Wake Up Call

You're listening to KFI AM six forty Wake Up Call with me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio app. I'm choking a little bit. I just took a bite of breakfast because I was like, oh, I should have a bite of food before the show gets started, and I did it too quick to the start. Shall I have a cough drop now? So anyway, Uh, how was your Saint Patrick's day? Anyone moving a little slow today? You know, because it was a Sunday. I didn't even I didn't

I didn't even wear green yesterday. Today is four weeks till tax Day. If you haven't gotten your tax done, tax is done. Now's the time. Don't be like I was last year and put it off till the very, very very last second. I actually got everything done and turned into my accountant already. So I'm thrilled, thrilled about that. But four weeks we're going to be talking today. I'm very excited about this with Colonel Nick Haig. He is going to be the first Space Force guardian to head to the

International Space Station. You know, Space Force is the new branch of the military's launch Like five years ago, I didn't even know there was such a thing as a Space Force guardian. Super excited to be talking to him. That's coming up at about five point fifty this morning, and here's what's ahead on wake up call. Violence and robberies at the Pike, outlets and Long Beach have shut down the area. Police say more than one hundred teenagers gathered

on Saturday evenings. Several smash and grab robberies were reported. A fight broke out, and then less than an hour later, a teenage boy was shot two blocks from the Pike. He's expected to recover. A charter flight carrying more than thirty US citizens trying to get away from the gang violence in Haiti has landed in Miami. Haiti's main airport in Porta Prince, is still shut

down because of the gang attacks. The State Department announced on Saturday that it would be offering limited charter flights for American citizens from the less chaotic northern city of Capation. It was a Kenya sweep of the thirty ninth Los Angeles Marathon. Kenya's Dominic Ni Jenno won the men's marathon. Kentucky or kenyas almost said

Kentucky. Kenya Stacey in Dewa won the women's marathon. More than twenty five thousand people ran in the marathon yesterday, which went from Dodger Stadium to West LA at six oh five. It's handled on the news. Surprise President Putin has one reelection in Russia, like there was a possibility of anyone else winning. Actually, we're going to be talking with ABC's Tom Rivers a little bit more about that. How it went and whether anybody protested, and if they

did, what happened to them. Let's get started with some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Three LA County Sheriff's deputies have been hurt when their patrol car collided, Actually patrol cars collided responding to a shooting call in East LA. One of the cruisers slammed into a power powl this morning. The other hit the side of a building. A person

hurt in the shooting was also taken to the hospital. A hearing in LA federal courts expected to focus on the possibility of an independent audit of the city's homeless programs, including Maribeas's Inside Safe initiative. The judge has previously said he

supports a proposed court monitored third party audit of homeless related spending. The La Alliance for Human Rights has accused the city of failing to live up to the terms of a settlement agreement to clear homeless camps and create shelter beds for people living in the streets stirkusluv Katura Museum aslaadernist tunasham void them. Russian President Putin has been re elected to a fifth term with a record number of votes.

No surprise since the government has been cracking down on those who opposed Putin and he faced only token challengers. Putin is now set to run his country for six more years. He called the overwhelming early results an indication of trust and hope in him. Israeli forces have raided the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip for the second time since November. The army says Hamas militants had regrouped inside Shifa Hospital. The IDF is conducting a high precision operation in limited areas of

Shifa Hospital following concrete intelligence that demanded immediate action. IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari says the intelligence showed senior Hamas officials were using the hospital to coordinate new attacks on Israel. The Gaza Health Ministry says about thirty thousand people are sheltering at Shifa. Critics of accused the army of recklessly endangering lives of civilians.

