We close out our month-long tribute to the Marine Corps’ 250th birthday with a special replay of a 2021 Happy Hour conversation featuring Lieutenant General Richard E. Carey.

Across nearly four decades in uniform, General Carey rose from enlisted grunt to three-star general, serving everywhere from the Inchon landings and Chosin Reservoir to the skies over Vietnam. He went on to amass more than 9,000 hours in every fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft the Marine Corps flew. Yet what stands out most is his quiet warmth and the timeless wisdom he shared—like sitting down with a beloved grandfather who’s seen it all.

General Carey passed away in early 2025 and now rests in the very cemetery he once helped establish. Rest in peace, General Carey. And Semper Fi, Marines.

Our monthlong celebration of the US Marine Corps' 250th birthday continues this week with retired Lieutenant Colonel Isaac "Whiskey" Lee who spent a 20-year career flying CH-53E Super Stallions.

Veteran of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Weapons & Tactics instructor...Whiskey chronicles hard-fought lessons learned and personal vulnerabilities in his book, Hangar 4: A Combat Aviator's Memoir.

This Veterans Day, we are rebroadcasting a walk down memory lane first shared in 2024 featuring guests from past Fighter Pilot Podcast episodes.

To mark the U.S. Marine Corps' 250th birthday on November 10, 2025, we are repurposing a 2023 Patreon Happy Hour featuring Doug Griffith who flew AH-1 Cobras during Operation Desert Storm.

Doug shares great stories and a master class on what it means to be a Marine Aviator.

November 10, 2025 marks the U.S. Marines' 250th birthday and to celebrate, we are dedicating the entire month to the Corps, beginning with this discussion featuring Jim "Bullet" Markel.

Bullet, who flew the Vought F-8 Crusader, describes flight training, meeting the love of his life, and flying combat operations over Vietnam—including a harrowing mission for which he was later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The U.S. Navy has one of the largest air forces in the world comprised of a wide variety of aircraft from helicopters to strike fighters to patrol planes. While squadrons, air wings, and type wings have a well-established chain of command, ultimately they all fall under the purview of a single person. Known formally as the Commander, Naval Air Forces, the position is known better as simply, the Air Boss.

On this episode, U.S. Navy Vice Admiral and air boss Dan “Undra” Cheever, joins us to discuss the current state and future of naval aviation. We touch on numerous high-level strategic issues and spend several minutes answering listener questions.

This week, we pause our monthlong celebration of the U.S. Navy's 250th birthday to check in with FPP friend, Dave "Chip" Berke.

Fighter pilot extraordinaire, battle-proven forward air controller, and esteemed leadership coach, Chip codifies his many hard-won lessons learned into a powerful and concise new book, The Need to Lead.

"Every problem is a leadership problem," Chip asserts—find out why and, more importantly, how to effectively address these problems in this fascinating read available on Amazon and most major bookstores October 21, 2025.

Torpedoes vs missiles, tomahawks vs smart bombs, fluid mechanics, missions ranging from direct combat to attack to surveillance... turns out, submarines and military aviation have much in common!

On this episode marking the U.S. Navy's 250th anniversary, former submarine commander Tony Grayson explains submarines for dummies, invoking aviation concepts and comparisons.

If your knowledge of subs is based on Crimson Tide, The Hunt for the Red October, or even Down Periscope, you might be pleasantly surprised how close to reality these epic movies come!