
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Join host Mike Ritland for an unforgettable conversation with Dave Berke – the only Marine in history to fly the F-16, F-18, F-22, and F-35, a legendary TOPGUN instructor, former Forward Air Controller attached to Jocko Willink’s Task Unit Bruiser in Ramadi 2006, and co-author of the Extreme Ownership series. From the cockpit of the world’s most advanced fighters to the blood-soaked streets of Ramadi alongside SEALs, Dave pulls zero punches on what real high-performance leadership looks like when lives are on the line.
In this nearly 4-hour deep dive, Dave reveals the brutal debrief culture at TOPGUN that turned good pilots into lethal ones, why the peacetime military he first joined in 2001 was nowhere near ready for war, how 9/11 instantly transformed training forever, and the life-changing moment he left the world’s premier fighter-weapons school to volunteer for ground combat in the deadliest city in Iraq. He also shares his unfiltered take on AI ending the era of the single-seat fighter pilot within our lifetime and the raw lessons that still keep him up at night from Ramadi.
Whether you’re obsessed with fighter aviation, extreme ownership, or what it really takes to lead when failure isn’t an option, this is one of the most powerful veteran-to-veteran conversations you’ll ever hear.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
By Mike Ritland4.9
63216,321 ratings
Join host Mike Ritland for an unforgettable conversation with Dave Berke – the only Marine in history to fly the F-16, F-18, F-22, and F-35, a legendary TOPGUN instructor, former Forward Air Controller attached to Jocko Willink’s Task Unit Bruiser in Ramadi 2006, and co-author of the Extreme Ownership series. From the cockpit of the world’s most advanced fighters to the blood-soaked streets of Ramadi alongside SEALs, Dave pulls zero punches on what real high-performance leadership looks like when lives are on the line.
In this nearly 4-hour deep dive, Dave reveals the brutal debrief culture at TOPGUN that turned good pilots into lethal ones, why the peacetime military he first joined in 2001 was nowhere near ready for war, how 9/11 instantly transformed training forever, and the life-changing moment he left the world’s premier fighter-weapons school to volunteer for ground combat in the deadliest city in Iraq. He also shares his unfiltered take on AI ending the era of the single-seat fighter pilot within our lifetime and the raw lessons that still keep him up at night from Ramadi.
Whether you’re obsessed with fighter aviation, extreme ownership, or what it really takes to lead when failure isn’t an option, this is one of the most powerful veteran-to-veteran conversations you’ll ever hear.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

3,551 Listeners

23,392 Listeners

1,269 Listeners

1,155 Listeners

30,789 Listeners

989 Listeners

1,782 Listeners

5,956 Listeners

10,913 Listeners

10,203 Listeners

2,974 Listeners

734 Listeners

44,763 Listeners

1,647 Listeners

2,403 Listeners

1,284 Listeners

63 Listeners

1,806 Listeners

2,267 Listeners

2,944 Listeners

1,238 Listeners

87 Listeners

636 Listeners

339 Listeners

590 Listeners

12 Listeners

308 Listeners

37 Listeners

42 Listeners

766 Listeners

3 Listeners

2 Listeners

8 Listeners