Late For Changeover 07 May 2025-VEED
So, like, my little cat is having kittens, and I have to say, she was having kittens. Which is excuse number 127 for being late for Changeover, your weekly space news and variety show. I’m your host, Mark Smith, and I’m rejoined by our man in the closet, Jake Wall.
Oh, man, it’s good to see you guys. Mr. History, Eric Perrault. Awesome to be back.
I’m happy about that. And our puzzle princess, Ana Mondragon. Hello.
We’re here to bring you the latest headlines and updates pertinent to all Guardians and to the other lesser branches as well. So, take your seats, get informed, and have a laugh as we present Late for Changeover. Take your seat.
Take your seat. I’m impressed with the sound effects board you got there. I’ve got three sound effects, so that’s it.
And one of them I’m always late on, so, you know, it’s just one. Yeah, that’s it. This happens.
It’s good to see you all back from the world travels, from the home improvement. God, we missed you. That was a tough one, because when we did, Ana was gone.
Ana, you’ve been gone for, like, three or four weeks. I have, like, a month. Yeah.
And really, you have a different excuse for each one of them. You should have used your realistic excuse from last week. No, I agree.
You should have used that one from last week. You should start writing them down and using them for excuses. I know.
That would be a Late for Changeover. It was late because of a colonoscopy. I know.
I started it way too late in the day. I should have known shift change was coming, but once they enter, you can’t stop, you know. Yeah.
All right. So, let’s talk about it. Jake, you went over to Australia.
Yeah, we went down to Adelaide. I’ve never been to Australia. Oh, yeah.
That’s nice, man. Yeah, I’ve got, you know, I’ve been twice. Wow.
A couple of different cities in Australia. How far is the longest leg of the flight that you had to go through? San Fran to Sydney, and that was like 15 hours. Oh, my God.
Yeah, it’s like, it sucks. It’s rough. That’s like, you can get drunk, you can pass out, you can wake up.
Be hungover. It’s hard drinking again. Have some hair of the dog.
That’s exactly what I did the first time I flew out there. Oh, yeah? Yeah. I was harassing the frigging Stewart, and we were right by the galley, and he was Australian.
And then he would walk by, he would pick up a beer on my table, and he’s like, you’re not going to make it in Australia. And he would walk by, and I’m like, oh, shit. And then he would walk back, and he dropped off another beer, and he would just do this the whole time.
Every time he would come out of that galley, he was swapping out beers. He told you you’re not going to make it? Yeah. That’s awesome.
Yeah. Well, we were bullshitting before that, so. And he’s like, nah, you’re not going to make it.
That’s great. So smart. And I got drunk, and then passed out, and then woke up hungover.
Wow. And still had, like, what, three, four more hours? Enough time to pick out a movie and watch it? Oh, man. On the way home, I watched the entire first season of This Is Us.
I still had time for a nap and another movie. Oh, my God. That’s insane.
I’m not playing. That’s insane. I slept for three hours, watched the whole season of This Is Us, then watched Shaun of the Dead.
Oh, that one horrible flight. Yeah. What airline did you fly on, Jake? We went United, so it got me from, like, computer status all the way up to gold right off the bat.
Nice. Boom. Hell yeah.
Tell us about Anzac Day. Oh, Anzac Day. So that’s a celebration of, like, basically their Memorial Day.
That’s it, right? That’s their Anzac Day? That’s it. And it’s a big deal because they lost a lot of people in World War I. Oh, sure. Yeah.
The Pacific Campaign. Yeah. They were fighting in the Turkish area.
Yeah. Really? Yeah. Oh, I didn’t even realize that.
And so it’s Australia, New Zealand, something Anzac. Yeah. But on the inside, you could see all the people that had died, what division, what corps, everything.
Oh, wow. I got another picture I took just for Eric, and there was a Camel Corps in the Africa Campaign area. I was like, oh, shit.
I took a picture of all the people. Douglas the Camel. Douglas the Camel.
There was no Douglas. I checked. I’m pretty sure it’s stolen valor.
Hey, is that an angel inside, like a large guardian angel? That is. Yeah, on the inside. But you can go inside that pillar.
Oh, really? It’s that big? Holy cow. Yeah, it’s massive. And so on the inside of that pillar, you could stand in there and look at every wall was covered with the lists of all the people.
Wow. I saw the pictures you sent of it. That was pretty cool.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. This is the picture.
We did that, and then we did the, there was a parade. Oh, they held a full two minutes of silence at the dawn memorial. Oh, at the beginning of the day or something? At the beginning of the day, there was a whole celebration, and everybody was dropping off wreaths, and there was even, so there’s so much respect between the Turks and the Aussies and New Zealanders, because they just killed the shit out of each other.
Oh. So, to this day, a Turkish ambassador, to this day, sends an envoy out there. Wow.
Yeah, it’s that level of respect. Just saying, like, I’m sorry, and I’m sorry. Like, I’m sorry, and I’m sorry.
Yeah, yeah. Like, you were a noble enemy. Yeah.
It was awesome. Mel Gibson movie, man, they did it. What Mel Gibson movie? Oh, yeah.
Mel Gibson that showed, there was a Mel Gibson movie that showed the battle, I can’t remember the name of the battle, them fighting the Turks. I’m looking for the title of it right now. Mel Gibson? Yeah, he’s a real young guy, and he’s a courier for the Aussies.
Is this when Mel Gibson was faking like he was Australian at the beginning of his career? Correct. Everybody thought he was Australian, right? It was like, oh. And then you find out later, it’s like, no, this guy’s from New York.
He’s from freaking San Bernardino. What the fuck? Is he really San Bernardino? No, I don’t know. That sounded the most generic of all.
Yeah, that’s good. So that two minutes is like absolute silence? Yeah. That’s long.
That’s long, yeah. It was done, two minutes. Wow.
There’s got to be thousands of people there. There was like a couple, it was flowing into the streets. They had all the streets blocked off.
That’s really cool. But yeah, two solid minutes, and then the bugle broke it. Oh.
And then. It’s heartbreaking, man. That’s somber.
Oh, jeez, man. Two minutes is a long time. Yeah.
I got one last question. Is that the one with the flower? Everybody, where is that? No, that’s Canadian. The poppies.
Poppies are British and Canadian. Well, they just symbolize like a memorial thing, because poppies grow on the field of battle. That’s Flanders Field or whatever that poem is, I think.
