Ones Ready
A team of active duty Combat Control (CCT), Pararescue (PJ), and Special Reconnaissance (SR) leveraging our 69 years of special operations experience to make the next generation of operators smarter, faster and stronger than we ever were. We are the PREMIERE resource for all things Air Force Special Warfare. The Ones Ready Podcast is honest talk about what it is like to go from a know-nothing high school graduate to an elite Special Operator. We will cover important practices for success including physical training, nutrition, recovery, and mindset traits essential to any team. Join us in The Team Room to get all your questions answered!! With battle-tested operators from across USAF SPECWAR and far-reaching web of recruiters, subject matter experts, and friends, there are no questions we can’t answer- and if we can’t, we know exactly where to look. See you in The Team Room!Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the OnesReady team are those of the team and do not reflect the official policy or position of the DoD. Any content provided by our Podcast guests, bloggers, sponsors, or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign the DoD, any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone.
Ones Ready
Ep 584: The A-10 Refuses to Die - Won Bier
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Peaches sits down with legendary A-10 attack pilot "Won" Bier—and this one is equal parts war stories, aviation nerd-out, and straight-up calling BS on billion-dollar defense decisions.
Fresh off Operation Epic Fury, with A-10s once again doing what everybody swore other platforms could “totally replace,” Won breaks down what Sandy missions, combat search and rescue, and real close air support actually look like when people’s lives are on the line.
Then it gets spicy.
Why is the Air Force “saving” the A-10… with no real funding behind it? Why is AFSOC dropping billions on aircraft nobody asked for? And why do the people actually getting shot at still keep asking for the Hog?
Won doesn’t sugarcoat it—budgets, politics, ego, procurement… it’s all in the blast radius.
Bottom line: every time they try to kill the Hog… reality drags it right back into the fight.
⏱️ Timestamps:
00:00 "Won" Bier Is Back
02:00 Retirement… Kind Of
04:00 Watching Epic Fury From the Sidelines
06:00 Dude 4-4 & Why Sandy Matters
09:00 What a Sandy Actually Does
13:00 Rescue Mission Commander Explained
17:00 Why the A-10 Was Built for This
22:00 Mark One Eyeball Beats Screens
26:00 Why Other Fighters Struggle Here
31:00 The A-10 “Extension” Is Smoke
35:00 Saved… But Not Funded?
39:00 The Pilot Manning Problem
43:00 Why Parts Are About to Hurt
46:00 OA-1K—Who Asked for This?
51:00 $40M Crop Duster?!
55:00 Why JTACs Still Want the Hog
58:00 High-Low Mix Is Dead
01:02:00 World War II Lessons Still Matter
01:05:00 Final Thought—Save the Sandy
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