[00:00:01] Speaker A: The Michael Hatfield Re Max team presents real estate and more Bay Area real estate is different than in all of America. And why? What's up with homebuyers? What's on sellers minds? How is the market and much, much more.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: Now here's your host Michael Hatfield.
[00:00:21] Speaker C: Welcome to the real estate and more show. I'm your host Michael Hatfield. Our veterans. This show honors the men and women in uniform who serve or have served our great country in our armed forces. Before we interview our special guest, I would like to share a story about one such group of our country's defenders who served more than 80 years ago.
This story is called the heart of the Flying Tiger.
Long ago, as part of our country's aviation history preceding World War Two, the volunteer fighter group called the Flying Tigers was sent to protect defenseless chinese villagers from strafing and bombing by the enemy's pilots. The story of the american volunteer group, the Flying Tigers is most remarkable but is not the subject this morning. However, my story is related to these amazing fighter pilots from a time in our history some 83 years ago.
While reclining in a comfortable chair in the birthing lounge awaiting the arrival of our granddaughter, suddenly the awesome sound of a baby's life giving heartbeat filled the room. Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh. And I closed my eyes and considered the miracle of life as seen looking at the eyes of the baby through use of advanced ultrasound technology.
While lounging in the chair, it was easy enough to reflect on how wonderful the beginning of life truly is and at the same time realize just how totally dependent a baby is on its mother, who can become a very fierce tiger, by the way, if you threaten her offspring.
My mind continued to drift further away to people who are unable to defend themselves against harm from external ruffians and ruthless enemies. A few weeks back, while looking at real estate properties for sale, the need for a pit stop facilitated a quick drop in to a local McDonald's restaurant. It is ironic how the darndest things may bring forth an unforeseen opportunity. Today revealed such an astonishing event.
After personal business was complete and I was rushing from the restaurant like a first responder to a fire. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed an elderly gentleman sitting quietly enjoying his meal. This sight was not so remarkable, but what was remarkable and drew my attention was the writing on the baseball cap that he was wearing. My gradual realization of the stature of the man began with the flying tiger emblem and more noteworthy founder imprinted on the bill of his hat. The revelation came to me in slow motion flying Tigers founder, elderly it all came together in a heartbeat. I was looking directly at a genuine american hero. His hair was gray, his eyes were blue, but still surprisingly full at his advanced age of life. He sat with an air of confidence of a man who has just about seen it all, a stubble or two left on his face where he had missed in the morning's shave. His blue eyes were as striking and clear as they were friendly. When I thanked him for his service and offered to pay for his lunch, a smile broke out on his face, along with an increased brilliance to those blue eyes that portrayed his true kind. Spirit of heart I introduced myself as a fellow pilot, and upon introduction to we'll call him LC, we spoke a while of the P 40 fighter airplanes in which he flew missions over the China hump, protecting villagers just before and during the start of World War Two. For a moment I could tell his mind had drifted back to a time in life when he was hanging it all out, protecting chinese farmers and villagers. LC and I spoke about another flying Tiger pilot, a mentor of mine, TC, a friend and big supporter of yours truly, who sadly passed away just a few years ago. As it turned out, LC actually flew with TC in the Flying Tigers American Volunteer group. Amazingly, LC sported the same pencil width mustache that my old friend TC wore, and he was able to accurately describe my old tiger pilot friend TC in detail.
Awaiting the birth of my granddaughter. I considered Elsie's words describing the defenseless nature of the villagers on the ground back then and how exposed they were to relentless and ruthless enemy who strafed them, killing so many. LC confirmed. Chinese villagers at the time sewn a patch on the back of the flight jackets of the flying tigers that said something to the nature of whoever finds this man needing help, hide him and care for him with your life as he is a friend and protector of our chinese villagers, or something like that. In my book, anyone who risks his life protecting others, especially others who are virtually defenseless against a formidable and ruthless enemy, are worthy of my deep appreciation and admiration. Our United States military veterans are a distinct part of this category.
Even a grown up at times can find himself caught up and defenseless against life's ruthless forces and may need help from others like a baby in the womb, a person less fortunate, a farmer in a small village in China so very long ago. Hearing the labored sound of my granddaughter's first cry, I opened my eyes and my heart skipped a beat as I began to be so excited about this miracle of a little baby. Excited, however, concerned as I watched enthusiastically baby taking her first breath and looking around trustingly at her exciting new world.