Yeah. Okay. But yeah, I do dig that all of them do that tradition.
It was really cool because I was asking the guys, the students, and I was talking to them. I’m like, so some of them, they had metals all over their, whatever shirt they were wearing. You can actually hang your metal rack on your sport coat or whatever.
Oh. Or your blouse or whatever. You can just put it on your hoodie.
And on one side, it meant that you served. And then if you wore it on the other side, it was the. It was your relations that served.
Oh, okay. Yeah, that’s cool. So some people had double.
I like that. It was like, yeah. Yeah, I did and my dad did.
Yeah, my dad did. Then this is his rack. That’s a cool tradition.
I like that. It was a cool way because you might not have served, but you could still see the generations of people that were all involved in that war. Why don’t we do something like that? That’s really good.
I like it. Yeah, it was cool. Okay, so the name of the movie is Gallipoli.
Oh, yeah. That’s the big battle with Mel Gibson. What year was that movie? 1981.
Wow. Wow, Mel Gibson. You’re old.
Right before he became Martin Riggs. Yeah. Pretty good movie, man.
Pretty good movie. Jake, you went out there for a couple weeks. You were instructing for your job? Yeah, it was just a work trip.
It was a good time. That’s a hell of a good work trip. I know.
You can’t complain. We did get that three-day weekend, so that was cool. That’s fantastic.
Yeah. Uh-oh, I heard somebody join. Who the hell is joining us? Eric died.
Eric’s finger is really large. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Now I’m confused.
I heard a bop. Oh, well. Maybe they’re not here.
Oh, Eric dropped. Eric, how are you? What the F? I got knocked off my phone. How in the hell were you able to do that? That was really cool.
Okay. Well, good, because now it’s your turn, Eric. Where did you go? Well, we took a nice little vacation.
Spain, Italy, and France. Eric, you are overblowing us with your audio. It is so loud.
My bad. It’s crazy loud. Let me just talk a little softer.
Talking a little softer. Whatever that mic is on your phone is super sensitive. This is terrible.
This is absolutely terrible. We flew into Barcelona, Spain. Spent two days in Barcelona.
And then we took a cruise over to Naples, Rome, Mallorca, and Cannes, France, where the actual film festival was. It was awesome. Hey, Ana, you know how to make a Mallorca? A Mallorca? No.
No. That’s horrible. That’s horrible.
I wish I had an answer for that. How long? Two weeks, Eric? Yeah, nine-day cruise, two days in Barcelona. We walked the entire city.
It was awesome. That is awesome. So what cruise line? Did you use, like, Viking or whatever? No, this was Norwegian.
Norwegian. I hear that one’s nice, too. Have you done those cruises before? Yeah.
You did that a couple years ago, didn’t you? Yeah, we did Alaska. You did the river cruise, right? We did the Viking river cruise, yeah. That’s awesome.
I want to do that. You guys check this out. On Norwegian now, they have a military program.
So all the retired vets, they do a night where they send orders to your stateroom, and they invite you and your spouse or whoever you’re with to a wine and dine, strictly for vets that are on the board, U.S. vets. Oh, wow. Nice.
They give you a coin, a pitcher, and a patch. It’s pretty neat. No way.
That is cool. Yeah, we had a great time. Hold on a second.
Here is one of Eric’s late for changeover pictures. That’s at the Trieste Falls. What are they, where you flip the coin into the water? Trieste? Oh, it is? Oh, yeah.
Yeah, that’s in Rome. It does. Look at that late for changeover patch traveling all over.
Oh, I got to send you one, Anna. I know. I’m sorry.
I haven’t really gone anywhere. Well, you could be next with your barn. Yeah, you can take a picture from the concrete.
What? Barn dance, late for changeovers. Exactly. There you go.
Late for changeovers. Always ready for a hoedown. That was in Rome? Yes, sir.
Rome. That was incredible. We toured the Colosseum.
Amazing. Colosseum was packed full of people, too. But what an amazing, historic place, man.
Crazy. Yeah. Wow.
Did you all drive over there? You didn’t drive over there. No, we took a personal tour. My wife set up a bunch of excursions for us.
In Ibiza, we rode ATVs all over the island. That was really cool. No way.
Yeah, it was fun. Well, I think it’s called Ibiza. Where’s Mallorca? It’s part of Spain.
It’s another island off the mainland. You don’t know where your orca is? I don’t know where mine is. It’s M-A-L-L-O-R-C-O or something like Mallorca, like that? Alma Mallorca is what it’s called.
M-A-L-L-O-R-C-A. Oh, there’s a Y in LL? Shut up. My orca.
Now I’m going to Google it. I know where my orca is. Do you know where your orca is? I’m not a responsible parent.
We went out on a sailboat all day, man. Do you know where my orca is? Oh, wow. No kidding.
Oh, it’s M-A-J. Is that what you said, Dum-Dum? I didn’t know you said that, Jake. He was making it up.
I’ll send you guys some pictures after the show tonight. It is M-A-L-L-O-R-C-A. That’s right.
Jake was right. Jake was right. Eric’s been trying to tell this story the whole time.
All right. Walking around. She’s short-circuiting everything.
I’ve got to win the spelling bee anyway. My orca looks weird. Ana, I had a hyphen in there, so mine was not correct.
Well, I tell you, thanks for bringing the patch to both of those places. That’s awesome. I mean, it went all the way around the world.
That’s really cool. And it’s just because we’re all jealous of you, because you went for pleasure. And I was like, oh, man, what a dream vacation, man.
Wait, where? ATVs in Ibiza. Wow. Ibiza.
Yeah, it was pretty cool. Naked beaches everywhere in Ibiza, man. Everywhere.
Yeah, but that doesn’t mean there’s supermodels on the naked beaches, right? In Ibiza, it does. Oh. Why didn’t you say that? The trip to Ibiza.
I should have given you two patches. Yeah, you should have led with that. Right here.
Let me take a picture. It was crazy. Oh, man.
Did you guys partake? That picture would have been one of the reasons. Reason 127, I was late for change. Oh, yeah.
Ibiza. I couldn’t get off the history only fans. Look at these, man.
Did you make it weird? Like. Oh, but one of my friends. American out there.
Take it off. You know. Yeah.
