TMF PREVIEW | Make Friends with Dave Berke

Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: Travis Makes Money
Host: Travis Chappell
Episode: TMF PREVIEW | Make Friends with Dave Berke
Date: March 30, 2026

This episode features a preview of Travis Chappell’s longer-form conversation with Dave Berke, a retired Marine Corps fighter pilot. The focus is on the formative moments that led Dave toward a military aviation career, the distinct mindset required to pursue such a path, lessons about clarity and flexibility in career choices, and the practical realities of chasing a dream—especially when it means forgoing "guaranteed" opportunities to follow your gut.

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Main Themes and Purpose

• Pursuing a dream career vs. playing it safe
• The powerful influence of environment and pop culture
• Early clarity versus exploration for young people
• Navigating military and aviation paths
• The value of open-mindedness and self-reflection

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Inspiration and Early Influences (01:13–02:08)

• "Was there direct influence from that first film to actually wanting to become a pilot?"
  Dave Berke: “Oh, 100%. Yeah. I saw planes landing on boats and I'm like, I want to land a plane on a boat. No doubt about it. … When you see that movie, you're like, I want to do that really big time.” (01:15)
  Dave refers to “Top Gun” and how the movie, combined with living near a Marine base, left a lasting mark on his ambitions.

• Environment as a Catalyst:
  Dave grew up near the El Toro Marine base, constantly seeing Marine aircraft: "My entire childhood … was looking up and you could see fighters taking off and landing from El Toro. So, you know, the Blue Angels come every year, and I think that's what got it in my bloodstream." (01:43–02:08)

Shared Experiences: Travis’ Aviation Memories (02:08–02:52)

• Travis recalls growing up near Edwards Air Force Base and having a similarly formative experience: "I hear this, like, super loud rumbling … I look up, and I swear the whole sky was black like that. B2 was … a couple football fields above our trees." (02:22–02:47)

• Reflecting on the awe and respect for military aviation:
  Dave: "That's one of those planes, too. I mean, just the design … That'll get in your head." (02:47–02:52)

Early Life Clarity: Blessing or Burden? (03:02–05:51)

• Dave clarifies that his path was unusually straightforward:
  "Definitely by my senior year in high school, I can tell you, like, what squadron I wanted to be in … So I was very, very clear in my own mind what I wanted to do." (03:31)

• On Early Career Clarity:
  Travis: “I find that to be very rare. … I have to go touch and try and experiment and do these other things. … But you just have this laser focus.” (03:37)

• Dave’s Perspective on Clarity:
  “I routinely talk about the attribution of good luck and good timing. … I don't recommend it. … If you do, great, that's awesome. But if you don't, that's also awesome. And you're fine and you're normal and you're going to be okay.” (04:15)

• Pop culture, environment, and realization that “things that seemed almost like a fantasy were reality … is what drove that.”
  “But again, to your point, I think life should not be predetermined in your head … then all of a sudden you're thinking you're a disappointment or a failure. That's not a good attribute to have at any age.” (05:20)

Choosing the Marine Corps over the “Safer” Air Force Path (09:09–11:10)

• Turning Down a "Dream Opportunity":
  Dave outlines his methodical approach:
  “I went really deep into my pursuit of joining the Air Force. I applied for an Air Force ROTC scholarship my junior year and got selected … I applied to an aviation college … as I'm progressing … I start to understand things … Marines fly my favorite fighter. Oh, Marines fly that fighter off carriers … I realized like, I didn't want to do that, which is super ... odd if you think of it in those terms after you get accepted.” (09:09–11:10)

• On the conversation with his Air Force liaison:
  “I remember talking to him. I'm like, hey, I'm, I'm going to decline this. And he was like, you're crazy. This is a guaranteed opportunity … you're walking away from a dream for most people. But it happened that I started to learn all I wanted to be Marine. … And I was confident enough at the time to walk away from a pretty strong opportunity that would be for almost anybody else, a dream opportunity.” (10:35–11:08)

• Notable Quote:
  “If I don't pursue that, I'll regret it.” (10:56)

The Realities of Joining Up: Recruiters, Contracts, and Paths (11:11–12:49)

• Recruiter Realities:
  “So much so that I went to the Marine Officer recruiter and the only contracts they had were ground contracts. I didn't even get an air contract.” (11:11)
  On recruiters giving optimistic answers: Travis: “Direct path. Yeah, you can definitely fly for sure. Yeah. Later, some other time.” (11:32) Dave: “That's exactly right. You would have been a great recruiter for the Marine Corps. They kind of told me what I wanted to hear. I had no idea how hard things were going to be down the road. But I roll in like my freshman year of college … I'm contracted as a ground officer.” (11:36–11:58)

