Navy SEAL & 160th Aviator (MH-47 Pilot) | 17 Combat Deployments | Mike Rutledge
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- Опубликовано: 28 июл 2024
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Today we hear the Combat Story of Mike Rutledge, a Navy SEAL turned to 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) aviator who completed 17 combat deployments over a 30 year career.
This is a special episode for me personally because I went to flight school with Mike (as we discuss in the episode) and I still remember being in awe when I saw this other flight school candidate wearing a trident on his uniform.
Mike had a very unconventional route to becoming a special operator in two branches, and flew along some of the greatest pilots of our time, including Al Mack, who you’ll recall from a previous episode of Combat Story.
Among the multitude of mission during his 17 deployments, Mike found himself on a mission in 2007 when we thought we were going to capture Bin Laden. That was, of course, a dry hole but generated lessons learned that were used in 2011 in the final raid.
I hope you enjoy this wide-ranging and humble perspective into the world of someone who went from being a SEAL to a 160th aviator as much as I did.
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- Intro Song: Sport Rock from Audio Jungle
Find Mike Rutledge Online:
- Learn more about Mike www.westpointcoh.org/intervie...
Show Notes:
00:00 - Intro
01:07 - Guest Introduction (Mike Rutledge)
02:08 - Interview begins
02:30 - Office Statue
04:37 - Being a SEAL in Aviation classes
08:50 - SEALs in 160th
13:15 - Challenges growing up
16:56 - Experience with father
21:53 - Being bullied as a kid
25:50 - Being a parent
29:00 - Joining the Navy
49:38 - Regrets on path
01:00:42 - Going back to Guam
01:03:50 - First time outside the wire in combat
01:11:11 - Deciding to go into Aviation
01:23:50 - reminiscent on the SEALs
01:28:28 - First flight mission
01:39:22 - Things that go wrong
01:45:48 - One mission from Mike's perspective
01:53:48 - Processing crew rest
01:55:19 - A tough infil/exfil
02:00:47 - Close calls
02:10:38 - Perfection in the mission
02:14:16 - The most courageous thing
02:19:19 - Transitioning out
02:24:50 - Continuing being a pilot
02:26:35 - raising pilots
02:31:16 - Sentimental items
02:33:35 - Do it all again
02:39:47 - Listener comments and shout outs
![MORTAL KOMBAT 1 - KOMBAT PACK 2 REVEAL TRAILER!! [REACTION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Mi2M58zEQVc/mqdefault.jpg)
WOW! Hey Mike! I was in Warrant Officer Candidate School (Purple Raptors) and Flight School 21 for Uh-60's with Mike. I have a few awesome stories of him just from spending a year with him at Rucker. One of the best is when we decided as a "class" (it was really Mike's idea) to out run our cadre back to the barracks near the end of our course. His reasoning was that "They can't fail all of us...yeah we might get our dessert rights taken away, but who cares!" The cadre had a process of smoking us by having one dude run us a couple miles to a point...where there were a couple more cadre waiting to smoke us with pushups, situps and other creative exercises, and then a different guy would run us the two miles back to the barracks. This was our way of getting back at the cadre. At the one-mile-to-go mark we all took off in a dead sprint (mike leading the way) and beat our cadre back. He was yelling at us the whole way to "F*n STOP...or You're gonna pay for this!" We didn't stop...and we lost our right to eat dessert at dinner and they took down our sign we had painted with our mascot on it...TOTALLY WORTH IT! Yeah, good times MIKE..Glad to see you made it to almost 30 years brother. I did my 20, two Iraq deployments in the UH-60..one as Air Assault and one as MEDEVAC. Best Job I Ever had!
September 2003, I remember him picking up a 5 gallon jug of water to take it on our 5 day quest.
Mr. Rutledge was absolutely one of the best pilots that I ever had the privilege to deploy with. Him and Mr. Kunkel were actual officers that I looked up to. They were different for sure.
Man this is the most motivating podcast I have ever seen.
Michael is genuine! Friends in high school, he shared his dreams. But Michael being Michael, he surpassed those dreams and never stopped. The world is a better place with him and his family in it. God bless!
I attended the Warrant Officer Staff Course with Mike. He’s absolutely as awesome as he seems to be. All the love brother!
I came down for orders to go to B Co. 160th, after 6 years working on and crewing CH47's but,
unfortunately was on medical hold for breaking my neck on an FTX...
...that the Army and later the VA failed to discover or acknowledge for 6 years after I got out.
I still miss flying and I'm heartbroken to have not gotten to fly with the 160th.
