From Cable Installer to Eagle Driver

November 2, 2025 by Mike Manazir – (4-5 minutes)

The Chance Conversation that Changed a Life- and Led to an Epic Duel

The Cable Guy

“I can’t shake him Muddy!” An F-15C Eagle was “swinging my wing line,” and my F-14D Tomcat was about to be in his gun sight. Full afterburner. High-G air hissing past the canopy. I rolled hard inverted and pulled toward the deck to force an overshoot. No dice.

Over the radio: “Pipper’s on… guns kill on Nasty. Knock it off.” Round one to the Eagle.

We were out over blue water between Key West and Miami, settling a friendly score: Eagle vs. Tomcat, Major Ragan “Hornet” Nicholl vs. me and my backseater Doug “Muddy” Waters. One-mile setups at 15,000 feet, full burner, hard turns. I took round two. Round three was a slugfest from 25,000 feet down to the 5,000-foot hard deck—max G, nothing left in the jets. “Knock it off.” We finished even, saluted, and headed home.

On the way back I smiled—because the real story started thirteen years earlier, in a living room in Escondido.

Who Is That Guy?

February 1985. Kelly and I had just moved in and called the cable company. A blond kid knocked, saw my Tomcat photos, and asked, “You fly those?”

“Yep. F-14s at Miramar.”

He peppered me with questions. I told him: “You’ve already got a four-year degree, go walk into a recruiter’s office, and ask for a pilot slot! It’s possible.”

He finished the install and left. A year later I got a call: “Second Lieutenant Ragan Nicholl, USAF—I’m at the F-16 RTU at Luke.” The Navy had no slots that day. He walked outside, saw the Air Force door, and stepped through it. He earned his wings, flew F-16s in Korea, later F-15s with the Guard, and hired on with Northwest Airlines.

We stayed in touch. When Muddy heard “Hornet the Cable Guy” was at Homestead during our time in Key West, he grinned: “We’ve got to fight him.” And we did. The cable guy who became an Eagle driver went toe-to-toe with a Tomcat—and made me work for every knot and every degree of turn. I’m proud he clipped me on that first engagement—the one that counts.

You never know how a moment of encouragement can alter someone’s trajectory.

Leadership Lesson: Plant Seeds of Possibilities

Adopt the mindset. Some leaders see limitations first. Choose to see potential first. Your belief becomes a mirror your people learn to hold up to themselves.

Name the path. Don’t just inspire—explain how. “Here’s the door. Here’s the first step.” Possibility + pathway creates motion.

Mentor both ways. Seek mentors who see more in you—and be that mentor for someone else. Their wins will become your favorite victories.

Celebrate progress publicly. Share the story so others see what’s possible for them. Possibility scales when it’s visible.

Release the outcome. Plant the seed; they must choose to grow. Empower, don’t control.

I’ve come to believe there are two kinds of people: those who see possibilities in every challenge and those who see challenges in every possibility. Leaders choose the first—and help others do the same.

Because leadership is multiplication, not addition: Plant one seed of possibility, and watch a forest of futures rise.

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P.S.

If this message stirred something in you—share it. Forward it to a friend, colleague, or your leadership team. Better yet—let’s talk.

Let’s raise up a generation of leaders who know how to Lead to Win.

Mike Manazir
Bestselling Author | Navy Admiral | Fighter Pilot | Leadership Coach

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