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“ That Others May Live” Elite Air Force Pararescuer Brings Lessons from Afghanistan
Above: Always up for physical challenges, Talbott (middle) celebrates with friends and fellow triathletes Stephen Killian and Matt Shortal after finishing the Wildflower HalfIronman competition at Lake San Antonio in central California in May 2009. Background Photo: During a two-week stint at Fire Base TYCZ in Deh Rawood, Afghanistan, in 2005, then-Senior Airman Matt Talbott takes a break from target practice outside the main gate of the rural compound about 250 miles southwest of Kabul—a region known as a Taliban stronghold. 4 2 • spr i ng 2 0 1 0
U.S. Air Force Pararescue troops are fiercely competitive: only one in five recruits makes it through the grueling, 17-month training. They undergo extreme physical and psychological demands, including water fitness, high-altitude parachuting, advanced trauma medicine and weapons qualifications, all in an effort to perfect techniques for dangerous and daring search and rescue operations. Also known as Pararescue Jumpers—or “PJs,”—their credo, “That Others May Live,” reaffirms their commitment to saving lives and self-sacrifice. As part of this elite unit, Staff Sergeant Matt Talbott served two tours of duty in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2009, leading teams to quickly find and bring back wounded coalition comrades from some of the world’s most treachorous terrain and conditions. Awarded the Air Medal for completing 15 combat missions during Operation Enduring Freedom, Talbott also helped train Afghan National Army forces, and used his paramedic skills to treat Afghan villagers near his forward operating base. While on the frontlines, Talbott planned his next big challenge: business school. Less than a year later, he landed at UC Davis as a Daytime MBA student. He knew the university and its reputation well, having earned his undergraduate degree here in history in 1999. He said the MBA program stood out because “students and faculty I met expressed a real interest in who I was and what I wanted to do. My impression was that I could have a greater impact here, and that’s turned out to be true.” Focusing on finance and strategy, Talbott is thriving inside and outside the classroom. He’s co-director of fundraising for the Big Bang! Business Plan Competition, lining up sponsors that provide the prize money. Meanwhile, he has a nascent idea for his own start-up—a web-based community similar to Kiva.com that allows individual investors to collectively fund new ventures. He’s also part of the MBA Ambassador program that connects prospective students with current students to share what life is like at the School. A native of San Francisco, Talbott has set his sights on returning to the Bay Area to join a Silicon Valley upstart with a culture that mirrors his military experience. “I was a member of a small team of professionals who were very motivated, aggressive in accomplishing what’s in front of them, and very ambitious about achieving goals in a highly stressful environment.” He’s already had a taste of Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial zest—and he’s hungry for more. His first job out of college—at the height of the dot-com boom in 2000— was as an executive recruiter at Schweichler Associates. Talbott cold called hundreds of contacts for each search, trying to convince senior executives at established firms to join venture capital-backed, high-tech start-ups. “I wanted to be doing what they were doing and not recruiting them,” he said. Later, at Foss and Company in San Francisco, Talbott gained experience in project finance and structuring and marketing tax credit investments primarily in the renewable energy field—a baptism that led to his decision to pursue an MBA. “I was doing deals and wanted to learn more about and understand the underlying models.” Talbott continues to serve with the Air National Guard’s 131st Rescue Squadron, based at Moffett Field near Mountain View. His unit will deploy soon, and they have enough PJs to fulfill their mission. This allows Talbott to continue his education uninterrupted, but his heart is with them. “I don’t think we will ever be able to match the job satisfaction,” he said. “You go in and get hurt Americans and bring them back to get medical treatment, and you are treated as a rock star for doing that.”