I flew in WW Desert Fox as well. I was the Navy Exchange pilot flying F-16s with the 34th Fighter Squadron. We flew the LANTIRN Block 40 Vipers at the time and that cooled Long Wave IR sensor was such a huge step up from the uncooled LWIR NiteHawak sensor I flew in the Lot 14 Hornet. Another interesting thing about Desert Fox was we flew combined USAF/USN strike packages which was very unusual. I took three of my USAF squadron mates out to the Enterprise to strike plan a couple days prior which was very interesting and very eye opening for them because they had never been on a carrier before.

@kevinmiller5780

6 ай бұрын

We may have been in the same formation on night two, or in the wardroom during your visit.

Crazy. The VA doesn’t know this existed. When I say I was in operation Desert Fox with the 355th Fighter Squadron from Eielson AFB, Alaska everyone looks at me cross eyed. They deny my disability claim’s because they think I’m lying. A-10’s out of Al Jabber

@johndoggett7827

6 ай бұрын

The VA is infested with ignorant bureaucrats whose only goal seems to be denying the valid claims of Veterans.

@faabound

6 ай бұрын

It was a highly documented operation with footage all over CNN. I don't get the VA.

@tracytrawick322

6 ай бұрын

Thank you for your service and best of luck with the bureaucratic VA processes.

@byronharano2391

6 ай бұрын

Ahemed Al-Jaber Kuwait Air Force Base in the Basrah oil field of 🇰🇼 Kuwait. KAY AND ASSOCIATES was the main US Navy contractor supporting the KAF. Oh I know because I was there from 1993 - 97.

@byronharano2391

6 ай бұрын

Ahmed Al-Jaber Kuwait AFB 🇰🇼. A lot of A10s! I know this as fact because I was in Kuwait then. Blessings for your service. The Kuwaiti citizens Do Appreciate this. Don't believe the lies you might hear! ❤❤❤❤❤

Wow! Crunch is articulate, knowledgeable, and charismatic. He definitely needs to be back on on a regular basis. 👍🏼 And of course, we all love Hozer’s calm leadership. Would follow him into any situation. Thanks Mooch❣️

It was interesting to hear about watching the B-1 strike. At the time, my Georgia ANG wing was flying B-1’s, but we weren’t involved with this. Loading all three bays with Mk 82’s gives you 84 bombs on movable racks that swing out of the way when empty to allow the bombs above to drop. A full load takes a long time for our weapons load crew of four.

Retired USAF here - I was stationed at HQ Air Mobility Command during Desert Fox. Why amazed us was that 4 consecutive miracles occurred when 4 C-5s actually took off (which didn’t happen often in those days).

@CharlesYuditsky

6 ай бұрын

What? They were not grounded for engine failures?

@alanholck7995

6 ай бұрын

For a while they seemed to break if you looked at one crooked. Wasn’t just engines - lots of things could break. The joke among the C-141 aircrew was that while they (141 crew) practices for a rejected takeoff emergency, the C-5 guys version of an emergency was that the aircraft actually took off.

@CharlesYuditsky

6 ай бұрын

@@alanholck7995 i get you and assume you are right. In my experience I had to wait three consecutive days for a C-5A to take me back to the states from Europe because each day were were told the engines were not finished being repaired. However it was wild to fly in the passenger compartment, which was windowless, between the wings, above the cargo bay, which looked like a flying warehouse and the seats faced backwards. Totally the most comfortable aircraft seats I have ever been in. Hope I can find some seats from a decomissioned C-5A for my livingroom!!!.

@CharlesYuditsky

6 ай бұрын

@@alanholck7995 The Starlifter I was on smelled of puke.

@studuerson2548

6 ай бұрын

The joke at Frankfurt (70s) was that as soon as a C-5 landed, it was given a building number. Because it wasn't going anywhere, any time soon.

Ward, Rare is the 15 minute KZread video that holds my attention, but I eagerly listen to an hour of you and your friends tell stories about flying Tomcats and come back for more. My compliments. Go Navy!

@Farweasel

6 ай бұрын

I came here for the Tomcat tales but stayed for the sophisticated strategic analyses of other events

Amazing. I had no idea what flyers went thru to plan a single mission. Having experienced real people tell their story paints a much fuller picture. I saw a lot of flight ops from a destroyer escorting carriers during the Vietnam war. But all we knew was the planes took off, and some came back. I see why so few people can become flyers. It's not just flying or weapon aiming. And the fuel story was a real eye opener. Thanks!

@WardCarroll

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for the generous support!