Sitting here listening probably doesn't help assuage the heartbreak but, it's good to listen just the same.
You know what? The story about the 30 minutes he had with his real father, was really something. You never know what will impact a man's life...
Lead by example ✊
Dude I just commented that too. Blew my mind bro.
I can hear the 80’s motivational music while he was doing his pt test 🤣🤣🤣
i picture the unsung casualty of that era. The poor tiger, now missing one eye and having lost all thrill of the fight...remaining seated ... ambivalent to the challenge of his rivals.
Nobody ever remembers him.
What an amazing interview. I appreciate Otter’s honesty at the end of the interview. My dad was career Navy. I served one enlistment in the Marines and made a hard decision to get out to be home with my wife and kids. Military families make a lot of sacrifices. Thanks again for these interviews. They are interesting and therapeutic.
Ryan, OMG... dude, I don't know where to start... listen, I've watched ALL of your episodes, but there's something about this one... wow, thanks for bringing it to us... when I saw the almost-3-hour time count, I came close to skipping it, but so glad I didn't. This was one of the VERY BEST episodes to date! Keep 'em coming -- you rock!!!
Well, you know that these two are going to have a level of collegiality and comradeship with each other simply because they're both rotary winged pilots, but they're freaking flight school classmates! Even if the Chief didn't remember it, they're just going to be connecting at a fundamental level most aren't.
Listen til the end. Spent 5 of the last 7 years without my son talking to me, even though he followed my foot steps into the military. 13 deployments thinking he was the rubber ball, 10 of which I was his only parent, yeah I'd definitely make up that family time if I had it to do over again. Making up for it with my grandsons now. Thanks for sharing. Let itgo.
not only he was a SEAL and a army aviator but he was in delta force thats bad ass
You forget he also started out working on helicopters .
too incredible
I don't think he was ever in Delta, probably flew them around a lot as a 160th pilot.
Great interview Ryan. I had the pleasure of meeting Mike when he came out to pin Nic to CPT. Nic was one of my Platoon leaders. Small world.
Cool to see the HC squadron CH46D in those pics. I was a CH46E crew chief in the 90s.
Thank you! Great interview with Mike Rutledge. I loved his stories and his moments of reflection about his service, missed family time, and making the decision to retire. I’m glad he found his path forward. This interview really hit home. (CW5 Ret JDW)
The story about him stroking his grown sons hair, like he was a little boy again really got to me.
I dropped my son off at a hotel a couple years ago for MEPS the night before he departed for Parris Island and it was just brutal.
I was prior service army and being a parent with your child on active duty is so much harder than doing it yourself.
You wanna just hold them in your arms and keep them there till the sun exhausts its eternal fuel, remembering every time you had to work late or every missed opportunity to spend time with them.
I feel ya on that Mike.😢
Everyone has regret in life, especially for those who serve their country!
All I ever wanted to be was the greatest dad to my kids and my wife. I worked my ass off so they could have everything I never did, or could afford to have while I was growing up in a blue collar family. We never could afford to eat out. I had to cook every meal for my family before I went to work to help my parents pay the bills because my mom could never get her ass out of bed. I still remember the day when my dad finally took us out to eat at McDonald’s. I was either working for him or my uncles Corp. I never had any time for homework. All I wanted to do was get the hell out of that house.
I got married at 21 and began serving my country; in retrospect i was far too young to be getting married.
I gave every check I ever earned directly to my wife without ever questioning her motives or anything but pure.
I remember exactly the feeling you had when I dropped my son off at Medina for his continuing Ed at PJ school… it felt like somebody dropped, kicked me in the nuts and knocked all the wind out of my lungs!!!
I remember every talk my son, and I had when he was having a hard time and wanted to quit and changes, MSO.
Only to find out 35 years later that she secretly stashing every dollar away into her personal 401k account, while telling me I was always broke, which only motivated me to keep on taking as much overtime as possible. I was betrayed by her when my team captured video and pics of her having an affair with one of her old boyfriends. I was absolutely gutted when I found out, I confronted her. Of course she denied it. She would come home from work pound down three or four glasses of wine that turned out to be a complete box before long. I went to your mom and dad‘s house to talk to them about her until her father kicked me out of their house. The next thing I know I received a registered letter in the mail, from her attorney, asking for a divorce after 35+ years. I found out through my attorney who did a financial audit that she had embezzled over $750,000 for me and took $45,000 out of my safe which I was saving for a once in a lifetime family vacation. Unfortunately by the time my attorney gave me the information my divorce was finalized and I was left with absolutely nothing!!! it didn’t take her long to poison. My kids minds against me.
War and service takes a toll on us all!!!
