Team Never Quit E. Matthew “Whiz” Buckley: F/A-18 Hornet Fighter Pilot, TOPGUN Graduate, Producer of No Fallen Heroes
Jul 6, 2022
01:27:18
In this week’s Team Never Quit Podcast, Marcus brings in a real “Top Gun” – A badass Navy fighter pilot and an incredible investment powerhouse – both the same guy – Matthew “Whiz” Buckley. You’ll have to hang on to your seat when you hear him share his real, firsthand experiences and record-setting flights in Navy fighter jets. Buckley has harnessed the principles of military strategies and applied them to investments and trading success. “Buckle up, buttercup…”
In this episode you will hear:
- I was raised with the belief that the American Dream was real and I could achieve anything I wanted to be as long as I applied myself, worked hard, and cared for others.
- I loved my country, the ocean and flying so I set out to become a navy fighter pilot.
- Every landing aboard the ship is graded. The mission is secondary to coming back because you’ve got 5,000 people watching you.
- I flew an acceptance flight in a new Hornet, and I did some unbelievable things with it, although I didn’t have too much time to enjoy it because all of a sudden the engines were gasping for air.
- When you’re moving that fast, all your wrinkles go away.
- At Mach 1.7 I thought, “I should be pulling out of this dive.” At that speed, I can’t eject. I’d be vaporized.
- When you make a decision, the computers go “If he does that, we’re gonna disintegrate, and we don’t want to do that.”
- We put our dog tags in our boots because in aviation accidents, that’s usually all that’s left.
- The jet’s a tattletale. It’s all electronic. Your superiors know how hard you pushed it.
- You can teach people a lot of stuff, but you can’t teach ‘em leadership.
- In a debrief, there ain’t no ”we” or ”us”. There’s only “I”.
- If you sat in a fighter pilot debrief, you’d think we hated each other. It not who’s right, it’s what’s right.
- Save the apple polishing for the bar – we’re in a debrief.
- A big leadership moment is when I was told “I could be friendly with you, but we’re not friends.”
- The Navy does a great job of teaching us to compartmentalize. If Marcus gets smoked, I’ll mourn him later, and guess what? I don’t get to mourn him later, ‘cause it’s on to the next thing.
- On the medicine, my dad & my sister, who was killed by a drunk driver, were both there. They looked incredible. In that moment, I healed.
- Forgiveness doesn’t exist in heaven, because there’s no need for it.
Support Whiz: