Thomas Brandt and Sally Lamer

00:07 Hi, my name is Tom Brandt 53 years old today is November 7th, 2012 or at the Boeing Media Center here in St. Louis, Missouri, and I'm going to be interviewed by my partner Sally.

00:22 Hello, my name is Sally Lemaire. My age is 55. Today's date is November 7th, 2012. Also here at the Boeing Media Center in St. Louis and my relationship to Tom is on his partner.

00:41 So first question, tell me your decision to join the Navy.

00:48 So my decision to join the Navy was actually a pretty easy one as I reflect back on that it was growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As long as I can. Remember. All I ever wanted to do was fly an airplane. And I remember when we would go out to visit my grandmother on my dad's side. The route was always pass Pittsburgh International Airport. And so it always kind of stopped there a little bit maybe 5-10 minutes so that my dad will let me watch the airplanes take off and land and so that was the great great motivation for me.

01:30 So as I got older and kinda nice cool and stuff, that's all I wanted to do. I just wanted to fly an airplane.

01:36 The one Wrinkle in that whole plan was I got glasses when I was in third grade and so by the time has come up in high school to go into college. I was looking at the Air Force Academy and unfortunately my eyesight was worse than what they allowed even for somebody to fly in the back seat for the Air Force.

02:00 So anyways, I basically decided Well, I guess if I can fly in the next Mex thing is to design them. And so I picked a Victor school that had an Aeronautical Engineering degree in off I went so I got on the school and did okay my first couple years and then kind of figured out that I was going to be sitting at a desk pushing a pencil all day and engineering degree and I just wasn't something that seemed to be too exciting. Anyways, long story short was by the time I was getting close to graduation start the interview wasn't having much success and the I need a recruiter called me up one day and said he wants to come on in for an interview and I said, okay because I knew that the Navy had engineering programs.

02:49 Anyways, so I went in the interview and guy looks at me and he goes so what do you know about the Navy? So I said, well, I know you have the end of the Naval Air systems command the naval sea systems command. I know you have engineering programs stuff like that. And so

03:06 The he goes well if you ever thought about flying and I kind of looked into it, yes, because what you can fly in this airplane right here.

03:16 And what are you pointing to was on the desk with a big eight-by-ten glossy of an F-14? I'll paint it up in vf-84 colors in the vf-84 at the time was there were yellow and black and those were the guys that had the skull and crossbones on their tail. So it was just like I kind of looked at the picture.

03:38 Man with big pregnant pause and I kind of looked up and I looked him in the eye and I said where do I sign goes? What?

03:47 I said where do I sign? Because if you're telling me even with my eyesight cuz I were glasses, you know, but I wear glasses that I can find us are playing right here, but it's that's my dream. I'm going to go do it one final question. He had was so you correctable, and I said absolutely

04:06 And the rest is history.

04:10 What was the AOC s Aviation officer candidate school like

04:20 Aocs was a real eye-opener. So

04:25 A lot of first in my life cross the board so fly down to Pensacola, Florida first time ever been in a commercial jet so I get down there first time. I've really been you know, I'd say if you want to say totally on my own going to do something.

04:44 So get in the ALCS and thankfully my brother-in-law Gary who had been in the Air Force kind of truck me a little bit in the I just told me that. Okay, if you owned these people are going to test you tell me some stories and said don't you just go with the flow and you know do the best that you can so

05:06 But I have to admit, you know 5 in the morning the very first morning when all the drill and Marine drill instructors came down throwing the garbage cans down the hallway yelling and screaming get up get up and it was it was quite quickly lost sight of the big picture and just got focused in on having somebody yelling at me and so got caught up in the moment so to speak.

05:32 But as time went by was able to kind of pull back a little bit from being caught up in the moment and look at the bigger picture and look at what they were doing and how they were teaching Us in boating Us in creating us into a team and the characteristics that they're trying to incorporate and have us kind of learn as far as a military unit is concerned so it was just a really really really eye opener and I just never forget having a Marine drill instructor just yelling in my ear tell me to do stuff is there one instructor in particular that you remember so my instructor was staff sergeant went and staff sergeant went ahead for tours in Vietnam and actually had taken a demotion who's actually gunnery sergeant had taken a demotion to go back for his fourth tour so he was pretty much a No-Frills type of guy and he was

06:32 Different from the other drill instructors because none of the other drill instructors had any combat time.

