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Cesar “Rico” Rodriguez is an Air Force Colonel (ret.) and former fighter pilot in an elite group among veterans: he is one of three pilots with three air-to-air shootdowns since Vietnam. His dog fights and experiences from the cockpit of an F-15C Eagle taking down MiGs in both Desert Storm and Kosovo provide a first-hand account of just how challenging aerial combat can be. In this Combat Story, Rico describes his journey from a kid in Puerto Rico to the Citadel to the Air Force and, finally, to his current life at Raytheon continuing to help the Air Force win the next air war.
The description of combat begins at the 49:14 mark.
0:00 A dog fight
2:11 - Where the call sign “Rico” came from. Unsurprisingly, it was coined at a bar.
6:35 - A description of F-15C aircraft tail number 114, an image behind Rico in the interview that you can see on the KZfaq interview. Rico flew this aircraft for his first two shootdowns.
10:05 - Rico’s father - an Army Air Defense Officer - also had a desire to fly but Rico’s journey to fly had a different origin.
16:50 - Flying certain aircraft and profiles felt more like a team sport than others where you had to work as a team.
21:48 - Rico’s first aircraft was the A-10 but he then worked his way back to flying the F-15.
23:13 - Being part of a small group (Latinos Unidos) from Puerto Rico as an Air Force pilot and cadet at The Citadel.
25:15 - What was it like to be a fighter pilot in the Cold War?
31:14 - A description of Red Flag intense and real-world training scenarios as Nellis AFB.
33:55 - “Master arm hot” means all weapons are hot and raises the intensity factor.
34:23 - Transition from A-10 to F-15 personally and within the Air Force fighter community.
40:38 - The experience being part of the Panama Campaign in 1989 and it was the first time to have live weapons and open an Air Tasking Order.
49:14 - First hostile contact and shootdown on January 16th with Craig “Mole” Underhill southwest of Baghdad.
53:18 - Description of a Split-S maneuver.
1:02:00 - A classic “two circle fight” and the red baron’s description of a two vs one circle fight.
1:04:58 - The only course of action is to defeat the missile when it’s coming at you.
1:10:18 - A story of how lessons learned authored by those who fought it can change as it goes up the chain of command.
1:14:30 - The lethality of the AMRAAM missile and how it revolutionized fighting.
1:17:57 - First kill of the Kosovo War was at night and at long range and a lesson learned to not look at the missile coming off the rail when at night.
1:21:31 - Rico’s last flight teaming up in training with the youngest pilot in the Squadron going up against four Gen 4 fighters.
1:24:00 - Flying with a flag and a coin.
1:25:00 - Would you do it again and the next generation of fighter pilots?