February 13, 2025 • 30 mins
LT Mark "JABA" Buck knows his way around F/A-18 Super Hornet. And on March 29 & 30th, he will join the Southernmost Air Spectacular airshow in Key West, alongside others who have earned right to call themselves the best pilots in the world--including the celebrated Blue Angels. LT Buck carried out three deployments onboard the USS Ronald Reagan and is currently an instructor pilot, teaching F/A-18 tactics. We caught up with LT Buck on his career in the Navy, what it was like to live at sea during a pandemic and whether Hollywood "gets it right" when depicting the men and women inside the cockpit. Listen here on the Florida Keys Weekly Podcast and please visit Keywestairshow.com for more on the Southernmost Spectacular, March 29-30.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome back everyone to another edition of the Florida Keys
Weekly podcast. I'm your host Brett Myers, and honored to
have a great guest on here today, one of my favorite, uh,
topics and guests that I get to do occasionally throughout
the year, and I know you're going to love this
one as well. Before we jump into it, I want
to thank our listeners in Radio Land at WKWF 103.3 FM.
(00:25):
Of course, all of our podcast listeners on our platforms
at Keysweekly.com.
Amazon, Spotify, Apple, you name it, you can go to
the Florida Keys Weekly podcast, pull up all the shows there,
including this one. today's sponsor is very fitting.
And we'll talk about that more momentarily, but our sponsor
today is the Southernmost Air Spectacular 2025, that's gonna go
(00:48):
down here in Key West on March 29th and 30th.
The Southernmost Air Spectacular, you can go to Key West Airshow.com.
Learn more about that show. It's one of the best
times of the year. It comes every so many years
here to the Keys, and that'll feature the Blue Angels,
of course, but so many other, uh, pilots and portions
of that show for kids, families, adults, you name it,
(01:09):
it is just an amazing moment that's gonna be celebrating.
Uh, the US Navy 250th anniversary this year as well,
making that even more special. Want to thank those guys again,
go to Key West Airshow.com, learn more about that March
29th and 30th. On that note, very fitting, uh, today's
guest is Lieutenant Mark Jabba Buck, and that is, uh,
(01:29):
he's a FA 18F Super Hornet tactical demonstration pilot. He's
got a bio here, I'm gonna read it and I
don't want to, uh, usually I I kinda go through
the bio, but his is so important and, uh, I
don't wanna leave some things out here.
Yeah, before we bring him in, uh, Lieutenant Mark Jabba
Buck was born in San Diego. He moved around the
country because his father served as a Navy Tomcat pilot.
(01:50):
He graduated from Star Mills High School in Fayetteville, Georgia
in 2011. That's a Georgia shout out from another Georgia
guy here where he competed in baseball, swimming, and water polo.
Lieutenant Buck attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated
with a bachelor's degree in weapons and systems engineering. He
earned his commission.
As an insider in the US Navy in May 2015,
he reported to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola. He
(02:12):
began training as a Navy pilot. He competed in, uh,
he completed primary flight training in Milton, Florida in advanced
flight training. Um, he also earned his wings in November
18 and subsequently completed fleet aircraft training in the FA-18
Super Hornet as a strike Fighter squadron BFAO 106 in
Virginia Beach, Virginia.
(02:33):
Uh, he then reported to Strike Fighter squadron 195 in Okinawa,
Japan over the course of three years. Lieutenant, uh, took
part in multiple uh exercises, detachments, and 3 deployments on
board the USS Ronald Reagan in support of the 7th
and 5th Fleet operations.
He's currently an instructor and pilot teaching the next generations
of aviators and the FAA 18 tactics. He's accumulated more
(02:56):
than 1250 flight hours and over 200 arrested, uh, landings. Uh,
Lieutenant Buck, I hope I did that, uh, somewhat some
service there. I know that was a lot to say
in a quick amount of time, but.
I will say this, it is an honor to have
you on the show and an honor to have you
coming down to Key West in the Florida Keys for
the upcoming March 29th and 30th, uh, southernmost air spectacular,
(03:17):
and I know this is not your first time, but
welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Hey, thank you so much, Mr. Myers. Yeah, it's an
honor to be
Speaker 1 (03:23):
here. Absolutely, so I I I.
went through your bio, and I know the listeners heard
a lot of uh uh abbreviations and some different things,
but just in a if you met me on an elevator,
I know this is a tough question, and they said, uh, Lieutenant,
tell us a little bit about what you do, what
do you do day to day? What what would be
your pitch?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Sure, yeah, so, uh, I guess my day to day
job is just an F-18 instructor pilot, uh, so I, I,
I live and I'm based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and, uh,
basically I teach the next generation of, uh, Navy F-18
pilots and, uh, weapon systems officers. They're the ones that
sit in the, uh, the backseat of the two seat model, uh,
so we basically start a syllabus that is broken up
(04:07):
into four phases. The first phase is called transition. Uh,
it's basically taking people from there.
Um, their flight school platforms into the F-18 teach people
how to take off and land and kind of operate
the aircraft safely. Then the next phase we'll go into
the strike phase where we'll teach the basics of employing
all the different air to surface weapons or bombs that
(04:28):
we can deloy from the aircraft. And then the third
phase will be the fighter phase, uh, talking about, um,
basic fighter maneuvers or BFM, what most people think of
as dog fighting, uh, in the air, and then also
some air to air tactics.
Uh, and then finally the last phase of training is
basically taking all the, uh, the aviators to the boat
for the first time, uh, and teaching them how to
(04:49):
land on the boat. So those four phases of training, uh,
it's pretty much what I do Monday through Friday.
Uh, and then I also just have this, this amazing
side gig, fortunate enough to get it where I get
to take the F-18 on the road some weekends and, uh,
head out to air shows and kind of demonstrate the
capabilities of the aircraft, uh, which I'm super excited to
uh come down to the end of March to do
(05:10):
to do just that. Well,
Speaker 1 (05:11):
we can't wait to have you, and I think about
as you talk about that training and you say it
so casually, the the time, um, you know, the expertise,
you're training the best of the best in the world, literally,
and it's coming from you.
What kind of pressure is that like on you to
train these men and women, uh, to be the best,
and how many, and I don't know the answer to this,
(05:31):
so I'm not leading you, but how many make it
you talked about those 4 phases and I know all
the way down to landing on the aircraft, is it
a 100% graduation? Does everyone make it through it? Is
it half? What what's the process look like?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Um, I would say it's probably fairly close to 100%, uh,
getting to this phase. Uh, in flight school it may
not necessarily be 100%, um, I mean from the earliest phases,
some people get into an airplane for the very first
time and realize they get air sick and they're like,
I don't even like this, so they may may try
something else out in the navy.
(06:04):
Um, but, but once they get to this phase in
the F-18, uh, we, we do have, like you said,
pretty much the best of the best, so it's really
just fine tuning, uh, all that, and, and we get
so much amazing talent that even just, um, comes into
the navy and, and gets into the, uh, aviation pipeline that, um,
it's pretty easy. It's just a little guidance here or
there to make sure we're doing everything, uh, safely and effectively.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Well, so I've got some really good good friends down
here who are pilots and have served and and
I know how humble you guys are, I know what
a really cool kind of fraternity's not the right term,
but how close knit you you all are in in
that family of pilots and and I know the the
humility that comes with it, so I'm gonna grease you
up a little bit and try to get some stuff
out of you today, uh, because I know I know
(06:49):
I know it's uh in store here because you guys
are so down to earth, so to speak, but, um,
as you do this stuff and you train you train
these best of the best and what do you love
most about it? I know it's a cliche question, but
you do this every day.