Thank you for putting this together. I was enlisted ships company on the Big E during Desert Fox. I distinctly remember the 1MC announcement and the appearance of an impressive amount of ordnance in the hanger and aft mess decks. Had a great time writing "love notes" to Saddam in chalk on the bombs. This has been great to hear you guys talk about it and now have a sense of what took place much deeper than we got from down below decks. Bravo Zulu Gentlemen!

You and your guests are Sierra Hotel. You in particular should be on Evening News with respect to world combat, bad-guys, News…and talk about the USN activities around the world. Thanks, Ward. RogerB, USAF, Ret.

Thanks Ward and the team for sharing your insights. Freedom isn’t free and it’s heartwarming to hear from such professional practitioners.

Crazy listening to you talk about NVG's so late in the 90's. My A-6 squadron was one of the last ones to get the NVG cockpit modified aircraft and we started getting them in 1992. We also had green anti-smash lights so it didn't reflect in the cockpit.

This is so wonderful.....really the nuts and bolts of being a Naval Aviator..... .so enlightening.....these are the things we civilians will never see or experience or even know....thanks you so much Mooch, Hozer and Crunch....for sharing this with us.... cheers from Florida, Paul

Thank You! I was taking a marketing class when this occured and we watched Wag the Dog during it....when the attack happen it very much felt like that and I wrote a paper on it. Teacher didn't think it was the same, but glad you guys brought it up.

@reubensandwich9249

6 ай бұрын

That's how I remember it. The movie was a year before the operation.

First class debrief with such high-quality insights. Thanks, gents. P.S. I had a senior colleague at Lakenheath in '82-'84 (no longer in touch) who was the lead planner for Operation Eldorado Canyon, and I'm sure he'd have similar insights. In fact, he even flew a few sorties with Navy assets in the Med, to underpin his strike mission planning assumptions.

Amazing to hear some of your stories. Appreciate the skill involved. Thanks for your service, it's true, freedom isn't free.

The level of educated training and planning under pressure and time constraints, in naval air warfare, is the nine tenths of the iceberg below the waterline. Impressive and awe inspiring that these Top Guns and Top Trainees put it all together to do the job, whereever and whenever around the world. After this ballet, I feel comfortable to think the PRC will get it's butt kicked if it decides to tangle with us.....all of us.

Again, a wonderful description of what really happens. Thank all of you for your time and tales.

at time 52:21 wow i am on the edge of my seat. Tension reigns . you were so professional handling the problem just incredible. Thanks for the story.

That was one edge of the seat first person tale. I visualised that whole mission, in my mind thought it would look anyway, and then the race for fuel at the end. Great show Ward, Hozer and Crunch!

Very informative Ward! I really enjoy these mini debriefs you do with your fellow aviators. The stories behind the story are very intriguing as to how the missions are planned and then executed.

Excellent Ward. These were captivating times for those of us watching the end results unfold. As an electrician, I had a small hand in working on some of the technologies (at Lockheed) that you are/were using.

Very interesting episode, I actually played DCS F/A-18C campaign that he made, I found it really interesting. This helped me with understanding the backstory. Thanks, Ward !

The editing of this, the work, cutting, following the audio, etc is really quite good.

As always get job on the presentation of the information. Great info from your guests. Really enjoyed what you and your guests shared. Keep up the great work and thank you.

Wow Ward, amazing content,I got anxious just listening to you guys. This is great history !

Great stuff! Love the history. Thanks Ward.

Merry Christmas Mooch, Hozer, and Crunch! Don’t shoot your eyes out.

9:57 Mooch: "The hornet guys were pretty obnoxious," Crunch chuckles Hozer thinks, "Ah! The good ol' days!"

Very informative, great guests!

Mooch, great content and very very informative and interesting! I recommend the F14 podcast to any one that enjoys your channel. Thanks for doing these. Sounds like you were a little under the weather so again thanks for the great content!

Ward your the man, love this channel. Love seeing hozer always too. Love the tomcast and cool swing crunch on this episode so thanks for dropping a new video that’s not like ten min we can sit back and enjoy! Merry Xmas brother

I look forward to listening to Miller's books on Audible--I recently listened to the Punk's trilogy and thoroughly enjoyed it, a rare combination of an author who comes out of another profession and yet can write competent fiction about his career.

Y’all are my age and I wanna say how the pride that you all share has been earned , that’s even obvious to this civi! thank you for showing me how complicated my Uncle Bobby truly was. Really , you’re narrative is so clear even I can follow.Merry Christmas Gentlemen

Greetings from Fallon and Merry Christmas !

