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00:00Welcome to Operation Healing Heroes. Join me in the boat today as we feature retired
00:09Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Todd Berge. They served for us. They sacrificed for us.
00:21Their stories deserve to be told. Every military veteran has a story to tell.
00:32Join our host, Jay Garstecki, as we honor the stories of our true American heroes, one
00:40soldier at a time. The mission today is Operation Healing Heroes.
00:49Brought to you by Great Clips.
00:58Landing at Maury Field Airport in Middleton, Wisconsin, is retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel
01:04Todd Berge. Not only did Todd become a fighter pilot, but he flew and later became an instructor
01:11of one of America's most prestigious aircraft, the B-2 Stealth Bomber.
01:17Join us today as Todd recounts his amazing story.
01:22So I started thinking about the military probably, I think, in about third grade.
01:27There was a show in the 70s called Baba Black Sheep. And it was about fighter pilots in World
01:31War II in the Pacific. And I remember just going, I want to be a fighter pilot someday.
01:36You know, I would play in the swings and pretend that we were being pilots. And then in high school,
01:41especially after Top Gun came out, I remember telling my friends and teachers, I'm going to go to the Air Force.
01:48I'm going to be a fighter pilot. And they would, oh, Berge, you're not going to be a pilot. Knock that off.
01:53You're, you know. And I'm like, no, I'm going to do it. You wait and see. And I'll still go back to Colfax these days and I'll see some of these older people.
02:03I haven't seen them in maybe years. And like, I remember you telling me you were going to be a pilot.
02:07And by, by golly, you did it.
02:14Hey, Todd, how's it going, buddy?
02:17Hey, so good to see you. You too, man. Good to see you again.
02:20Good to see you. You look great. You do too. You ready to go do some fishing?
02:23You know, I am ready to go fishing. But before we do that, I want to take you up in my buddy Bruce's airplane right here.
02:28No way. Oh, you're going to have a great time. Are you serious?
02:32Here we go. All right, let's do this.
02:36It was quite a thrill for Jay to fly in this one of a kind aircraft, which took Bruce five years to build.
02:43Oh, this is awesome. Oh, man.
02:45So back in high school when, yeah, I always knew what I wanted to do. But how do you do it? How do you become a pilot in the Air Force?
02:52And I had some great mentors and people that helped me out and supported me, my parents, for sure.
02:57And we applied for the academies and, you know, for different ROTC schools and stuff like that.
03:03And I got accepted into the University of Wisconsin-Madison and then started out in ROTC there.
03:10My parents actually pushed me to get my private pilot's license when I was 19.
03:15And again, I give them all the credit for that. We didn't have a ton of money.
03:19And that's not cheap getting your private pilot's license.
03:21But, you know, through me working and they just helping me out, they sacrificed a lot in helping me do that.
03:27Because of my parents and getting that private pilot's license, I ended up being one of 100 people in the nation to get a pilot slot out of ROTC for that year.
03:36Anybody who says we don't live in the greatest country in America is absolutely insane, because how cool is this to be able to do this?
03:42Oh, just the freedom to fly, yes, absolutely.
03:44That's what I mean. This is amazing.
03:47Yeah, we're blessed.
03:49Wow. Great job. That is so cool. So cool. Thank you again, man. That was so much fun.
04:08Oh, you're welcome, man. My pleasure.
04:11So you got me up in that airplane, and now I'm happy to have you out where I'm a little bit more comfortable out here fishing.
04:18So tell me what flight school was like. Was it as difficult as it's portrayed on TV?
04:23Yeah, they even told us this is like as intense as any, you know, getting your, a year of being a lawyer, a doctor, any kind of training that you can think of.
04:35Maybe not like it's, it's not like physical, like becoming a ranger or something like that or seal, but as far as just intense and what's expected of you and all that in both academic and in a flying environment, it's as, it's as difficult as anything that you'll find out there in the world.
04:54And, and I can attest to that. It truly was really for that full year, you kind of feel like you're going to throw up at any one minute because you just got butterflies in your stomach all the time.
05:04Operation Healing Heroes is brought to you by Great Cliffs, the Yance Valor Foundation, and by the Al Lynch Foundation.
05:19Operation Healing Heroes is a nonprofit organization dedicated to documenting the lives of our U.S. military veterans.
05:28In addition, we also provide financial support and treatment for post-traumatic stress.