She, as dependent now as she was in the womb, will require help and support until she can make it all on her own. But really now, do any of us ever really make it entirely all on our own? We need our village, each one of us. We have life's heroes with hearts of tigers, people like mothers, fathers and veteran fighter pilots like LC to lend a hand.
We need our men and women in uniform in our us military and today is their day.
We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.
[00:07:35] Speaker D: Welcome to the real estate minute with re max expert Michael Hatfield. Michael, why choose an experienced agent?
[00:07:41] Speaker E: Complex issues arise in a home buy or sell. Your agent guides you through issues in multiple offer situations. First time home buyer needs problems with inspections, financing and escrow. Experienced agents sort and then solve problems.
[00:07:55] Speaker D: Do agents work differently now than in prior years?
[00:07:58] Speaker E: Buyers used to go to an office, thumb through a book, see pictures, then decide which homes to see. Nowadays, buyers identify properties themselves online so today's agent can focus on more critical priorities.
[00:08:10] Speaker D: How do you help clients?
[00:08:11] Speaker E: Michael we work with investment properties. Multiple offers, first time home buyers, sellers 1031 tax exchanges and relocations experience is pivotal.
[00:08:21] Speaker D: Call 925-32-2775 now to schedule an appointment or complimentary home analysis. Call the Michael Hatfield remax team at 925-32-2775 or go to michaelhatfieldhomes.com dot now.
[00:08:36] Speaker C: Back to our show.
[00:08:38] Speaker F: Well, welcome back to the real estate and more show. I'm Michael hatfield. We value our veterans.
No show about veterans can be complete without talking with one. I have today a very special veteran who has been there and done that. He is a retired deputy operations commander, a lieutenant colonel in the air force. Retired. He has served in our military in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is an f 16 fighter pilot and he has flown many missions and is an absolute great guy, a guy as my ancestors would say, a man to ride the river with. He is willing to be gracious and share some of his experiences in the air force with us. Welcome to the show. Lieutenant Colonel Andrew good to be here, Mike. Mister Veteran, we're pleased to have you with us. Could you please share with us what your military career was like?
[00:09:38] Speaker B: Well, I started kind of oddly, I was in the University of Illinois and Air Force ROTC under a scholarship to be an engineer in the air force. And that's when, just as I would graduate, Reagan of course, ended up his eight year term and the military started with large cutbacks. So instead of being an engineer in the air force, I ended up being an f four backseater in the Air National Guardhouse, went to unit in Illinois. Actually, they soon converted into f all except four guys. The backseaters ended up in Terre Haute, Indiana. So what they did is they took us all and sent us all to pilot training. So I actually went to pilot training as kind of an experienced fighter guy.
Did pilot training, f 16 training. I did a couple years of Terre Haute and then went on active duty for about a three year stint. I started out Kunsan, Korea, then f, then Hill Air Force Base. I decided it was time to get out and went to the garden, Toledo, Ohio, which I really enjoyed.
Soon after, Brandex Airlines got the airline job of my dreams, got furloughed after 911, which, you all know, ended up coming back to Hale Air Force Base, where I was in the reserve and served out my last ten years as a f 16 pilot instructor, senior examiner on base. Had a really good career, 26 years of flying. Never left the cockpit. So I was very blessed.
[00:11:02] Speaker F: You know, the f 16 has been one of our most advanced fighters. Yeah, there's always newer and better, but only a few pilots are selected out of training to fly this equipment. And your discussion about how you got into the front seat of the f 16 was pretty interesting for me.
[00:11:22] Speaker B: It was kind of plain dumb luck that it ended up that way. But other people in the air force now have to compete to fly fighter aircraft, and, you know, now you have f. Pretty highly technological machines versus what we had, the f four, and definitely the f 16 legacy f 16s that I flew to begin with.
[00:11:40] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:11:41] Speaker F: Must have been one heck of an experience to fly a high performance airplane like that. I can't say that I've flown much of a more high performance airplane than an empty 767.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: That's right. They climb a lot higher.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:58] Speaker F: The f 16, what is. What is the feel like to be in that? And have you ever had a live engagement?
[00:12:04] Speaker B: Yeah, mostly, you know, when we deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, you know, supporting troops in contact, never an air to air one. When I was there in Iraq, we did. One guy did shoot down on iranian drone. Yeah. Amazing machine. I mean, the f 16 was designed as a lightweight weight kind of day VFR fighter, and it slowly progressed into all kinds of attachments. Flying it clean with no ordinance on it, it's just an amazing experience. It's like a Lamborghini.