The Mega Millions jackpot is getting closer to the billion dollar mark. No winning jackpot tickets were sold on Friday night, So the next drawing for tomorrow night's going to be eight hundred and seventy five million dollars. Then if you don't want to wait till, then we got another drawing. Before that, there was no power ball winning on Saturday night, so the drawing tonight is worth an estimated six hundred and forty five million dollars. It's five six on your

wake up call. Let's say good morning now to ABC's Karen Travers at the White House. So, Karen, last weeks then a Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on the Senate floor called for elections to replace Benjamin nettan Yahoo. But apparently

the White House isn't backing him up on that. Yeah, I mean, you know, the President last week said that Schumer gave a good speech after that speech where he called for new elections in Israel, and there are a lot of questions then at the White House about what that meant and what the

President may or may not have been endorsing. But over the weekend, John Kirby, the National Security spokesman, said that, you know, the President is going to continue working with the Prime Minister on the effort to release the remaining hostages and continue getting more humanitarian assistants into Gaza. He was on ABC's This Week and Martha Rabbits was pushing him on what the President would want to see though, in terms of new elections, and Kirby said, you know,

flat out, the President respects Israel's democracy. He's not looking he's not pushing to replace net Yahu because that's up to the Israeli people. He said, it's up to the Israeli government how they determine when elections are what that would look like. And Martha noted, well, Senator Schumer also understands that, but he's still calling for new elections and that there's polling about how Israelis feel about that, that they would like to see new leadership. But Kirby

just wouldn't go there. He said, it's a democratic country. We respect their sovereignty. He is the Prime Minister of israel I did think it was interesting though that you know, Kirby said that the two leaders, the President and net Yahoo have a long working relationship. They don't agree on everything, he said, they don't agree on everything with respect to what's going on in Gaza. But as Kirby put it, that's the government that's in place.

That's the government we're going to continue to work with. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but he's saying, you know, they're the ones that are in charge. And given the priorities that the White House has right now, the hostage negotiations and humanitarian assistant, that's what they're going to have to do. That's who they have to work with. Well, and it is because if you look at it too, even if the relationship sours, that's our only

real ally in the region. Yeah, and you know, of course the administration has been working with Cutter, They have been working with the UAE and Egypt, but you know, the critical piece of all of this is working with the Israelis. It's the Israelis and Hamas that have to agree to this to get any deal to be finalized, to secure the release of the hostages.

And it's the Israelis that the administration is working with for the final pieces of the humanitarian assistance, even though Egypt obviously is playing a big role in this, and the White House has not been i think shy in the last couple of weeks expressing more frustrations about the Israelis maybe needing to do more to

get aid in on the ground. You know, there was obviously the headline in the last week or so about the port that's going to be built, that temporary pier on the coast of Gaza, that the United States is already sending the pieces over to start building that to get aid in from a marine quarter. But as they're talking about this, they say, this just doesn't

replace an uptick in what can be done on the ground. That the most efficient, the safest, and best way to get aid and is still on the ground, and it's the Israelis that have to be working to make that happen, right, okay, And then slipping, slipping, switching over to the election cycle, it looks like President Biden has clinched the nomination for the Democratic Party, of course, and how did that go for fundraising? Was

that a boon for fundraising? Huge month in February. The campaign says it raised more than fifty three million dollars in February, making it the strongest month since the re election campaign launched back last April. And they have a record as a February twenty ninth, the record one hundred and fifty five hundred and fifty five million dollars in cash on hand. They say that's the highest total

for any Democratic candidate in history at this point in the cycle. And note that doesn't include that big twenty four hours they had after his stated Union address, when they raised ten million dollars after March seventh, So this is all just through February. Campaign's putting it to good use. They launched a massive ad campaign last week, you know, tens of millions of dollars right out of the gate after Super Tuesday, trying to remind Americans in their view of

what Donald Trump is saying and what he stands for. Okay, and we've got nine more months of this, yeah, nine more months. Get ready for the airwaves to be bombarded. All rightybc's Karen Travers at the White House. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. All right, let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. A congressman has secured almost eighteen million dollars in federal funding for

fifteen projects in San Diego and Orange Counties. Four million dollars will help study the potential relocation of the OC Coastal Rail Corridor. Congressman Mike Levin says the goals to move the second busiest rail corridor in the country further inland following multiple

closures due to coastal bluff collapses and beach erosion. The other projects include a water treatment facility in San Juan Capistrano, a water reclamation project in San Clemente, a bridge in Laguna Neguel, adding managed lanes to the southbound I five, and more in Orange County, Corbin Carson KFI News three people have been found unconscious inside a car in a parking garage in downtown Huntington Beach. Firefighters