06:38 So one of the most interesting Things Remembered very first day that we were all lined up and was kind of the afternoon. So things should come down a little bit from the morning. He had us all kind of rolled away in a little private place and I'll send you guys. Okay, I'll look at me because one of the rules words you weren't allowed to look at the drill instructor.

06:59 Soyuz? Okay. Look at me everybody kind of goes just a trick. Can he goes? Okay, look at me so everybody looked at him and he goes take a good luck. This is what I look like.

07:12 He goes, okay. Now the next six weeks you can't look at me ready go. So he was just really really really super guy and the gentle he he didn't do things just because he felt like it he did things for a reason. So couple of the other do, you know classes they would get physically trained just for the fun of it so to speak so I went was not that way he cheap because when we needed to be pitied and then

07:50 We didn't it was okay.

07:53 So it was really I really enjoyed having him as a drill instructor.

08:00 How did you feel when you were selected for a 14th?

08:05 Getting selected for F-14 was like

08:09 I want to say this.

08:12 It was the dream come true.

08:15 And you know, I went in I join the Navy specifically to fly at 14 and there was never any doubt or any wavering or any.

08:27 Second-guessing of maybe I'll do some other airplanes or something like that when I went to basic stuff like it was always I was just driven. I'm going to get it for teens.

08:38 And and so the way that works is, you know, it's needs of the Navy. So you're in a class and your grandkids are class based on your grades as far as how you do academically and your play crates when you go through basic stuff like that. So I was able to come out of the academic portion. It was you and I was kind of middle of the road there. That was an easy Choice cuz all you had to do is check Jets or props. So I checked Jets and got you. It's cuz a lot of people by that time wanted to get out of Pensacola and they checked props and it would go five fly p3s. I went up to Sacramento, California for the following training there. So I got you. It's in one of the next phase of training.

09:25 And that was more of flights and that's where I really excelled. Cuz I just absolutely enjoyed being in the air. It was although they had a lot of cash you had to do everything like that. It was always one of these things where it just came I was able to do those easily and I always made myself look around when I was flying to be able to look out and enjoy the picture instead of just continuing look at my knee board car. It's in figuring out what I had to do next.

09:58 So I was able to intermediate training was able to do well well enough such that the next choice was type of jets that you wanted and so I asked to be a radar intercept officer Rio and at that time there was either be a sign of the F-14 or the afore. They're still a couple F4 slots available.

10:24 Show me was I wouldn't do it Dance Training as a real. So I knew I was going to get Fighters time frame want to see you. What year is this? That's all this is 1984. Okay, I wouldn't do Advanced Training as a real. That's why I knew I was going to get at 14th and

10:43 That's when it happened there because it came down to where they play brought us into a room one day and I said, okay, we have four slots left for f for us and we're going to ask for volunteers.

10:58 So I thought about it cuz I was like all get to play Towers in the air for that would be that would just be tremendous and I could see if we've been around for a long time and I can transfer just 14 I can fly both airplanes and

11:09 1 instructors who was a friend of mine's kind of pulled me aside. So there's no guarantee Thor transition you so Choose Wisely. So, you know, I liked it at 14th and I looked it up for teens on the on the east coast and that's what I was able to get. So it was just like, you know, when they said, yep, that's what you're going. There is where you're going and it was like here we go, and then I'll like like just doesn't get any better so that took you where so I took me to Virginia Beach so transition to Virginia Beach in the fall of 1984 and went to the replacement air group for the rag vf-101 the Grim Reapers.

11:55 And that's where I started my training in the F-14.

11:59 So what then what was your first cruise like?

12:04 So first cruise was it was just one heck of it in adventure is the best way I could put it.

