'Best of the best': Meet Capt. Mike Taylor

  • Published
  • By Airman Charles V. Rivezzo
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Editor's Note: This is part two in a six-part series highlighting the 77th Weapons Squadron. Next month's article will feature weapons systems officer Capt. Charles 'Bibs' Armstrong.

Throughout the last two months, long days and short nights have been nothing new for Capt. Mike 'Mayo' Taylor, a student from the 77th Weapons Squadron. As a student attending weapons school, time away from the schoolhouse can be a rare commodity.

From the outside looking in, one may think Taylor would have a tougher time than the other students. He is in a position that requires him to wear a variety of hats: class leader, a student of this demanding course, a husband and even a new father to a baby girl.

"It's no easy task having to balance the workload we have on a daily basis, as well as ensure things at home are taken care of," he said. "However, what we are experiencing in this course is exciting and interesting, and you don't really realize how fast time is flying by. You kind of lose yourself in your work a little bit."

Recently, Taylor, along with the rest of class 11B, completed the Defensive Tactics phase of the course.

The DT phase teaches students how to identify threats to the aircraft, and how to appropriately defend the jet from ground attacks and air attacks. It is a skill set that has not been utilized since B-1's were targeted by surface-to-air missiles and anti-artillery guns during Operation Allied Force in 1998 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

"The DT phase is the first building block for us, especially for our weapons systems officers," the class leader said. "This is a particular skill set that has atrophied in our community based on our Operation Enduring Freedom mission. For the weapons systems officers, it is particularly challenging because it's a skill set that is very difficult and they don't get the opportunity to fine tune their skills in real-world situations."

In a course where the Air Force expects new weapons school graduates to be tactical experts for their commanders and top instructors at their units, even five and a half months of grueling training can still require these operators to put in overtime.

"Most days we arrive at the schoolhouse around seven in the morning, and we're here until eight or nine at night," he said. "And on flying days, we can expect at least a 14 hour day.

"Furthermore, even after a full day at the schoolhouse, I still have a few more hours of studying once I get home. You do the math. That leaves us with around three to four hours of sleep if we're lucky," Taylor added with a smile.

However, he recognizes that a workload such as this can burn out even the most motivated of individuals before ever reaching the halfway point.

"You always want to do more because you constantly feel behind the curve," he said. "Once you get here you really start to realize how much you don't know. We could sit here and read things all day and never sleep and we still wouldn't have enough time to learn everything. You have to spend some time decompressing otherwise you're going to just burn yourself out before the end of the program."

On his lone day away from the schoolhouse, before the sun even has a chance to begin heating up the Texas landscape, Taylor is out on his bicycle riding across the countryside.

"A good 20 to 30 miles on my bike on a Saturday morning is the perfect way for me to decompress and just clear my head," the cycling enthusiast said. "The best advice going into the program was to make sure I take one day a week to get myself refreshed and relieved of the stressors I endured throughout the week."

In addition to long work hours and finding time for themselves and their families, students are also tasked with writing a paper for the weapons school course.

However, this is not your average college midterm.

These essays are highly regarded in the B-1 community and are used as references for operators to refer to for guidance.

"This is a pretty heavily graded portion of the course," he said. "A lot of times it's hard to sit down and find time to work on it with everything else going on."

Taylor is writing his paper on B-1 four-ship formations.

He and the rest of the 77th Weapons Squadron showcased this formation Aug. 18. However, due to mechanical issues only three ships were able to launch.

"My goal is to take the lessons learned from our multi-ship formation and fix what we encountered so when someone is called upon to do a multi-ship formation in the future they can look to this paper for reference and take the lessons we learned and apply them to real-world situations," Taylor said.

Taylor continues to persevere through the course with the support of his family and friends, as well as his new-found brothers in this course.

Together as one, one day at a time, the students from class 11B are on their way to being inducted into an elite brotherhood of Airmen.

Follow us throughout the next four months as we delve into the 77th Weapons Squadron and its students. Continue to learn how each student handles the stressors of this grueling course, as well as the unique experiences they encounter on their journey to earn their patch.