I love the fact that these warriors are helping to normalize "tough guys" embracing mental health.
A great reflection on the sacrifice that the family makes. As he said, you can never get that time back.
Man I love the 160th guys stories! Keep ‘em coming!
It's amazing how many people I've met in the military and through counseling at the VA that were bullied as kids and that now will step in and help when they see other people enduring that.
Its almost like a prerequisite to join the military now lol
@Modesto Gonzalez I think if you make it through the basic training of any service, you realize that you handled everything the Drill Sergeants threw at you and survived and you want to help those who don't have that knowledge that they can handle and overcome it.
You have great podcasts going there brother I've watched a few and really enjoyed these hero's stories. My dad was not a Seal or SOF guy but a cold war warrior. Think the Berlin air lift, Chrome Dome, B52's over Arctic Circle, SAC in the UK, Greenland, Loring AFB Maine. Would love to hear from one of those old timers, on your podcast. Maybe not a "combat" story. But to myself those guys were Unsung Heros, thay did not get nearly enough credit for their service and what they did. Thanks for your service.
I have listened to many of your interviews, but Mr. Rutledge touched my heart in many ways. Ryan keep up the great work you do and how they impact so many of us.
One of the best interviews I’ve ever heard. Hell of a career…
Just listened to Alan Mack on Team House last night, and now THIS!?!
Thank You!
I thought watching that last night it would be great if we could get a long interview of CWO Rutledge then it appeared less than 24hr later. Now I'm thinking of only I could win the lottery I haven't bought a ticket for!
I watched Al here first a while back, then saw him last night over on TH, too. Now this! Man, such an embarrassment of riches in storytelling. I feel so fortunate to hear their legendary feats and am honored to know what they did. Thank you Ryan!
@@ajback2917 information is worth more than gold my good man.
Absolutely loved this interview. I just got accepted to the Army Woft program and this is definitely motivational hearing this legend’s stories. Thank you!
accepted.
As a crayon eater I appreciate the grammar check.
I wanted to reach out to Mr. Rutledge, but couldn’t find any contact information. If there’s a chance that he sees this, I’d like to thank him. I’m currently stationed in Guam and am looking into the WOFT pipeline. Another interview I saw with him has served as great inspiration for me to keep the press on.
I wish you nothing but best wishes and prayers that you succeeded in your mission to become a true American hero. Thank you so much personally from me for your service and sacrifice to our country the United States of America, the greatest country in the world. May God bless you and your family.
Mike you're the second coolest person I've ever heard. The coolest was my dad, an old school Marine.
Man....that dad story litetally blew me UP. And my mom's side came from Carmi, IL. Understand exactly.
Easiest way to avoid a drive-by is to not associate yourself with people that do drive-bys. Or people that need to be drove by.
This man is an overachiever 😀
I'm a new subscriber to your podcast and I just have to say what an honor it was to hear this great man's story! It touched my heart and the sacrifices he made for the good of our nations warriors will never be forgotten. God bless you Sir! Jeff
Such an honor to serve with Mike when he was a young determined rescue swimmer. Helluva career cowboy BZ
Wow! What a great interview. What a path and loved the funny stories. Thanks for your service Mr. Rutledge.
Honestly never will be mad when things run over. I’ll always watch the long episodes and they are always full of the coolest stories
That is quite the transfer in skills.
Hey Ryan, you need to get Johnny Kim on the show. SEAL, astronaut, Harvard Medical School graduate, and he served with Chris Kyle. I can’t believe you haven’t interviewed him by now!
He’s a boring speaker
Loved this story! I keep trying to find someone who knew or flew with my cousin Clark Brown. He retired in 2003 and was a 160th SOAR MH-47 Pilot/Instructor. W4 when he retired. He was Alan Mack's instructor in flight school and in the 160th.
Tell Mike to reach out to me. I have a picture and patches I would like to give him from the 160ths brother regiment and Squadron in Australian. 171SQN. What an awesome story. The guy is a weapon and a real inspiration for special forces helo operations world wide. Thanks from down under SO blackhawk aircrewman (crewchief). 👍🤘
My Family and I, Are forever greatfull for You Dudes.
Wow Mike that was very touching to hear your story. I have a lot of buddies with PTSD I am trying to help and they all had rough childhoods. So sorry about your dad man really made me upset and reinforces why my family unit is so important, and not just for me, but for those kids. You really rose above and proved the only easy day was yesterday. Hooyah + HUA
Love listening to these stories while in the gym, at Fort (Rucker) Novosel, while in flight school. Some amazing people who really help with a little extra inspiration. Thanks for all the interviews
Absolutely Awesome. . . Thank You for sharing this. Exceptional
Great interview! Awesome folks operating awsome machines. Brought back a lot memories, good and bad, but that's what makes this life so great! Thanks for sharing!
