F-15E Fighter Pilot, Marine & Police Officer | Fighter Weapons School | Tom Moser
Combat Story
Ryan Fugit
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 February 2024
⏱️ 101 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today we hear Round 1 of a two part Combat Story from seasoned fighter pilot Tom “Gunny” Moser who flew the F-15E Strike Eagle, served as a Squadron and Wing Weapons Officer, was a Fighter Weapons School graduate (akin to the Navy’s Top Gun), commanded a Squadron, and more.
In this episode, we follow Gunny’s circuitous route into the military first as a Marine 0311 (Infantryman), followed by a stint as a Police Officer, followed by a very decorated career in the Air Force.
Since retirement, Gunny has gone on to a career flying for the commercial airlines which we should all be grateful to know that we’ve got this seasoned combat aviator at the controls on our regular domestic flights!
Special thanks to former guest Ryan “Stinger” Fishel for helping us find Gunny!
And with that, please enjoy this first round discussion with someone who found his way to his dream job.
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
00:59 - Guest Profile: Tom Moser
01:57 - Start of Interview
02:26 - Callsign 'Gunny'
04:02 - Growing Up
04:55 - Path to Military
11:26 - Love of Flying
12:25 - Choosing Enlistment Route
16:46 - Exiting the Marines
20:40 - Law Enforcement Career
23:02 - Path to Aviation
28:52 - Law Enforcement to Pilot Experience
31:08 - Family Life
35:09 - Close Calls
39:00 - Mindset during Dangerous Jobs
41:29 - Flight School
47:25 - Getting Assigned Strike Eagle
51:52 - Responsibility as an Aviator
57:40 - Strike Eagle Mission Set
01:02:05 - Weapon Loadout for F-15
01:08:53 - Hazing Stories
01:12:11 - Schedule for Pilots
01:14:24 - Weapons Officer
01:21:06 - Why Not Marine Corps.
01:22:17 - First Unit
01:26:58 - First Deployment
01:30:30 - First Flying Operation
01:38:49 - Listener Feedback
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | We're supporting a troops in contact. The J-Tac wanted the weapon and so he called for a |
| 0:06.7 | laser-guided bomb, 500-pound class, and we came in and we dropped the weapon. Now it was on a |
| 0:12.2 | square building and after the dust settled, part of the roof |
| 0:16.0 | was gone, the corner of the building was gone, but part of it was still standing. And that's |
| 0:20.2 | also where I learned about the weapon's effects, where where a laser guided bomb comes in at that 30 to 40 degree angle, |
| 0:26.0 | so the way that the blast and the frag pattern is different than with a GPS guided weapon, you can bring it in at an 85 to 90 degree impact angle and now when the |
| 0:34.4 | blast and frag all go outwards that same building you would blow all the |
| 0:38.5 | walls out the roof would collapse and there would be nothing left. |
| 0:40.8 | Welcome to Combat Story. |
| 0:42.6 | I'm Ryan Puget and I serve War Zone Tours as an Army Attack helicopter pilot and CIA officer |
| 0:47.5 | over a 15-year career. |
| 0:49.3 | I'm fascinated by the experiences of the elite in combat. On this show I interview some of the best |
| 0:54.5 | to understand what combat felt like on their front lines. This is combat story. |
| 1:00.1 | Today we hear round one of a two-part combat story from season fighter pilot Tom Gunny Moser who flew the |
| 1:06.7 | F-15 E strike eagle served as a squadron and wing weapons officer was a fighter weapons school graduate, which is like the Navy's top gun, but for the Air Force, |
| 1:16.5 | commanded a squadron, and more. In this episode, we follow Gunny's circuitous route into the military, |
| 1:22.0 | first as a Marine 03 man. a |
| 1:23.8 | cutious route into the military, first as a marine 0311 infantryman, |
| 1:24.9 | followed by a stint as a police officer and then a very decorated career in the Air Force. |
| 1:30.0 | Since retirement, gun has gone on to a career flying in the commercial airliners, |
| 1:34.4 | which we should all be grateful to know we've got this season Combat Aviator at the controls |
| 1:38.7 | on our regular domestic flights. |
... |
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