Um, what do you love most about it and, and
what made you wanna get into this? I know your
dad was obviously a pilot and you grew up with it,
(07:09):
I'm sure, but was it always the thing you were
gonna do?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Sure, I, yeah, I think obviously looking up to my dad, uh,
probably initially got my interest in it and, uh, just
kinda of him taking me to air shows and, and
seeing how cool the jets are flying around, uh, it
was kind of the initial spark, um, and then also
like looking up to some of my dad's Navy friends
who are still like some of his, his, uh, his
best friends in the world, uh, and, and that's what
(07:35):
I've gotten out of the navy like you're saying like
the the very best thing in this business.
Um, it's just the people, uh, and part of that,
like you said is, uh, because we're deployed all the time, uh,
on the boat, so spending so much time with each other, but, uh,
but the guys and girls that you work with in
this business are hands down, just the best people I'll
ever work with, so, um.
I guess that is the short version of of what
(07:57):
makes this job amazing. The other side pieces to it
of like getting to fly multi-million dollar jets is amazing,
but I'm I'm pretty sure anywhere in the navy, you're
going to find just these amazing guys and girls to
work with, and it's definitely an unforgettable experience.
Yeah,
Speaker 1 (08:12):
and you get to do things like this air show,
the the ours here in Key West, the southernmost air spectacular.
I know you go to different shows. Um, you've been
to Key West, you're here quite a bit, is that right?
This is obviously not your first time, but uh,
Uh, how often do you come to Key West? How
many air shows have you done down here?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Uh, yes sir, we, uh, our squadron, uh, VFA 106, um.
It's, it's one of the squadrons that trains all the
new guys and girls in the F-18. We go down
to Key West. Uh, we have a detachment at least
every other month, usually for about two weeks to to
do the, um, air to air phase of training, um,
so generally I'll get on those detachments as well. I've
(08:51):
actually never done an air show in Key West specifically, but, uh, pretty,
pretty familiar with the the the airspace at least.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Got you, um, no, well, let me ask you so
here here I'm gonna try to I'm gonna try to
get you out of this, uh.
This, uh, professional groove here, what's your what's your favorite
thing to do when you get down here in Key West?
Anything when you're not working, anything you look forward to
that you enjoy doing?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Um, we love Duval Street. Go out, have a couple
of drinks, uh, hit up some of the standard bars
around Key West. Uh, it's a pretty good time
down there. Alright,
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I know where you're going. I can read between the lines.
I like it and uh uh what do you look
forward to on these air shows? I I love these
air shows, um.
And people are gonna roll their eyes cause I'll brag
about this, any chance I get because I'm so proud
and humbled by it, I got to fly in a
Blue angel the last time you guys were here, uh,
and I should get a tattoo that says it, and
people just roll their eyes, uh, but I love it
(09:44):
and I and I was in love with it before
and I got a glimpse, just a small glimpse into
who you guys, all the pilots and what you do,
what you stand for, the expertise, the the love, the passion.
And all that goes into it, I just got a
small glimpse into that and even it even blew me
away even more, um, but what's special about these air shows?
What what do you like about them? What why should
people come to them and and and, uh, kind of
(10:06):
give me your take on these air shows that take place?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Um, I mean, it's a, it's a super fun just
like usually they're beautiful weather. I mean it's very just American,
you know, loud jet noise, uh, so I love that
aspect of that, um, but it's also a cool opportunity
for us to just interact with, uh, just normal people
around the world and, and kind of talk about our
jobs specifically or even just kind of demonstrate like the
(10:32):
unbelievable teamwork that um it, it takes between our maintainers
and and all the air crew to to put on
a show like this and.
And hopefully just inspire people, uh, whether they join the
navy or not to just like shoot for the moon
and basically uh do the best that they can at
whatever job that they do. So, uh, but I, I
love interacting especially with with the kids and just, uh,
(10:53):
you know, because I was one of those kids, uh,
back in the day looking up at these jets wishing
to do do this job. So, um, inspiring the kids
is awesome.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
That was awesome. It's so cool.
And watching the kids and the young people come out
to these shows and just being uh being in awe
of what is happening around them and it's not just
the Blue Angels, it's it's all you guys, everybody, it's
all the pilots, it's all the surrounding military and other armed, uh,
men and women who are supporting. It really is just
a day of pride, everyone's heart is full, it's really cool. Um,
(11:24):
I will ask you, I don't know if you can
answer this, at least on a recording, but
Can I ask you, am I saying your call sign
uh correctly, Lieutenant, because we haven't spoken until today. Is
it Jaba? Is it Jaba, is that correct? It is,
it is Jaba. Can can you talk about the call
sign or is that classified?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Sure, I can, I can talk about that. I should
probably remind everyone, uh, my last name is Buck, um, so.
Uh, JaA is an acronym. It stand it stands for, uh,
just another Buck Aviator. Um, so the, I guess the,
the backstory to that would be, uh, obviously my, my
dad flew F-14 Tomcats, and then, uh, my older brother Mike,
(12:04):
who's a year older than me, actually also, uh, flies F-18,
he's also based here in Virginia Beach, Virginia, uh, so the, uh,
the call sign job by just another Buck Aviator.
Uh, basically has to do with that I'm no good
of a pilot and I'm just, uh, just another buck, uh,
just doing the family business or something, uh, so nothing
crazy.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
That is I know it's awesome and and I think
the call signs between all of you are some of
the best stories, the ones that can be told, you know,
whether it's in the open or not, and the fact
that your brother also does this, I imagine your dad's
a pretty proud dad, whether, you know, he wants to
admit it or not, but uh, that must be a
pretty cool family Christmas get-together when you guys compare notes.
That's that's amazing.
(12:44):
Um, you talked about your dad flying those F-14s. Tell
me about these new F-18s, if you don't mind real quick, um,
that you're flying around. What, what makes them so special?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, um, it's basically the, uh, kind of next generation, uh,
after the Tomcat version of just the, the carrier capable, uh,
fighter aircraft. So, uh, really hit, hit on it a
little bit, but it's, it's capable of air to surface
and air to air emissions.
Uh, so it's kind of a multi-role strike fighter aircraft
that can take off and land on the boat, which
is obviously a great asset to our nation, but it's
(13:16):
a fun airplane to fly. I mean, it can do
so many different things and, uh, yeah, again, it's just
gonna be awesome to show it off at the air show. Alright,
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I'm gonna I'm gonna use some knowledge that's not all mine,
but I'm gonna try to sound cool here.
Um, but I, I again, I, I did fly in one,
but um, yeah, eye rolls, uh, but I see that
you know, the FA18E which is a single seat, and
there's obviously what I flew in was an F-1818F which
is uh the two seats. Uh, what's the difference in
those if you're flying that jet? Does it make a
(13:45):
difference for you as the pilot, uh, are the squadrons different? Um,
you know, why is the F35 a single seat, you know,
what what what is the difference?
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Sure, so,
um, the E model is obviously the single seat model
like you're talking about and we have the uh F
model as the two seat model, um.
There are really they both have the same flying characteristics, so, um,
to be honest you can't really tell between flying the
two of them. Obviously the two seat variant you got
the weapon systems officer in the back seat, uh, who
(14:15):
helps with uh all the different mission sets. Um, we
generally do the the same mission sets, um, however, the
two seat variant can also do, uh, forward air control
airborne or FACA.
Um, basically airborne, we can have a two seat variant
in the sky and they can basically take over the,
the airspace and coordinate air to surface attacks, um, on
(14:36):
the ground, basically in, in a close air support, um,
kind of thing which would be the friendlies close to
the enemies like in close contact, so, uh, just a
lot of coordination that needs to go on to make
sure the the bombs only hit the bad guys, uh,
so that, uh, fact A.