And then when you start putting tanks and bombs and missiles on it, it turns into a Mack truck. So, still lots of power, but it's a lot more fun flying when it's clean.
[00:12:43] Speaker F: Yeah. And, you know, the important thing is you want to go fast if someone on the ground, an enemy is shooting at you.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: Yeah. And want to be high.
Unfortunately, I think, you know, our latest threats were, you know, how many years in Iraq and Afghanistan where there really was no substantial air threat in anyone shooting netsuit from the ground that's going to touch you. So it's kind of lending us in a false sense of security. And now you see, future airplanes like the f 35, f 22 are now stealth based, something to give you advantages over those threats now that we may face in the future with China, Russia, or whoever that may be.
[00:13:19] Speaker F: Yeah, yeah. Would you, when you strapped into that, what did it feel like? We both know what it feels like when you get into an airliner and you have a lot of people in the back, but when you strap into something of that nature, of that high performance, just thinking about some of those hang ten departures that the guys did out of Honolulu ahead of us before our departure, they would go straight up. Absolutely straight up. A short time after departure. Must have been really quite a feeling to fly that.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: Yeah, the acceleration is pretty impressive. I mean, you know, in an airliner, you're, what, maybe 100, 8200 knots at the end of the Runway. F 16, you're probably 450 in a full afterburner takeoff. In a clean airplane, the one thing about the f 16 is there's no graceful way to get into it. So you kind of, like, climb up the ladder and sit your butt down and kind of scoot it in. It's kind of embarrassing when you do it. People ask me, it's not like you just walk in and, you know, the f four, we just stood on the seat. But, you know, an f 16 is like, oh, no, wait. It's too gentle for that. But, yes. In fact, I just flew with a guy who converted from the f 18, the f 16. He was asking me, so what's the best way to get in? I'm like, well, you just got to do it.
[00:14:35] Speaker F: Get a shoehorn.
[00:14:37] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. It's a very, very tight cockpit.
The seat reclines about 25 degrees, but once you get in, it's very comfortable. You feel at home. There's not a lot of room to maneuver around, but you really don't need to because everything's on either the stick or the throttle that you need to manipulate with a few buttons on screens and stuff.
[00:14:56] Speaker F: You mentioned the stick. It's what to the left side of the pilot, and you just very delicately touch it to change your flight attitude. Correct?
[00:15:05] Speaker B: Yeah, it's on the right side, actually.
So you fly as an fo, I guess, in your world? Yeah, it moves about a 16th of an inch. It's all pressure in it, and it's pretty much you think you want to turn that direction and it.
[00:15:18] Speaker F: What is the big difference between an f 16 and an f 18?
[00:15:23] Speaker B: F 18, of course, is a carrier based airplane. A lot of. With landings on a carrier, the extreme structure is needed a heavier gear, the tail hook. I mean, it's a big piece of metal. It's attached to a lot of the frame of the airplane. An f 16 does have a tail hook. The f 18 guys make fun of it. They call it was made by Mattel. An f 16 can take approaching cable or departure cable, but it doesn't take it well. It will cause some damage to the airplane, but it's kind of a survival mode, not a regular operation mode, when it comes to flying the airplane.
[00:16:01] Speaker F: I see.
[00:16:02] Speaker C: I see.
[00:16:03] Speaker F: What was your most memorable experience flying the f 16 abroad?
[00:16:09] Speaker B: I got to say, my first flight, when I sat in the f four, you never felt anything. You know, the airplane started up and, you know, flight controls and the f 16, everything starts shaking as the motor starts spinning, the hydraulics come alive, and the flight controls start banging around, and you're taxiing along and you can see the wing bouncing up and down. You're like, wow, is this thing really going to work? And then you take off and you're like, your ratchet with the stick once, and you're like, this is awesome. This thing is made for flying.
[00:16:40] Speaker F: I can only imagine. I can only imagine. Now your support crew.
My brother was in the air force, and he. Years and years ago, and he was stationed in Japan, and he was always kind of a little bit of a hellraiser, pardon the word.
And he had worked on an airplane as mechanic, and the pilot came out and he said, airman, is this airplane ready to fly? My brother said, yes. And he said, would you bet your life on it? And my brother responded and said, no, I'm going to bet yours.
I think he lost a stripe over that one. But tell us about your ground support crew and the guys and the ladies that helped with that.
