Matthew T. Fritz @fritzmt

@GamewithDave SSN-21 Sea Wolf. Loved playing that with my Dad.

@astro_reid @real_Stephanie Welcome home, thank you, and job well done! You and your crew made us proud!

Next week I’ll be in Colorado Springs for Space Symposium (13–16 April). Looking forward to being back in a room with people who care deeply about where this mission is headed. Over the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time listening, learning, and trying to understand how @USSpaceForce is thinking about training, testing, and readiness in a domain that is changing fast. It is clear this is not just an extension of what we’ve done before. It is something new, and it is going to require new approaches, new partnerships, and a willingness to rethink how we prepare operators for contested environments. From my perspective, one thing stands out… We do not need to start from zero. There is a lot of hard-earned experience across the @usairforce, joint simulation, and training communities that can help accelerate where #SpaceForce is trying to go, especially when it comes to integrating systems, connecting environments, and turning ideas into operational capability. That is where I believe @cym_star has something to contribute. We have spent the last two decades helping the #AirForce take complex training and simulation systems and make them work in the real world. Not just building devices, but integrating systems, connecting networks, and delivering capability that operators can actually use. Now we are looking at how that experience can help in the space domain, particularly as conversations shift toward digital environments, distributed training, and integration with joint systems like JSE. Matt Jamison and I will be at Space Symposium with #CymSTAR all week and would welcome the chance to reconnect with friends, meet new teammates, and compare notes on where things are headed. If you are going to be there, let’s find some time. #SpaceFoundation #SpaceSymposium #SpaceIndustry

The lengths I’ll go to in order to rid my back yard of grackles… Every year during hatching season, they absolutely destroy my pool area with their “little bomblets.” …Not this year…I’m taking deterrence up a notch early!

@DHSgov Crazy to see politicians play games with American’s livelihoods and paychecks. x.com/fritzmt/status…

Matthew T. Fritz @fritzmt

3 months ago

Government shutdowns get framed as strategy. For federal workers, they are a missed paycheck. The job does not stop. TSA, military, law enforcement, public health, air traffic control. They still show up, still carry the responsibility, still serve. The pay stops. I hear it

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@RonDeSantis @StlMagnolia1 Had a loaded gun stopped in a passenger carryon at the small airport near me just this morning. Sounds like value to me!

Chuck Norris didn’t pass away. Time just decided it couldn’t keep up anymore. RIP to an Air Force veteran and a larger-than-life American original. Some guys play heroes. Chuck Norris showed up as one long before Hollywood noticed. #ChuckNorris #RIPChuckNorris #AirForce #Veteran

Government shutdowns get framed as strategy. For federal workers, they are a missed paycheck. The job does not stop. TSA, military, law enforcement, public health, air traffic control. They still show up, still carry the responsibility, still serve. The pay stops. I hear it all the time: “They will get back pay.” Maybe. Usually. But that does not cover rent due now. Groceries today. Prescriptions this week. Credit cards and utilities that do not wait. And think about what we are actually asking of people. “Come to work. Do your job. If you do not, you could be fired. But we are not going to pay you right now.” That would not fly in almost any other profession. This is not about politics or taking sides. Budget debates are complex, and that is not my lane. But the consequences are real, and they land on people who had nothing to do with the disagreement. Federal workers are not leverage. They are people doing their jobs. We depend on them every day. The system should not depend on them absorbing the cost when it breaks. #GovernmentShutdown #FederalEmployees #PublicService #EssentialWorkers #SupportFederalWorkers #RespectTheWork #PayOurWorkers #KeepGovernmentRunning

The latest updates coming in via CENTCOM are sad. As someone who spent many years in the KC-135 community, my heart breaks for these crews, their families, and their squadrons. Tanker crews quietly enable almost every mission in the sky. Today we remember the cost of that work. Prayers for the fallen, the survivors, their squadron mates, friends, leaders and especially the families involved. #KC135 #USAF #Airmen

Crew reports are still emerging about the loss of a KC-135 supporting operations in the Middle East today. As a former KC-135 pilot, this one hits close to home. Tanker crews launch every day into complex, demanding missions that most people will never see or fully understand. The margins can be thin, and the responsibility is immense. Tonight I am thinking about the crew, their families, and the units waiting for answers. Praying for them all. #USAF #KC135 #Airmen

@keller190669 @Granite_Stater1 No ejection capability, and the bailout option ended when parachutes were removed from regular operations many years ago.