Uh, mission set is only for two seat aircrew. Uh,
(14:58):
that's the main differences there, um, other than that, we
probably in most air wings you have, um.
There'll be like 2 or 3-ish squadrons that'll be echo
models and then usually 1 squadron that'll be the foxtrot
models and then now the air wings are trying to
trying to work in some of the F-35s as well. um,
and then the F-35 is only a single seat variant, but, uh,
(15:19):
they also do kind of their own different types of
of mission sets as well so that that probably drove
that
decision.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Got you. Alright, and um like I said, you guys
are a tight knit family, y'all love to rev each other.
I've got a pilot, a friend down here today. I said, hey,
I'm interviewing.
Somebody in your family, and he said, oh, tell me
about it. So I told him about it, he said,
oh you gotta ask two questions for me. I said, OK.
I said, are you gonna get me in trouble? He said,
probably so. I said, no, no, I'm gonna get you
in trouble cause I'll tell him who asked the questions.
(15:46):
He said, alright, uh, I won't say it today but
I'll let you know he might be in the sundowners
down here, so when you get here, I'll be sure
to point him out, but the first question he asked was, uh,
were you ever an LSO, a landing signals officer?
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Uh, yes, I was and still am, I guess.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Alright, that's awesome. So, uh, for people that don't know
what that is, explain the LSO because it is a
it is an incredibly important job on on the carrier, correct?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Sure, yeah, yeah, a LSO or landing signals officer, um,
they basically stand near the back of the boat and
just make sure everyone's being safe, uh, with their landings, um,
so they, they're in two-way radio communications with with all
the pilots they're coming in day or night to land
on the carrier, uh, and again just making sure that
uh no one's in in any danger of, of hitting
(16:30):
the back of the boat or anything, so.
Uh, that's mainly what you do. It, it, we're also
called paddles if you hear that term, uh, because back
in the day they would actually, um, I think not
in radio communication but showing different, uh, different paddles, uh,
to the pilots to let them know whether they're like
high or low, uh, so ultimately they're we're there for
just the safe and, uh, efficient recovery of all the aircraft.
(16:52):
So we're trying to land an aircraft, uh, probably about
every 40 to 40.
5 seconds on the boat, uh, which obviously you're just
catching a wire and then uh basically clearing out for
the next guy behind you. So yeah,
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Top Gun, you see it on Top Gun, right? That's
kind of the all the the the the regular folks
like us talking here is, you see the movie, it
catches that wire, does it still do that today? Is
it still the wire still part of the same
Speaker 2 (17:17):
same same exact deal, yeah, so.
Uh like a controlled car crash.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Man, is it, well, this person that asked that question,
you probably wrote him up for a landing, that's why
he's asking it. And then, uh, secondly, I feel like
this question was even more targeted at you and uh
having some fun, he said, how can you lose to
an F5 since they're old as crap, super antiquated and
flown by washed up old guys that fly for the
airlines now. That was the question he asked. I don't know,
but um he uh he's he's definitely gonna be pointed
(17:43):
out to you when you get here, so um, I
doubt you've ever lost to an L5, but he was
he was revenue up. I said I would ask the question.
So, um, if you,
Speaker 2 (17:51):
uh, I missed the beginning of that. Did he say
that he that he beat me in an F5 or
something?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I don't know if he would say he beat you
or maybe he's just saying he's he has defeated people
in his F5. I don't know, um, but he's definitely
gonna be I will point him out as soon as
you get here and we can have this discussion. So, um,
but he wanted me to ask, yeah, uh, on a
serious note though, um, uh, you got to travel around,
I think you know as we talk about the jets
and the air shows and your career.
(18:18):
We don't talk about your deployments much and and all
the work and time you put into this and just
the life that you've dedicated to this, you mentioned that
you were in Japan, uh, what's it like having that
experience and living somewhere like Japan? Anything that stands out
you can share?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Sure, uh, Japan was super cool. Um, it, it happened
unfortunately to be during the uh the COVID times. I
was out there 2 like early 2020 to 2023, um, and, uh,
basically that you basically from a Japan deployment perspective you
you generally are on the boat from May to November
(18:52):
December time frame. It's pretty much every summer you just
get on the boat.
Um, and then, uh, when you're back home, uh, obviously
an interesting experience of, of just being in a foreign country, but,
but Japan was unbelievable. Like the, the culture there is
so cool. You'll never meet people so nice in your life. Uh,
the food is amazing. So, uh, it was, it was
good for me to, uh, it was actually, uh, my,
(19:14):
my last choice for some reason. I put it last
on my list. Uh, I'm so glad I got it after,
after being in Japan. Um, it was, uh, super cool
and got me outside of my comfort zone instead of.
Just sticking around on the the normal places that I love, uh,
so it was, it was an unbelievable experience, uh, highly
recommend it, uh, for anyone that's never been to Japan, um, yep.
(19:35):
That
Speaker 1 (19:35):
is, we're both Atlanta guys, um, and that's probably all
we have in common because you're smarter than me and
you do all this stuff, but we uh I'm a
Braves guy, I'll ask you, did you go to a
baseball game in Japan by chance?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
We did, yeah, we went to some of the Hiroshima
carps games, uh, and it was awesome, uh, super cool, uh,
to see baseball up there as
Speaker 1 (19:53):
well. Did you say Hiroshima like the, the, the fish,
like the carps like what, what was it?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
That there were the carps, uh, I think a couple
of the teams out there are, uh, are like fish related, but, uh,
I think we also went to a Tokyo game as well. Uh,
super cool though, it was awesome to see baseball in
a foreign country.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
That
is really cool. Lieutenant, do you have a Hiroshima uh
carp's hat by chance or any kind of
Speaker 2 (20:16):
I don't
I don't have a hat or a jersey, I never
got one unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Man, that's uh, that is so cool though. So what
what do you miss most? I mean if you were
if you went back to Japan today, I know that
was a part of your life, what do you miss
most about it? What would you go do right away?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Uh, probably get some, get some curry or something. It
really the Japanese food is probably what I miss, miss
the most. There's some, some amazing skiing out there as well,
if it's wintertime, so that we were always traveling around
and just seeing whatever parts of Japan we could hit. Uh, yeah,
it was amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
That is so cool. Do you did you speak any
Japanese at this point or did you?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Uh, I would say very, very little, enough to basically
order some food or maybe beer at a bar, uh,
but no, not, not at all, uh, not at all
as much as I should have learned.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
There you go, well, when you're not doing that, you're
on a boat, um, what's life like for people like us,
the guy talking here, not you, um, you're in a
small minority of people who do something that we don't
get to see every day whether you're flying.
Uh, with 7 G's and a jet or living somewhere
else or living on a boat, what's it like living
on a boat? What's life like in a ready room?
What what is what what can you tell us in
(21:26):
that elevator pitch that that we never get to see?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Sure, I mean, it's a, it's a pretty simple lifestyle. Uh,
the boat is fairly big if you've never been on
a carrier, uh, but it's not that big. Uh, so you,
you just gotta kind of find, find your routine, uh,
but you got everything right there. You got, you got gyms, uh,
you know, you got your flying, uh, food is made
for you, so it's, it's an easy lifestyle. It's, uh,
(21:50):
it's definitely, it can get very repetitive, so you got
to stay grounded, but, uh, you got some amazing people
in your squadron to to keep you laughing and.
Uh, keep the days going because there's they tend to
not to be any, uh, any days off for the
most part, you know, there aren't really weekends on the boat.
They don't really tell you much about that. Uh, but, uh,
but no, it's awesome. Again, just working with some of
the best guys and girls in the world, uh, makes
(22:13):
it all worth it.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
What's the
food like when you're on the boat? Is it, you know,
is it just military food or do you guys get?