[00:17:28] Speaker B: It's amazing seeing the people working on those airplanes. As a pilot, you see the end product.
But, you know, some of the young airmen and senior airmen and senior people that I knew, especially in the reserve and guard, were just awesome.
In fact, we had a pilot in Toledo, female, and she was an ex crew chief and then became a pilot. And she was just outstanding to go cross country with and take the airplane places, because you'd be, like, looking at this leak and go, hey, is this supposed to leak? And she'd go, yeah, no problem. She wipe it, clean it. She'd do the forms, fuel the airplane. It was really impressive.
[00:18:05] Speaker F: She loved what she was doing.
[00:18:07] Speaker B: She really did. Yeah, she really did.
It was good to see, as a young lieutenant, that she was grow up into a flight lead and an instructor and move on. But she definitely had a great background. And I can't say enough about the people that worked on those airplanes. I had one really serious problem in my entire 26 year career. So that says a lot, you know, how the airplane was designed, how it was maintained, all the way from people working on the ground to fueling it, all the way to the depot. Level maintenance when they do huge modifications to the airplane and make sure it's keeping ready to fly for the next 20 plus years.
[00:18:49] Speaker F: What was that serious problem? Can you share it with us?
[00:18:52] Speaker B: Yeah. It was a great, sunny fall day. Get a call. Hey, we need someone to fly with this young guy.
[00:18:57] Speaker F: Look out for those great, sunny days a great deal.
[00:19:00] Speaker B: Yeah. So go to the range. Really sharp, young wingman. He's going through his qualification program.
We come back to the pattern and do a couple pattern works. I put the gear down, and it's kind of like a, you know, an airliner. You get a light in, the handle comes on, and the light handle goes off when the gear is down, and along with indications. So I put the gear down, and I get a nose, a left main, no, right main light, and there's a light in the handle which indicates that the gear is not down on Lockheed. Two systems.
And so I've got about 20 minutes of fuel to figure out what we're going to do with this. And so we have a 1800 number to Lockheed, and there's a guy on the ground that I'm talking to, and he's talking to the engineers at Lockheed, going, hey, here's this problem. You know, what do we do with it? And I'm following the checklist, and basically, checklist says you're going to take approach in cable and if conditions aren't good to land or you have some doubts, or a high cross when it's go out to the controlled bailout area and inject out of the airplane. So it's like, okay, that's great. So I end up taking the approach and cable, the gear ends up collapsing immediately after I take it. As soon as I land, of course, I come to a stop. The airplane is about maybe about two inches from the edge of the Runway, and I open the canopy and as fast as I can to the nearest fireman, who just grabs me and throws me in the fire truck. It ends up being a maintenance issue with the airplane. The gear had been mis rigged during some time in its career, and I was the lucky guy when it actually, the bolt broke after so many, I believe was seven years ago. It had been rigged. So for seven years, it was always stretching his bolt. I got lucky, lucky enough to fly that seven year in one day sortie to get it to break. And the good thing about the f 16 is it knew if you did eject, what your situation was. Were you low altitude on the ground, were your high altitude, were you very fast and low, and it would change the modes to better suit you as far as opening shocks and what you needed to shoot right away, or if you had to wait until you got to a lower altitude.
[00:21:16] Speaker F: Tell me about the actual camaraderie that you had with people that were deployed and working together in the same operation. I mean, isn't that really something that we remember? I know, retired from the airline business. I miss the people something fierce.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: I do, too, especially after 26 years. I really, really enjoyed my last assignment as a reservist, where we were in active duty squadrons flying with young people. Again, you know, as a traditional reservist, you're flying around with a bunch of lieutenant colonels that don't listen. They're grumpy old men. But flying with the young folks is just awesome. Guys and gals. Really, really impressed. I mean, from where I was as a young person to where they are now, it was just leaps and bounds when it comes to the technology advance, what they know, how they act. And I find it actually really frustrating. You know, I run some parts of our family business now, and I have to deal with my brothers, and I can look at a lieutenant in the air force and go, I need this done, and it's done. I yell at my brothers back and forth for months to get things done.
[00:22:24] Speaker F: Yeah. What was your favorite assignment and base in the military?
[00:22:29] Speaker B: I really enjoyed Kunsan, Korea. So Kunsan is on the west side of Korea, right along the shore. I took it. It's a one year remote assignment where your family doesn't come. My wife's father, at the time did live in Korea, so we spent about six months together. But it was like college where alcohol was really cheap and you got to fly it for fun, and you made a lot of money, and everyone's in the same situation. You're reduced to 600 pounds of your favorite stuff that gets shipped over, whether that's a bike or computer.
