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Shock and Awe at 20 Years

Lessons From The Cockpit

Release Date: 03/25/2023

Episode #110 – The Drone Swarm Wake-Up Call: Is the US and our Allies Ready? show art Episode #110 – The Drone Swarm Wake-Up Call: Is the US and our Allies Ready?

Lessons From The Cockpit

🎙️ Episode 110 – The Drone Swarm Wake-Up Call: Is the US and our Allies Ready? Welcome to the 110th episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I’m Mark Hasara, former Air Force KC-135 pilot, Weapons School graduate, and author of Tanker Pilot. For 60 years, aviation has been my world—from flying gas station in the sky to mission planning at the highest levels of command. This episode is a battle cry. 💥 Ukraine Just Changed the Air Warfare Game Over the weekend, Ukraine launched one of the boldest moves we’ve ever seen in modern air warfare: a long-range drone swarm strike...

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Episode #109 – From MiG-21s to the A-10 Hawg: The Incredible Journey of Major Joszph “Boarat” Jonas show art Episode #109 – From MiG-21s to the A-10 Hawg: The Incredible Journey of Major Joszph “Boarat” Jonas

Lessons From The Cockpit

🎙️ EPISODE 109 – From MiG-21 to A-10 Hawg: The Incredible Journey of Lt Col Joszph “Boarat” Jonas Welcome back to Lessons from the Cockpit, the show that brings you stories and lessons learned from aviators who've been there, done that, and brought the jet home. I’m Mark Hasara—KC-135 instructor pilot, Air Force Weapons School grad, author of Tanker Pilot, and your host for Episode 109. This one’s going to hit you right between the afterburners. ✈️ From Opposing Forces to Brothers-in-Arms My guest is Cliff Wilson, an Air Force C-141 Starlifter driver and UPT instructor in...

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Episode #108 – The Tanker World’s in Trouble: ARSAG, Anaconda, and Global Tensions on the Nation’s DIME. show art Episode #108 – The Tanker World’s in Trouble: ARSAG, Anaconda, and Global Tensions on the Nation’s DIME.

Lessons From The Cockpit

🎙️ EPISODE #108 – The Tanker World’s in Trouble: ARSAG, Anaconda, and Global Tensions on the Nation’s DIME Strap in and listen up, warriors. Welcome to Episode 108 of the Lessons from the Cockpit Show. I’m Lt Col Mark Hasara, USAF (Ret.)—KC-135 pilot, Weapons School grad, Joint Specialty Officer, and your host for this mission. I just got back from Air Refueling Systems Advisory Group or ARSAG 2025 at Planet Hollywood in Vegas—a gathering of the best and sharpest minds in global air refueling planning and operations. Senior leaders from the USAF, Royal Air Force, and RAAF, and...

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Episode #107 – Hercules to Hawgs: Flying Both Ends of the Fight with Col. Derek “Woody” Oaks show art Episode #107 – Hercules to Hawgs: Flying Both Ends of the Fight with Col. Derek “Woody” Oaks

Lessons From The Cockpit

🎙️ Episode 107 – Hercules to Hawgs: Flying at Both Ends of the Fight with Col. Derek “Woody” Oaks. Welcome aboard the 107th sortie of the Lessons from the Cockpit Show I’m Lt Col Mark Hasara, USAF (Ret.), KC-135 Weapons Officer and your pilot for today’s mission. I’ve flown jets, built war plans, and stayed hopelessly addicted to aviation for over 60 years. This week? You're in for one hell of a ride. After two attempts, we finally locked in this high-value target: Col. Derek “Woody” Oaks, a pilot who flew both ends of the Air Force spectrum—from hauling cargo in the...

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Episode #104: Black Jets and Gucci Birds with Retired Lt Col Mike Ethridge show art Episode #104: Black Jets and Gucci Birds with Retired Lt Col Mike Ethridge

Lessons From The Cockpit

Welcome to Episode 104 of Lessons from the Cockpit! I’m Mark Hasara, former KC-135 pilot, author of Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit, and a lifelong aviation fanatic. For over 60 years, aviation has been my passion, and this show brings you stories from the cockpit, the mission planning room, and beyond. This week, I sit down with Mike Ethridge, a longtime friend and fellow Air Force aviator. We met as cadets at BYU’s ROTC Detachment 855, and he went on to fly the KC-10A Extender, KC-135s and every Boeing airframe Delta Airlines has flown around the world. What’s in This...

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Episode #105: Lessons from Marine Corps Aviation with Colonel Byron “Shrek” Sullivan show art Episode #105: Lessons from Marine Corps Aviation with Colonel Byron “Shrek” Sullivan

Lessons From The Cockpit

EPISODE #105 – Marine Airpower, the Battle of Ramadi, and Flying the Beast: The F-35 and MV-22 Strap in and arm hot, folks—this one’s a burner. Welcome to Episode 105 of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I’m your host Mark Hasara, retired KC-135 pilot, author of Tanker Pilot, and a lifelong aviation nut with over 60 years of airpower obsession. This week, I sit down with Colonel Byron “Shrek” Sullivan, a retired United States Marine Corps airpower warrior. And trust me—this is the kind of episode that makes your hair stand up. "Shrek" is a Marine’s Marine—combat leader,...