One of the best episodes I have ever listened to. Thanks for sharing!
I so enjoyed Mr. Rutledge and story. What a warrior and hero. Ryan ty for CS, incredible.
Excellent! Awesome interview! Thank you!
Stumbled across this randomly. awesome interview and great stories. Nothing but respect for the guys who have done often the unspeakable but live to share experiences.
Ahhh I’ve been waiting for this one. Can’t wait to listen 😭
Thank you for this interview. I have deployed and provided first responder and airport fire fighting services in theater . Neat to hear the stories from pilots that served abroad.
This interview points out perfectly what Thank you for your sacrifice actually entails. Wow amazing , thank you for sharing.
Thanks for all these stories you dig up!
wow!! the last ten minutes of the interview was the most powerful about his kids...Semper Fi
Rutledge? My name is Matthew Rutledge out of Atlanta Georgia. My father was James Edward Rutledge. Thank you for your service Rutledge.
Fantastic interview Ryan!
This is awesome. Mike cracks Me up! Great stories!
An uncle of mine was a Spanish Navy pilot for 22 years. Which is pretty unique, as the average flying career in the Spanish Military ends before the pilots turns 40. He flew until he was 47. He logged more flight hours on every helicopter the Navy had than anyone else, like close to 8,000 hours. He once told me:
"Planes want to fly. It's purely physics, all they need is enough airspeed and control surfaces and they will fly. Helicopters don't want to fly. You have to fight them if you want to fly. Planes can somewhat glide for a while, give you time to think. Helicopters are basically rotor-bladed bricks. If something goes remotely wrong, they will do their best to hug the ground and take you with them." He tested every helicopter type and got entangled in the Spanish Navy Vietnam-Era AH-1s fiasco. Out of twelve we got from the US, eight had accidents. Four pilots died. My uncle crashed two. He also crashed a Hughes MD500, the original OH-6 Loach and a SH-3 "Sea King". All of them were ruled mechanically induced and he was ruled not at fault. He came out unharmed from every single crash. That's how taxing and hard helicopters are to fly. Thus being able to do what the Night Stalkers do and also being a Navy SEAL...If that's not badass, I don't know what is.
"Fly for free" I messed up. Had to pay for my flight training. Should have gone ARMY too. VMA-211 USMC
What an awesome interview.
What a fantastic journey! Well Done! Blue Skies!
Best one I've watched so far!
Thank you both for your service!
Thanks for sharing this! Really appreciate it!
There has to be a huge percentage of listeners who are fathers here that cannot understand how you could ever turn your back to a child. This man missed out being the proudest father on earth!!! Mike is a hell of a guy and one could only wish their children have the tenacity and drive that Mike has. Iam with him 100% on the visceral disdain for bullies of any type it has been a point of trouble for me through life trying to quell this hatred for them. These days I can stop myself most times but the propensity for attack never goes away!!! God Bless ya Mike you are a fine American my friend and Thanks as usual Ryan for a great episode of my fave podcast. With a C- avg they will immediately put me in a fighter plane 😂😂😂😂😂 I actually spit coffee out of my nose. Rutledge Guam!! I will never forget hearing Benning Bragg Bragg WYLIE FT POLK!! 😂😂😂😂 I SO RELATE WITH HIM
I know what he means about weird stuff from your childhood coming out during walks. That happens to me too. It's something about the process of your body engaging into the process of walking for extended periods of time, it seems to jar memories and old emotions loose, just randomly sometimes.
Outstanding interview. Very interesting
Thank you for your service both of you. 💪🏽🇺🇸❤️🤍💙 My son left nine days after graduating high school went to Fort Jackson South Carolina, and is currently in Alabama at Fort Rucker, and will soon be shipped off to Germany. He is currently studying to become an aviation operations specialist. Of course, as a mom, I’m nervous, but at the same time, I am so super proud of him he was named student first sergeant . Also named unit leader twice ( in BCT and now there as well ) so I guess it’s safe to assume he’s doing good. #MyFavoriteSoldierCallsMeMom 💪🏽
I thought I was pretty good at skating. Mr. Rutledge, you are king of the skaters! You had a phenomenal career brother. If the majority of the people in our armed forces were like you, our country would never lose a war or battle!!
Mr. Rutledge is DIVINE.