I’m 16, man. What did your friend do to make it weird? Ran around pulling his pants down in front of everybody. He ran around pulling his pants down to a nude beach.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. He just pulled him up.
Now. He was just trying to make a statement. You know.
It’s fun to watch. So do you like older man run? I’ll send you pictures after the show. Oh, my God.
Well, I don’t quite have the. The stature to those trips. I just went to Panama City, Florida.
Panama City, Florida. That was beautiful. For forever.
I was like, why do you call this the Emerald Coast? I couldn’t figure it out. It was like, oh, because this is. Courts that got ground up.
And that’s why the beaches are so white and stuff. I was like, yeah, that doesn’t explain anything about Emerald. Right.
But the water. So green. It’s great.
It’s so. It’s so nice. It’s like bath water to that Gulf water.
That’s great. So good. So are you.
Are you. My picture. Maybe.
But that’s my picture. But it wasn’t even the Margaritaville that we went to go visit. Because Margaritaville has like several different things.
So we went to Margaritaville, Panama City Beach, the retirement community. But they also have all these houses that you can rent. And that’s their beach cottage resort.
So Jimmy Buffett, God rest his soul, is really parlaying Margaritaville. A song I got so sick of because I heard it so much. All these properties.
Right. Awesome. It’s really cool.
Do they have margaritas in each of them? Each one of them. Absolutely. They do.
Are you kidding me? You’re serious. Were they good? You know what the. No.
You know what the dog park is named? I’m afraid. Margaritaville. Margaritaville.
Yes. Yes. If you’re going to go.
Go all the way. Right. So.
But it was fun. It was nice. It was.
We bought a property down there. So we’re going to see what happens over the next year. That’s awesome.
He’s getting the 10. Marty’s getting the 10. Dude, if you move down there, I’ll be seeing you down in Florida.
I’m telling you, I’ll be in North Florida a lot too. I don’t know. My community’s gated.
So it might not let in. Big nudist cops in. You know what I mean? I’m like, let’s keep that guy.
Yeah. I understand. They don’t support the semi-nude community.
You had a good week off too. Right. I did.
A few weeks off. Yeah. Yeah.
It was good. I was responsible. I did all my responsible things.
Ana. Ana sent us a picture. You want to see Ana’s picture? Ana had a colonoscopy.
Please don’t. This was the results of her colonoscopy. Look at that.
Look what’s in there. It’s a party. It’s a party inside.
Go girl. Inside the colonoscopy place. Who is that, by the way? I don’t know.
It’s someplace in San Angelo. I thought you’d recognize it. Nice.
It was either this picture or the ones with the big, the Tejano day with the big dresses. I thought that might be funny. But see, it’s funny because this is supposed to be your colon, Ana.
And this is what’s happening in your colon. Oh, all the excitement. All the excitement in there.
Look at that. And rumbles. It’s got a live band.
You should have had rumbles. It’s funny because it’s all. Huge party.
It was funny in my head. At 3 a.m. You don’t understand why it’s funny. Because it’s social engineering.
And then within like 30 minutes. You wouldn’t get it. It’s like big.
But anyway, you got. You improved your barn. Right.
We did. We were getting concrete on Friday. I didn’t realize.
Do you guys realize how much work. There is in laying concrete. Holy Jesus.
So we did. All the prep work. Right.
We did all the prep work. That’s all. You did.
Yeah. Like tambourine. I never knew you had a tambourine.
Oh, yeah. And then dirt is so expensive. Like why the.
It’s dirt. Right. You’re trying to know.
Dirt. Right. All the crossbars together and everything.
And do all that. Yeah. You go rebar in there too.
No. Rebar. No.
Rebar. It’s going to crack on you. Do you have a dream.
A what. A dream. Dream.
Oh, a dream. Oh, yeah. But it’s a lot of work.
I didn’t realize how much work. Yeah. It sucks.
It sucks. Yeah. Yeah.
My brother-in-law does that. And so. It’s going to look good.
The last three days. That’s back breaking. But it’s so nice when it’s done.
Yeah. It’s so nice. All right.
God. We’ve been talking. We’ve been talking about.
Yeah. That’s it. That’s it.
Thanks for coming. That was a good show. Catch up on what’s going on.
So I thought we’d have a little discussion because I saw one. And one put a post out on LinkedIn. So I know one’s bucking for me.
But he’s posting a lot on LinkedIn. Like deep thought kind of stuff. Right.
So he goes, oh, I had a sergeant who told me to prepare for your next promotion or prepare to get out. And when I read that, I was like, OK, that’s good advice. But at the same time, it’s like, am I not getting the next promotion? So I should be prepared to get it.
What are you trying to tell me, Sarge? Right. But then it started going through and I was like, I wonder if we could do like a little series, like a series, like things I never learned from tap class. Right.
Transition. Things I never learned from tap. I remember when I went through tap, I was like, oh, they’ll hook me up with contacts.
They’ll tell me how to do it. What’s tap? Maybe. Didn’t you go through tap? Transition assistance program.
It’s for people. It’s for people that are retiring. You’re required to take that class before you retire.
And it’s like a good six months. I think you can take it up to a year. Take it up to a year.
Yeah. Did you go through tap, Eric? I was being smart. I know.
We know. I know. Yes, I did.
It was like three days back then. Yeah, that’s about it. It was a week, maybe.
The thing I hated from tap class was the guy they had brought in to teach. He wasn’t military. And this guy was all dynamic.
He was like, hey, you got to network. You got to network. For 20 years, my mind was just like, do this job.
I didn’t think about the future. I’m a horrible preparer. But when I finally did decide, I was like, oh, okay.
Everybody goes, you know everybody. It’d be easy for you to get a job. What a lie that was.
Yes, you know people. But unless the company is actually looking for people, you get nothing. Oh, that’s fair.
Do they have any openings or whatever it’s called? Yeah. And they’re like, oh, I’ll take your resume. And I’ll be like, oh, great.
That’ll be next week. And they’re like, we’re not really hiring right now. But we’ll keep it on tap.
And I’m like, fuck. So I think the thing I never learned from tap was most of the jobs I’ve gotten since I’ve retired have been because of people I knew already in the company. And they’re like, oh, don’t worry, I’ll hook you up.
And I hate to say that, but that’s the networking. It’s not like, oh, I’ll pass your resume to here and here and here, which is what I thought it was. I was like, oh, great.
