Ep 533: From Thunderbird to Trailblazer: "Max Afterburner" on Purpose & Grit

Ones Ready

Aaron Love, Trent Seegmiller, and Jared "Peaches" Pietras

Education, Special Reconnaissance, Special Operations, Air Force, Pj, Combat Control, Tactical Air Control Party, Self-improvement, Fitness, Selection, Health & Fitness, Pararescue, Special Warfare, Tacp, Government, Assessment And Selection, Cct

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 November 2025

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Send us Fan Mail Aaron sits down with Ryan “Max Afterburner” Bodenheimer—Strike Eagle pilot, Thunderbird #2, and one of the most grounded high-performers to ever touch a flight line. They dive into mentorship, resilience, building real confidence, finding purpose after the military, and why today’s warriors need challenge—not comfort. Max opens up about beating burnout, rediscovering joy in the job, and how the fighter-pilot mindset can lift anyone chasing excellence. If you're looking for cl...

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	What was it like when you, no kidding, you hung the phone up and you're like, I'm a, I'm a freaking Thunderbird.
0:05.0	Yeah.
0:06.0	It was surreal, man.
0:07.3	It was, and I was like, was that my, was that my bro? Honestly, I'm like, was that one of my bros punking me? Could have been to anybody? They just ghosted a phone number. They just said they were this guy that you never talked to or you talked to him one time. Hilarious.
0:18.5	Like one of the guys in the squadron who's like,
0:20.6	this guy thinks it's going to be a Thunderbird's.
0:22.0	You're just looking around for phones.
0:23.4	You're like, oh, thinks he's going to be a Thunderbird's.
0:22.0	You're just looking around for phones.
0:23.4	You're like, oh, man, am I about, am I getting got right now? Like, you're looking to see if anybody's, like, recording you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. One's ready. Point a good. Go. One!
0:34.5	One!
0:38.5	Two!
0:39.5	Two!
0:40.5	Two! One, two, two, two, one, one, two, two, two, two,
0:40.3	one, one, a, one.
0:44.3	One, one, two, yeah, we aim for the stars, feet on the ground, but our heads are our mars.
1:04.0	Vision's the glory, sweat on our skin, we craft our story, determined to win.
1:10.0	We the Titans with hearts untamed
1:12.1	We face the giants in this battling game
1:14.7	Our dreams are loud echoes of then remain
1:17.3	We stand as one heading for the Hall of Fame
1:20.0	We chase the lights till the final whistle
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Aaron Love, Trent Seegmiller, and Jared "Peaches" Pietras, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Aaron Love, Trent Seegmiller, and Jared "Peaches" Pietras and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.