❤
As a guy born in ‘57, I completely relate to The Creature From The Black Lagoon…. It was a very popular movie when I was a kid. On Saturdays in small towns across the nation, we would go to the local theatre for a matinee double feature. I think it cost a quarter, would include a double full animation cartoons and 2 movies. Saw this one there. Scared the crap out of us! Also saw the best Bond film there as well- Thunderball. Absolutely loved it. I know that movie probably inspired a whole generation of Frogmen to sign up. Viet Nam was just ramping up.
Great interview!
The retirement part - the talking the old talk is so true
Mike’s got a great sense of humor and he might not like bullies but he does like to pull peoples legs for sure. I met him twice once in the fixed wing course for the army when he was already qualified for 160th and another time in Bagram When he was there for something else
thanks to Ryan i watched Fire Birds released in 1990's about the apache with Nickolas cage and Tommy Lee Jones, it was as cheesy as Top Gun looking back at top gun now but it was great! the one thing that made it so cool was that alot of it was filmed in TUCSON, AZ and before i knew it, the whole movie i was like wow that looks like Tucson and to find out it was is fantastic!
i also watched RANGER, and that was a very eye opening experience and im glad i was able to support the movie by buying it.
I love what your doing. Sometimes it's just moving too slow my friend. I really want you to be successful. Maybe consider 90 minutes for a guy like this. Keep it up.
You Dudes Rock!
LOL His Mikes recount of seeing some SEALs reminded me of mine. As a young E-3 Airman, I was a Parachute Survival Equipment Specialist. We usually take care of ACESII chutes on aircraft and survival equipment. But after getting a new Pararescue Squadron they sent some of us to Ft Lee to learn the MT1XX RamAir. When me and my SGT walked into to class the first day I noticed 4 fellers in BDUs with Navy tags but longer then normal hair standards. I look at my SGT and ask who are these Uhooos? He said they are SEALs. I ask him whats a SEAL??? He just looked at me and shook his head. Good times.
great interview!
THANK YOU
"Call Sign Chaos" book freakin has me doing push ups man
Thank you for sharing
🤗🙏🇺🇲🎖️
I sure would love a catalog Mr. Rutledge and his books.
My Aunt & Uncle lived in Galesburg, IL and I know those railroad tracks. Before they both passed away lived on Arizona AVE there in Galesburg. I remember driving there in a karmann Ghia from Rockford, IL my hometown
His story with his dad sounds as bad as mine! Most of my buddies in the Army had the same kind of stories and I believe it’s a reason we’re drawn to the military. This was one of my favorite episodes ever! He has so many great stories you need to have him back.
I probably only know 2-3 pilots names from my time in the Army and he is one of them!! The best of the best!! Much respect!!
Great podcast!
Hi Ryan would you be able to interview Kegan Smurf Gill at some point. The former Navy FA-18E pilot that survived the fastest ejection in the history of Naval Aviation
Amazing. 👌🎯
Interesting interview ❤😊
Incredible
I was in Mike's BUDS class and I can tell you he's a character! Funny AF! And a great guy.
What BUDS class ? My son graduated in BUDS 183.
197@@budwickman446
I was an FE with Mike in 160th and I'm telling you, you will not meet a better human being. I cherish the time I had to witness his leadership and motivation.
Mike had a Pearl Harbor movie moment with the Eye Stuff
I really wish you interviews were in person, the audio quality has been an issue for me enjoying the content
Mr Rutledge, this seems trite after hearing your story, but thank you. I’m not going to say thank you for your service, I’ll make it thank you for giving it your all. It’s obvious that you did.
Good video
I wanted to go to that military academy after watching "TAPS" too! It was the Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania. I ordered all the enrollment information for my mother(back in the snail mail days). I figured since I grew up at West Point, she would be all for it! Um, no. My 12 year old brain didn't know what "Tuition" was.
The sound is not the best,but u have a top Chanel
As a FL resident what happened is unfortunate but not uncommon. The State Attorney's office is trying to end these kinds of scams. I'm sure they would be interested in hearing from you.
Have you ever interviewed Don Shipley. I would love to hear him tell some stories. He is a hero just exposing the fakes and frauds.
Wow! Awesome funny humble guy!
There was a seal that came through Air Assault school as a pilot in 1999 time frame. I’m sure the guest knows his name.
You should get Steven Mueller on. SEAL -> Ranger -> Green Beret. I bet he has some stories.
You know you’re a badass when your uniform looks like a bad case of stolen valor.
Dude you are my hero and as a Marine that’s hard to say. I’m not gay but I will be happy to help you carry your massive monster balls. Don’t they still have the statue of the creature from the black lagoon at Coronado?