were called around eight thirty last night. All three were taken to the hospital. It's not clear why they were passed out. The family of a boy with autism who was shot and killed by sheriff's deputies in the High Desert has hired attorneys. The family is now seeking answers and justice in the wake of the deputy involved shooting death of Ryan Gaynor. Ryan was shot and killed on March night, following his charge toward a deputy with a garden tool equipped with

a blade. Over the weekend, the Families Go fund Me surpassag's goal of forty thousand dollars for burial costs. Last week, Samberdandino County Sheriff Shen and Dkas release a statement saying the social safety net for those experiencing mental illness needs to be strengthened. The National Institute of Mental Health refers to autism not as a mental illness, but as a developmental disorder. Andrew Caravella Kafie News. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a case that could redefine how

the US government interacts with social media companies. The case between Republican led States and the Biden administration is over how far the federal government can go to fight controversial social media posts. ABC's Brian Clark says the White House is accused of violating free speech by requesting social media platforms remove misinformation about the COVID nineteen pandemic. The suit was brought by attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri, along with

other individuals. Lower courts have sided with the states. If the Supreme Court does too, the White House would be blocked from contacting social media companies. Okay, so you know that if you go to Costco you have to have a membership to buy anything. I don't even know if you can really get

in the doors unless you're accompanied by somebody. But apparently some people are trying to take advance to that dollar fifty hot dog and soda because Costco has announced it's cracking down on non members accessing members only services and is limiting access to its food courts to Costco cardholders only. Looks like Costco's decided to enforce the policy it's been in place, but they just don't enforce it. Like you walk up to the food court, pay a buck fifteen off, you go.

Well, starting on April eighth, be advised if you're not an active Costco membership cardholder, you're going to have to have your card to buy anything from the food court. I think that's fine because I pay a lot of money to get that dollar fifty hot dog in a drink. Hey, it's

time for Opening Day Dodger Baseball. Hey can't wait. The Dodgers are going to take on the San Diego Padres from South Korea this Wednesday morning, starting at three am, So even before wake Up Call starts, you can listen to the game live, or you can listen to the replay, probably a better option at noon on AM five seventy LA Sports and in HD on the iHeartRadio app. It's brought to you in part by LA Care for all of

LA. When we come back, Steve Gregory has this really cool story for us about some kids who probably normally wouldn't get a new suit or a new dress for prom or a job interview, but they are going to be getting those things thanks to some very generous people. And again that's Steve Gregory and it's coming up next here on wake Up Call. You're listening to wake Up Call on demand from KFI AM six forty. It's five twenty one on your wake up Call. I'm Amy King. Here's what we're following in the KFI

twenty four hour newsroom. Thousands of articles of children's clothing have been laid out along a three mile stretch of beach in Santa Cruz in protests of what's going on in Gaza. Organizers say the thirteen thousand outfits laid in the sand represent the number of children killed in the conflict. They say the display wasn't meant to support either Israel or Palestine, but only to promote a ceasefire in Gaza. Israeli forces have launched another raid on the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City,

accusing Hamas militants of using it as a base. Gaza's health ministry says the army attacked the hospital early Monday and directed gun and missile fire at a building used for specialized surgeries. Target is restricting the number of items you can have at self checkout ten or fewer items only. Moving forward, Target says it's going to open up more staffed checkouts. I'm all for that. I hate self serve checkouts. At six oh five, it's handle on the news.

Former Vice President Mike Penn says he will not endorse his old running mate Donald Trump for president. Bill's going to tell you why. Let's say good morning to Steve Gregory, who has a great story for us this morning about how hundreds of foster kids in LA are getting all dressed up. Thanks to some

incredibly generous people. For one day a year, the second floor of the LA Convention Center's West Hall becomes a fashion center for young men and women eager to attend their prom to go to a job interview, or simply feel better about themselves. This is the Glamour Gowns and Suit Up sponsored by Kasa of LA. We have roughly four hundred kids that will come through looking for suits or dresses. Kim Goldman's the development director for KASSA and says, on average,

about five hundred kids go through the experience of picking an outfit. This year we're a little bit short of that gold but still four hundred kids to walk away with brand new stuff does not stink, and they get to keep them, and they get to keep them, and everything's tailored to their size. We've got seamstresses here to make sure that everybody's buttoned up the way they need to. There's no hems running on the floor. Kimberly's a teenager and

was excited to get her first dress. Tell us what you picked? I pick up black, nice dress and Nick Jenerary and my little hairs, little heels. Yeah, what do you think about all this? There? Was good. I was was saying a favela is Kimberly's court appointed advocate or personal