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Episode #106: Lessons from Marine Corps Aviation with Shrek Sullivan and Glibby Gillette show art Episode #106: Lessons from Marine Corps Aviation with Shrek Sullivan and Glibby Gillette

Lessons From The Cockpit

🎧 Episode 106 – Rewriting the Rules of Marine Airpower Welcome back to Lessons from the Cockpit! I’m your host, retired Air Force Lt Col Mark “Sluggo” Hasara—KC-135 pilot, Joint Specialty Officer, and full-throttle aviation fanatic for over 60 years. In this episode, we finish a powerful two-part dive into Marine Corps aviation weapons, tactics, techniques, and procedures with my good friend Colonel Byron “Shrek” Sullivan. Shrek is a combat-proven pilot with time in both the F/A-18 Hornet and the F-35 Lightning II. And about halfway through the episode, we’re joined by the...

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Episode #95: AMC Command Chief Jamie Newman: Security Policeman and Ranger! show art Episode #95: AMC Command Chief Jamie Newman: Security Policeman and Ranger!

Lessons From The Cockpit

Welcome to the ninety-fifth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit Show! I am your host Mark Hasara, former KC-135 pilot and Airplane Nerd! I’m really excited to bring this episode to you! Air Mobility Command's Command Chief Master Sergeant Jamie Newman and I met at the Airlift Tanker Association convention in Dallas earlier this year. Coming up through the Air Force Security Police ranks, Command Chief Newman was not only selected to become an elite Air Force Phoenix Raven, but go through the Army’s grueling Ranger School returning later as an instructor at Fort Benning! Command Chief...

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Episode #94 Painting Legacies with Aviation Artist Wade Meyers show art Episode #94 Painting Legacies with Aviation Artist Wade Meyers

Lessons From The Cockpit

Welcome to the Lessons from the Cockpit Show and episode number ninety-four! I’m your host retired Air Force KC-135 pilot Lieutenant Colonel Mark Hasara and my passion is everything aviation! This episode is unique! I’ve known this incredible artist for years through LinkedIn and Facebook and thought it would be cool to have him explain how he accomplishes his craft. He is a fellow aviation artist but in a league and class by himself. Aviation artist Wade Meyers tells us his story of how he fell in love with airplanes but later in life made a career change and now draws and paints aviation...

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Episode #92 Lessons from the Hercules with Colonel Scooter Golden show art Episode #92 Lessons from the Hercules with Colonel Scooter Golden

Lessons From The Cockpit

Welcome to Episode #92 of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I’m your host Mark Hasara, retired KC-135 pilot and Weapons Officer. I met Colonel Barrett “Scooter” Golden recently at the 2024 Airlift Tanker Association convention in Dallas. Scooter is a long time C-130 pilot and also a graduate of the C-130 Weapons School. During an off station trainer Scooter and his crew were told by the Special Tactics Team on the ground his aircraft did not come off the Red Devil Assault Strip intact. An iPhone photo texted to him from his wingman confirmed his situation not covered in the Pilot Manual...

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Welcome to the fifty-seventh episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! This episode is an anniversary episode.

This past week marked twenty years since the opening of Operation Iraqi Freedom's Shock and Awe air campaign, a term those of us involved never used. To those planning and executing air operations, it was Air Tasking Order Oscar or ATO O. The Combined Air Operations Center Air Refueling Control Team which I led went through six weeks of hell preparing for the opening  A-Day and H-Hour, Friday night 21 March 2003 at 9 pm local Baghdad time. In this episode, you will hear the background stories of how the air refueling team got to that Friday night air schwacking of Iraq, from Friday 14 March to what you saw a week later on all the news media on 21 March. It looked like everything was going smoothly but no, it wasn't. The tanker force was not in place until Sunday 23 March.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is sponsored by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit found in all four formats; hardback, softback, Kindle, and Audible. Thirty-two pictures taken during events described in the book are contained in the pages, some taken by the author and some taken by the receivers.

 Prints of aircraft participating in the opening night of Iraqi Freedom can be found at Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are four, six, or eight-foot-long aircraft profiles printed on vinyl which can be peeled off or framed and placed on any flat surface.

The F-15E Strike Eagle was tasked to support Close Air Support to the Third Infantry Division in their march to Baghdad. This F-15E carries the weapons load normally used on such CAS missions.

The F-16CJ Wild Weasel took part in the Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) and the Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses on the opening night when the Baghdad Super Missile Engagement Zone had to be destroyed.

The F-16CJs were supported in their mission by the RC-135 Rivet Joint, an electronic intelligence collection platform used to identify, classify, and locate Saddam's SAM systems.

The E-3B Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System or AWACS was the Air Battlefield Manger platform for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Air Mobility Command KC-10 Extender was critical to the air refueling system for Operation Iraqi Freedom because they could refuel both Boom or Drogue-equipped aircraft and were air refuelable, allowing the KC-10 to be filled up during flight.

Go by my Lt Col Mark Hasara TikTok page to see short 15 to 30-second aviation and military videos that educate and entertain. Some are pretty incredible!

Thanks to all of my listeners for downloading this and previous episodes of the podcast. I really do appreciate it! This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com