path
01:31:28 - Miss Most About The Military
01:32:03 - Most Courageous Act
01:33:48 - Favorite Role
01:38:42 - Sentimental Items
01:40:38 - Would You Do It All Again?
01:41:23 - Listener Feedback
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | So we get a call that there's multiple units in contact in the same region. |
| 0:06.5 | Again, I've got a targeting pod pulled up on one of my displays and I'm following along |
| 0:10.4 | with what's happening. |
| 0:11.6 | Welcome to Combat Story. |
| 0:13.0 | I'm Ryan Puget and I serve War Zone Tours as an Army |
| 0:15.4 | Attack helicopter pilot and CIA officer over a 15 year career. |
| 0:19.6 | I'm fascinated by the experiences of the elite in combat. On this show I interview some of the best |
| 0:24.8 | to understand what combat felt like on their front lines. This is Combat Story. |
| 0:29.7 | Today we hear round two of our two-part combat story from season F-15E strike eagle fighter pilot Tom Gunning |
| 0:36.5 | Moser. Moser would go on to be a weapons fighter school graduate, the Air Force's top gun, |
| 0:41.1 | in addition to a squadron and wing weapons officer. |
| 0:44.5 | In this episode we dig into several combat experiences from the F-15's front seat of what makes |
| 0:49.2 | this aircraft so lethal. |
| 0:51.0 | This includes the very first strikes into Syria in 2014, taking on ISIS, where |
| 0:55.5 | Gunnie helped plan these missions and lead some of the first attacks into theater. |
| 1:00.5 | If you didn't hear round one with Gunnie, at this point he's finally made it to his first Air Force squadron after several years as a marine infantryman, hence the call sign Gunney, and a stint as a police officer, which was something he loved doing. |
| 1:13.2 | He's got an incredibly supportive spouse who told him not to come home |
| 1:16.7 | if he didn't get F-15s because there's only winners in this house. |
| 1:20.3 | Gunny is good friends with both former guest Ryan Stinger official and our future guest Mike Paco Benitez, an F-15e strike eagle weapons systems officer. |
| 1:30.4 | Stay tuned for our interviews with Paco to hear both Gunny and Paco interview together about their time down range as a front cedar and back cedar combo as the standard bare weapon officers in their units. |
| 1:42.0 | With that, please enjoy this discussion |
| 1:44.1 | digging into danger close weapons engagement from an expert. Tom Gunney-Moser. |
... |
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