This type of content is amazing definitely more of this please

I was on the Carl Vinson with VAQ-135 during Desert Fox.

@liberalconservative7122

6 ай бұрын

Awesome. But Ward doesn’t mention Kuwait. Specifically Al Jabber. Why does no one know that the 355 and 18 from Eielson AFB Alaska flew CAS? A-10’s and F-16’s. In fact, this was when the Air Force decided that the Viper didn’t have enough loiter time to be an effective CAS aircraft and stopped the attempts to retire the A-10

@liberalconservative7122

6 ай бұрын

They also flew SAMDY

Thank you for the sharing. Happy holiday and Merry Christmas.

@WardCarroll

6 ай бұрын

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas gentlemen

mele kalikimaka from Volcano, Hawaii. Thanks for all the updates.

It's always interesting to find out I was a part of 20 plus years later. I was part of an AF unit that was involved. But the stories that I heard now make more sense. Because of a need to know, I had no idea that it was a Navy operation. I did know that we were a part of a real world mission from parts of my job in the AOR. I'm being vague because you did not mention my unit or you may have not known what we were doing. I think I have a coffee mug with Desert Fox on it. Most AF units never new about it and from the comments the VA and other agencies don't know either. Thanks for the honest stories.

All of the NVG details brought back a lot of memories from my MC-130 days (around this same period). All completely accurate, and in the 130 we even used hundreds of glowsticks (mostly 1-inch ones) and literally taped them it individual instruments that needed to be monitored continuously in fight.

A very interesting look at a mostly forgotten operation. And this may be very topical as well, given current events...😮

Thanks, Ward.

The Big E (CVN-65), you will always be remembered fondly!

@timoakes450

6 ай бұрын

Gentlemen -GO NAVY

This is great ! I was ATO on the Enterprise. It was my first command , first deployment. The 98/99 med cruise started out pretty rocky with the flight deck accident losing the prowler crew . This is a great video getting the near the tactical side of how the missions went .. thanks Moch

Crunch! Loved learning about the F-14 from him and Bio on the F-14 Tomcast. Great addition for this episode Ward. Love it!

Commander, a great program as always!! I learned a lot!!

@liberalconservative7122

6 ай бұрын

I’ve been a contrarian to Ward at times and I believe for good reason but he’s a good dude like every other aviator I’ve met.

Merry Christmas guys. Interesting and informative video. Thanks so much. Ward you are doing a great thing with your channel, I am so glad you are doing this.

Guys, first great presentation as always. I hope you understand that in future years, generations will look back at you as the Flatleys’, Thatchs’ and Crommelins’ of our time. (To name but a few great examples)You had a large impact on our nation’s history. The more history you can share the better. Too many of our military personnel take their experiences and memories to the grave with them. And too many of those Veterans go to the grave much sooner than they should. I know many of those experiences were horrific but it’s important to our nation’s history. My stepdad was the first PJ to ever attend and complete the Green Beret Recondo school as well as the last NCOIC in Vietnam at the end of America’s official involvement in the war. He was awarded the DFC as well as at least a dozen Air Medals among other awards. For all that, Dad has only shared a very few stories of what he went through. When he passes, he will take a lot of history with him. I have at least gotten him to share a few of his memories such as how he ended up in an Army training course and subsequent “Graduation patrol” and its aftermath. Mainly they are the humorous events but each bit adds to our nation’s history. I say this only to encourage you to continue what you are doing and if you can, lead other veterans to share their stories. You do us a great service now on top of your service and sacrifices while actively serving. I suspect most military families would give you a big Bravo Zulu.

Being Christmas Eve , when Hozer is on camera, I keep seeing that lamp behind him looking like the Leg Lamp in 'A Christmas Story'

Great episode on So many levels! I would compare it to reading a good book that you just couldn't put down, it had me that hooked. Do you have to have these checked for classified clearance before they are released? I was involved in some ground pounder events in the mid to late eighties that I would think would be clear to talk about now but, I'm not really sure. These were on the training and development side of things. The only feedback I have been able to get from anyone is to not consider the age of it as ok to bring up, so I haven't.

@WardCarroll

6 ай бұрын

None of what’s discussed is classified anymore.

My brother was there. His stories, while a serious situation, are hilarious. Thanks Ward for this post.

If only we could attach photos here: I have LTJG Craig Snyder in my '96-97 TR/CVW-3 Cruise Book. Thanks for the memories. OBTW, the Prowler-S3 mishap happened on ENT CQ as they left for this cruise. RIP Gumby & Prowler crew.