05:35Your donation will help heal our heroes.
05:44After completing flight school, the next step for the young aspiring fighter pilot was getting his wings.
05:50So when did you finally actually get your wings?
05:53So it is truly like exactly a year from your start date.
05:57It was March 17th of 1994.
06:01To finally get those wings, you know, it's just a, it's a piece of metal, but what it represents, again, it still gives me goosebumps to this day thinking about that night because you work really hard for it.
06:12So why did you pick the A-10?
06:14Oh, yeah, great question, Jay.
06:16The Air Force sends out this list of, you know, hey, this is your 44 planes for your 44 guys and girls.
06:23And I knew that I was, I was pretty, pretty high.
06:27I wasn't number one, but I was picking pretty high.
06:32And I knew outside of the F-15, which we only had one of, I knew I was pretty much had my pick of airplanes.
06:38I was kind of leaning towards the, the B-1, that looked pretty cool.
06:43And the C-17 was brand new.
06:46It was a brand new airplane.
06:47My flight commander from T-37s, who was an A-10 pilot, called up the flight room and we were in different buildings at this point.
06:54Lieutenant Berge, you're going to take the A-10, right?
06:57I'm like, well, sir, I don't know.
06:58I really, I don't think so.
07:00Lieutenant Berge, you are going to take the A-10, right?
07:03Well, sir, I don't know.
07:05I don't know.
07:06And this went on for an entire day.
07:08He put the screws to me, had me call other guys that he flew with and, hey, call this guy.
07:15And he's going to tell you how great the A-10 is.
07:17And you're going to take the A-10, right?
07:19Yes, sir, I'm going to take the A-10.
07:22And it was, I certainly am so happy he pushed me to do that because the A-10 is the most wonderful airplane in the world.
07:31When did you actually first get to use your training?
07:33Well, you are, of course, all the time when you're doing these combat sorties over there.
07:40I did a total of 22 Operation Southern Watch combat sorties.
07:44And those are flying the no-fly zone, if you remember that.
07:48And one particular mission that I remember is we had our intel brief, and this was the second deployment.
07:58I was a flight lead at this time, so a little bit more experienced.
08:02And they're like, hey, we have this surface-to-air missile that we can't locate.
08:08It was over here yesterday, and now it's gone.
08:12And we think it's over here, but we don't know.
08:15Well, over here was where we were flying that day, in our container that we were patrolling.
08:21Sure enough, we're in that container, and all of a sudden I get this indication that this missile was locked up on me.
08:30It was in what's called the launch mode, because there's different modes that they do.
08:36Hey, they were just trying to find you, but they had me, and they had me locked up.
08:41And it was neat in hindsight that I got this indication, and I made the right radio call to my wingman, and we both did this maneuver.
08:51And, you know, bottom line is the missile, I don't even think they fired it at us.
08:57If they did, it went stupid, but it wasn't like I got shot down or anything.
09:01It wasn't that exciting, but it was exciting in the moment.
09:05And it was neat when we get back on the ground to go, hey, I actually did everything right.
09:10If that missile would have come up at us, we would have a pretty good chance of invading it, because, again,
09:16the Air Force is so good at training their pilots, and I think that is what makes us different than any other nation,
09:22is we've just got such great training that we're going to do the right things more often than not.
09:28What did your wife and child feel like when you had to go deploy for the first time?
09:32Yeah, it was really hard.
09:36My wife was so supportive of me in pilot training and whatnot, but now, you know, I was essentially coming home every night,
09:44but now I'm gone, right? Like, now I'm gone for four months, and now we have two kids.
09:48I think it's probably more difficult for them than it is even for us, because, you know, we signed up for it.
09:54I want to do this, right?
09:56My daughter doesn't want Daddy to go away.
09:59My wife doesn't want her husband to go away.
10:02My youngest, I came home, and she didn't want to go, she didn't remember me, you know?
10:07Really?
10:08And then, you know, after an hour or two, she was fine, and she kind of, she was only, like, one and a half.
10:13But that was tough, you know, when you come home and your little baby daughter doesn't really want to go to you.
10:18I recognize you, yeah.
10:19That was tough.
10:21Operation Healing Heroes is brought to you by Great Cliffs, Power Pole, and by St. Croix Rods.
10:36Yeah, if you want somebody to sit in the side seat, like I said, that would be a good angle to just move that stuff in the back, and it's got to be able to make sure you belt in.
