Advanced Combat Skills in the Cockpit AND the Gut Microbiome

We're at the end of flight training and gut health comparison.  When we completed this last phase of flight training, we earned our wings.  There's much that goes into this piloting phase from an aircraft advanced skill perspective, but more importantly, there is the added component of making good decisions to complete your mission. 

Rather than focusing on the many different aviation missions we trained for, one key part of decision-making whether in a cockpit or for your gut microbiome alike, is analyzing data to make the best decision possible.

Let’s take a closer look at one, dusty example.

I flew CH-47D Chinooks for all of 9 years of my time in the Army.

One of our main missions was to haul troops and their equipment.  We hauled their equipment by tethering it to 3 cargo hooks on the belly of the helicopter, otherwise described as "sling-loading".

As the photos depict, it can be a rather risky mission, most notably for the members of the rigging crew on the ground, charged with standing on the equipment to attach the equipment slings to the helicopter's hooks.

Add in extra difficulty if you’re doing this in the dark. Toss in blowing dust and sand for reduced visibility and hopefully, you can see where I'm going.

On one particular exercise, we were forced to abort missions a few times because pilots had decided brown out (dusty) conditions were so bad, that the safety of aircrews and ground personnel hit an unacceptable danger zone.

This string of cancelations received so much attention that it made it to the Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, Major General Jack Keane.

He requested (make that demanded) to know why these missions were getting canceled.  After a quick briefing, he further insisted to see firsthand how blowing dust could abort a mission. 

And yours truly was given the honor of giving General Keane his orientation ride.

Only he didn't sit in our "jump seat", typically the guest seat between the pilots in the cockpit.

No, he demanded to be harnessed and buckled to the floor of the Chinook, hanging out of the cargo hole during the sling load hookup

.This is what I call analyzing data, in person, by a 2-star general.

As I hovered over the equipment and approached the dust cloud, the rear-view mirror was filled with an image of a dust geyser from floor to ceiling in the helicopter.

It was like the movie Twister, without the airborne cows.

Our crew members that do this job day in and day out, protected themselves with as much gear as they could to minimize the sandblasting effect on their faces.

General Keane?  Yeah, he had none of that.

When the radio call came over to back off the sling load equipment and land, the General had seen enough.

I watched General Keane, appearing at this point to be a 6-foot 5-inch lochness monster, covered in dust from head to toe, as he made his way to the cockpit for what I believed to be my final minutes on earth.

He slapped me so hard on my shoulder, I had to make sure the flight controls didn't move.

Then he slammed his General's "coin" on my center console, a token of immense appreciation, and yelled into my helmet.

"That's exactly what I needed to see!"

The same data the pilots used to make critical safety decisions was what he used to understand that mission conditions were so bad, that the right call was to abort.

Long retired now, General Keane is a regular military analyst on Fox News and provides regular analysis on many geo-political and U.S. military operations around the globe.

I often wonder if he remembers that data analysis exercise the same way I do!

Earning your gut pilot wings happens when you are the owner of a functioning, balanced gut microbiome. 

And we do this when we implement a daily plan to integrate diet, exercise, good sleep, and stress management.

Progress is better than perfection and part of progress is analyzing data. There will be wins and losses, hits and misses, and plenty of data along the way to help on this journey.

What's an example of data analysis when it comes to gut health?

Universally, tending to your gut microbiome begins with a focus on resetting or tuning up the bacterial balance in your gut.

Diet will be the tip of the spear in this battle as we eat a whole foods diet full of fiber, fermented foods, good fats, and plenty of lean protein.

Data analysis on this front will be seen of course with improved, daily bowel habits.  Use this information to adjust components of your diet, especially fiber quantity, the ratio of soluble to insoluble, and hydration levels.

Tolerability and preference are other areas of focus.  My preferred food sources might differ from yours.  This takes an incredible amount of patience and diligence to get right.  But the effort will pay huge dividends.

Lastly, depending on whether this gut health journey starts with an identified problem or is for general health improvement, the analysis might be from blood work markers or just the good old-fashioned scale.

Adjusting your diet can be one of the best ways to keep you on track for achieving your goals.  Once the dietary habits are in place, the other areas of focus can be addressed.

Stack up your wins with diet, moving your body more, resting better, and managing stress.

They're called advanced gut health skills for a reason.

Because they produce advanced results.

Thanks for reading,

Jeff