@kevinmiller5780

6 ай бұрын

Gumby is a callsign used in my third novel to honor him. A great guy.

Merry Christmas guys! I hope you all have an amazing Christmas and new year!

Merry Christmas Commander.....

Mooch, what a fantastic show with the three of you. I'm USAF A-10A Thunderbolt II crew chief at this point in time in my military, yet adore your Navy war stories and lingo. Top Gun to all three of you fine sirs!

And 4 days become 20+ years. Kind of makes Vietnam look like a brief skirmish.

Using a photo of the Big E was a great choice.

Was on the Indy with VS-21 in 1992 for the start of Southern Watch.

The Tomcat was, is and always will be my favorite plane while on the USS Ranger CV-61, 1981-84 (ET3 & ET2). Long West Pacs but even longer during Desert Storm on USS Richmond K. Turner CG-20, 1989-1994 ( as a FC1(SW), - actually got to shoot some SM-2's during exercises in the Caribbean but none in the Gulf 😦). Thank you for your service sir and keep up the great videos!

Thanks!

great to see Hozer, it's been a while.

Don't miss this! Super Christmas Day view. Demonstrates the skill and courage of Navy pilots.

What a awesome opportunity that i have to listen some USAF pilots. My father was in the RCAF in the 60's . He talk to me about that and i was always fascinated by the pilots. Today i can listen some stories about real air combat. Thank you for that.

I played in Desert Fox in VAW-117 as a Hawkeye mission commander. Fun times.

Is the Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Course similar the Marines Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) in Yuma, Az? We had several Naval Aviators and Enlisted Crew Chiefs, Plane Capt's, Maintainers etc. Come through WTI at Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron ( MAWTS-1) while I was there. We even had some Navy Lt Commanders and Commanders both F-18 instructors, and a couple H-60 Pilots and Enlisted Crew's attached to us from time to time.

Hey, I was there! I was a grunt, somewhere in the desert in Kuwait, prepped in case we were ordered to cross the border. My brother was on the Enterprise at the time.

Hello Ward. I am not a pilot but I was at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Fox. I was a crew chief on F-15's.

I was watching Tomcat: Top Gun 2 Resurrecting the F-14 | Documentary on the Epoch Time and recognized your name from the introduction of the documentary as one of the F-14 driver. Very good insight and shows your emotional connection to the Tomcat.

@jannejohansson3383

6 ай бұрын

F-14 driver? He is grounded but allowed roll plane around tower?

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ENGLAND

Nice war rooms by the way

wonderful Commander, your voice sounds a little scratchy....speedy recovery and have a Merry Christmas, Paul in Florida.....

@WardCarroll

6 ай бұрын

Thanks, Paul. Merry Christmas to you!

I remember a previous video when Hozer described this trip across the Atlantic and mentioned how quickly they made it. It was shockingly fast. Can you remind me what that transit time was and even better if you can say where they departed from? I'm not asking anybody to read me the Wikipedia page, I'm hoping to hear what Hoser said in that video from a couple years ago. Keep up the great work! Thanks!

@mikemyers4327

6 ай бұрын

If I remember that right, the Atlantic is a small puddle compared to the Pacific lololol

@mikemyers4327

6 ай бұрын

Oh, that was brought to you by a Pacific sailor adan Myers

thanks ward🇺🇸

Meowy Catsmus to you and yours Mooch, Crunch, and Hozer!..

Nice rememberences for a Navy brat. thanks for sharing.

Merry Christmas, Ward, enjoy the time with family. Question here a few minutes ago I was reading a story that said another F-35 went missing, any truth to that ?

Enjoying the NVG talk. I work for the company that makes them.

I just wonder. Would it be possible for you guys now to do it all again?

When Ward said "gucci" I lost it XD

it is such a pleasure to hear you say "see-ad". it amazes me that we have no English word sead, but we have dead. yet you hear that being said deed. if only I could get you to use the cliche "when the balloon goes up" as the brits do.

My cousin was one of those first female aviators, a RIO on the F-14 to be exact.

I guess dip is making a comeback

Where did you get those "training aid" jets in that scale? I always thought the larger scales did not work for this.

Fabulous! What a way to end 2023. Outstanding professionalism. Best for 2024.

Remember in 1994 where Iraqi forces moved south to threaten Kuwait 🇰🇼? I was in Kuwait as a US Navy contractor with Kay and Associates, Inc, out of Illinois. Ahmed Al-Jaber Airbase Kuwait Air Force.