KASA advisor where Kimberly goes as saying as close behind. I think the special part about watching her this morning was just the joy of trying on different things, being excited about all of the different options, and just the opportunity to feel so beautiful on such a special date. Tell me what you see when you walk in here and you see these kids, It's a beautiful experience to

walk in and really see how many options they have. A lot of times the children in foster care don't have options and don't get an opportunity to make a choice and select something. So to see the dresses, the shoes, the jewelry, it's really special and I hope they really have a good time. Dousands of volunteers showed up early on a recent Saturday morning, preparing a room on the right side of the hall for girls and a room on the

left side for boys. Sam Harrod's been with Constant for more than two decades and works with the young men and boys. So as they see those suits, they kind of stand back because they've a lot of them never had a sue. And one of the things that I always show them us how to put on a suit and how to take a suit apart and just wear with your jeans or just wear your shirt with us sweater. It's more than just one thing, but it's also could get your job one day. So we

use suits as an instrument. And when you look good, you feel good. And that's what we're giving in that room to these young men. They come in and smiling. First suit, they get that suit, We give them a little tips and they just walk away, you know, with a smile on their face. You know, a suit as just a tool we use to make you feel better. But when you feel better, you do better. And as I was talking to Sam Kailin, a young man came

into the hallway holding his brand new suit along with a big smile. So describe the suit for me. Nice black, sleek pants, black on black. I got a nice bow tie, great bow tie with a simple pattern on it, as well as black belt and black socks. Black shoes, wing tip shoes actually that I learned that in their wing tips. What you learn that wing tips are old little old school, old school shoes. That's yeah, you lean toward that they're nice. I like them. I like

that's it's pretty fly. Yeah, what's your plan? Do you have an event in mind for that too? Yes, I'm going to look on It's a thing called event Bright and there's like things you can It's like networking events. You can go to meet people. You know I do. I'm real estate enthusiasts, so you know, I really want to go meet people, network and be able to connect with whoever and be able to, you know, build relationships. So you want to be a real estate agent, a

broker, I want to be a broker. I want to be I want to have my own firm. I want to have my own firm. And talking some more with Kim Goldman causes development director. She tells me there are more than thirty thousand foster kids in La County, the largest group in the United States at any given time. What's the average number of kids you might be helping at any given moment. We are serving upwards of a thousand kids

in the foster care system. We have costes that volunteer, so we're working very hard to try to meet the needs of as many kids as we can, but we need volunteers to dedicate their time to work one on one with these kids. It's more about it's not just about the dresses. It's about showing up in court for them. It's about making sure they have access to mental health, financial health, physical health, and our goal is to reunite

them with their family if that's the most safe and reasonable goal. So we're always working to make sure that our kids are well served, well rounded in our back with their family, if that's a safe place for them. As I stood back and watched the kids leave the hall with their new clothes, it was clear, for at least a few hours on a Saturday morning, they were happy and have something to look forward to. For more information on how you can help, go to KASA LA dot org for wakeup Call.