10:47The boss will give you his flight attendant brief here in a second.
10:51If you'd like to see more behind-the-scenes footage, follow us on social media and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
10:58If you're a U.S. military veteran in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, or beautiful sunny Florida, log on to our website.
11:06TakeAvetFishing.org to find an event near you.
11:15So you flew 22 sorties in the A-10.
11:18How do you wind up becoming a B-2 pilot, and after that, even a B-2 instructor?
11:24Yeah, so I flew 22 combat sorties in the A-10, and I remember it was during my second deployment, you're over there, and, you know, the Air Force never lets you really be comfortable in anything.
11:42And that's a good thing, right?
11:43Yeah.
11:44You're always sharpening that sword.
11:45Yeah.
11:46Yourself being the sword, and you're always pushing yourself to do something different.
11:49And I remember my boss coming in, hey, Captain Berge, it's time you're going to have to get a new assignment.
11:55I'm like, I'm just getting good at this.
11:57I actually can go up and use my tool, the A-10, correctly, and not have my hair on fire the whole time.
12:06Back then, you could go on the Internet.
12:08They had this thing that you could look for assignments, and I'm looking at it, and I'm like, geez, you know, what am I going to do?
12:15And, yeah, it was tough on the family life and all that being deployed, and I thought, well, this ad came up.
12:23It's not really an ad, but, hey, we're looking for applicants for this special program called the B-2 Stealth Bomber.
12:30So I did. I had to make this, you know, this is kind of like a job interview almost, right?
12:34Send in your resume.
12:36And we got back from the deployment, and sure enough, I get a phone call and, hey, we'd like you to come out to White Men of Air Force Base and interview for this special assignment.
12:49You got interviewed by the Wing Commander, who was a one-star general, and the Ops Group Commander.
12:54Then they threw you in the simulator.
12:56You have no idea what you're doing, right?
12:58And you go up and you air refuel and do some other things.
13:02But everybody, you're on an equal playing field because nobody in this interview group has done that.
13:09And it turns out that I guess I made the cut because I was chosen for the B-2 program.
13:15So didn't you fly a combat mission in the B-2 in the second Gulf War?
13:20Yeah, I sure did.
13:23It was in 2003, again, second Gulf War.
13:29I was a pretty experienced B-2 pilot by that time, so I got to fly early on in that conflict.
13:37I was night four, and we took off from Whiteman Air Force Base, a two-ship of B-2s.
13:46And unfortunately, our wingmen, we were the lead, our wingmen had a problem and had to turn around and go back to Whiteman.
13:54So we went by ourself all the way over to Iraq, delivered weapons, and came back all without stopping.
14:02It ended up being a 36.4-hour mission.
14:04Most times when you're flying combat, you deploy, right?
14:07When I was in the A-10, I deployed to Kuwait and then flew combat missions over Iraq.
14:12Well, in the B-2, we literally took off from Whiteman Air Force Base, flew all the way over, and flew all the way back.
14:22So it's very unique that you know, okay, I'm going to fly.
14:27I have to report at this time to start my mission planning and whatnot.
14:32So you literally, like, kiss your wife and kids goodbye and go, I'll be back home in two-ish days, hopefully.
14:43And my daughters were nine and seven at the time, and so they don't really understand what's going on.
14:50Hey, Daddy's going to go fight the bad man, but I'll be back in two days.
14:54Muskie Mission Complete seeks to give veterans the opportunity to make lifelong friends, to heal the heart and soul by fishing, and to develop the skills needed to fish at home.
15:13If you'd like to personally thank a veteran that you've seen in one of our episodes or nominate a veteran to be featured in a future episode, log on to our website, OperationHealingHeroes.org.
15:26OperationHealingHeroes is brought to you by Recon Boats, Thorn Brothers, and by FVP.
15:43Flying in Bruce's bubble canopy airplane brought back memories of the A-10 for Todd Berge.
15:49Oh, I missed this.
15:52Yeah.
15:53I like this.
15:54The canopy.
15:55The bubble canopy.
15:56Oh, my God.
15:57Yeah.
15:58Isn't that visibility something?
15:59Oh, Bruce.
16:00This is killing me.
16:02Killing me.
16:03Entering in the downwind 436 on the 45.
16:06Story traffic.
