Air Force Combat Controller Jared 'CCT Peaches' Pietras

About this video

Mike Ritland interviews Jared ‘Peaches’ Pettus, an active-duty Air Force combat controller with 25 years of service and 11 deployments. Pettus recounts his decision to join Air Force Special Operations, his switch from pararescue to combat control during training, and explains how CCT operators train heavily in water despite primarily working as tactical air controllers. The conversation touches on training philosophy, EDC preferences, and Pettus’s concerns about recent cultural and policy shifts within the military.

Key takeaways

• Pettus attributes his military path to a cousin who was a Marine pilot and decided to join Air Force Special Operations because it offered guaranteed training slots without requiring a prior MOS, unlike other branches at the time
• Pettus switched from pararescue to combat control during selection after learning CCT’s mission involved calling airstrikes and working with aircraft, which appealed to him more than the medical focus of PJ training
• According to Pettus, Air Force Special Operations Command recently attempted to remove dive school from CCT training to speed up operator production, a decision he views as poorly executed and ultimately reversed

Episode details: published August 26, 2024 · 148.8K views · 3:10:20 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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