• Contrast in Opportunities:
  “So I go from a full ride ROTC scholarship to I'm going to the local state school, Cal State Fullerton ... with a ground contract and I got to go to Officer Candidate School. Big, big variation in those two things.” (11:58)

The Marine Corps Officer Path (12:17–12:49)

• Detailing the OCS Path:
  “Marine officers … all of them went to ocs … classic Marine Corps. Like, we don't care where you're from, we don't care what you're studying, we don't care what your degree is in. Get a 2.0 GPA. … the standard, the most common path for the Marine Corps was plc … you got to go twice to make sure you really want to do. For the most part, yeah. And if you graduate with your degree and you meet all the standard requirements, you can get a commission in the Marine Corps.” (12:49)

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Memorable Quotes and Moments

• On committing to his dreams, despite uncertainty and outside advice:
  “If I don't pursue that, I'll regret it.” (10:56, Dave Berke)

• Reassuring those without a clear path:
  “Now if you do great, that's awesome. But if you don't, that's also awesome. And you're fine and you're normal and you're going to be okay.” (04:17, Dave Berke)

• On the fantasy meeting reality:
  “The recognition that things that seemed almost like a fantasy were reality and all the things that interested me at the time all could be combined into one thing is what drove that.” (05:20, Dave Berke)

• On the awe of military aviation:
  “By the time you hear it, it's way too late.” (02:52, Travis Chappell, on powerful military aircraft)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Top Gun influence and growing up near a Marine base: 01:13–02:08
• Shared childhood aviation stories: 02:08–02:52
• Clarity of purpose in teens and what it really means: 03:02–05:51
• Joining the military: Air Force vs. Marines, decision-making process: 09:09–11:10
• Turning down the Air Force opportunity: 10:35–11:10
• Marine recruiter experience, reality check: 11:11–12:17
• Marine officer candidate process explained: 12:17–12:49

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Episode Tone and Takeaways

The conversation balances a sense of wonder (youthful dreams of flight) with the sober realities of ambitious pursuits and tough decisions. Dave Berke’s story is not about rigid formulas for success, but about being introspective, owning your decisions, and being open to changing course even as opportunities arise. Travis’s conversational style draws out the emotion and curiosity behind these choices, making the discussion relatable and inspiring, especially for listeners contemplating major life moves or wondering if it’s “normal” to still be searching for their path.

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If you enjoyed this preview, you can catch the full conversation with Dave Berke on the Travis Makes Friends podcast.

Transcript

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[Travis]

What's up, money makers? Welcome back to the Travis Makes Money podcast. Today I'm giving you a sneak peek of this week's episode of my main show, Travis Makes Friends, a podcast all about the most valuable asset that we have in our lives, our relationships. So whether we're talking about your network, your marriage, your friendships, or even your relationship with yourself, these conversations are designed to help you grow, connect, and level up in all areas. I've sat down in person with everyone from world class athletes and entertainers to bestselling authors, entrepreneurs, and even former presidents. And you're going to love the snippet from this week's episode. So take a listen and if you're feeling it, go check out the full conversation over on Travis Makes Friends. Let's get into it. Was there direct influence from that first film to actually wanting to become a pilot?

[Marine Pilot Guest]

Oh, 100%.

[Travis]

Oh, really?

[Marine Pilot Guest]

100%. Yeah. I saw, I saw planes landing on boats and I'm like, I want to land a plane on a boat. No doubt about it. Yeah. And I'd already started thinking about, you know, the military. It was definitely in my mind. I had, I had thoughts about, you know, flying and joining. So I was already down the path. And when you see that movie, you're like, I want to do that really big time.

[Travis]

Was there anybody else in your family from the military?

[Marine Pilot Guest]

No, nobody.

[Travis]

Why was it so in your zeitgeist?

[Marine Pilot Guest]

You know, I grew up right by a Marine base as a kid in a town called El Toro. Moved there when I was like five.

[Travis]

Oh, so San Diego County?

[Marine Pilot Guest]

Yeah, it's up in Orange County, a little bit north there. But as a kid, I moved there up from San Diego. You know, I barely remember moving, but I grew up about a mile from the flight line. Just random. And so my entire childhood, from five or six years old up until the time I got in the Marine Corps, was looking up and you could see fighters taking off and landing from El Toro. So, you know, the Blue Angels come every year, and. And I think that's what got it in my bloodstream.