But it was more like, I’m in. We have an opening. Can you go? I’ll take your resume.
And I’ll get the bonus for hiring you. Boom. Which is super awesome, though.
I know. That’s the networking that’s gotten me all my jobs. Yeah, me too.
And that’s the harsh. I think that’s the harsh reality. You can put all this effort into your resume.
Or LinkedIn. But if they hire you blind without knowing you. You know what? Here’s the other one.
I’ll let you guys go. Here was the other reality of it, right? If you see a job opening, it’s probably already been filled. Potentially, yeah.
They just put it out there because they have to put it out there. Unless there’s a big couple of hires. Yeah.
Hopefully, for the company, they have somebody in mind. Well, sure. They want to hire from within.
Or they get resumes. And they’ll be like, hey, you ever heard of this person? And that’s something like, oh, yeah, I’ve heard of them. They’re good.
Have you ever? Has ever somebody come across you and they’re like, hey, Jake. What do you think of this guy? And you go, don’t hire that guy. Not me, but I’ve actively seen other coworkers.
I didn’t have the opportunity. I was like, I never worked with that person. But this person might have.
And they were like, are you talking about that? Yeah. Nope. And I’ve seen people be reassessed.
Like, hey, this resume looks pretty good. And then they field it around the office. You’re like, oh, I knew that guy.
Yeah. Or if you go both ways, too. So that type of networking, if you’re a cool dude, if you’re working, you know, you’re savvy and that kind of stuff.
Right. That kind of networking works. You have to know the one person that can get your foot in the door, period.
Sure. Yeah. Yeah.
And don’t be a dick before you get out. That’s exactly it. In general.
Just be a nice person. But that follows you more than you think, man. Yeah, it does.
It’s crazy how many people talk to each other. Yeah. Ana, what’s the biggest revelation when you got out of TAP, Ana? Me? Yeah.
Because you were hired right away, though, right? I did. I was lucky. What did I not? I wish that TAP followed you in your career.
So like maybe like at a five-year point, everybody should go through TAP. Because I kind of feel like at the end of your career, you are incredibly late. That’s a good idea.
And your final enlistment or something like that. It’s too late at the end of your career. Yeah.
Yeah, it is too late. So I don’t feel like I really learned much out of TAP other than how to file a disability claim. But there are people that kind of walk you through it anyway.
Yeah, that’s true. That makes a lot of sense. Eric, what did you get out of TAP? Or what did you learn? What did you wish they had told you in TAP? Oh, I think definitely going back to what Ana said, having to do it earlier.
Because at the last minute. That’s a good idea, yeah. You know, at the last minute, I got nothing from it.
I got that white book where you’re supposed to fill in shit, you know. What are stressors? How do you relieve the stress? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, what are your goals? And I’m like, this is just corny.
Yeah. You know what? That’s interesting because that’s like the previous generation’s version. So it did kind of get better before we retired.
I hope so. But, yeah. Man, they were going around the room and some people were like scared of retiring.
That was me. Honestly, Jake, that was me. I think I could have retired at least two years earlier than when I did.
But I was too. So I blamed it on, hey, I said I would do a four-year, you know, stint with this organization. But that was a super lame excuse because, ultimately, I was nervous.
Like, that’s all I did since I was 18. So, like, in my mind, I was like, holy goodness. I don’t even know how to spell contract.
I didn’t pay attention to how Martin and Raytheon did their stuff. It would have been nice to have not a general TAP class, but maybe a more specified TAP class. You know what I mean? Like, if for us in space, you know, maybe we could have had, hey, if you want to stay in space.
And this is the other lie, I think. It’s not that they said it, but it’s what you believe. It’s like, hey, if you want to do something else, you can do anything you want.
You really can’t. You know, your skills are pretty limited after a career in the military. That is a fact.
Let’s have a reality check. Your security clearance is your biggest skill right now. Yeah, that’s true.
Security clearance and some specialized career fields. Right, right. I mean, Eric, you got out of security forces and you went, did you go straight into security or did you do something else first? No, I was straight security.
Yeah. Is that just because you knew people or is that what you were comfortable with? Well, remember, I was supposed to be the cable and antenna maintenance specialist. And they wouldn’t take me right away.
And so I didn’t want to wait. So they offered me security and I took, oh, we can take you right now. And I said, let’s go.
So I took security. Good job. Let’s go.
Needed to get out of Florida, man. Well, let’s keep this running. I’ll keep a tab of this stuff and let’s keep it running.
Maybe we can help some of these young kids, you know, getting out. Well, and I truly believe what you also said, too, is you’ve got to have someone who understands what the purpose of TAP is. If you’ve got some kind of, you know, speaker who is just trying to be all motivational for you, that doesn’t work.
And where we came from, what our background was, what we went through. So I think that’s important. I think TAP is too.
It’s too generalized. I mean, this guy was like, hey, everyone stand up. Let’s pretend you’re online at at the grocery store.
Just turn around and start talking to the guy behind you. That’s how you do that. I was like, what? I’m not going to talk to a stranger at the grocery store.
Like, hey, can you give me a job? With your elevator. Hi, I’m unemployed in the line in front of you. Is there any way you can help me pay for these groceries? That’s right.
I only have cash and not card. Exactly. Well, and the other thing, too, guys, is most of us, if you think about it, when we separated from the military, we automatically started looking for positions that required a security clearance.
And required some other kind of transitional job because of the clearance. Contracts, military contracts, how they work would have been really a nice topic. Yeah.
To understand how that applies. Hey, this stuff can get you into jail. Stay away from this stuff.
Don’t do this. Yeah. Seriously.
Maybe you don’t do that, but okay. I never had a job interview. I don’t know where she was.
Don’t do this or you’ll go to jail. I’m not going to jail. No, I’m saying to keep you out of jail.
Yeah, that’s good. That’s true. I heard what Marty went through.
I’m definitely not going to jail. I didn’t pay attention to proprietary or any of that when I was in the military. Oh, yeah, NDA stuff or anything like that.
Yeah, because it wasn’t a part of my world. No. Yeah, it’s weird.
It was a difference. I don’t know. If you think of some stuff, let’s just run a running series here.
Maybe somebody young will be like, oh, shit. TAP doesn’t really help me. Like, no.
Not really. I like your idea. It threw some good stuff at me.
