This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/COMBAT and get on your way to being your best self and HELP the show. This episode was also sponsored by Ten Thousand, a clothing brand for tough, durable gear for the outdoors, working out, and a more active lifestyle. I just took mine to Alaska and they held up like a champ. They also use former Special Operators to test and improve their clothing! Check out https://tenthousand.cc/combatstory and get 15% off and help Combat Story continue to grow! I got their long sleeve t-shirt and it was awesome.

Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more! ___________________________________________________________________ Today we hear our first Combat Story from a Top Gun and F/A-18 Hornet pilot turned successful options trader Matthew Whiz Buckley. 

Whiz found himself flying 44 combat sorties over Iraq and was scrambled just days after 9/11 to intercept a potential threat over the US where he was authorized to go supersonic at just 1,000 feet with a full weapons load (unheard of in the US)!

As with all aviators, we dig into the Call Sign and Whiz is a great one! Despite the highs of flying jets across the world and graduating from Top Gun, Whiz also lost 16 fellow fighter pilots to accidents and suicide, after losing a sister at a very young age that stuck with him for decades. 

As a result, he created the Top Gun Foundation to help keep veterans alive and found his way to plant based medicines and psychedelics with other veterans like Marcus Luttrell (aka “Lone Survivor”), which we spend some time on during this episode. Whiz has had tremendous success in his post-military career in the options trading world and continues to train everyday people how to make a living doing the same with Top Gun Options. In fact, his success is what made his foundation possible.

This was a special episode for me personally where we really dig into the experience inside the cockpit and nerd out on all things aviation (like landing on a carrier at night) and the learnings Whiz was fortunate to take from Top Gun and how we can all apply those. 

I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did!

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Find Matthew Online:

• Matthew's LinkTree https://linktr.ee/whiznfh
• Matthew's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/official_whizbuckley/
• Matthew's Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/ematthewbuckley/details/experience
• Top Gun Options - https://topgunoptions.com/
• Book Covid Crash https://www.amazon.com/COVID-CRASH-Profit-Fighter-Strategies-ebook/dp/B09FKNLKB3
• Book From Sea Level to C Level https://www.amazon.com/Sea-level-C/dp/0615249604

Show Notes: 0:00 - Intro  00:54 - Guest Introduction (Matther 'Whiz' Buckley) 02:20 - Interview Begins 02:57 - Matthew's early life and his time at the local rescue squad 05:47 - Other career paths 09:23 - The idea of joining the Military 13:42 - Early deaths that motivate 16:20 - Experimentation with Psychedelic Therapy 19:32 - Better Help (AD) 20:35 - 'Competitive' nature of Top Gun pilots 24:33 - Boat landings 30:19 - Hardest aircraft to land on a carrier 33:51 - Optics while flying a fighter jet 36:26 - What it's like to fly the F/A-18 Hornet  39:43 - Ten Thousand (AD) 42:21 - The path to getting the right aircraft 47:21 - 'Whiz''s time with 9/11 58:40 - Top Gun and being the Advisary  01:03:01 - What makes Top Gun training the most difficult 01:07:21 - Red Teaming 01:09:17 - Top Gun takeaways that can benifit everyone 01:15:28 - The origin of 'Whiz' 01:19:14 - Mishaps and mistakes 01:30:05 - The transition to the Finance world 1:32:10 - Psychedelic Therapy philanthropy 01:46:12 - Would you do anything differently 01:54:11 - What feeling do you wish you could share 01:55:27 - Carried sentimental items 01:56:03 - Would you do it all again 2:00:20 -  Listener comments and shout outs