12:13 You know, it's one of these things where you join the Navy it got enough for teens. And now that's all they ever talked about was going out now going on cruise, you know getting catapulted off the aircraft carrier landing on aircraft carrier cats and traps that was

12:30 That was the communities like how many piano how many traps do you have? And how many cruises you're done? How long you been on cruise excetera excetera. So my first cruise started in August of 1986.

12:47 On the USS John F Kennedy CV 67 and we cruised over the Mediterranean and it was just it was just one new experience after another everything from going back in bunking with eight of your closest buddies in your in your stateroom to learning how to operate within the ship living in within the ship 5,000 guys all contained within you know by three football fields worth of area and

13:19 I just day in day out 24/7 it was it was constant. There was no I'm taking a vacation of the rez know I got the weekend off. It was just you went and went and went so of course the the main focus was for me was get flight time. So was trying to build up my skills and my knowledge and my experience of operating.

13:43 Off the aircraft carrier in open ocean and Atlantic as well as close to let me fairly close to land when you're in the Mediterranean cuz you can always get to land somewhere. There's pretty easily so

13:57 It was it was really interesting. So probably the most interesting aspect was so this was the fall of 86 when we went and

14:07 In the spring of 86 is when we had gone in and done some operations and Livia.

14:13 So when we went over there, we were leaving those aircraft carriers that had done those operations and they were still concerned about what the libyans would do to us. If we got close and could old moammar Kadafi had drawn his line in the you know line of deaths in the Gulf of Sidra. We weren't supposed to go past that he's going to get anybody that goes past that and of course the US, you know, we exercise freedom of navigation Freedom of the Seas. So there were a couple times when we would go down and challenge that line a death that such that we would send a ship pass that line and we would set up combat air patrol cap stations down below that line of death.

14:59 Until one of the funniest stories from first cruise was I flew with a guy named Neil Golightly light source of call sign so

15:10 Lights was a English major from Cornell and

15:14 Somewhat of an opposite of me in terms of personality. I can feel excited quickly in the airplane and he was in a heap of Ciroc calmness. And so we both would that we complemented each other and we really got along great. It was just never had people were commenting on how well we work together as far as a crew crew coronation was concerned. But anyway, so we drew the Short Straw if you want to say so we had the 1 a.m. To 3 a.m. Cap station time frame to go down here in exercise this Freeman navigation sew-in off a deck boom off ago. You know it midnight o dark thirty.

16:01 Off we go and we set up our cap station and we're about a hundred fifty miles off the coast of where Benghazi is. So Benghazi is kind of on the east side of the Gulf of Sidra there and that you can see the lights and they had a radio navigation Aid attack and that was up. So I was able to dial that frequency up and I was actually navigating off of the attack in Benghazi as far as keeping where I was supposed to be

16:26 Anyways, we're up there for about 45 minutes and we're just doing this lazy circle out of 10 my leg going east and west, you know, 10 miles turn around and come back the other way and take care of, you know, they're just hanging out and go to hanging on the blades. You're trying to conserve fuel. So you're not going very fast. You're just slow and

16:48 Scott look at everything in the jet was working. I knew my radar is working great. I Knew by downlink was working. Everything is working great. And so I 45 minutes into it the other kind of excitement in Warren off a little bit premature. All night, so just kind of looking at the at the sky and admiring the stars and all that other good stuff.

17:08 And so we are about ready. We were headed east and we are about ready to turn turn around. We turn north to two-door 180 and right when we started there. To be like a little bright light right at the Horizon of Benghazi.

17:24 And so I looked at it and I Saw the Light by the car. My I saw his head kind of turn look at it and then the airplane Bank a little bit more and we did a hundred eighty degree turn. And so by the time we love what up now going west, you know, we both turn the other way to look at the left side of the airplane. And here's this light.

17:42 And this light is coming up from what looks to be the town of Benghazi right there. And so another couple seconds go by and it's like do you see that and lights goes? Yeah. I see that I said, what is it and he's like, I don't know.