Education. Yeah. And plus, because it was TAP.
Nobody wanted to go to TAP. So I didn’t. I did.
Dude, I’ve seen people go to TAP like three times because they don’t like their unit. They’re like, I’m going at the one year mark. I’m going at the nine month mark.
I’m going at the three month mark. Because it kept tasking me. I kept working.
I was like, guys, I’m retiring. She’ll do it. She’ll do it.
All right. Let’s do a couple news stories, shall we? Eat out. So I was trying to look for alternate sources for news.
Oh, here we go. I got a couple, though. I got a couple.
This is how we go to county. Ibiza. Ibiza.
I learned that from Batman. Ibiza. Don’t take your clothes.
You’re good to go. Nice. Unless you want to flash people.
In the no-no zone. Well, you know, Ibiza is really, really big for celebrities and models. Yeah.
Doing model shoots on the beach. Celebrity partying. So it’s a huge nightlife in Ibiza.
Really? Did you go to any by like accident? Did you just stumble in there? No, I had to get back on a cruise ship that left at the end of the day. I remember when I was stationed. When I stationed at Schofield, I had some friends who had rented a house up on North Shore of Oahu.
And they would call all their friends. They’re like, they’re doing a magazine shoot. And we would go up there all on the deck with like big binoculars.
And watch these models do these photo shoots. It’s great. It’s pretty pervy, but it was fun.
Nice. There’s first stories from the Hill. I thought this was interesting.
So Trump went to Michigan and says this Michigan base will stay open and get new fighter jets. K.I. Sawyer? What did you say? I said is it K.I. Sawyer or K.Y. Sawyer or whatever the hell it was? No. No.
Last week, President Trump announced that Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan will receive 21 F-15EX Eagle II fighters. Newer generation jets meant to replace the installation’s aging A-10 Thunderbolt IIs. Now think about that.
They’re replacing A-10s with F-15s? Why the hell would they be doing that? F-15Es, you can load anything on those. Every type of munition, you could just throw it on there. Is that what it is? So it’s like the F-16 of the F-15 family.
Like the big boys of the F-15. The Boeing-made aircraft will go to Selfridge after years of lobbying from Michigan lawmakers to shore up the future of the 106-year-old Harrison Township Base, an installation that has an estimated $850 million impact on the state’s economy. Now, this must be one hell of an Air National Guard Base for $850 million impact.
That’s pretty impressive. That’s a lot. I remember they do a lot of, I want to say, I’m sorry Eric, but I want to say they do a lot of security forces type exercises at Selfridge.
Maybe it’s the reserves in the Guard? I don’t know. There’s obviously a big, it says there’s 5,000 employed at Selfridge. That’s a lot.
Yeah, I remember sending people there and I want to say. To Selfridge? No shit. As a reserve, it’s security forces, if I remember right.
I’ve never heard of that place. Home to the 127th Wing of the Michigan Air National Guard. Selfridge opened in 1917 and sports an estimated 5,000 jobs.
Wow. Last year, the base announced it would host a new squadron of Air Force KC-46A Pegasus refueling tankers meant to replace the outgoing KC-135. So obviously some lobbyists are really making way with.
They’re really good lobbyists. Yeah, an Air National Guard base. So like Buckley, other aircraft at Selfridge include the Michigan Army National Guard CH-47 Chinooks, the U.S. Coast Guard, because it’s right on one of the lakes above Lake Huron.
So it’s not a great lake, but it’s a pretty big lake. It’s reasonably impressive. It’s big.
It’s great. It’s big. The U.S. Coast Guard’s HH-65 Dolphin helicopter and various other aircraft used by Customs and Border Protection, which is, you know, enforcing that Canadian border.
Okay, why’d they send F-15EXs, right? So we all kind of know what the mission of the A-10s are. Close air support, pretty much, right? They can carry some other stuff, but their primary, that’s that GAL, what is that? The GAL-8. GAL-8, right? So why are they putting the F-15s there? That seems kind of silly.
Well, it’s because the mission of that air base is Homeland Defense. So self-defense. Flying their hot air balloon over.
Oh, that we didn’t shoot down? It’s like, dang, we’ve got to cover the north. So they’re trying to do a Homeland Defense mission with A-10s? Well, unless they roll some armor in. They’re not going to do a lot with the A-10s.
So they’re getting 21 F-15EXs. So I wonder if that base is going to be like Buckley and just turn into an Air Force base. A straight up Air Force base.
Wasn’t there another base in Michigan, though, called K.I. Sawyer or something like that? Yeah, it was on the upper peninsula. Okay. The U.P., as they say? The U.P. So Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Democratic governor, but Michigan voted for Trump.
So there’s got to be something going on there. They made a big deal that she was out there for the announcement with Trump. Had a meeting with him.
And now they’re going to pour all this money and armament into Michigan. So I’m sure that’s behind the scenes stuff somewhat. But good on Selfridge.
Good on Selfridge. Those of you getting out might consider asking your TAP instructor, how do you get assigned up to a contractor job up in Selfridge, Michigan? Selfridge, I’m sure thousands will want to go up there. It looks really pretty.
Lake Effect snow is always great, right? You can keep it cold. All right, this next story is complicated. But I think I’ve dumbed it down for us.
Oh, gosh. I started, I was like, oh, this is a good one. I was like, oh, this is complicated.
Let’s see how we do on this. So it’s about a Supreme Court case. Sonia Sotomayor gives conservative justices a win in a Supreme Court case.
So this is from the, oh, shit, I forget to write it down. I think it’s, I know, I can’t remember, I know. It’s from, oh, it’s from Newsweek.
Yeah, it’s from Newsweek. So what is this case? Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined four of the highest courts conservative justices last Wednesday in a 5-4 decision requiring a federal government to provide, now this will be interesting, to provide individuals who serve in the military reserves equal pay to their civil servant salaries when called to active duty during a national emergency. Oh, my goodness.
Yeah, that’s a big deal. The case centered on Nick Feliciano, an FAA air traffic controller who earned less while serving almost five years in the Coast Guard. He did not receive differential pay during that period.
Ana, did you ever hear of differential pay? Usually the contractor company pays the differential pay if they offer it. So most of the reservists that were activated after 9-11, so our space contractors, they made less coming on to active duty, even as an E-7 or E-8. A lot less.