There's pretty good stuff out of the kitchen? I know
you've talked about Japan, but you're on the boat, what's
the food like there? Sure,
Speaker 2 (22:24):
yeah, yeah, it's nowhere, they were quite the the Japanese food,
but it's it's great. I mean, it's, uh, any food
you don't have to cook is is amazing, and they
they do a good job with, uh, keeping the boat
restocked and.
Uh, so, man, any, any meal that I don't have
to make and, uh, I hardly have to clean up
after myself, it's pretty phenomenal. So, uh, just keep us
(22:45):
focused on on the real mission, so it's it's
Speaker 1 (22:47):
great. You got any any any uh podcast friendlyor stories
you can share? Any anything uh of humor or wild
that's ever happened to you, or has it been pretty
fairly tame to you?
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Gosh, I'm trying to think if there it has fairly,
it's been fairly tame, unfortunately, like I said, uh, I
was deployed over there during COVID, so, uh, none of
the countries would, uh, really let our boat pull in.
So we, we got used to, uh, used to a
lot of ocean. Yeah, yeah, I kind of, I joked, uh,
you know, you join, join the navy to see the
world and find out that it's mostly water.
(23:19):
But uh yeah, it's great. There's a lot of ocean
in this world.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Well, between your squadrons and and and what you're doing now,
any traditions, I know there's a lot of traditions between
you guys and what you do, um, any any traditions
that that stand out.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Mm, nothing's coming ahead. It's coming to my head right now.
I'm trying to
think
Speaker 1 (23:37):
uh I feel like you're trying to think of what
you can share and cannot share on this thing so
I don't wanna get you in trouble, but, uh, uh,
no worries, but, uh, you know, one thing I think
about Lieutenant is when I talk to you men and women, um,
and you're up there and and people first of all,
do you ever take it for granted and what I
mean by that is
(23:58):
You know, if you're pulling 7 G's routinely every day
and I know your body's used to it, and I
doubt that it affects you much and you've got your
suit and everything else on top of it, but do
you ever just step back in your mind and say, man,
I get to do this for a living and not
many people do, or or do you just do you
get I think take it for granted it's probably not
(24:19):
the right terminology I'm trying to use, but do you
do you does it start to really normalize for you?
Do you ever get a chance to step back and
soak it in?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Sure, absolutely. I, I know exactly where, where you're coming from, uh,
because definitely you, you can, you can totally forget you
definitely have to remind yourself constantly that, um, even doing
it like every day, like, uh, flying in one of
these jets is, is a lot of people's just dream
to ever get to do even once. So to get
to do it, uh, almost every day is, is unbelievable,
(24:47):
and I, I'd be trying to remind myself of that
often even on some of the, uh, the longer deployments, uh,
when you're, you're tired and beat down from from lying
every day.
Uh, but usually, usually you get reminded of it, especially
flying around the boat, and then just taking those, those
catapult shots off of, off of the boat, uh, early
in the morning or always kind of wake you up
and you're like, yeah, this is, this is pretty awesome, uh,
(25:07):
so it is an amazing experience.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Do you ever have a hard time adjusting, like, you know,
you get in the car, going home or in the
morning and you're used to doing.
The speeds that you go at and and the rates,
and I know you're always being safe, but is it
I know it's a silly question, but is it hard
to adjust to the car or is that just, uh,
is it pretty easy to go back and forth?
Speaker 2 (25:30):
No, not too much. Uh, I'd say like maybe if
you're if you've been on deployment for a while, it
is weird because you're definitely more used to flying in
the airplane, and when you get back to your car,
it feels kind of weird to driven in like 6 months, but,
and especially if you're in Japan driving on the wrong
side of the road, but uh.
But no, I, I think I get enough of my,
my adrenaline out in the airplane where I don't feel
(25:51):
like I need to be having too much road rage.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah, most people see you guys and they think Tom
Cruise and Iceman and Rooster and and pianos at bars
and I know there's some of that stuff that goes on,
it's fun, but what what does the movie
I'm sure every pilot watches the movies. I have not
met any pilot who has not, but what does the
movie in a nutshell get right and what do you
feel like the movies, particularly the Top Gun movies that
(26:16):
we all know so well, what what do they get wrong?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Uh, we're there with the first one or the second one?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Either or, like what really jumps out to you that
they might get right and maybe maybe some things they
they might miss.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Gosh, uh, I mean, the, the flying, especially in the,
the second one, was pretty unbelievable. I'm not sure how
many people know, uh, that like the, the flying was,
was not, not really CGI. It was all, all real
flying and I some good buddies that that did a
lot of the flying for the Top Gun Maverick movie, um,
but no, it's, it's a documentary, it's all accurate as
(26:50):
far as I can tell. Yeah.
It's, uh, it's awesome. It's, uh, I think they did
a really good job with, uh, with both movies that, uh,
I don't know, it's, uh, definitely something that, you know,
everyone has to watch and I'm sure it's even it's
inspired some people to, to join this business, so I
love them personally, uh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Well, I've, I've kept you up most of the time here.
I do wanna ask you, we've got, uh, Lieutenant Mark
Jabo Buck here. He's gonna be coming down and, uh,
spending time with us at the Key West Air Spectacular,
southernmost Air Spectacular March 29th and 30th, as we said,
that's gonna be here. Uh, you can look at that
at Key West Airshow.com and we're gonna see you out there, Lieutenant,
(27:31):
but um, before, before we jump here and I really
appreciate your time, before we do jump, what what is
what's next for you in the coming
Uh, next chapter in the coming years, what's what's on
your radar? Maybe that's a pun, a pun in there,
but what what's next for you?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Sure, absolutely, yeah, I think, um, I'm still, still trying
to figure out my next set of orders, but I
should know, I should be rotating out by like the
summer to fall to go back to another fleet squadron, um, and, uh, ho,
hoping to stick around in a fleet squadron somewhere in
Virginia Beach and, uh, uh, probably will be, uh, deploying
sometime sometime next spring, uh, maybe to the Middle East
(28:07):
or something so.
Um, just heading back out to the fleet to, uh,
got my unbelievable instructor gig where I got to to
teach at a different level down here and then I
also get to see some air shows and now it's
back to work, back to some deployments, and, uh, looking
forward to to some more good boat flying. There you go.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Well, we'll end with a kind of a standard question,
but I'm curious, you being you've been trained obviously by
the best because you are part of the best and
now you trained the best. What's the best advice you
were given?
Uh, when you were being trained, what what's the best
advice you're you're passing down to, uh, these, these pilots
that are that are up and coming and being trained
(28:44):
to join you, uh, to serve this nation? What's what's
the best advice you've been given? What's the best advice
you passed down?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Probably just uh show up prepared, show up with a
good attitude. That's uh pretty much what you can control.
You're never gonna have a perfect flight. uh, so just
keep trying your hardest and, uh, yeah, exactly, that's what
you can control and.
Uh, you know, you're gonna have bad flights, you're gonna
have good flights. Uh, unfortunately, you probably learn more from
the bad flights than than the uh than the good ones, but, um, yeah, it's, it's,
(29:14):
it's a long process, so just keep with it.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Well, I, I think I speak for so many people,
obviously appreciate what you do every day, uh, each and
every day. Uh, these air shows are fun, but what
you guys do, uh, all the other moments aside from that,
protecting our country, serving our nation.
And not just you guys in the air, but on
the ground and all that goes into it, um, a
wholehearted thank you, and I also want to just thank
(29:37):
you for coming on the show and help promote this
air show here in Key West on March 29th and 30th, uh,
Key West Airshow.com for the southernmost air spectacular. Gonna have
a lot of fun having you here. I hope I
hope to get a chance to say hello to you
while you're here and, um, really appreciate you doing it.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, absolutely, can't wait to see you all
down
Speaker 1 (29:56):
there. Absolutely, we'll talk to you soon. It is Lieutenant
Mark Jabba Buck. Lieutenant, you have a great weekend and
we will look forward to seeing you here in Key West.