I'm Steve Gregory k if I News. Thank you, Steve. A man suspected of killing his girlfriend's three year old son in Lancaster has been charged with murder. He's also facing a special circumstances allegation of using a knife during the commission of a crime. The boy was killed in his home last month. The mom's live in boyfriend was found with what responders said looked like self inflicted injuries. Three other kids were also home at the time, but were not

hurt. A gray whale has washed ashore and died in Malibu. It was spotted Saturday by a guy flying as drone near the shoreline off Point Doom. California Wildlife Center officials say the whale is estimated to weigh around thirteen thousand pounds. They're working with federal officials to figure out what to do with the carcass. Former President Trump has been accused of inciting political violence during a rally in Iowa. He was talking about the economy over the weekend and putting a one

hund percent tariff on electric cars being built by China in Mexico. If I get elected, now, if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole that's going to be the least of it. It's going to be a blood bath for the country. That'll be the least of it. He went on to say he's not sure the US will ever have another meaningful election if he doesn't win. Trump's campaign says Biden's evy mandate would

slaughter the American auto industry. Trump is also accused of using disparaging language against illegal immigrants you've ever been on Sorein at Disney California Adventure, either Soaring across California or Sword around the World, that's the music you hear. And you might also know that there's a pre flight safety message when you go on the attraction. Some people at the park last week got a surprise live version of the pre flight safety message. It is our pleasure to introduce to you your

chief flight Attendant OO Padrick Warburton says it was a blast. Oh sorry, welcome to don't mess with Patrick. Patrick Warburton says it was a blast getting to be the chief flight attendant for Sore and Over California once again. He says getting to surprise guests was super fun, and he says it's great to see the impact his safety intro has made for the past twenty three years.

I love Patrick Warburton, and as I mentioned when we went out and about last week, if you're headed to the park, Sore and Over California is back again, but that's only during the food and wine festivals, so it's going through April twenty second, and then it'll be back to sorn Around the World when we come back. Guess who won the election? In Russia. We're going to be talking with ABC's Tom Rivers about President Putin's win. You're

listening to a wake up call on demand from KFI Am six forty. I hope you're going to stick around, because in about fifteen minutes we're going to speak with Colonel Nick Haig, who is about to become the first Space Force Guardian to head into space. Did you know there were space sports guardians? Anyway, We're gonna be talking to a real live astronaut, and I am tickled pink about this. I hope you enjoy it. Here's what we're following

in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Violence and robberies at the Pike outlets in Long Beach have shut down the area, please say. More than one hundred teenagers gathered on Saturday evening. Several smash and grab robberies were reported. A fight broke out, and less than an hour later, a teenage boy was shot about two blocks away from the Pike. He is expected to recover. Russian President Putin will remain in power for at least another six years.

Early results from Russia's presidential election show Putin winning with eighty eight percent of the vote. We're going to be talking with Tom Rivers about that in just one minute. Lego Land is celebrating its twenty fifth anniversary. The park was created with thirty million Lego bricks and has grown over the years, now featuring more than sixty rides, attractions and shows. Legoland is debuting a new land later this year called Dino Valley, and also plans to hold North America's first ever

War Old Lego Parade. Okay, at six oh five, it's handled on the news Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanya, who is not at all happy with CENTA majority leader, at Chuck Schumer what he hads to say, And at five pin fifty, as I mentioned, we're gonna be talking with Space Force Guardian Colonel Nick Haig. But right now, let's say good morning to ABC's Tom Rivers. Good morning, Tom. Voting in Russia is over now,

Good morning, Amy. Yeah, it was a one horse race, and surprise, surprise, the one horse one victorious and as you say, nearly eighty eight percent voting in favor of a president putin turnout nearly seventy five percent. These are all official figures from the government, mind you, and as far as the votes go is roughly about one hundred and ten million adults voting age in Russia, and of them, about seventy six million voted for for

Putin as well. So you're right, after what twenty five years of mostly presidential leadership a smattering of prime minister roles as well back to being president six more years added up, that'll be thirty one years at the reigns of power at the Gremlin. How old is Putin? That's a great question. I think he's around seventy seven. I have to look it up, but I think he's around there, okay. And is voting required in Russia? It

is not required, No. But the problem this time and it was well, well you know pointed out there wasn't you know, it wasn't like a two horse race where you had, you know, a lot of weight for the opposition figure. Well, Navalney, he was kind of an opposition campaigner. He had died, and anybody else who could have you know, masked some kind of a if you will campaign, they're either in jail or they were outside of the country, So you know, it is it was a

foregone conclusion in the first hour voting gaybe on Friday. Yeah, okay, Yeah, And then there was rumblings that some people were going to do protests votes, that kind of thing, staged some opposition of their own. Did that happen? It did, But again, looking at the figures and the huge, huge numbers that went out, if it's anywhere near seventy six million,