Yeah, so then their contractor company just paid differential pay. The government didn’t pay. The government did not pay differential pay.
So it’s still up to you. It was always like Booz Allen or Northrop or Raytheon. They would sign up to keep paying you whatever the difference was.
Yeah, which is a lot. Sometimes it was. We saw some of those AGRs or guys that took long-term orders, they would go years.
Sure. They would still be paying differential pay. Well, and I remember people who come in on orders where their company didn’t pay differential pay.
And they’re like, I’m losing money for these two weeks. I know, that sucks. Most of our airliners.
Get back to work. Pilots and co-pilots lost a lot of money too. Oh, they did.
They eventually lost their jobs. Thanks. They got furloughed or something.
At the heart of the case was a 2009 statute requiring differential pay for federal employees who serve as military reservists during a national emergency. That’s a key. The statute was designed to offset lost wages as often reservists earn less in uniform than in their civilian jobs.
The legal question before the court was whether it is sufficient for reservists to be called to active duty during a declared national emergency to qualify for the benefit. Or if the reservists must prove, this is where it gets complicated. If the reservists must prove a substantive connection to that specific emergency.
Basically, they call everything a national emergency and you get activated and then they’re like, are you still doing national emergency stuff? That’s really what the case was about. So the Justice Gorsuch, who wrote the majority opinion, argued that a federal civilian employee called to active duty pursuant to any other provision of law during a national emergency is entitled to differential pay without having to prove that his service was substantively connected in some particular way to some particular emergency. OK, the case, the case was.
Why would you be called to service without an emergency? Well, I think the case was this guy got called up and then after his initial thing, he went back to keep serving, but he wasn’t really serving in the same capacity to fulfill the reason that he was called up initially. Yeah, there’s two different statutes and I can’t remember the two different. There’s like presidential something or goodness, I can’t even remember.
There were two different ways that a reservist could be activated. OK, and I can’t remember. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think you’re right. Yeah, I seem to remember. Categories to that, but.
And it was like different pots of money, wasn’t it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it had to do with different pots of money and.
State versus federal paying. Yeah, right, right, right. Yeah, it was a big deal.
This guy got called up for, I think, six months or a year or something, but then he did it like another four years. And then it was like, hey, you didn’t give me differential pay for these other four years. And the employer was like, well, you weren’t really you were just being active duty.
You weren’t really part of the emergency. And so that’s why he took it to court. So some of the members, the majority decision was, yeah, if you get called up in any capacity for a contingency emergency, you should be due differential pay.
But the dissenting opinion, this is interesting. Justice Thomas, in his dissent, argued that this interpretation has a possibility of making nearly all military operations qualify, saying if all military operations that occur concurrent with a national emergency are contingency ops, then any military operation requiring a call to active duty service could be a contingency op, regardless of whether there was any contingency involved. But is there an actual operation that they’re supporting? Well, and he went along with that.
He also went on to say this was fascinating. With the exception of a one year period between 1978 to 1979, the United States has had at least one national emergency in effect at all times since 1933. Well, I guess that covered it.
Almost 100 years. We’ve always had a national emergency. Oh, my goodness.
So it’s strange credibility to think that Congress could have meant contingency operation to me as a practical matter. Essentially, every military operation. Yeah, exactly.
But we know being reservists, and you haven’t been a reservist, Eric, I know. But being a reservist, we kind of muddle those definitions to get that paid so we can come on orders. And maybe that’s OK, but maybe it’s not.
Yeah. I mean, just an actual example of something that happens all the time. When we used to fly, if you spent one minute, as soon as you crossed the border into a war zone, then instantly that whole month was tax free.
So we saw, I mean… I love that. Multiple aircrafts just going slightly into a border and then they’re like, tax free. Not only that, like people that had bonuses, they were flying into these hostile areas and reenlisting there and they got tax free bonuses.
It was pretty scary staying at those hotel rooms, getting room service. Well, if you go to CENTCOM, I remember CENTCOM was always debated. Are you going to theater? Yeah, I’m going to CENTCOM.
That’s Homestead Air Force Base, Florida. MacDill. That’s Tampa State.
MacDill, yeah. At Special Ops Base. Tampa State.
Get out of here. I used to get so jealous, though. I’d be like, oh, all these operators, they get these bonuses.
Did you make that noise, too? Yes. Ooh. In the wrong theater field.
She was typing hard. God. Orders, orders, bonus.
Tax free. I was doing orders all the way up until I retired, by the way. Are you serious? As a space officer.
Oh, my God. They pulled you back to do orders because nobody knew how to do it. Is that right? Well, they couldn’t get a person to do them.
Oh, you’re so nice. You’re too nice. I need to get a retirement check now.
I’ll cut that crap. And they needed to let their companies know, like, come on. I’m holding up responsibility.
Just do it. All right. Last story, last story.
What do you think? Okay, I’m going to piss some people off because I remember I pissed this guy over at the Buckley Fitness Center. What was that guy’s name? Who was like, I’m going back to PJ school. He went to PJ school.
He broke his leg. He got out. And then he was like the fitness guy administering PT tests at Buckley.
You know what I’m talking about? I’m going back to PJ school. He would ride his bicycle down Colfax. Yes.
14 miles. He lived downtown. Dude, you’re in a combat zone riding your bike on Colfax.
Yeah. He should get a special duty pay. You should.
National emergency. So, I’ve always kind of looked side-eyed to Air Force special operations. I did.
I never could understand why PJ’s got to do water training. Why are we doing so much water training? Don’t they rescue astronauts? I don’t know. We got Navy guys who are perfectly.
They’re in water. They’re coasties that are too. Yeah, I’d assume all you need is some kind of diver.
Right. So, why are the Air Force doing it? I always thought Air Force special ops was just so the Air Force general on the chief of staff. Or not the chief staff, but the staff up there could go.
We got special ops too. You think Space Force is going to come up with a special? Well, let me tell you what. I don’t mean to giggle.
You’re such a bunch of caca. That was such a good setup on it. Perfect.
So, from sandbox.com, Space Force will get its own special operations element. I’ll tell you the funniest part of the story. They’re in uniform.
You want them to go through special ops. That is cool. Give us a moment.
Not that way. They drink all the protein drinks. In recent written testimony before Congress, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.
SOCOM command. The commander revealed that the military’s newest service was getting its own special operations element. Testifying to a panel of the House Armed Services Committee in April.