18:00 And so we look at it for a little bit more and you know this my story and I'm sticking to it it starts blinking so

18:11 It's like this appeared to be flashing lights and he says yeah, and so we think about it for a couple more seconds and then all sudden was like we got concerned because at Benghazi they had one of their long-range surface-to-air missiles come s a v and add shot and s a v at the at the Air Wing at the previous carriers are wearing so we knew that they would do that. And so we're kind of wondering if this was one of those things coming up or whatever. It was anyways, so I had my chart out and I knew where the radar Horizon was his terms of altitude where that radar couldn't see us so we got down lower so is all sounds like okay get down. So here we go. We dive dive down in a rough. It was twenty-eight thousand freaking start driving down. We had to get below 9,000 feet before the radar couldn't see us because of the curvature of the Earth.

19:02 And away we go and we start pointing at this thing and butt the butt that time I get on the radio and it's like I call up the E2 which is the command and control vehicle and I say clothes out for visual Pierce to be an aircraft.

19:18 And

19:20 I get to Sleepy draw The Voice coming back at me. I got nothing. Okay. Well, I see it go for it.

19:33 And so will you start by this time? We kind of pulled out of our dive and I'm on the radar trying to find this thing because it looks like it's right in front of us, you know, maybe 20 miles away and it's it is it's white on top. It's flashing red on the bottom.

19:50 And we think it's an airplane coming out us.

19:52 So here we go. And meanwhile, the speeds coming off the wings are coming back and my lights is going to see if you see it and it's like and I can't find it on the radar, you know, and I'm switching modes between pulse toppler and Paul switches, you know, most of the radar trying to figure it out.

20:10 And I can't find it.

20:12 So and we go, you know when we're about a hundred miles now and inbound close close getting ready and

20:26 And finally closed out says hey, you know, what, are you guys doing in? So lights actually comes up and lights really came up on the radio cuz that was my job was to speak on the radio and he really came up and he says closeout pierce the main aircraft 20 miles of my nose level, you know, looks like it's coming at us. Okay. I got nothing go for it. We continue on in it and finally get in there and it's like

20:53 It was one of these things we're close that's going. Well, you know guys finally I just cuz we knew it was something that looks like an airplane and so funny. I came up under a nice it's a weapon status. I guess that got people excited and got the answer back saying up though, you know weapons. Do you know it was it was yellow and tight which means you're not allowed to do anything.

21:18 It's about that time. We're coming up on 50 miles off the coast line in about that time. We kind of realized that the light had continue to go above us.

21:30 And

21:31 It probably really wasn't an airplane lights, I think I'm going to turn around I said, yeah if it's probably good idea and the E to close I came up so say, you know what we read cuz we're getting too close to land that I were turning around and so it mean while the other cab station was our sister Squad review of 32. And so these two goes to those guys. Hey, you guys need to turn around because they heard us and they saw the same thing and they were coming in bound to and nieces know I got radar contact it was like

22:09 So he turns around me and we do another one eighty point back at it again. We no sooner get back around to reporting at it again and then subtract one that's enough for breaking it off to so background we go and we start going back to rcap station.

22:26 It's always, you know things kind of calm down a little bit and I don't know what kind of looking at and guess what the heck is that? He starts light starts laughing. He just says man, we're going to get killed here. I was probably a star or a planet or something.

22:43 It's so anyways.

22:45 We get back on cap station. We had to buy another 15 minutes ago before I got to come land and we just laughing because we know we're going to get teased. You have to beat the bad and we come back we met on the ship had to go down to you know, get the combat control and okay guys what the heck and report and we're sorry go to bed. So we go to bed lights get up the next morning cuz after the weather office to figure out what it is sure enough. The bright light was Venus. So that's that's the story of lights and I today still today. All I got to say is we tried to shoot Venus and we're start laughing. So that was my we want to see what kind of like the highlight of first cruise as far as a memory. I'm sure it's a good memory for others to do. Yeah. It's looking at so

23:39 So then

23:41 Tell me about your time at Fallon while you were on active duty.