it was, it was, you know, numerically very small. There were some protests that were staged outside of embassy expats, you know, voting in places alike fill in the blank, Paris, merely in London, et cetera, et cetera. But in the grand scheme of things, zero effect. Okay. And then were there I know that there have been protests in Russia before and and a lot of people end up getting arrested. Did that

happen during this election? I think there was about three dozen people were were arrested for spoiling ballots with paint, that kind of thing going in and the messing up the ballot boxes. So again, if it's that figure that it wasn't too large. And then putin now that he is the presumptive winner until they make it an official but pretty much like you said, there's no one else there and there's no challenge. He's going to make an address. We

expect that. Yeah. He held an impromptu press conference though yesterday actually earlier this morning, and he talked about a large intray. He talked about Ukraine, He talked about some of the language, some of the rhetoric we're hearing from people like President Macron in France, who has his own problems with the domestic narrative he's grappling with right now, and the problems politically with the Prime minister here in London, and Putin is saying, look, oft times,

we've seen it before. In his view, they're kind of transposing the domestic issues in these countries and pinning it all on the external source, in this case him in Russia. So he's saying they're just moving their own problems and blaming him for the problems those countries are facing right now. Okay, well, Russia gets six more years at Putin. All right, thank you so much, Tom Rivers, appreciate it. Take care, all right, you two. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI

twenty four hour newsroom. The police chief in Long Beach has praised his department's response to a viral social media meet up at the Pike that involved a fight and a shooting. Officials say word got out on social media that two young women were going to fight, and crowds of young people showed up to watch. Police broke up the fight and arrested the two people involved, one as an adult. A short time later, a teenage boy was shot a couple

blocks away. The police chief says officers had been sent out ahead of time and quickly took control of the situation. The mayor says violence of any kind is unacceptable. A crash on the ten freeway in LA's University Park has killed a man and injured five other people, including four kids. The two car crash happened on the westbound ten yesterday. The injured kids range in age from three months to ten years. They and a woman were all taken to the

hospital. The Fire department says the injuries ranged from serious to critical. A man with a fake gun has been fatally shot by La County Sheriff's deputies in East LA. They'd responded to a call Saturday night about a person with a gun causing a disturbance at a business. It's not clear what led up to the shooting. The Sheriff's Department says a replica gun was recovered at the scene, and a study shows teens lie about how much they have. About fifty

percent admit that they mislead about their spending habits. The study, which was conducted by Wells Fargo, revealed that a third of teens in the survey distort

the truth about how rich their family really is. Managing Director and Head of Advice Relations at Wells Fargo Wealth and Investment Management, Emily Irwin says that the influence of social media has intensified the pressure on teens to present a facade of affluence, which leads to a disconnect between teenagers perceived and actual financial status. Or woin encourages families to discuss financial matters to foster a healthier attitude toward money

among the younger generation. Andrew Caravella KFI News. You're listening to Wake Up Call on demand from KFI Am six forty day after Saint Patrick's Day. I did not celebrate Saint Patrick's Day at all this year, did you. I hope you're not hungover. Here's what we're following in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. A hearing's going to be held today in LA Federal Court to determine whether there should be an independent audit of homelessness programs in LA, including Mayor

Bass's signature Inside Safe initiative. The La Alliance for Human Rights is accused the city of not meeting deadlines to clear homeless camps and open up shelter beds, and wants the city to pay a nearly six point four million dollar fine. Israeli forces have launched another raid on the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, accusing Hamas militants of using it as a base. Gaza's health ministry says the army attacked the hospital early today, directing gun and missile fire at a building used

for specialized surgeries. You Go Girls. USC is a number one seed in the NCAA Women's basketball tournament. The Trojans will open up the tournament against Texas A and m Corpus Christy at the Galen Center either Wednesday or Thursday. USC won the Pac twelve championship this season for the first time since twenty fourteen. Awesome news. We're just minutes away from handle on the news this morning. The White housees it was fighting misinformation we'll see whether the Supreme Court agrees.

