Mar 6, 2026 · 1 hr 14 min · 16 segments
What does it take to command the F-22 Raptor at the edge of the envelope — and then pull the power to idle in a vertical tailslide over 100,000 people? — and then reinvent yourself beyond the cockpit?…
Josh GundersonGuestTucker HamiltonHostSpeaking of a platform that can almost do everything on its own, let's jump into the F-22 Raptor.
And I had the opportunity when I was flying the 15Cs to put in for the initial kind of cadre to be in the F-22.
So tell me about your thinking with regard to that and then getting into the F-22.
You know, for people that are not familiar, the Air Force does three cycles of assignments a year.
And then in that assignment cycle, you get assigned a different location, different position.
And during my time in Okinawa, there were some issues in the F-22 where they were working out some systems problems with oxygen.
So as a result, we ended up staying in Alaska for about eight months as a squadron.
to set alert, basically one of the responsibilities the F-22s were responsible for in Alaska.
Out of that seven to eight months time of our squadron being there, I spent about four months in Alaska and just fell in love with the place.
I really enjoyed the outdoors aspects of Alaska, whether it was the hunting, the hiking, the camping, the fishing, all those things.
So the decision to request to switch platforms from the F-15C to the F-22 was partially driven by the fact that the F-22 is just an amazing airplane and partially driven by the fact that I wanted to live in Alaska.
So leaving Okinawa, Japan, my request was simply to go fly F-22s in Alaska Fortunately, the hard work paid off and I was able to pick what I wanted to do.
I then went to Florida for about three months to do the F-22 training course and then went to Alaska.
Speaking of a platform that can almost do everything on its own, let's jump into the F-22 Raptor.
And I had the opportunity when I was flying the 15Cs to put in for the initial kind of cadre to be in the F-22.
So tell me about your thinking with regard to that and then getting into the F-22.
You know, for people that are not familiar, the Air Force does three cycles of assignments a year.
And then in that assignment cycle, you get assigned a different location, different position.
And during my time in Okinawa, there were some issues in the F-22 where they were working out some systems problems with oxygen.
So as a result, we ended up staying in Alaska for about eight months as a squadron.
to set alert, basically one of the responsibilities the F-22s were responsible for in Alaska.
Out of that seven to eight months time of our squadron being there, I spent about four months in Alaska and just fell in love with the place.
I really enjoyed the outdoors aspects of Alaska, whether it was the hunting, the hiking, the camping, the fishing, all those things.
So the decision to request to switch platforms from the F-15C to the F-22 was partially driven by the fact that the F-22 is just an amazing airplane and partially driven by the fact that I wanted to live in Alaska.
So leaving Okinawa, Japan, my request was simply to go fly F-22s in Alaska Fortunately, the hard work paid off and I was able to pick what I wanted to do.
I then went to Florida for about three months to do the F-22 training course and then went to Alaska.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.