23:46 So I got done with my first sea Duty and transition to my Shore Duty and that time I was wanting to get out to the West Coast because f-14s Miramar. You know, that was you were there you were something right the movie Top Gun 2 come out and showed off the app for teens at Miramar in that whole environment. And if you are a fighter guy, that's where you wanted to be. So I tried to get stationed at the at the replacement air group at the rag out there at the Miramar and at that time they said they weren't doing that. They weren't they had enough people already at Miramar to do those Bill and so they were going to pay to move somebody clear across the country.

24:27 So I just figured out okay how close can I get and Fallon Nevada turned out to be the place. So I got assigned to the Naval Strike Warfare Center that was another series of first because it came out of my community my fighter community and now I'm in with the best aviators crossed all communities and it was it was one heck of a learning experience for me. I mean I came in here I was at the okay on the cocky fighter guy, you know, you guys don't know anything and turns out I was an idiot and thankfully there were some really good people there that took me out of the way and said, okay young Lieutenant. Here's what you need to do, you know. So anyways

25:20 That was three and a half years out there on active duty. And that was when we went through cuz cuz it's cormac's occurred during that time frame when I was out at Fallon and it was like Warfare Center at the time. I was assigned to what they called the contingency planning cell. So the sea so was a group of people that went out and brief deploying battle groups carrier strike groups as to what their responsibilities would be when they got in the theater. So that opened up a whole set of doors from a working in there because we had to go get information as to all these places that they would go to and all these countries that they potentially had to go do operations against

26:08 I'm sure so that was my exposure to the intelligence world. So we would take trips to the DIA CIA NSA three letter alphabet soup gang and they're in in DC and probably was the neatest thing about it was it was the group of people that were

26:30 It was a group of people that I was involved with. I called one of my magical times when you just have the right time the right job in the right set of people are all together and it's just it's magical because everything clicks everybody gets along. It's just it's fun. It's not work anymore. It's just sheer fun to go off and do that and my last year at the naval special Warfare Center working Missy cell was one of those mail when I call Mexico times in my life when he eats everything just aligned perfectly and it was just a great time. It was wonderful and some of those folks still have friends out there that I mean the civilians are out. There were like became I extended my extended family. So I had when I called him my surrogate mothers know there was there was Angie and there was Wanda and I had my big sister which was Debbie and you know, and it was just it was like my extended family out there and

27:30 I still enjoy every once when I get out there and I still see these people when we still are just we pick up like we've never never left.

27:41 So why did you decide to get off of active duty?

27:49 Noah's long story there

27:52 So

27:54 Want to join the Navy I was married and had already had a kid Derek with my oldest son. So Haley came along when I was down in Pensacola. So I took heads and

28:10 We transition to Virginia Beach So I Married with two kids Trends in Virginia Beach. Well, then Justine came along long about my end of my first cruise back. She was born two months prior to that my cruise ended so she was 2 months old before I first got to see her.

28:28 And then so for some reason I said, I don't want three kids I want for cattle in an odd number of kids cuz how do you ride the roller coasters at parts? So

28:40 We had 1/4.

28:42 And so had for kids.

28:46 But by the time I get done with my second Cruise was transition out to Fallon.

28:52 We had separated.

28:54 And so when I get done with Fallon, the divorce was Final and I looked at with my career might be and it looked like my career was going to be the next five if not eight years of straight sea Duty so

29:11 Or what that meant was I was going to be nothing more than a checkbook to my children. I mean I get to see him every once in awhile, but it was mainly going to be a no here's what you need because I

29:26 They'll be sending it for them to come live with me would not exist.

29:32 Darkside Rosso

29:34 That was the main Mane Choice.

29:37 Panda

29:40 And in retrospect it was it was a fairly easy choice, you know and remember going in and tell him I see what the time say. I'm going to get out and he looked at me and goes what he goes. You realize you will never fly again, and I said, yep.

29:56 I got that I understand that and I understand what this decision that you know, the consequences of this decision I said, but

30:05 And all I have to have to provide an opportunity for my children to be able to

30:15 Come live with me or the more importantly fine opportunity that perhaps we could do not have a better relationship than what we've had to date at at that time.

