F-16 Fighter Pilot | Evaded Multiple Surface-to-Air Missiles | Gulf War Desert Storm F-16 Combat Aviator | Fighter Weapons School Top Gun | Jet Jernigan

Combat Story

Ryan Fugit

History

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 August 2023

⏱️ 129 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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Today we have an amazing Combat Story from a 28 year F-16 fighter pilot, Jet Jernigan. Jet’s story is remarkable from how he stumbled into aviation to eventually lead the first 20 F-16s into Kuwait in the Gulf War to take out 10 Surface-to-Air (SAM) Missile sites and clear the way for Air Force bombers.

Jet and his 19 wingmen evaded over 40 SAM launches in just a 9 minute period in what can only be described as organized chaos. He would go head-to-head with SA-2s, SA-6s, and SA-9s in a span of just a few months.

As a member of the South Carolina Air National Guard, it seems unlikely that Jet’s unit was chosen ahead of other Active Duty Air Force squadrons to be the first F-16s into Kuwait. Fortunately, Jet and his team had just won Gunsmoke, the Air Force’s preeminent international aviation air-to-ground combat training exercise despite flying older F-16s against the Active Duty Air Force’s modernized variants, proving they were equally capable aviators.

Jet had many firsts in his career, including being the first Air National Guard pilot to attend the Air Force’s elite Fighter Weapons School where, with his high school degree and Air National Guard pedigree, finished as the honor graduate or Top Gun. Jet is an incredibly humble, accomplished, and god fearing veteran who continues to live out a Hollywood-like story. Stay tuned to the end of this episode to hear Colin Powell’s very own description of when Jet was interviewed by a reporter just after landing from his first mission in the Gulf War…it says it all. #f16 #fighterpilot #airforce #veteran =======

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Find Jet Jernigan Online: - Instagram @Jetf16 https://www.instagram.com/jetf16/

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Show Notes: 00:00 - Intro 01:00 - Guest Introduction (Jet Jernigan) 02:40 - Interview begins 22:14 - What’s an A-7D aircraft? 28:45 - What’s it like flying the F-16? 33:53 - What’s it like to hit a bird (bird strike) at 450mph? 39:11 - What is Fighter Weapons School? 50:40 - What is Gunsmoke? 52:11 - Greatest answer to a media question in history…what’s it like to fly an F-16? 01:01:53 - Why did we have Desert Storm? 01:15:16 - Preparing for the Gulf War 01:23:43 - Taking off for the first F-16 flight of the Gulf War 01:39:31 - How to evade a Surface to Air Missile (the science behind it from a fighter pilot) 01:41:08 - An intense mission in Basra meeting an SA-9 and sinking a ship! 01:46:59 - Sinking a Navy ship with an F-16 01:56:04 - When Colin Powell talks about Jet Jernigan after the Gulf War 02:00:15 - What Jet carried on combat missions 02:03:19 - Sentimental Items 02:04:19 - Would you do it again? 02:07:30 - Listener comments and shout outs

Transcript

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0:00.0	And about 10,000 feet, I'm tracking the pepper right up to the target.
0:05.4	I hit the pickle button.
0:06.6	I get 2,000 pounds off the left lane, 2,000 pounds off the right lane.
0:11.0	I start pulling back on the stake and pull about 8G's pulling out.
0:15.0	I check left seven o'clock.
0:16.6	John Marshall is about 6,000 feet at left seven.
0:19.4	His bombs are coming off.
0:21.0	And all of a sudden, my radar warning receiver starts screaming at me.
0:26.5	I look up and I've got an S-A-2 that left 8 o'clock.
0:32.5	I see the launch.
0:34.0	I look out the window and here comes a telephone pole riding the smoke trail through the air coming at me.
0:42.0	Welcome to Combat Story.
0:43.5	I'm Ryan Fuggett and I serve WarZone tours as an Army attack helicopter pilot and CIA officer over a 15-year career.
0:50.0	I'm fascinated by the experiences of the elite in combat.
0:53.5	On this show, I interview some of the best to understand what combat felt like on their front lines.
0:59.0	This is Combat Story.
1:01.0	Today we have an amazing combat story from a 28-year F-16 fighter pilot, Jet Journigan.
1:07.0	Jet Story is remarkable from how he stumbled into aviation to eventually lead the first 20 F-16s into Kuwait in the Gulf War
1:14.2	to take out 10 surface-to-air missile sites and clear the way for Air Force bombers.
1:18.8	Jet and his 19-wing men evaded over 40 Sam launches that day in just a 9-minute period and would only be described as organized chaos.
1:26.8	He would go head-to-head with S-A-2's, S-A-6's, and S-A-9's in just a span of a few months.
1:32.8	As a member of the South Carolina Air National Guard for his career, it seems unlikely that Jet's unit was chosen ahead of other active duty Air Force squadrons to be the first F-16s into Kuwait.
	...

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