Have a great one.
Thanks you too.
Welcome back everyone to another edition of the Florida Keys
Weekly podcast. I'm your host Brett Myers, and honored to
have a great guest on here today, one of my favorite, uh,
topics and guests that I get to do occasionally throughout
the year, and I know you're going to love this
one as well. Before we jump into it, I want
to thank our listeners in Radio Land at WKWF 103.3 FM.
(00:25):
Of course, all of our podcast listeners on our platforms
at Keysweekly.com.
Amazon, Spotify, Apple, you name it, you can go to
the Florida Keys Weekly podcast, pull up all the shows there,
including this one. today's sponsor is very fitting.
And we'll talk about that more momentarily, but our sponsor
today is the Southernmost Air Spectacular 2025, that's gonna go
(00:48):
down here in Key West on March 29th and 30th.
The Southernmost Air Spectacular, you can go to Key West Airshow.com.
Learn more about that show. It's one of the best
times of the year. It comes every so many years
here to the Keys, and that'll feature the Blue Angels,
of course, but so many other, uh, pilots and portions
of that show for kids, families, adults, you name it,
(01:09):
it is just an amazing moment that's gonna be celebrating.
Uh, the US Navy 250th anniversary this year as well,
making that even more special. Want to thank those guys again,
go to Key West Airshow.com, learn more about that March
29th and 30th. On that note, very fitting, uh, today's
guest is Lieutenant Mark Jabba Buck, and that is, uh,
(01:29):
he's a FA 18F Super Hornet tactical demonstration pilot. He's
got a bio here, I'm gonna read it and I
don't want to, uh, usually I I kinda go through
the bio, but his is so important and, uh, I
don't wanna leave some things out here.
Yeah, before we bring him in, uh, Lieutenant Mark Jabba
Buck was born in San Diego. He moved around the
country because his father served as a Navy Tomcat pilot.
(01:50):
He graduated from Star Mills High School in Fayetteville, Georgia
in 2011. That's a Georgia shout out from another Georgia
guy here where he competed in baseball, swimming, and water polo.
Lieutenant Buck attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated
with a bachelor's degree in weapons and systems engineering. He
earned his commission.
As an insider in the US Navy in May 2015,
he reported to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola. He
(02:12):
began training as a Navy pilot. He competed in, uh,
he completed primary flight training in Milton, Florida in advanced
flight training. Um, he also earned his wings in November
18 and subsequently completed fleet aircraft training in the FA-18
Super Hornet as a strike Fighter squadron BFAO 106 in
Virginia Beach, Virginia.
(02:33):
Uh, he then reported to Strike Fighter squadron 195 in Okinawa,
Japan over the course of three years. Lieutenant, uh, took
part in multiple uh exercises, detachments, and 3 deployments on
board the USS Ronald Reagan in support of the 7th
and 5th Fleet operations.
He's currently an instructor and pilot teaching the next generations
of aviators and the FAA 18 tactics. He's accumulated more
(02:56):
than 1250 flight hours and over 200 arrested, uh, landings. Uh,
Lieutenant Buck, I hope I did that, uh, somewhat some
service there. I know that was a lot to say
in a quick amount of time, but.
I will say this, it is an honor to have
you on the show and an honor to have you
coming down to Key West in the Florida Keys for
the upcoming March 29th and 30th, uh, southernmost air spectacular,
(03:17):
and I know this is not your first time, but
welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Hey, thank you so much, Mr. Myers. Yeah, it's an
honor to be
Speaker 1 (03:23):
here. Absolutely, so I I I.
went through your bio, and I know the listeners heard
a lot of uh uh abbreviations and some different things,
but just in a if you met me on an elevator,
I know this is a tough question, and they said, uh, Lieutenant,
tell us a little bit about what you do, what
do you do day to day? What what would be
your pitch?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Sure, yeah, so, uh, I guess my day to day
job is just an F-18 instructor pilot, uh, so I, I,
I live and I'm based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and, uh,
basically I teach the next generation of, uh, Navy F-18
pilots and, uh, weapon systems officers. They're the ones that
sit in the, uh, the backseat of the two seat model, uh,
so we basically start a syllabus that is broken up
(04:07):
into four phases. The first phase is called transition. Uh,
it's basically taking people from there.
Um, their flight school platforms into the F-18 teach people
how to take off and land and kind of operate
the aircraft safely. Then the next phase we'll go into
the strike phase where we'll teach the basics of employing
all the different air to surface weapons or bombs that
(04:28):
we can deloy from the aircraft. And then the third
phase will be the fighter phase, uh, talking about, um,
basic fighter maneuvers or BFM, what most people think of
as dog fighting, uh, in the air, and then also
some air to air tactics.
Uh, and then finally the last phase of training is
basically taking all the, uh, the aviators to the boat
for the first time, uh, and teaching them how to
(04:49):
land on the boat. So those four phases of training, uh,
it's pretty much what I do Monday through Friday.
Uh, and then I also just have this, this amazing
side gig, fortunate enough to get it where I get
to take the F-18 on the road some weekends and, uh,
head out to air shows and kind of demonstrate the
capabilities of the aircraft, uh, which I'm super excited to
uh come down to the end of March to do
(05:10):
to do just that. Well,
Speaker 1 (05:11):
we can't wait to have you, and I think about
as you talk about that training and you say it
so casually, the the time, um, you know, the expertise,
you're training the best of the best in the world, literally,
and it's coming from you.
What kind of pressure is that like on you to
train these men and women, uh, to be the best,
and how many, and I don't know the answer to this,
(05:31):
so I'm not leading you, but how many make it
you talked about those 4 phases and I know all
the way down to landing on the aircraft, is it
a 100% graduation? Does everyone make it through it? Is
it half? What what's the process look like?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Um, I would say it's probably fairly close to 100%, uh,
getting to this phase. Uh, in flight school it may
not necessarily be 100%, um, I mean from the earliest phases,
some people get into an airplane for the very first
time and realize they get air sick and they're like,
I don't even like this, so they may may try
something else out in the navy.
(06:04):
Um, but, but once they get to this phase in
the F-18, uh, we, we do have, like you said,
pretty much the best of the best, so it's really
just fine tuning, uh, all that, and, and we get
so much amazing talent that even just, um, comes into
the navy and, and gets into the, uh, aviation pipeline that, um,
it's pretty easy. It's just a little guidance here or
there to make sure we're doing everything, uh, safely and effectively.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Well, so I've got some really good good friends down
here who are pilots and have served and and
I know how humble you guys are, I know what
a really cool kind of fraternity's not the right term,
but how close knit you you all are in in
that family of pilots and and I know the the
humility that comes with it, so I'm gonna grease you
up a little bit and try to get some stuff
out of you today, uh, because I know I know
(06:49):
I know it's uh in store here because you guys
are so down to earth, so to speak, but, um,
as you do this stuff and you train you train
these best of the best and what do you love
most about it? I know it's a cliche question, but
you do this every day.
Um, what do you love most about it and, and
what made you wanna get into this? I know your
dad was obviously a pilot and you grew up with it,
(07:09):
I'm sure, but was it always the thing you were
gonna do?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Sure, I, yeah, I think obviously looking up to my dad, uh,
probably initially got my interest in it and, uh, just
kinda of him taking me to air shows and, and
seeing how cool the jets are flying around, uh, it
was kind of the initial spark, um, and then also
like looking up to some of my dad's Navy friends
who are still like some of his, his, uh, his
best friends in the world, uh, and, and that's what
(07:35):
I've gotten out of the navy like you're saying like
the the very best thing in this business.