30:26 So that was my decision back to duty but I merely join the reserves because it was in my blood. I mean the military suits me as far as the lifestyle of the military was a lifestyle that

30:43 I did well in the way of my upbringing or whatever my values that was what

30:53 That's what you do to me. So I join the reserves and then kind of on the civilian side kind of.

31:00 Just kind of looked around trying to find a job that was interesting fun rather than trying to go pursued a career on the civilian side, but that was my decision to take off active duty.

31:14 So, where were you and what were you doing when 9/11 happened?

31:21 So 911 I was in Houston, Texas.

31:26 I had to

31:30 A good friend of mine Dave Brown doc had gotten selected to be an astronaut and they had gone down to Houston and I was still out of Fallon and he'd called me up and said that you need to come down here and work.

31:44 Okay.

31:46 So he helped me kind of get me in the door and I was able to find a job down there. So I was going to use some work of the Johnson Space Center working on the International Space Station 9/11. I was in a class they called it leadership for space and it was a class that was designed to kind of give you a big picture over all of everything that was happening in the space industry as far as

32:13 What happened with the match to the man space flight type of Industry there that was down at the Johnson Space Center. So we started class at 7 in the morning and we got our first break at 8, which was now 9 East Coast time and we're about ready to come back in a member one gal came back in and she says I'm about yeah, they they flew in Airplane into the World Trade Center.

32:40 And at the time I just went well, you know.

32:44 That's that's not good. You know somebody messed up as far as air traffic control was concerned or you know, some small pilot. I didn't say what kind of airplane it was. You said somebody threw an airplane to the World Trade Center.

32:57 And

32:59 So we kind of sat down and somebody else came in. So, you know know it was a passenger liner and a fluted on purpose.

33:11 And I just got up went wow. And so we went up with the wheel class kind of stopped and we went back out to look at they had a TV playing in the lobby of the building. Where at

33:25 Swing back out then we started watching and then here come the second one the second one hit it became very obviously that United States is under attack.

33:36 And at the time you're my first thought was okay. Where do I go? Because at the time

33:45 I was transitioning from one reserve unit to another reserve unit. And I pretty much Detachment one reserve unit. But yet I hadn't showed up for the new reserve unit. So just remember sitting here going. Okay. Should I call my old ones like all my new one? You know what I need to do. What do I need to go?

34:03 Because it was like

34:05 I'm going to I'm going something's going to happen and I'm going.

34:12 So the bottom line was I caught up my old CEO and said, you know, what should I do? When he says don't do anything just you know, they'll get a hold of you if they need you but just plan to show up at the next drill weekend at your new unit and we'll go from there. So I did that and

34:31 There were a lot of people that have gotten mobilize out of that you're preserving it. So I showed up and probably I think there was 50 people. I had been mobilized immediately cuz that unit supported 7th Fleet. And so everybody everybody went out to go start plus sign up around the world all the units.

34:51 Has did you want to do it in 2001 and I didn't go until I was actually 2002-2003 is when I finally got mobilized.

35:03 Tell me about that.

35:06 Toe operation Iraqi Freedom operation enduring Freedom being mobilized.

35:14 Fall 2002 became apparent to the United States was going to do something and Iraq, and so

35:25 Would you rather do this? Okay.

35:29 Well, we got mobilized. So there's a group of us that got Mobil ISO and it was one of these things. We remember having the conversation was like why you going and I bet she said because this is my job and so I've been trying to do and I'm going so I got mobilized. I went out to the USS Theodore Roosevelt. I've been on a carry on 11 years and I went out there to help them interface with the Operation Center. It was it's a Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia. So that was a it was a very

36:08 Stimulating three months time remember the first week when they were kicked off. I think if I was getting 4 hours of sleep a night that was that was in the good category. So but that was another just a very professionally rewarding time experience spent three months out on the boat. And then when is in May of 2004, he went into the air operations center there until you die and not in Qatar and spent three months there against a wealth of professional experience Professional Knowledge growth opportunity. That's another magical time is personally rewarding personal rewarding another magical time where there is probably a handful I want to say there's probably 10 Naval reservist that were ahead key positions in their operations center in for basically about 3-4 weeks. We ran that that are operations center and just great

37:04 Pretty Springs

37:06 So quickly want to hate to be quickly on this. So who are the people that influenced you during your career?

