The Need to Lead

The Jack Carr Channel

Jack Carr

Society & Culture

4.9 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 22 October 2025

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today’s guest is Dave Berke, a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer, fighter pilot, ground combat leader, and now a leadership instructor with Echelon Front. As an F/A-18 pilot, Dave deployed twice from the USS John C. Stennis in support of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan before joining the ranks of TOPGUN, where he was dual-qualified in both the F/A-18 and F-16, serving as the Training Officer—the senior pilot responsible for the conduct of the TOPGUN course. He later served on the ground in Ramadi, Iraq in 2006 as an ANGLICO Forward Air Controller with the Army’s 1st Armored Division, supporting SEAL Task Unit Bruiser. Dave was the first operational pilot to fly and be qualified in the F-35B Lightning II, commanding the Marines’ first F-35 squadron. He also holds a master’s degree in International Public Policy and Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University. Now, as Chief Development Officer and leadership instructor with Echelon Front, Dave draws from decades of combat and aviation experience to teach principles of leadership, discipline, and teamwork to organizations around the world. In this episode, Jack talks with Dave about growing up under the flight path of El Toro Marine Base, early influences that led him to Marine aviation, and the journey from the cockpit to the streets of Ramadi. They discuss the power of teamwork under fire, the lessons learned at TOPGUN, and what true leadership looks like—whether in the sky, on the battlefield, or in business. His book, THE NEED TO LEAD: A TOPGUN INSTRUCTOR'S LESSONS ON HOW LEADERSHIP SOLVES EVERY CHALLENGE, is available now. FOLLOW DAVE Instagram: @davidrberke X: Dave Berke Facebook: David Berke Website: daveberke.com FOLLOW JACK Instagram: @JackCarrUSA X: @JackCarrUSA Facebook: @JackCarr YouTube: @JackCarrUSA SPONSORS CRY HAVOC – A Tom Reece Thriller https://www.officialjackcarr.com/books/cry-havoc/ Bravo Company Manufacturing - https://bravocompanyusa.com/ and on Instagram @BravoCompanyUSA THE SIGs of Jack Carr: Visit https://www.sigsauer.com/ and on Instagram @sigsauerinc Jack Carr Gear: Explore the gear here https://jackcarr.co/gear

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of the Danger Close podcast is brought to you by Cry Havoc
0:04.0	from New York Times number one best-selling author Jack Carr.
0:10.0	Cry Havoc, a Tom Rees thriller. Order now.
0:18.0	I feel the need.
0:20.0	The need for speed.
0:23.6	I can tell you where I was sitting when my CO, my commanding officer is like, you're going to Top Gun.
0:30.6	I'm going to send you up against the best you two characters are going to Top Gun.
0:35.6	You know, those are surreal moments where I cannot believe this is happening. It's the most professional school in the world. The instructors are world-class. Every second of being a Top Gun, I felt like I was in a dream. It was just the best time of my entire life. On my deployment to Afghanistan, I get the call from the senior instructor at Top Gun saying, hey, when you're done with this deployment, come back and come be an instructor of Top Gun.
0:57.3	And that staff that I was a part of is just some of the most unbelievably intelligent, capable
1:02.4	warfighters and instructors I've ever been around. And before we get to the F-22, F-35, all these amazing things that you did, what was that path in for you?
1:24.2	Were you always that person who was going to join the Marine Corps from an early age? What was that influence that inspired you to serve? Yeah, I definitely meandered around
1:35.0	a little bit, but I would say at a pretty young age, very randomly, when I was five years old,
1:40.2	my parents moved to a town called El Toro in California, as is in the late 70s, and there was a Marine Corps fighter base out there. And my flight, my parents moved to a town called El Toro in California, as in the late 70s, and there
1:45.2	was a Marine Corps fighter base out there. And my house lived literally under the flight path
1:51.6	of the base. So from about five years old and on, every single day, a hundred times a day,
1:56.4	I'd look up, and I'd see jets taken off, and they're Marine jets. And no, there's an air show
2:00.6	every year, and it just got into my bloodstream. And I jets. And no, there's an air show every year.
2:01.0	And it just got into my bloodstream. And I think, you know, I looked at the Air Force. I looked at the Navy, you know, all the military services. But I think there was always this piece that knew, like, I just wanted to be a Marine from the get-go. And it really was because of where I grew up. that's amazing. Did you, what was flying over that caught your eye the most?
2:17.9	Was it F-18s at the time?
2:19.1	What were they flying?
2:20.2	Well, my first memory is the Phantom.
2:23.1	Oh, you had the Phantom memory.
	...

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