General Brian Fenton said that SOCOM was partnering with the U.S. Space, Cyber, and Strategic Commands. Quote, to advance the convergence of soft space and cyber effects. A collaboration he called a critical nexus.
Eric, a critical nexus. What a bunch of caca. So, there’s space and cyber.
They’re going to be special ops guys. Special ops guys. They’re going to do it from home.
It’s all based on home. That’s okay. All your weapon patch guys in space.
Right. Absolutely. It’s coming.
It’s sure they’ll be airborne qualified. Qualified. Like warfare? I don’t understand.
The article didn’t really explain. It just says it’s coming. Are they going to be students? They don’t need to shoot, Eric.
They don’t need to shoot bullets. That’s so 20th century. We’re going to call them shunters.
We? Space Force cadazlers. You’re not going to be able to get this one through, man. Space Force cadazlers.
Can disrupt the timing on your bank account. How about that? You talk about hitting where it hurts. Your finances don’t work.
Sorry, ATM card no-go, Eric. Because we decided to turn it off. There you go.
And we’re going to call him a special operator. Yes. Okay.
He effed it up pretty good, don’t you think? Operations that are specially operated. Just keep going, Ella. Where are you going to end up? Keep going.
I’m not sure he’ll have to camouflage his face to do that. No need to. All you’re going to see is the big seeing eye, Eric.
That’s the last thing. Well, if we don’t need to, why are we going to call him a special operator then? Eric, it’s going to be so hardcore, their AC is only going to be set to 78. Now we’re talking.
78. And no lower bar support, you bitches. They have to do all operations on Baptist Church potluck chairs.
They’re going to have to unzip their flight suit. The phone that’s been ripped. They have to unzip their flight suit a little bit.
What are you talking about? You’re going to need special shoes for this. You don’t have to be physical to be a warrior nowadays. I understand that.
All you got to use is your brains. Yeah, I do. But let’s not call him a warrior.
I didn’t. You just did. Fair enough.
But the commander of special ops says we need Space Force special operators. He’s a dork too. Yes.
Uh, let’s see. This is the best part. All right.
Four star. But he’s a dork. He’s a dork.
In a statement provided to Sandbox News, the Space Force spokesman said the service was standing up service components for all the combatant commands, including US Indo-Pacific Command, Central Command, Europe, Africa Command, Space Command, and Korea and Japan. These stand-ups are a critical step in normalizing the presentation of Space Forces and providing clarity of command relationships, roles, and responsibilities in the joint force and across all theaters. Still doesn’t say what they’re going to say.
What they’re going to do, right? This is the best part. The general said. General Brian Fenton.
General Brian Fenton. Dork. Yes.
That was Eric. There is no definite timeline associated with the stand-up of other service components, including Space Force service component to SOCOM. But the Space Force will continue to identify requirements to meet the growing demands of combatant commander’s space needs.
So basically, they’re going to be GPS guys out there. They’re going to be like. There’s going to be a handful of liaisons, space nerd liaisons.
They’re all going to be liaisons, right? I believe they’ll be servicing the other special operators. Yeah. That makes us extra special.
We’re special operators. That was a love shot, Eric. That was a good one, actually.
I was shocked, Eric. You actually came up with that. And I was like, oh.
So he goes on to say guardians do not deploy to their area of responsibility. That is space and their limited range of military operational specialties, which includes satellite operations, cyber and Intel specialties and acquisition. That means it makes less sense for guardians to develop special operations, specific job specialties like physical fitness.
As the other services have, for example, with the SEALs or the special forces. However, there’s so much technical stuff out there that’s all run space based that all these lead catchers can’t do without the space guys. That’s called support.
The lead catchers don’t order their own shoes. That’s right. They don’t plan their own routes.
They don’t do it. They’re special ops people. They don’t go.
They’re people assigned to the special ops. Got your back on this one, Jay. So going back to what I said originally, it might just be so we give this guy the ability to go, oh, we got special ops too.
Yep. And it’s all about funding. Look at this patch.
Yeah. Well, we did have that first guy graduate ranger school. It’s all about funding.
That’s right. Yeah. Remember that news article? The space ranger, right? He’s doing all kinds of ranger stuff too.
That goes to building his credibility amongst that community that he’s going to support. He’s the same as a weapons officer. He gets back and they’re like.
Are we talking about Buzz Lightyear? What is his name? Buzz Lightyear. What are we talking about? Buzz Lightyear. Buzz Lightyear.
Nice. Buzz Lightyear. Now there was a guy who was assigned to the space force.
I think it was a captain who, for whatever reason, they said, hey, you can go to ranger school. And he made it through ranger school. So he’s army ranger tabbed as a space force captain.
Yeah, he needs it. Yeah. Yeah, that was the biggest waste of money.
He’s like what why who who was below the cut list? I said, oh you almost made it, but we had to give it to this space guy That would suck, right? Oh my goodness So you’re so put off I am From the I have disagreed with the whole Space Force crap Because when Space Command came out that was supposed to accommodate all the requirements All the need and now Trump wants to come out with his own force That’s not Trump. That’s the commander of SOCOM In a hole, oh, yeah Got tired of paying for Yeah, those systems. That’s all what their budget Air Force is like Why are we paying for these GPS satellites when I could buy? 48,000 f-35s Okay, I’m tracking with that Go give them their own thing.
It’s the same thing why the army separated out the Army Air Force I want to be an Air Force Space Ranger I Was critical Critical to And these guys are too. We’re all part of the same. We’re all pulling the same rope Board for the big win I Support a guy going like all Air Force going to play football more than I support a guy who’s gone for a year cuz he went to Important Okay Tonight’s history The whole Space Force thing blows me away, but we’ll talk about that for later.
I need a whiskey when I do that. It’s crazy So airplanes World War two Tell me what you guys think some of the workhorses of World War two airplanes were lift not bombers by spiders for us for us our side The US Postal Service That’s an airplane I do I agree with you Fighters fighters for you Corsair had to be right good one, but not not a hardcore workhorse Spitfire with the British aircraft 51 Really good airplane, but it came in late in the war came in later. No, that’s right So the one I’m going to talk about tonight you 130 You’d have to go see for each other Us male Piper Cup, how about how about I tell you how about I tell you the nickname all right go the jug J-u-g The jug never All right, so this was considered the workhorse that’s on a B’s of World War two and it’s maiden flight the Very first flight was May 6 1941 15,600 of these aircraft had been built C-min its legacy of the true workhorse for the United States Army Air Force the p-47 Thunderbolt You don’t even think about that as being one of the main hardcore fighters It was a great fighter, but we produced so many of them at the beginning Well, according to what I’m reading.