@takebackUSA24 Bailout hasn’t been an option on the KC-135 for many years, since the parachutes were removed for various reasons.

Respectfully, that is not the reality I experienced in 26 years of service. The vast majority of people I served with were not there because they had “no better choice.” They chose to serve. Most had college degrees and could have pursued lucrative careers elsewhere. Military service is a choice. A serious one. And most of the people who make it do so because they believe in service, leadership, and responsibility, not because they ran out of options. Reducing military service to a last-resort job misunderstands the people who wear the uniform. The idea that military service is just a last resort for people who had nowhere else to go says more about the person saying it than the people in uniform.

I am watching the outrage cycle online about the Department of War spending money on food for deployed troops. The headlines are written to provoke a reaction. “$6.9M for lobster tail.” “$2M for king crab.” “$15M for ribeye.” “$124K for ice cream machines.” To someone outside the military, that sounds outrageous. To someone who spent 26 years in uniform and deployed eleven times, it sounds like a misunderstanding of how the military actually feeds people in combat zones. Those numbers are not a fancy dinner for generals. They are bulk purchases spread across thousands of service members, across multiple locations, over long periods of time. What shows up on the plate is not surf-and-turf from a steakhouse. It is usually overcooked steak, rubbery seafood, and occasionally an ice cream machine in the corner of a dusty dining facility. And for troops living in tents, working long shifts, and operating in combat environments, that small morale boost matters. The part that bothers me is not criticism of government spending. Scrutiny is healthy. What bothers me is the growing gap between the civilian class and the warrior class. A shrinking percentage of Americans serve. Increasingly, the people in uniform are the sons and daughters of those who served before them. For many families, military service has quietly become a generational profession. Meanwhile, people who will never deploy, never carry the responsibility of war, and never send their kids into it, feel comfortable mocking the food provided to those who do. The same people will often say “thank you for your service.” But the tone changes when the subject turns to whether the people doing that service are allowed a halfway decent meal. If you want to debate defense spending, fine. That conversation is worth having. Just remember who you are talking about. These are not politicians. These are young Americans who volunteered to go where the nation sends them. #MilitaryLife #SupportTheTroops #VeteransVoice #Perspective

Phenomenal insights gained via @C3AI this week at #C3Transform. Enjoyed my fellow crowd member’s thoughts and collaboration, plus I was educated and informed by the speakers and hands-on opportunities. Bravo!

@MCCCANM So sorry to hear this…condolences to you and your family.

The new National Defense Strategy makes one thing clear: advantage will come less from platforms alone, and more from how fast we integrate people, data, and capability across domains. Speed of learning is becoming a form of deterrence. For those of us working in defense innovation, training, and mission systems, the message is unmistakable. Readiness is no longer a static state. It is a continuously updated competitive edge. Strategy is shifting from “owning capability” to “adapting capability.” The industrial base that understands that shift will matter most in the years ahead. #NationalSecurity #DefenseStrategy #DoD

Thank you for this action and attention to a continual bleed that has plagued our military servicemembers. After 26 years of service and 13 military-managed moves, I can count on one hand how many were relatively trouble free. A couch delivered without cushions, heirlooms broken with no recompense, and family member’s items destroyed without remorse. Grateful to see some attention being paid to this challenge for our military members and their families.

Space Industry Days (Los Angeles) opened strong this morning. Theme: “Lethality and Deterrence in Space: Unleashing the Industrial Base.” Big takeaway already: Space superiority is no longer a niche mission. It is an operational requirement, and the industrial base has to move at operational speed. #SpaceForce #NationalSecurity #Space