Episode Details

Bo joins Fig & RePete to talk about what it takes to be a “RIO” – Radar Intercept Officer – in the F-14 Tomcat. He talks about training to become a tactical jet crew and the process to get there.

Bo tells of the time he spent on Wake Island after a particularly complex night emergency where the dominos kept falling and they were literally inches from disaster as their tail hook destroyed the Fresnel Lens (aka Meatball) on the aircraft carrier preventing them from coming aboard. Fortunately they were just close enough to Wake Island to divert there.

He describes how they lost aircraft and crewmen in the disastrous first two weeks of their second cruise. It’s truly a dangerous profession and we all know too many people who have paid the ultimate price serving this great nation.

He closes out talking about how close he came one night as they were joining on what they initially thought was the tanker aircraft – but it turned out to be something quite different and far more deadly had their ‘spidey-senses’ not kicked in!