[Travis]

Yeah. It's funny, I. I grew up in a town called Lancaster. Yeah. You know where that is? Totally 100% Edwards Air Force Base is out there. And there's a Northrop on the east side of town. And I grew up probably like two, three miles from there.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

You're watching me, too, as a kid.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Travis]

That. That was what I was going to say is there was a. There was one time shaking. I was a kid, you know what I mean? The house started shaking, and I hear this, like, super loud rumbling noise, and I was like, something's over something, you know, overhead. So I run out in the backyard, I look up, and I swear the whole sky was black like that. B2 was. Had to be, like, a couple football fields above our trees in the backyard. I was just like, that was incredible.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

And that's one of those planes, too. I mean, just the design, the image of that.

[Travis]

I can see that, like, iconic.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

That'll get in your head.

[Travis]

It also was like, that would be a bummer if that was not friendly. You know what I mean? Like, as when. By the time you hear it, it's. It's way too late. You hear it.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Travis]

Okay, so. So you grew up kind of images of these planes and things like that. So you had pretty. A high degree of clarity. And I was listening to you talk a little bit on Jocko's podcast that you had a pretty high degree degree of clarity at this point. Like, this is the path that I want to go down, even as a teenager. Right.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

100%. You know, that movie comes out in 86. I'm probably, you know, just about to turn 14 somewhere around there by 16. Definitely by my senior year in high school, I can tell you, like, what squadron I wanted to be in.

[Travis]

Wow.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

Yeah, no doubt. So I was very, very clear in my own mind what I wanted to do.

[Travis]

What do you attribute that type of clarity that early on to. It seem I have talked to so many people on my shows now, and I find that to be very rare. Yeah, like, there's a lot of people that just. They have to go. I was and still am this way. Like, I have to go touch and try and experiment and do these other things. And Is that. Is that what I want to do? Is this one I want to do. But you just have this laser focus, which, from. From what I understand, with the odds of making it to the point of your career that you did. There's a lot of luck in timing sprinkled in that that helped you get there. But I also imagine that without that type of laser focus and clarity, the odds would be even less in your favor.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

Yeah. And you've heard me talk about it. I routinely talk about the attribution of good luck and good timing. I'm not 100% sure why I was like that. I can tell you I don't recommend it. Certainly not. You know, I' kids, I got teenagers and, and I by no means think or want people at that time in their life to know exactly what they want to do. Now if you do great, that's awesome. But if you don't, that's also awesome. And you're fine and you're normal and you're going to be okay.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

So it's not something I look back and say like, this is what caused it. And I definitely don't think it is a requirement to be successful in life for me. You know, there's, I think, a couple things going on in kind of the, just the pop culture world, like the movie Top Gun in my gener, it just had impact, you know, it's just one of those things that really made something interesting, fascinating. Growing up right by Marine base, definitely got in my bloodstream that Marines were like special. You know, I had that in my head. And then when I. I got some clarity that Marines fly fighters off carriers and like, wow, these things, all these things all exist.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

And I think the recognition that things that seemed almost like a fantasy were reality and all the things that interested me at the time all could be combined into one thing is what drove that. But again, to your point, I think life should not be predetermined in your head, especially if things don't work out the way that you want them to, which is how life works, then all of a sudden you're thinking you're a disappointment or a failure. That's not a good attribute to have at any age. Certainly that age, being open minded is usually a much better way to do things.

[Travis]

Yeah, that was something that surprised me, even doing research for the couple of chats I had with fighter pilots on the show. Is that it? In my mind, it's like, well, you want to be a fighter pilot, you go to the Air Force.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

Yeah.

[Travis]

I mean, it's like, oh, it turns out the Navy. Oh, it turns out the Marines. Everybody does like a little bit of everything almost. You know what I mean? So was that sort of part of your research process to Be like, I'm going to be a Marine and I'm gonna have to, and then I'm gonna go into the, the training program that they have and it's gonna lead to this thing.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

Or I, I learned a bunch along the way that solidified different interests that I didn't fully know could intersect. And so yeah, you want to be a fighter pilot, you should probably join the Air Force. That's kind of the right approach. And I listen, I always wanted to be a Marine. I wanted to be a Marine. And as I started down the path of like thinking about this episode of

[Travis]

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[Marine Pilot Guest]

