E137 - #138 Desert Storm: F/A-18 Hornet Pilot Bob “Bags” Simeone

In this episode of  @AfterburnPodcast  host John “Rain” Waters sits down with Bob “Bags” Simeone, a former Navy F/A-18 Hornet pilot who flew combat missions during Operation Desert Storm. From low-level strikes over Iraq to night tanking in icing conditions, Bags shares a raw, often hilarious, and deeply personal account of what it was like to be part of America’s return to high-end warfare after Vietnam. 

They dive into what deployment looked like aboard the USS America in the early ‘90s, the challenges of navigating pre-GPS cockpits, and the chaos of coordinating missions in a pre–Link 16 wor...