16:07Well, it's tough for you probably to see over, but would you like to take the stick and see what it feels like?
16:11Of course I would.
16:12All righty.
16:13She's all yours.
16:14I have the airplane.
16:15Your airplane.
16:16Oh, this is great.
16:18Oh, my gosh.
16:19He's nice and responsive.
16:21Yeah.
16:22You can take the boy out of the Air Force, but you can't take the Air Force out of the boy.
16:27Todd wanted to pull some Gs.
16:29All right.
16:30How about a 3G turn?
16:31Are you up for that?
16:32All right.
16:33Let's do it.
16:34You sure?
16:35Yep.
16:36All right.
16:37What are we at?
16:41We're at 2.7.
16:46And there you go.
16:49All right.
16:50Three Gs, baby.
16:52Did you pull any Gs with Jay?
16:54No, I did.
16:55I took it very easy on him.
16:57I offered to let him fly it.
16:59He didn't want to.
17:00What?
17:01Jay.
17:02Turned it down.
17:03He wanted to look out the window.
17:04So I understand.
17:05I understand that.
17:06If you want to take her back, you can take control of her again.
17:09All right.
17:10My airplane?
17:11Your airplane.
17:13Mars traffic.
17:14Five table pop.
17:1530 final.
17:161-0, Maury.
17:17Todd logged more than 1,000 hours over 10 years flying the B-2 stealth bomber.
17:24Retiring as an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, it was time for Todd to move on.
17:30I applied to be a commander for an ROTC unit.
17:34And there were some family reasons why I did that.
17:39And sure enough, I got selected for the University of Wisconsin-Madison to be the commander there.
17:45And it was just the best job in the world.
17:48You know, I did all this kind of cool stuff in the A-10 and the B-2, but I want to say that my most favorite job was being the commander here.
17:57You kind of give back, right?
17:59And I still remember my commander and the impact that he had on me.
18:04And I made sure that I had a positive impact on my cadets.
18:09I just loved it more than anything.
18:11And I think I had, I really had some impact on future generations.
18:16So you actually came full circle.
18:18Full circle, right?
18:19And that does not happen very often.
18:21I mean, there is very few officers that, and not everybody wants to do that either, you know?
18:29And for me, there was, there was reasons that, that I wanted to do that.
18:34And I, it just, it worked out perfectly.
18:37It was a great career.
18:39I could not have asked for anything more.
18:41Yeah, so I retired after 20 years.
18:43I did 20 years in the Air Force, and I had over 3,000 hours in, you know, the various airplanes that I got to fly.
18:50And, you know, I still had the flying bug in me.
18:54And I had a friend, he flew F-16s here in Madison.
18:59And he knew this guy who was looking for a pilot, right?
19:03I know a friend of a friend of a friend.
19:05And, and sure enough, he was like, hey, this, I'm like, that sounds like a pretty good job.
19:10Flying a business jet, the one behind me here.
19:14And I went over and met my future bosses, and they're wonderful people.
19:19And I said, sign me up, I'll do it.
19:22And so that's, that's why I'm flying this wonderful piece of machinery behind me.
19:27I can't imagine doing really anything else.
19:30I've done other things, and I can do them.
19:33But, you know, there's just a certain amount of satisfaction that you get from, from flying that you, it's tough to get other, doing other things.
19:42Well, on behalf of Operation Healing Heroes, I want to say thank you for your service, sacrifice to our country, your families.
19:51It's a custom Thorn Brothers muskie rod for you.
19:54Wow.
19:55Maybe if you were using this earlier, we would actually landed that.
19:57Yeah, we would have, for sure.
19:59St. Croix rod, it says, in appreciation of your sacrifice and service.
20:03Custom built for Todd Berge.
20:04Oh my goodness.
20:05Nine foot muskie rod for you.
20:06Thank you so much.
20:07And you wouldn't look complete without your Operation Healing Heroes jersey.
20:12So we've got your jersey here with your name Todd on the front, Berge on the back.
20:16Well, I better wear that with the rod and catch a muskie.
20:20Thank you so much, brother.
20:21Appreciate you.
20:22I appreciate you and everything you guys do.
20:24And you are the officially coolest guy I know.
20:30If you'd like to personally thank a veteran that you've seen in one of our episodes, or nominate a veteran to be featured in a future episode, log on to our website, OperationHealingHeroes.org, and click on the nominate button.
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