As a teenager, you know, freshman year in high school, starting to get serious about the military, I really wanted to fly. I went really deep into my pursuit of joining the Air Force. I applied for an Air Force ROTC scholarship my junior year and got got selected for it. Early in my senior year, I applied to an aviation college called Embry Riddle. And like I had these things moving in that direction as I'm progressing towards that, as I'm getting a little bit older, you know, 15, 16, coming up on 17 and I start to understand things a little bit more like you just described, like, oh, Marines fly fighters. Marines fly my favorite fighter. Oh, Marines fly that fighter off carriers in parallel. You know, like very shortly before I accepted this ROTC scholarship to go to this aviation centric college, I realized like, I didn't want to do that, which is super, I guess, odd if you think of it in those terms after you get accepted. Yeah, I remember. You know, it's all, there's no like Internet back in the day. It's all phone calls and person in person interviews. And I remember talking, they had like a liaison. This force captain or major was like a liaison for the Rossi applicants in that region. And I remember talking to him. I'm like, hey, I'm, I'm going to decline this. And he was like, you're crazy. This is a guaranteed opportunity to at least go to flight school. Wasn't a guarantee to fly, but at least, you know, had I gotten decent grades, I graduated. It's a path. And he's like, you're walking away from a, a dream for most people. But it happened That I started to learn all I wanted to be Marine. I wanted to fly fighters, I wanted to fly off carriers. And that all pieced together. I told myself, like, if I don't pursue that, I'll regret it. And I was confident enough at the time to walk away from a pretty strong opportunity that would be for almost anybody else, a dream opportunity to go get a ROTC scholarship for the Air Force and potentially go fly for the Air Force. But that's not what I wanted to do.

[Travis]

Still wanted to be a Marine.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

I wanted to be a Marine. And so much so that I went to the Marine Officer recruiter and the only contracts they had were ground contracts. I didn't even get an air contract.

[Travis]

That's what I was going to ask. So when you're like walking to the recruiter's office, in their mind they're just basically like, whatever we can do to convince this young man to walk into our door.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

Especially the Marines. Right? Yeah. Yeah, we got. Come on in here, Dave.

[Travis]

Have a seat.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

You know.

[Travis]

Yeah, Direct path. Yeah, you can definitely fly for sure. Yeah. Later, Some other time.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

That's exactly right. You would have been a great recruiter for the Marine Corps. They kind of told me what I wanted to hear. I had no idea how hard things were going to be down the road. But I roll in like my freshman year of college. I just started. I was 17 when I started college. And I'm like, I want to be Marine. And he's like, we got a spot for you, son. Have a seat. You know, and next thing you know, I'm. I'm a.

[Travis]

You are uniquely qualified. Yeah.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

I'm contracted as a ground officer. So I go from a full ride ROTC scholarship to I'm going to the local state school, Cal State FULLERTON, you know, 20 miles from my house with a ground contract and I got to go to Officer Candidate School. Big, big variation in those two things.

[Travis]

So you immediately went to ocs?

[Marine Pilot Guest]

From, from after my freshman year in college.

[Travis]

Okay.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

So, you know, I spend my freshman year applying paperwork, getting approved physicals, all the stuff. Yeah, I finished my freshman year and I go out to Quantico as young, immature 18 year old, thinking, I'm going to be a Marine officer. And I went to ocs and that was kind of the start of my official Marine Corps journey.

[Travis]

How does that like talk to me about the differences between. If you elect to go to ocs, can everybody do that? Is there is a special path? Like, did you go to a different type of boot camp? Is it the Same boot camp, and then you apply for this thing. Tell me, like, real quick.

[Marine Pilot Guest]

Marine officers, certainly back then, all of them went to ocs. So you could be an art, Navy, rotc, Marine option. You could be at the Naval Academy Marine option or what. I was in what was called the. The Platoon Leaders Class plc, which is basically, you know, classic Marine Corps. Like, we don't care where you're from, we don't care what you're studying, we don't care what your degree is in. Get a 2.0 GPA. Physical fitness stuff, you know, write some letters and whatnot. But the standard, the most common path for the Marine Corps was plc, okay? And that's where you just go to officer Candidate school. You got to go twice to make sure you really want to do. For the most part, yeah. And if you graduate with your degree and you meet all the standard requirements, you can get a commission in the Marine Corps. OCS back then certainly, too. And I'm sure it's just as hard now. But it was. It was a good screening process. It weeded out and it was. It was tough. It was tough for me. Been out here all morning, not a single bite. Guess the fish finally figured it out. Just like hackers do when Cisco Duo is on guard with Duo's end to end phishing resistance. Every login, every device, every user stays protected. No hooks, no catches, no bites. Cisco Duo fishing season is over. Learn [e-mail].