Um, it's just the people, uh, and part of that,
like you said is, uh, because we're deployed all the time, uh,
on the boat, so spending so much time with each other, but, uh,
but the guys and girls that you work with in
this business are hands down, just the best people I'll
ever work with, so, um.
I guess that is the short version of of what
(07:57):
makes this job amazing. The other side pieces to it
of like getting to fly multi-million dollar jets is amazing,
but I'm I'm pretty sure anywhere in the navy, you're
going to find just these amazing guys and girls to
work with, and it's definitely an unforgettable experience.
Yeah,
Speaker 1 (08:12):
and you get to do things like this air show,
the the ours here in Key West, the southernmost air spectacular.
I know you go to different shows. Um, you've been
to Key West, you're here quite a bit, is that right?
This is obviously not your first time, but uh,
Uh, how often do you come to Key West? How
many air shows have you done down here?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Uh, yes sir, we, uh, our squadron, uh, VFA 106, um.
It's, it's one of the squadrons that trains all the
new guys and girls in the F-18. We go down
to Key West. Uh, we have a detachment at least
every other month, usually for about two weeks to to
do the, um, air to air phase of training, um,
so generally I'll get on those detachments as well. I've
(08:51):
actually never done an air show in Key West specifically, but, uh, pretty,
pretty familiar with the the the airspace at least.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Got you, um, no, well, let me ask you so
here here I'm gonna try to I'm gonna try to
get you out of this, uh.
This, uh, professional groove here, what's your what's your favorite
thing to do when you get down here in Key West?
Anything when you're not working, anything you look forward to
that you enjoy doing?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Um, we love Duval Street. Go out, have a couple
of drinks, uh, hit up some of the standard bars
around Key West. Uh, it's a pretty good time
down there. Alright,
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I know where you're going. I can read between the lines.
I like it and uh uh what do you look
forward to on these air shows? I I love these
air shows, um.
And people are gonna roll their eyes cause I'll brag
about this, any chance I get because I'm so proud
and humbled by it, I got to fly in a
Blue angel the last time you guys were here, uh,
and I should get a tattoo that says it, and
people just roll their eyes, uh, but I love it
(09:44):
and I and I was in love with it before
and I got a glimpse, just a small glimpse into
who you guys, all the pilots and what you do,
what you stand for, the expertise, the the love, the passion.
And all that goes into it, I just got a
small glimpse into that and even it even blew me
away even more, um, but what's special about these air shows?
What what do you like about them? What why should
people come to them and and and, uh, kind of
(10:06):
give me your take on these air shows that take place?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Um, I mean, it's a, it's a super fun just
like usually they're beautiful weather. I mean it's very just American,
you know, loud jet noise, uh, so I love that
aspect of that, um, but it's also a cool opportunity
for us to just interact with, uh, just normal people
around the world and, and kind of talk about our
jobs specifically or even just kind of demonstrate like the
(10:32):
unbelievable teamwork that um it, it takes between our maintainers
and and all the air crew to to put on
a show like this and.
And hopefully just inspire people, uh, whether they join the
navy or not to just like shoot for the moon
and basically uh do the best that they can at
whatever job that they do. So, uh, but I, I
love interacting especially with with the kids and just, uh,
(10:53):
you know, because I was one of those kids, uh,
back in the day looking up at these jets wishing
to do do this job. So, um, inspiring the kids
is awesome.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
That was awesome. It's so cool.
And watching the kids and the young people come out
to these shows and just being uh being in awe
of what is happening around them and it's not just
the Blue Angels, it's it's all you guys, everybody, it's
all the pilots, it's all the surrounding military and other armed, uh,
men and women who are supporting. It really is just
a day of pride, everyone's heart is full, it's really cool. Um,
(11:24):
I will ask you, I don't know if you can
answer this, at least on a recording, but
Can I ask you, am I saying your call sign
uh correctly, Lieutenant, because we haven't spoken until today. Is
it Jaba? Is it Jaba, is that correct? It is,
it is Jaba. Can can you talk about the call
sign or is that classified?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Sure, I can, I can talk about that. I should
probably remind everyone, uh, my last name is Buck, um, so.
Uh, JaA is an acronym. It stand it stands for, uh,
just another Buck Aviator. Um, so the, I guess the,
the backstory to that would be, uh, obviously my, my
dad flew F-14 Tomcats, and then, uh, my older brother Mike,
(12:04):
who's a year older than me, actually also, uh, flies F-18,
he's also based here in Virginia Beach, Virginia, uh, so the, uh,
the call sign job by just another Buck Aviator.
Uh, basically has to do with that I'm no good
of a pilot and I'm just, uh, just another buck, uh,
just doing the family business or something, uh, so nothing
crazy.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
That is I know it's awesome and and I think
the call signs between all of you are some of
the best stories, the ones that can be told, you know,
whether it's in the open or not, and the fact
that your brother also does this, I imagine your dad's
a pretty proud dad, whether, you know, he wants to
admit it or not, but uh, that must be a
pretty cool family Christmas get-together when you guys compare notes.
That's that's amazing.
(12:44):
Um, you talked about your dad flying those F-14s. Tell
me about these new F-18s, if you don't mind real quick, um,
that you're flying around. What, what makes them so special?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, um, it's basically the, uh, kind of next generation, uh,
after the Tomcat version of just the, the carrier capable, uh,
fighter aircraft. So, uh, really hit, hit on it a
little bit, but it's, it's capable of air to surface
and air to air emissions.
Uh, so it's kind of a multi-role strike fighter aircraft
that can take off and land on the boat, which
is obviously a great asset to our nation, but it's
(13:16):
a fun airplane to fly. I mean, it can do
so many different things and, uh, yeah, again, it's just
gonna be awesome to show it off at the air show. Alright,
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I'm gonna I'm gonna use some knowledge that's not all mine,
but I'm gonna try to sound cool here.
Um, but I, I again, I, I did fly in one,
but um, yeah, eye rolls, uh, but I see that
you know, the FA18E which is a single seat, and
there's obviously what I flew in was an F-1818F which
is uh the two seats. Uh, what's the difference in
those if you're flying that jet? Does it make a
(13:45):
difference for you as the pilot, uh, are the squadrons different? Um,
you know, why is the F35 a single seat, you know,
what what what is the difference?
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Sure, so,
um, the E model is obviously the single seat model
like you're talking about and we have the uh F
model as the two seat model, um.
There are really they both have the same flying characteristics, so, um,
to be honest you can't really tell between flying the
two of them. Obviously the two seat variant you got
the weapon systems officer in the back seat, uh, who
(14:15):
helps with uh all the different mission sets. Um, we
generally do the the same mission sets, um, however, the
two seat variant can also do, uh, forward air control
airborne or FACA.
Um, basically airborne, we can have a two seat variant
in the sky and they can basically take over the,
the airspace and coordinate air to surface attacks, um, on
(14:36):
the ground, basically in, in a close air support, um,
kind of thing which would be the friendlies close to
the enemies like in close contact, so, uh, just a
lot of coordination that needs to go on to make
sure the the bombs only hit the bad guys, uh,
so that, uh, fact A.
Uh, mission set is only for two seat aircrew. Uh,
(14:58):
that's the main differences there, um, other than that, we
probably in most air wings you have, um.
There'll be like 2 or 3-ish squadrons that'll be echo
models and then usually 1 squadron that'll be the foxtrot
models and then now the air wings are trying to
trying to work in some of the F-35s as well. um,
and then the F-35 is only a single seat variant, but, uh,
(15:19):
they also do kind of their own different types of
of mission sets as well so that that probably drove
that
decision.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Got you. Alright, and um like I said, you guys
are a tight knit family, y'all love to rev each other.
