MAX AFTERBURNER // COMBAT PILOT // AUTHOR
12 Principles To Help You Lead Like a Fighter Pilot
For a decade, I planned wars and developed strategies to dominate any adversary. Take Command is the exact playbook to apply these strategies to your own life.
MISSION FILE // NEW RELEASE
Take Command
DEPLOY DATE: FALL 2026
Take Command uses real stories from the life of a fighter pilot to explain the doctrine that governs real military operations (command structure, environmental scanning, force deployment, execution under fire) and builds a complete framework for running your life with the same clarity. The fighter pilot mindset doesn’t belong solely to the fighter pilot; it belongs to you too. Whatever you do for work, wherever you’re at in life, you can take command. Through entertaining stories, principles, and applications, this book will help you become the commander of your life.
When does it ship?
Pre-orders are open now. The book releases and ships Fall 2026. You’ll receive a shipping notification when your order is on its way.
When will I be charged?
Your card is charged at checkout when you place your order. You’ll get a confirmation email immediately.
Is there a digital edition?
No. Take Command is print only. No ebook, no audiobook.
Does it ship internationally?
Domestic US only at launch. International availability may follow after the initial release.
PERSONNEL FILE // RYAN BODENHEIMER
- CALLSIGN MAX AFTERBURNER
- PLATFORM F-15E STRIKE EAGLE / F-16 THUNDERBIRD
- COMBAT SORTIES 70 (AFGHANISTAN)
- WAR PLAN IRAN / CHINA / NORTH KOREA / RUSSIA (4 YRS)
- POST-MILITARY AIRLINE PILOT, CONTENT CREATOR, AUTHOR
- SUBSCRIBERS 830K+
Ryan “Max Afterburner” Bodenheimer flew F-15E Strike Eagles on 70 combat missions in Afghanistan before being selected as an F-16 Thunderbird demonstration pilot, one of the most elite postings in the U.S. Air Force.
He then spent four years as the officer in charge of his squadron’s operational war plan for Iran, China, and North Korea, studying the IRGC in classified back vaults for nearly a decade.
MISSION BRIEFING // WHAT’S INSIDE
Four Operations. One Command Structure.
Not a memoir. Not a lecture. Not recycled leadership advice you’ve read ten times. A field manual that takes the most cutting-edge military strategy on the planet and aims it at your own life.
OPERATION I
Take Command of Yourself
Most people think they’re running their life. They’re not. One day it’s their discipline giving the orders, the next it’s their fear, their ego, their comfort, their phone. They have no chain of command, just a mob of impulses taking turns at the wheel. This is where you find out who’s actually been in charge and build the structure that puts you back on top of it.
OPERATION II
Take Command of the Battlefield
The threat that takes you out is the one you never saw coming. Markets shift, technology disrupts overnight, relationships turn, advantages evaporate. You win a war by never being surprised; reading the whole battlefield at once, tracking what’s already in motion and what’s barely appearing on the horizon, long before anyone else clocks it. Learn to scan the same way, and the hits you never used to see coming become the moves you make first.
OPERATION III
Take Command of Your Craft
You’ve got a limited amount of time, energy, and focus, and you’re spreading it thin across a dozen battles that change nothing. Winning isn’t doing more. It’s finding the one decisive fight that moves everything else downstream, and hitting it with everything you’ve got while the rest holds without you. Stop firing in every direction. Concentrate your force where it counts.
OPERATION IV
Take Command of the Moment
A plan is worthless until someone commits to it, and most people never go all in, because all in means failure is real. Then the second you execute, reality breaks the plan and you have to adapt without losing the objective. This is where everything you’ve built gets tested: full commitment, in-flight adjustment, and the discipline to actually finish, and keep it won.
Questions about your order? // info@mysignedcopy.com