F-15E Weapons System Officer from Marine Helo Mechanic | Mike “Pako” Benitez (Round 1)
Combat Story
Ryan Fugit
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 16 March 2024
⏱️ 104 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today we hear Round 1 of a two part Combat Story with former F-15E Strike Eagle Weapons Systems Officer (WSO) Mike “Pako” Benitez. In this episode, we follow Mike’s very unlikely path to the cockpit that begins with a career in the Marine Corps as a helicopter mechanic and aircrew member in the very first push into Afghanistan to fighting in Iraq during Fallujah II.
Mike’s path is anything but direct as he found his way to becoming an expert tactician and aviator in the F-15E. Since retiring, Mike has gone on to create The Merge (themerge.co) newsletter - which has 20K subscribers - and podcast - which has 40 episodes as of this airing. The Merge brings defense and tech news and insights in a more lighthearted and interesting approach that I’m confident most listeners of Combat Story will appreciate!
We only found Pako thanks to former guest Ryan “Stinger” Fishel who was a beneficiary of the tough love and tutelage of Pako (Stinger mentions a crusty older Weapons Officer during his interview who made Stinger look info up as opposed to handing it to him - that was Pako). Stay tuned for a follow-on episode after Rounds 1 and 2 with Pako to hear both Pako and Tom “Gunny” Moser be interviewed together about their experiences in Afghanistan and Syria leading units together.
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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🔗 Find Mike Online:
- The Merge https://themerge.co/
- The Merge Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@TheMergeMedia
🔗 Find Ryan Online:
- Ryan’s Linktree https://linktr.ee/combatstory
- Merch https://www.bonfire.com/store/combats...
- Instagram @combatstory https://www.instagram.com/combatstory
- Facebook @combatstoryofficial https://fb.me/combatstoryofficial
- Send us messages at https://m.me/combatstoryofficial
- Learn more about Ryan www.combatstory.com/aboutus
- 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
00:52 - Guest Profile: Mike Benitez
02:13 - Start of Interview
02:37 - PAKO Callsign
07:45 - Finding Aviation
10:03 - Family Military Background
11:17 - Recruitment
13:43 - Bootcamp
21:29 - Time in Marines
23:43 - 9/11
33:23 - Hello Fresh Ad
34:37 - Time As A Mechanic
40:15 - First Raid Outside the Wire
50:25 - Reenlistment to Weapons Officer
01:06:30 - Mint Mobile Ad
01:07:51 - Transition From Marines to Air Force
01:11:12 - Path to Strike Eagle
10:18:24 - Welcome to First Air Force Unit
01:20:00 - First Operational Squadrant
01:39:07 - First Danger Close
01:42:02 - First Fatality
01:42:03 - Listener Feedback
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | We're getting Nine Lines at the same time from two different J-Tacks on two different radios and I can't hear his he can't hear mine I turn it up to get his read back of the Nine Line not what the J-Tacks of a what he said back and then he turns mine up to get my read back. |
| 0:14.4 | And like, okay, we have danger close strafe and a at night in the city and a show of force because it's too close to strafe. |
| 0:23.3 | Like we need a jet over this right now. |
| 0:25.7 | Roll in and do this really low out to the show of force |
| 0:28.1 | and then pop up to do like a 5G pole. |
| 0:30.7 | Roll in to do a strafe past danger close. |
| 0:34.0 | Welcome to Combat Story. |
| 0:35.0 | I'm Ryan Puget and I serve War Zone Tours as an Army |
| 0:38.0 | Attack helicopter pilot and CIA officer over a 15-year career. |
| 0:42.0 | I'm fascinated by the experiences of the elite in combat. |
| 0:45.0 | On this show I interview some of the best to understand what combat felt like on their |
| 0:49.6 | front lines. This is Combat Story. Today we hear round one of a two-part combat story with former F-15-E Strike Eagle |
| 0:57.0 | Weapons Systems Officer Mike Paco Benitez. |
| 0:59.9 | In this episode, we follow Mike's very unlikely path to the cockpit that begins with a career in the Marine Corps as a helicopter mechanic and air crew member in the very first push into Afghanistan to fighting in Iraq during Fallujah 2. |
| 1:11.6 | Mike's path is anything but direct as he found his way to becoming |
| 1:14.7 | an expert tactician and aviator in the F-15E, flying combat sorties in theater. |
| 1:19.7 | Since retiring, Mike has gone on to create the merge the merge dot co newsletter which has |
| 1:24.4 | 20,000 subscribers and podcast which has 40 episodes as of this airing the |
| 1:29.1 | merge defense and tech news and insights in a more light-hearted and |
| 1:32.4 | interesting approach that I'm confident listeners and of the |
| 1:43.7 | beneficiary of the tough love and tutelage of Paco. Stinger mentions in his interview a |
| 1:44.7 | crusty old weapons officer during his time in uniform who made Stinger look |
... |
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