I've got a pilot, a friend down here today. I said, hey,
I'm interviewing.
Somebody in your family, and he said, oh, tell me
about it. So I told him about it, he said,
oh you gotta ask two questions for me. I said, OK.
I said, are you gonna get me in trouble? He said,
probably so. I said, no, no, I'm gonna get you
in trouble cause I'll tell him who asked the questions.
(15:46):
He said, alright, uh, I won't say it today but
I'll let you know he might be in the sundowners
down here, so when you get here, I'll be sure
to point him out, but the first question he asked was, uh,
were you ever an LSO, a landing signals officer?
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Uh, yes, I was and still am, I guess.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Alright, that's awesome. So, uh, for people that don't know
what that is, explain the LSO because it is a
it is an incredibly important job on on the carrier, correct?
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Sure, yeah, yeah, a LSO or landing signals officer, um,
they basically stand near the back of the boat and
just make sure everyone's being safe, uh, with their landings, um,
so they, they're in two-way radio communications with with all
the pilots they're coming in day or night to land
on the carrier, uh, and again just making sure that
uh no one's in in any danger of, of hitting
(16:30):
the back of the boat or anything, so.
Uh, that's mainly what you do. It, it, we're also
called paddles if you hear that term, uh, because back
in the day they would actually, um, I think not
in radio communication but showing different, uh, different paddles, uh,
to the pilots to let them know whether they're like
high or low, uh, so ultimately they're we're there for
just the safe and, uh, efficient recovery of all the aircraft.
(16:52):
So we're trying to land an aircraft, uh, probably about
every 40 to 40.
5 seconds on the boat, uh, which obviously you're just
catching a wire and then uh basically clearing out for
the next guy behind you. So yeah,
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Top Gun, you see it on Top Gun, right? That's
kind of the all the the the the regular folks
like us talking here is, you see the movie, it
catches that wire, does it still do that today? Is
it still the wire still part of the same
Speaker 2 (17:17):
same same exact deal, yeah, so.
Uh like a controlled car crash.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Man, is it, well, this person that asked that question,
you probably wrote him up for a landing, that's why
he's asking it. And then, uh, secondly, I feel like
this question was even more targeted at you and uh
having some fun, he said, how can you lose to
an F5 since they're old as crap, super antiquated and
flown by washed up old guys that fly for the
airlines now. That was the question he asked. I don't know,
but um he uh he's he's definitely gonna be pointed
(17:43):
out to you when you get here, so um, I
doubt you've ever lost to an L5, but he was
he was revenue up. I said I would ask the question.
So, um, if you,
Speaker 2 (17:51):
uh, I missed the beginning of that. Did he say
that he that he beat me in an F5 or
something?
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I don't know if he would say he beat you
or maybe he's just saying he's he has defeated people
in his F5. I don't know, um, but he's definitely
gonna be I will point him out as soon as
you get here and we can have this discussion. So, um,
but he wanted me to ask, yeah, uh, on a
serious note though, um, uh, you got to travel around,
I think you know as we talk about the jets
and the air shows and your career.
(18:18):
We don't talk about your deployments much and and all
the work and time you put into this and just
the life that you've dedicated to this, you mentioned that
you were in Japan, uh, what's it like having that
experience and living somewhere like Japan? Anything that stands out
you can share?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Sure, uh, Japan was super cool. Um, it, it happened
unfortunately to be during the uh the COVID times. I
was out there 2 like early 2020 to 2023, um, and, uh,
basically that you basically from a Japan deployment perspective you
you generally are on the boat from May to November
(18:52):
December time frame. It's pretty much every summer you just
get on the boat.
Um, and then, uh, when you're back home, uh, obviously
an interesting experience of, of just being in a foreign country, but,
but Japan was unbelievable. Like the, the culture there is
so cool. You'll never meet people so nice in your life. Uh,
the food is amazing. So, uh, it was, it was
good for me to, uh, it was actually, uh, my,
(19:14):
my last choice for some reason. I put it last
on my list. Uh, I'm so glad I got it after,
after being in Japan. Um, it was, uh, super cool
and got me outside of my comfort zone instead of.
Just sticking around on the the normal places that I love, uh,
so it was, it was an unbelievable experience, uh, highly
recommend it, uh, for anyone that's never been to Japan, um, yep.
(19:35):
That
Speaker 1 (19:35):
is, we're both Atlanta guys, um, and that's probably all
we have in common because you're smarter than me and
you do all this stuff, but we uh I'm a
Braves guy, I'll ask you, did you go to a
baseball game in Japan by chance?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
We did, yeah, we went to some of the Hiroshima
carps games, uh, and it was awesome, uh, super cool, uh,
to see baseball up there as
Speaker 1 (19:53):
well. Did you say Hiroshima like the, the, the fish,
like the carps like what, what was it?
Speaker 2 (19:59):
That there were the carps, uh, I think a couple
of the teams out there are, uh, are like fish related, but, uh,
I think we also went to a Tokyo game as well. Uh,
super cool though, it was awesome to see baseball in
a foreign country.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
That
is really cool. Lieutenant, do you have a Hiroshima uh
carp's hat by chance or any kind of
Speaker 2 (20:16):
I don't
I don't have a hat or a jersey, I never
got one unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Man, that's uh, that is so cool though. So what
what do you miss most? I mean if you were
if you went back to Japan today, I know that
was a part of your life, what do you miss
most about it? What would you go do right away?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Uh, probably get some, get some curry or something. It
really the Japanese food is probably what I miss, miss
the most. There's some, some amazing skiing out there as well,
if it's wintertime, so that we were always traveling around
and just seeing whatever parts of Japan we could hit. Uh, yeah,
it was amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
That is so cool. Do you did you speak any
Japanese at this point or did you?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Uh, I would say very, very little, enough to basically
order some food or maybe beer at a bar, uh,
but no, not, not at all, uh, not at all
as much as I should have learned.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
There you go, well, when you're not doing that, you're
on a boat, um, what's life like for people like us,
the guy talking here, not you, um, you're in a
small minority of people who do something that we don't
get to see every day whether you're flying.
Uh, with 7 G's and a jet or living somewhere
else or living on a boat, what's it like living
on a boat? What's life like in a ready room?
What what is what what can you tell us in
(21:26):
that elevator pitch that that we never get to see?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Sure, I mean, it's a, it's a pretty simple lifestyle. Uh,
the boat is fairly big if you've never been on
a carrier, uh, but it's not that big. Uh, so you,
you just gotta kind of find, find your routine, uh,
but you got everything right there. You got, you got gyms, uh,
you know, you got your flying, uh, food is made
for you, so it's, it's an easy lifestyle. It's, uh,
(21:50):
it's definitely, it can get very repetitive, so you got
to stay grounded, but, uh, you got some amazing people
in your squadron to to keep you laughing and.
Uh, keep the days going because there's they tend to
not to be any, uh, any days off for the
most part, you know, there aren't really weekends on the boat.
They don't really tell you much about that. Uh, but, uh,
but no, it's awesome. Again, just working with some of
the best guys and girls in the world, uh, makes
(22:13):
it all worth it.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
What's the
food like when you're on the boat? Is it, you know,
is it just military food or do you guys get?
There's pretty good stuff out of the kitchen? I know
you've talked about Japan, but you're on the boat, what's
the food like there? Sure,
Speaker 2 (22:24):
yeah, yeah, it's nowhere, they were quite the the Japanese food,
but it's it's great. I mean, it's, uh, any food
you don't have to cook is is amazing, and they
they do a good job with, uh, keeping the boat
restocked and.