Right now, let's say good morning to Colonel Nick Haig, who is about to become the first Space Force Guardian to head to space to spend a few months on the International Space Station. Good morning, Colonel Haig, Good morning Amy. How are you? I am wonderful, Thanks so much for getting up. We are so excited to talk to you, because, well, one, I don't think I've ever talked to an astronaut, so this is

a super big treat. So first of all, you're going to be heading to the International Space Station, and that's happening later this wee ready to launch. Yeah, we get ready to launch in the end of August. We'll launch for roughly a six month mission to the International Space Station. That's what pretty much every crew does. And we've been cycling crews through the International Space Station and there's been someone working and living off the planet for over two decades

now, oh, because you have to keep somebody on board. And that's been going on for more than twenty years. Yeah, more than twenty years, and we're continuing on till twenty thirty. And so it's a long track record of a pretty exciting successful scientific discovery and collaboration and cooperation off the planet's a great, great story and after that to infinity and beyond. Okay, so, Colonel Hag, you are going to be the first Space Force guardian

heading to the Space Station. And when we were discussing this, I was like, what is a Space Force guardian? It's a term I've never heard before. Yeah, So Space Forces is just like one of the other services Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. Right now, there's the Space Force and it started about five years ago, right, Yeah, so this year we're coming up on our fifth birthday and and so guardians are what you call service members in the Space Force, just like airmen or soldiers or sailors.

And there's you know, a little fewer than ten thousand Guardians that are serving in the Space Force in uniform, and so it you know, there's not a lot of us, but we're really effective and and some of the things that we do underpin everything that you know, we kind of rely on. So everybody's listening to this. They're driving to work, they're using they're using you know, Ways or Google or Apple Maps, and they're they're trying

to dodge traffic. Well, the Global Positioning System GPS is what makes that possible in Space Force guardians or what make GPS possible? Okay, And so what my understanding of Space Force is that one of the missions of Space Force is to ensure safe access to space, right, Yeah, so Space Force. You know, I'm a guardian launching to space. You know, I'm a NASA astronaut, so my job is with NASA, and so I'm in

support of that. But there are going to be guardians that are working on the launch range on the East coast that are going to help me get to the space station safely. They're going to watch make sure that you know, there if there's any debris out there, that we we don't run into that debris, so we do deconfliction. They also track us as we go to make sure that we're safe and in the event that something doesn't go right, they're there to help make sure that we get home safe. Okay. Now,

so just the nuts and bolts of it. You are with Space Force. Now, were you Air Force before? Yeah? Because the Space Force just stood up, you know a little under five years ago. A lot of the people that transferred into the Space Force initially came from the Air Force doing those same the creation of the Space Force allowed us to put focus and

priority on those missions. So inside the Space Force, you know, I graduated from the Air Force Academy back in nineteen ninety eight and served in the Air Force the entire time, doing primarily space related activities, and so it was a natural transition for me to move over to the Space Force once it was established. So when they said, you know what, we're setting up a Space Force, and you're like, pick me, pick me, Yeah,

I mean, it's an exciting time. There's so much energy in what's going on in space, and you don't just see it with the creation of the Space Force, but you also see it in civil space as well, in commercial space. You've got the space station activities, You've got Artemis and our missions that are taking us back to the surface of the Moon. You've got commercial entities that are getting involved more than ever before. So there's just

a lot of energy. And so getting involved with the Space Force, transitioning over and being part of standing up a new service was a huge thrill. Okay, this is not your first time going to space either, is it. Klonel Like No, I was able to call the Space Station Home. Just about five years ago, I was up there for a six month mission doing research and keeping the National Lab working. Okay, Now, as we watch these lift offs that have become more and more, I guess you would

say commonplace. But there is definitely risk. A lot of things can go wrong. And was it on your first attempt you almost didn't make it? Yeah. It is a inherently risky business when you're strapping yourself to gigantic tanks of rocket fuel and lighting it off and sending yourself up, and you know, sometimes things don't go right. But we put in lots of layers of

