'Never Stop Adapting': One Veteran's Experience from Active Duty to Technology Strategist

In another life, Michael Rambo could've been a game show host. Instead, he earned ‘Gameshow’ as his call sign. It all started when he was 13.

"When I felt the force of a 4-ship F-4 Phantom engines doing a static, maximum performance takeoff on the runway as a thirteen-year-old, I was hooked. I had to fly. I wanted to be part of the military."

He joined the Air Force and became a tanker and then trainer pilot. It was during his time as an airshow announcer, however, that his signature call sign came to be.

“When my crew chief and other airshow team members heard how my voice sounded when I was announcing, they joked that if flying didn’t work out, I could get a job hosting a game show,” Michael laughs. “‘Gameshow’ stuck and so did flying.”

Flying brought him a vast array of experiences that he’s proud of—from providing air support around Ground Zero in New York a month after 9/11 to flying through the canyons in New Zealand where the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed.

And after two decades of active duty and as a reservist, Michael decided to take on a new mission: applying his knowledge and experience from the military to civilian life.

"Being in the reserves helped ease the transition," Michael reflects. "But it was still a challenge learning how to adapt my skills and to, as I like to put it, shift from being on the tip of the spear to being in the forge."

Michael was used to operating the tools and carrying out a mission, as done in active duty. He had to learn how to shift to being the person behind the scenes, making the tools or the mission possible. While he's still known as ‘Gameshow’ within the industry and throughout the halls of Spirit, Michael is now a senior manager of technology strategy within the research and technology (R&T) division, using the foundation and skills he built during his military career.

A solid military foundation built for aerospace success

"Determination, focus, drive and motivation—all in an effort to support a higher purpose—are instilled in us in the military," Michael recalls. "This same foundation sets us up for successful careers in the civilian world. We just need the support to learn how to adapt our skills."

Michael says one of the biggest challenges he faced was one he didn't anticipate: a language barrier.

"We have a shared language in the military. I realized that a career in aviation, especially within aerospace and defense, I'd get to use some of that language, just on the other side. There was still an adjustment, but I think it was less than if I had gone into a completely different industry,” Michael shares.

The SkillBridge program, which Spirit is part of, exists to support service members by helping them apply what they learned in the military to civilian jobs through on-the-job experience and training. In the process, companies and service members can evaluate if they're mutually compatible with the opportunity to potentially get hired. Spirit also has an employee resource business group called SERVE, which stands for Spirit Employees, Reservists and VEterans. It strives to unite veterans and is focused on recruiting, retaining and recognizing military vets and reservists.

"These programs are like a translation device, helping military folks adapt their skills to civilian careers," Michael explains. "It's wonderful these support mechanisms are in place now because the knowledge and discipline veterans bring strengthens the organization."

The opportunity to strengthen the organization—and his own skills—is just what attracted Michael to Spirit.

"In the year I've been here, I've gotten to revector our distinctive capabilities, or our technology road maps, to redefine them, bring in a stronger digital focus and align them to the needs of the future," Michael shares. "We aren't solely focused on whether one technology is applicable to one commercial program. We're looking at what's applicable across commercial and defense programs."

The future of aerospace technology

A big part of what Michael does is examine what technology is needed now and envision the future, helping to build the pathways to get there. He likes the strategy and agility this requires—two skills he used as a pilot—and the futuristic focus he gets to take.

"From hypersonics to hydrogen power to high-temperature materials, everything we're doing now seems like science fiction," Michael says. "But yet, we're seeing it unfold in real-time."

Michael believes the future of aerospace is exciting, specifically in these three areas: 

1. Artificial intelligence. It will give aerospace the ability to do and think beyond what humans would've done or thought of alone in new and exciting ways.
2. New materials. The ones being invented and enhanced now are unsurpassed in the history of materials development and will enable new possibilities.
3. The ingenuity of people. People power will continue to advance, with new ideas building on the foundations of what's been achieved already.

"The time we're in almost mimics the Apollo days as another time of exploration in technology," Michael says. "We’re starting to do things that people thought were impossible, some of which I never thought I’d see—but I think I’m going to, and I’m quite happy to be along for the ride!”

A continued focus on the mission

While Michael will always be ‘Gameshow’ and lean on his military experience, he’s enjoying his current mission of helping Spirit become a vital partner in inventing, designing and building what’s best in aerospace.

“I’m constantly learning and am surrounded by brilliant people,” Michael says. “The spirit at Spirit is one of collaboration. We push each other to succeed and strive towards excellence.”

If you or someone you know has served in the armed forces and is searching for the next mission, learn more about opportunities for veterans and reservists at Spirit.