And we just had a really good time, really good squadron. Some of my closest friends to this day, I serve with in Korea that I can talk to. And it was. Flying was on the rock, we called it. All you had was VfR on top. You would talk to approach control, and after that, you could go pretty much whatever you wanted to as long as you didn't fly over Seoul or fly into North Korea. So it was really an enjoyable experience. And mostly young people there, a lot of young guys right out of training, so it was really fun to fly with them.
And we got to deploy to Alaska for a month. This is the first time I saw green vegetables in about eight months. So it was. It was really enjoyable. I look back at that as probably one of the funnest years of my life.
[00:23:48] Speaker F: If you were to, would you do it all over again? Would you be a military fighter pilot?
[00:23:52] Speaker B: You know, I was telling my wife that yesterday I would put a quarter in and do it again just as I did it. A few things I may change, but, you know, meeting my wife and having to deal with her or not deal with her, but we've been married now for years, right? Yeah.
It's amazing when I look back, you know, when I first met her, you know, as a young lieutenant in the old club, you know, and we've really had a good experience together. It's been awesome with two great kids. Wouldn't change a thing.
[00:24:22] Speaker F: Sound like you're grateful, my friend. What do you miss most about the military now that you're retired?
[00:24:29] Speaker B: I think just the camaraderie, you know, being in the squadron every day, the professionalism, you know, I get that a little bit in the airlines, but never to the degree that we had. You know, in a fighter squadron, everyone was very, very hard charging, hard working, you know, twelve to 14 hours. Days on active duties were kind of the norm when you were specially deployed.
And, you know, just working with people that were the same level of seriousness when it came to doing a job, which was really neat. Very, very neat. A very, very great experience in my life.
[00:25:02] Speaker F: Boy, I imagine your heartbeat would be moving like crazy when you're sitting there on alert and they call you up and you get in that airplane. And when you're deployed, of course, and I just would imagine your heart rate would probably went up to 200 beats a minute, jumping in and strapping into that.
[00:25:21] Speaker B: Well, it was amazing. In Afghanistan, the army guys that we supported at one time showed up in the squadron to talk to us, and they thought we were like rock stars.
[00:25:31] Speaker F: Now, on a serious note, and knowing some do not actually return from deployments and they don't come home, maybe we have some thoughts on how we can help some of the brothers and sisters who served who've returned home and need that help.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I can say that. You know, when I retired from the military, I was really not knowing much about the VA and disability benefits. Since then, I have got an education on it and used that to help other people, Vietnam vets especially.
And I can't say enough for veterans to go to the VA. I mean, we've all got hearing issues.
You know, us fighter pilots got back neck issues to file with the VA, and there's lots of help out there. I mean, my state right now, Utah, has state employees that will literally help you fill out the forms, help you get your medical records to send that stuff in. And the disability benefits are pretty significant.
A friend of mine that was a VA vet, a Vietnam vet, I work with him, when he started out, he had no disability whatsoever. And after we got done filing and all the admin stuff the air force used, taught me to do. Now, applying to the VA, about three months ago, we got him to 100% disability, which was well deserved for his agent orange exposure. And it changed his life. Absolutely changed his life. And just seeing that and people are like, you should do this as a business. You should charge people absolutely nothing just to see people change. And that rewarding thing is well worth it to me. Much more than money could ever buy.
[00:27:13] Speaker F: I just so happy that you have taken the time to share with us and our listeners today. Thank you so much. Lieutenant Colonel Andrew, USAF retired I have a deep and personal appreciation for the men and women who serve and have served. Thank you, all of you, for being part of what makes this country great. And thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew, for being on the show today. Our time honoring our men and women in uniform has been very special. From the story of the Flying Tiger and most especially our time with Lieutenant Colonel Andrew, it's time for a short break.
[00:27:55] Speaker C: Please remember to go to our new YouTube handle my real talk show.
[00:27:59] Speaker E: That's
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[00:28:14] Speaker A: The views and opinions expressed are based on current economic and market conditions and are subject to change. Information on the show provided for illustrator purposes only and does not constitute professional or legal advice from sources deemed reliable but accuracy and completeness not guaranteed. Michael Hatfield and the Michael Hatfield Re Max team have no liability for information discussed on the show. Consult with qualified professionals prior to taking action.