When Crunch was talking about the F-14 LANTIRN pod he said it was comparable only to the the F-15 which has both the targeting and navigation pods. The F-16 also had/has both of them back then. I was the Weapons Flight Chief (ordie to you Navy types 😀) for the 421 FS Black Widows (388th FW Hill AFB). We were the first F-16 squadron to get the LANTIRN pod. It was the targeting pod. We had only had it maybe 6 months before we deployed to Al Minhad AB in the UAE on Aug 30 1990. As a result we flew exclusively at night and I believe the only F-16 squadron that flew at night. We flew the first night of the war and every night until the end of the air war. No laser guided bombs back then only "dumb" bombs. We mostly flew MK-84's, CBU's and AGM-65 missiles.

@ironiczombie2530

6 ай бұрын

Yeah your right, maybe Crunch was making the comparison to the capabilities of available navy aircraft

@craigsnyder-realestatewingman

6 ай бұрын

I didn't realize the F-16 had it then.

@hoghogwild

6 ай бұрын

@@ronwalters5369 Were there not Strike Eagles that arrived in theatre with only one of the pods? The pods were installed later.

I was over there sitting in the desert on intrinsic action as the Army called it with the 3rd Infantry division. We went from boonie hats to kevlars. Nothing else changed besides occasionally hearing the jets fly over.

We got tomahawk missions from the F14s

Ever heard of Turkey driver “Meter”?

What were your LSO duties during these strike operations?

Great story on tomcat tales 2. “Better to mutiny then to crash”

I always wondered how Desert Shield and Desert Storm got their names.

its insane the misinformation on the internet about wars, thnaks for making things clear

Hey Mooch, was there ever a sort of friendly rivalry between the Tomcat and the Hornet guys?

@WardCarroll

6 ай бұрын

Always.

@pontiacGXPfan

6 ай бұрын

@@WardCarroll I KNEW IT! The Cold War downsizing played hell with the Tomcat and Hornet would eventually outnumber it by roughly 3 to 1. Add to that the problems with the Phoenix and the aging airframes. You know much better than I do that navy jets age REAL fast

@hoghogwild

6 ай бұрын

@@pontiacGXPfan What problems were there with the Phoenix?

@pontiacGXPfan

6 ай бұрын

@@hoghogwild Cracks in the rocket motor propellant. Mooch can describe this missile much better than I can

@hoghogwild

6 ай бұрын

@@pontiacGXPfan Understood, thank you. Another Cold War missile, the AGM-69 Short Range Attack Missile(SRAM) used in the B-52/B-1B/FB-111A Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses(DEAD) to blast their way through Soviet air defenses using 2,200 pound nuke tipped missiles while more SRAMs or other gravity weapon nukes could be employed. Anyhoo these same SRAMs were X rayed and quite a number were found to have cracking in the solid propellant. They were pulled from Alert Status bombers in 1990. Any voids in the solid prop causes uncontrolled combustion which causes Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (RUD) of the rocket motor case. Each missile had a service life/trap count, Carrier Operations gotta be hard on missiles.

The story of the tanking is a reminder of how much institutional knowledge there is in USN carrier ops and the initiative the pilots took. China is starting to build carriers but their next combat sortie will be their first combat sortie. The USN/Marines have conducted MILLIONS. In all weather and mission conditions, and have not only the cycle capability but the logistics, maintenance, ops planning, integration with other CAG assets, etc etc etc. We’ve forgotten more than China can ever learn.

Also ward just side note 📝. I know you’ve talked about “speed” and hauling ass in the tomcat and whatnot but I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned much about comparison to like the hornet or the viper etc…… and this was super eye opening the other day on jello’s podcast a guy he was interviewing mentioned the hornet is basically a slug 🐌 in the air vs any of the tomcats, even the A models. He said he leveled out at 10k and slowed to like a buck fifty and dropped the hammer and asked jello how long he thinks it took it to jump up to like 615knots or so, jello being a hornet dude guessed randomly 30 seconds, he said no man 9.3 seconds 😳😳 he said he never even tried it in the hornet cause it’s not even really a fast jet unless your way up high and tip over with burners but man, you’ve said the f14 was fast 💨 but if you have any clue of what kinda power that is to accelerate like that, that’s nuts. My point being other than you saying you’ve been up fast a couple times you never talk about it much, you should take some time to cover that I was blown away the tomcat and the viper too would really leave the hornet in the dust

Great guests, as always. 🇺🇸⚓️

Should we even ask Crunch how he got his callsign? lol...

It's happening.