safety to try to mitigate that risk. So on my first launch, I was launching on a Soyuz rocket in Kazakhstan out of the bikan Or Cosmodrome, and two minutes into that launch are we had a malfunction with one of the boosters that was supposed to separate. It actually collided back into the rocket and

caused it to disintegrate. And so we're going. We pointed straight up, going five thousand miles an hour, about thirty miles above the above the Earth, and the launch escape system fired off within a fraction of a second and pulled us away from the rocket before it before it was too late, and then we landed underneath parachutes, and so my Russian commander Alexey of Chinnin and myself landed in the middle of the Kazakh Step and some pair of rescue jumpers

came down and helped us get out of the capsule and we waited for the rest of the team to arrive. So it was a successful failure, and that the engineers had designed the system to protect us in case something went wrong and it worked. And then after that happened, you said, I'd like to go again. Well that's the job, okay, all right, So

when you work that long and and you're ready to go. You know the first thing that my wife when she met back up with me after that accident, she said, you know, don't worry, you're going to get You're going to get to go. It's just a it's a commitment by a lot of people, yeah, to to get you ready, to support you along the way, and to finally get there and be part of such an amazing mission on the space station is worth it. So Colonel Haig, before you

go, you're you're talking about there's a lot of preparations. I mean, you can't just jump on a rocket and say I'd like to go and head out into orbit. So, like, how long does it take to prepare for a mission like this? Specifically, once you're selected as an astronaut, it's it's two years of initial training. And I'd be remiss, but I didn't take the opportunity right now to say that. NASA is accepting applications to become an astronaut up until the second of April. So if you're interested,

please go to NASA dot gov slash astronauts and apply. We want you to join the team. But it's two years of initial training after you're selected, and then once you're assigned to a mission, it's about another two years of focused training. So it's about four years solid of traveling around the globe to different countries, learning their systems, working with you. You know, the spacecraft is going to take you, learning how to fly that, and then

also learning how to operate the International Space Station. So it's it's really complex, but if you like learning stuff, you're learning something new almost every day, and it's a pretty thrilling job. And it's got to be fun for someone who loves what they're doing right, Absolutely, it's being able to float around in weightlessness and then float over to the window and look down on the Earth and just see it for the amazing thing that it is. Is life

changing. Okay, so we are almost out of time, and I have about one hundred more questions. So between between now and the time you go up and sometime late August somewhere around there. We don't know the exact dates

yet, but or you guys haven't told us the exact dates yet. I would love to talk to you again and maybe even you know, set it up because I want to find out more about what it's like to live on the space station, like what it's like for you, because it's an experience that almost none of us are going to ninety nine point nine to nine percent of the world is never going to experience this, and so you're one of the few. So I think you're going to have like these cool insights.

So if that's cool with you, we'll set it up again and we'll talk to you more and dive more into like, you know, what's life like on the space station and what are some of the specific things that you do to get ready to go. Yeah, No, I'd love to do that. It's it's part of you know, I feel the responsibility of trying to share that experience and just kind of describe, you know what, my experience, how I got there. It's not the same for everybody, but I'd

love to share that. And I'd also like to take, you know, a couple of minutes and continue to try to explain the amazing things that the Space Force does. It's a pretty diverse mission set and in between now and then, if people have questions, they can go to Space Force dot mil and and do little research on their own. Okay, and you did hear Colonel Haig, right, he said that NASA is looking for astronauts. You

don't have to be in the military. I'm sure there's a lot of requirements, but if it's something that's always been in a dream of yours, NASA dot gov slash astronauts you can find out more. Colonel Haig, thank you so much for your time, and I can't wait until we talk again. Hopefully we'll get to talk a few more times before you head up into space. I'd love to thank you for the time this morning. Amy. All right, thank you, take care bye. Bye, Okay, that's so

cool. I love all space stuff and what just a cool person? Love it, love it, love it, And we'll let you know when we're going to be talking to them again. We'll also maybe put this up on social media at Amy K King and at KFI AM six forty dot com. If you missed any of it, of course, you can always listen to the whole interview on our on the iHeartRadio app. This is KFI and KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County. You've been listening to wake Up Call

with me Amy King. You can always hear wake Up Call five to six am Monday through Friday on kf I AM six forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.