It was a great fighter It was able to knock down a number of Messerschmitts in one-on-one combat aerial combat The p-47 was one of the most famous and iconic fighter planes in the United States Army Air Forces during World War two Originally conceived as a lightweight interceptor the p-47 Thunderbolt involved evolved into a formidable heavyweight fighter that made its first flight on 6 May 1941 The first production model was delivered to the United States Air Force in March of 42 and in April 43 the Thunderbolt Flew its first combat mission, which was a sweep over Western Europe Renowned for its ruggedness the p-47 was utilized as both high-altitude Escort or fighter and a low-level fighter bomber able to absorb severe battle damage and continue flying Thanks to its sturdy construction the air-cooled radial engine so it was the pre a 10 yeah, because the a 10s name is the Thunderbolt 2 Roger that it’s not It’s not a hog. It’s the Good there. There was the connection.
Good call J. Good stuff So that was history. I Also want to throw one that was not u.s. Military May 6 1937 Hindenburg Hill 35 one on the ground. I think there were on May 6. Yep 1937 Just thought I’d do that Was that in New Jersey it was Jersey, yeah Yeah, I think they were like 90 90 98 passengers 37 killed no 36 killed One on the ground was killed for a total of 37 and the rest survived Because the blimp was a hydrogen blimp.
Is that right? Correct and they believe that a spark lit the hydrogen now, there’s two Synopsis one that it was in the Storm a storm that was sparking and then the other one was what do they call the lights that have electricity yet? The northern lights a light Aureolus, oh, is that what it’s called? Okay, the northern lights. Yeah But no sabotage none of that it was a Right, that’s crazy may 6 wait wait go back to the jug. Yeah, right What was the date on that and what was the the associated event? Is that when it was first rolled off the line? Correct that was its maiden voyage in 41 And then 43 it ran its first April of 43.
It flew its first combat mission, which was the sweep of Western Europe It became renowned for its ruggedness high-altitude escort fighter and the low-level fighter-bomber It also became some one of the first pilots for it wanted a An Indian chief had painted on its nose It became called chief SKI You dash ma H chief schema Came off with the nickel the the Indian head nickel. Oh, really? Yeah So they painted that nose art on there on the Thunderbolt Cool to carry 2,500 pounds of bombs making a versatile platform capable of both air-to-air and Check this out Six or eight 50 cal machine guns six or eight it could carry six or eight Firepower Yeah, no kidding it’s gotta only be like shooting two at a time Once they’re out of ammo 50 cows The aircraft was armed with a potent array of firepower featuring six or eight 50 caliber machine guns It could carry up to 2,500 pounds of bombs Making it versatile for air-to-air and air-to-ground See any of those in air shows Over by the airport and see if they have any Thunderbolts in their Thunderbolts. It’s a pretty it’s big It’s a big aircraft Nose, I thought at first you were talking about like the Hellcat in the Wildcat, you know You don’t hear much about the Thunderbolt really well and because the ones you just spoke about fought mainly in the Pacific Yeah, yeah, you know they were carrier jets.
I didn’t really know P-51 in Europe Doesn’t get as much credit is no and it was Yeah, what was the fighting Tigers 37 I think even that early is 37. Yeah, I want to say I’ll tell you Why P40s Tomahawks, right P40 Tomahawk. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah P40 battery bad-ass airplane, too.
Yeah, so Nice Eric good to have that history, you know, I don’t know if you watched last week’s episode, but We gave history up to chief say it’s Yeah, she was doing she was doing good, but you know what she slipped in there and she goes Oh, and here’s another history thing. This is when Ellen DeGeneres came out as gay. I was like, no, no Gate keeping there.
So anyway, that was good. That was good Yeah The I’m at a loss. It’s just great to be back with you guys.
Good to see it Did you guys look at check out the website late for change over calm? I know I did you guys didn’t respond to me Did you see it? Oh You didn’t go look at it. I think so My son thought it was cool. I sent it to a couple friends.
They thought it was pretty awesome Jake is frozen. Oh, he’s back. Okay He just kind of freezes up in general, yeah, but he does it in such a Cuz I was listening So I’m reading the Thunderbolts history stuff, okay Yeah, two two Medal of Honor winners for World War two In the yeah Thunderbolt night and Kirby Yeah We get it think of a category.
I’d like to get back to where we’re doing our all pro We got to think of a new category. Yeah to pick out we went that was That was a blast every time we did it. So we got to think of a new category this guy Took on 22 area aerial victories before he was shot down and killed Wow 20 22 aerial victories Every encounter could be your last it’s crazy.
Yeah How are they not all alcoholics? I don’t know. I mean you get back Look at that plane a plane is chewed up. I made it I’m drinking a night The We could potentially have next week Eric’s friend What’s her name Katie Katie am Katie Carrie Karen or scam Karen or something better on the golf course.
She works for field of honors Yeah On the podcast next week, so she’s really cool I think she’ll be highly entertaining and if we do I’ll don’t worry I’ll forward you all out the background information that you guys can fully ignore like you normally do Yeah But don’t worry, I don’t have it automatically sent to disregard I take pride in going I Don’t just be like I didn’t read it Which is funny cuz when she first came on she was like, oh I read all the articles but it only lasted one episode That’s My level of effort You were so enthusiastic at first, but then these two guys corrupted you and you’re like Marty’s just gonna pull us along. Anyways, I know I know but think how good we could be if we all Was there was a short period I’ll do it quarterly What are you talking about this is your quarterly show you’re gonna be Alright tell us one last joke before we go Joke tell us one of Jimmy’s jokes Way to let us down. I got one here.
Hey, you know how to make a hormone You either pay or more or Do you know when she’s full Oh What do you call a woman with only one leg I Leave it to the guy who has a prosthetic leg to know the answer to that I’ve had that loaded for years It’s Marty and his twin sister I leave We’re out we’re 97 subscribers, so Except that it’s 100 I Like to pop up a beer That’s so funny And we’ll see you next week You