37:15 So there are few key ones. I'm kind of mentioned to him already or actually three of them. So the first person who influenced me was with my staff sergeant in a OCS.

37:29 He instilled

37:32 Honor

37:34 As far as

37:36 What it was like to receive a solute and give a salute.

37:42 And remember one day memories salute an officer who getting slew them back.

37:47 He got so angry. I was no Mother's moments. We so it okay to look at me.

37:53 Hey basically gave us a you never ever not return a salute. So basically

38:03 Just that sense of Honor that sense of what that meant to be in the military was there.

38:11 And then there was then there was lights and so lights.

38:19 Tell me how to tell me how to think about things is really patient with me. It was just a great instructor and not get carried away and stuff like that at times and he bring you back to the ship and it shut me down and say okay.

38:38 You know.

38:41 He just made that kind of focus here at so he taught me how to kind of focus and how to how to think about things in a different manner. My dinner was Doc and Doc was

38:54 Jack was just a wonderful friend and someone I care tremendously about.

39:00 And we used to solve the problems of the world.

39:07 Panda

39:09 I miss.

39:11 So

39:13 Doc wasn't NPS Tacos on sts-107 is on Columbia and went to lunch.

39:21 And

39:23 I didn't get to go to The Landing because that was one that was the day I was getting mobilized to go to Iraqi freedom.

39:31 And I

39:33 I just met him he was kind of like my little I called my lighthouse. So whenever I start losing my way. Would always kind of show me the show me the way it show me the light and help me help me get back on track here. So tell me a funny story about doc by story about the doc.

39:55 I was too many probably them one of the first times.

40:04 Christian members of Doc is who used to drive from Fallon, Nevada to San Diego bunch of us would pop into a band go down there and spend the weekend because they're you know, all single guys Fallon that thriving Metropolis know so we could out of San Diego where we knew. You know, anyways, we're coming back. We we go down Friday afternoon. We come back late Sunday and we all take turns driving so everybody can sleep. So it's one of these times where it's like 1 in the morning and we're driving past China Lake and Dock and I are he's driving and I'm up and keep him company and work look at the stars and we're talk about Aviation stuff like that and I'll send us like we see this this

40:50 Like a mist or Cloud up on the road and it's like what the heck is that innocent? He starts slowing down a little bit slow down a little bit.

40:59 So sure enough their cattle because it was open range territory. So whole bunch of herd of cattle with crossing the roads and that's like good thing. We didn't hit that.

41:15 Now there's a

41:18 May stories about doc good friend a good friend.

41:22 Good good friend.

41:34 I guess I'd like to say is.

41:39 30 years with the Navy

41:42 When I joined this slogan was it's not just a job. It's an adventure.

41:48 It has truly been one tremendous Adventure, I look back and I've been able to see the world and I've been able to go places and meet people and experience things that I don't think would have ever happened had it not been for my service to my country in the Navy and what that enables enable need to be able to do an experience and see and I'm forever grateful and we're always remember my as my time here comes to a close.

42:24 I always remember my experience is that the the Navy brought to me and mainly dealing with dealing with people people are people across the world, but they all have their own culture and they all have their viewpoints and you have to respect and honor those cultures and Viewpoint if you want to get along and so

42:50 It's really been a valuable life experience life experience or a life lesson for me that has come through my experience with the Navy's being able to

43:05 Meet people and

43:09 Appreciate them for who they are and not going to try to understand their viewpoints.

43:15 So I live with Tom everyday.

43:19 His unwavering dedication and patriotism to this country and its causes just humbling. He's an American to the truce and sense of the meaning fighting to preserve our rights and our freedom time offers this of himself day-to-day understanding the connection to Country.

43:41 And potential price

43:44 Thank you very much.