Uh, so, man, any, any meal that I don't have
to make and, uh, I hardly have to clean up
after myself, it's pretty phenomenal. So, uh, just keep us
(22:45):
focused on on the real mission, so it's it's
Speaker 1 (22:47):
great. You got any any any uh podcast friendlyor stories
you can share? Any anything uh of humor or wild
that's ever happened to you, or has it been pretty
fairly tame to you?
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Gosh, I'm trying to think if there it has fairly,
it's been fairly tame, unfortunately, like I said, uh, I
was deployed over there during COVID, so, uh, none of
the countries would, uh, really let our boat pull in.
So we, we got used to, uh, used to a
lot of ocean. Yeah, yeah, I kind of, I joked, uh,
you know, you join, join the navy to see the
world and find out that it's mostly water.
(23:19):
But uh yeah, it's great. There's a lot of ocean
in this world.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Well, between your squadrons and and and what you're doing now,
any traditions, I know there's a lot of traditions between
you guys and what you do, um, any any traditions
that that stand out.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Mm, nothing's coming ahead. It's coming to my head right now.
I'm trying to
think
Speaker 1 (23:37):
uh I feel like you're trying to think of what
you can share and cannot share on this thing so
I don't wanna get you in trouble, but, uh, uh,
no worries, but, uh, you know, one thing I think
about Lieutenant is when I talk to you men and women, um,
and you're up there and and people first of all,
do you ever take it for granted and what I
mean by that is
(23:58):
You know, if you're pulling 7 G's routinely every day
and I know your body's used to it, and I
doubt that it affects you much and you've got your
suit and everything else on top of it, but do
you ever just step back in your mind and say, man,
I get to do this for a living and not
many people do, or or do you just do you
get I think take it for granted it's probably not
(24:19):
the right terminology I'm trying to use, but do you
do you does it start to really normalize for you?
Do you ever get a chance to step back and
soak it in?
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Sure, absolutely. I, I know exactly where, where you're coming from, uh,
because definitely you, you can, you can totally forget you
definitely have to remind yourself constantly that, um, even doing
it like every day, like, uh, flying in one of
these jets is, is a lot of people's just dream
to ever get to do even once. So to get
to do it, uh, almost every day is, is unbelievable,
(24:47):
and I, I'd be trying to remind myself of that
often even on some of the, uh, the longer deployments, uh,
when you're, you're tired and beat down from from lying
every day.
Uh, but usually, usually you get reminded of it, especially
flying around the boat, and then just taking those, those
catapult shots off of, off of the boat, uh, early
in the morning or always kind of wake you up
and you're like, yeah, this is, this is pretty awesome, uh,
(25:07):
so it is an amazing experience.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Do you ever have a hard time adjusting, like, you know,
you get in the car, going home or in the
morning and you're used to doing.
The speeds that you go at and and the rates,
and I know you're always being safe, but is it
I know it's a silly question, but is it hard
to adjust to the car or is that just, uh,
is it pretty easy to go back and forth?
Speaker 2 (25:30):
No, not too much. Uh, I'd say like maybe if
you're if you've been on deployment for a while, it
is weird because you're definitely more used to flying in
the airplane, and when you get back to your car,
it feels kind of weird to driven in like 6 months, but,
and especially if you're in Japan driving on the wrong
side of the road, but uh.
But no, I, I think I get enough of my,
my adrenaline out in the airplane where I don't feel
(25:51):
like I need to be having too much road rage.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Yeah, most people see you guys and they think Tom
Cruise and Iceman and Rooster and and pianos at bars
and I know there's some of that stuff that goes on,
it's fun, but what what does the movie
I'm sure every pilot watches the movies. I have not
met any pilot who has not, but what does the
movie in a nutshell get right and what do you
feel like the movies, particularly the Top Gun movies that
(26:16):
we all know so well, what what do they get wrong?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Uh, we're there with the first one or the second one?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Either or, like what really jumps out to you that
they might get right and maybe maybe some things they
they might miss.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Gosh, uh, I mean, the, the flying, especially in the,
the second one, was pretty unbelievable. I'm not sure how
many people know, uh, that like the, the flying was,
was not, not really CGI. It was all, all real
flying and I some good buddies that that did a
lot of the flying for the Top Gun Maverick movie, um,
but no, it's, it's a documentary, it's all accurate as
(26:50):
far as I can tell. Yeah.
It's, uh, it's awesome. It's, uh, I think they did
a really good job with, uh, with both movies that, uh,
I don't know, it's, uh, definitely something that, you know,
everyone has to watch and I'm sure it's even it's
inspired some people to, to join this business, so I
love them personally, uh, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Well, I've, I've kept you up most of the time here.
I do wanna ask you, we've got, uh, Lieutenant Mark
Jabo Buck here. He's gonna be coming down and, uh,
spending time with us at the Key West Air Spectacular,
southernmost Air Spectacular March 29th and 30th, as we said,
that's gonna be here. Uh, you can look at that
at Key West Airshow.com and we're gonna see you out there, Lieutenant,
(27:31):
but um, before, before we jump here and I really
appreciate your time, before we do jump, what what is
what's next for you in the coming
Uh, next chapter in the coming years, what's what's on
your radar? Maybe that's a pun, a pun in there,
but what what's next for you?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Sure, absolutely, yeah, I think, um, I'm still, still trying
to figure out my next set of orders, but I
should know, I should be rotating out by like the
summer to fall to go back to another fleet squadron, um, and, uh, ho,
hoping to stick around in a fleet squadron somewhere in
Virginia Beach and, uh, uh, probably will be, uh, deploying
sometime sometime next spring, uh, maybe to the Middle East
(28:07):
or something so.
Um, just heading back out to the fleet to, uh,
got my unbelievable instructor gig where I got to to
teach at a different level down here and then I
also get to see some air shows and now it's
back to work, back to some deployments, and, uh, looking
forward to to some more good boat flying. There you go.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Well, we'll end with a kind of a standard question,
but I'm curious, you being you've been trained obviously by
the best because you are part of the best and
now you trained the best. What's the best advice you
were given?
Uh, when you were being trained, what what's the best
advice you're you're passing down to, uh, these, these pilots
that are that are up and coming and being trained
(28:44):
to join you, uh, to serve this nation? What's what's
the best advice you've been given? What's the best advice
you passed down?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Probably just uh show up prepared, show up with a
good attitude. That's uh pretty much what you can control.
You're never gonna have a perfect flight. uh, so just
keep trying your hardest and, uh, yeah, exactly, that's what
you can control and.
Uh, you know, you're gonna have bad flights, you're gonna
have good flights. Uh, unfortunately, you probably learn more from
the bad flights than than the uh than the good ones, but, um, yeah, it's, it's,
(29:14):
it's a long process, so just keep with it.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Well, I, I think I speak for so many people,
obviously appreciate what you do every day, uh, each and
every day. Uh, these air shows are fun, but what
you guys do, uh, all the other moments aside from that,
protecting our country, serving our nation.
And not just you guys in the air, but on
the ground and all that goes into it, um, a
wholehearted thank you, and I also want to just thank
(29:37):
you for coming on the show and help promote this
air show here in Key West on March 29th and 30th, uh,
Key West Airshow.com for the southernmost air spectacular. Gonna have
a lot of fun having you here. I hope I
hope to get a chance to say hello to you
while you're here and, um, really appreciate you doing it.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, absolutely, can't wait to see you all
down
Speaker 1 (29:56):
there. Absolutely, we'll talk to you soon. It is Lieutenant
Mark Jabba Buck. Lieutenant, you have a great weekend and
we will look forward to seeing you here in Key West.
Have a great one.
Thanks you too.
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