Aerospace

I worked for a big (American) technology and defense firm with tens of thousands of employees. A senior executive who had worked there successfully for years was caught with a falsification on his résumé. He was fired immediately, and a new policy was instituted requiring all employees to sign a form giving the company permission to query the college or university with their highest claimed degree for verification.

I have a doctorate from an old prestigious European university, an institution that I was quite sure would have no interest in such a query. But whatever... I signed the permission form and attached a note warning the company that the university would probably ignore the request. Which it did.

After a month or two with no response, HR called me in and said that the university had not responded (as I warned) but that corporate would accept a photocopy of my degree. Fine, I'm good with that.

Remember the "old, prestigious European university" part? My degree is a piece of actual parchment about the size of a throw rug, with a wax seal about a centimeter thick, and written entirely in Latin.

So I bring it into the office and photocopy it a bit at a time by sliding it around on the photocopier window. Takes like 12 pages to get it all. I staple them into a pile and give it to HR, who reluctantly pass it on to corporate.

Another month passes. HR calls me in again. "Corporate is complaining that your degree is written in a foreign language."

"Yep," I say. It's in Latin. "Tell them to find a priest to translate it." And walked out.

Never heard from them again about it.

EDIT FOR CLARIFICATION. (1) This took place well over 20 years when stuff like this did not all happen on the web... snailmail and paper were the standard.

(2) Commenters are taking the "throw rug" simile a little too literally. It's quite large but would make a rather measly throw rug.

(3) My work was in the civilian sector and did not require a clearance. The fact that I am an American with a foreign PhD did not cause any hassle.

This is Ryan ‘FOBS’ Graves. I used to fly F/A-18s in the U.S. Navy. I was the first active duty pilot to come forward to Congress about UAP, and I am thrilled to be here today on with my co-founders Haley Morris (haley-morris) and Brad Crispin (brad_crispin) from Americans for Safe Aerospace, the first military pilot-led nonprofit organization focused on UAP. 

Our mission is simple — let’s identify what’s in our skies. If UAP are foreign assets, we must respond appropriately. If UAP continue to defy conventional explanation — we must invest in scientific research.

We officially launched with our Aircrew Leadership Council and Advisory Board a week ago on NBC News, including familiar names like Alex Dietrich, David Fravor, Bryan Bender, Tim Gallaudet, Christopher Mellon, Garry Nolan and Avi Loeb, alongside an incredible group you may not know yet.

I am energized by the incredible support we have received for this mission. 

In case you missed it in February, checkout my for a detailed account of my experience with UAP and the founding of ASA.

Our strategy

• Launch the first-ever coalition of military and commercial pilots to fight for transparency to uncover the mystery of UAP.

• Convene an incredible advisory board of military and commercial pilots, experts in aerospace, national security, intelligence, federal policy, science and academia to help guide us (see ) and…

• Build a strong, supportive community to show Congress, the executive branch, and the media that UAP deserves to be taken seriously, without stigma, and as an urgent matter of aerospace safety, national security, and science.

What can the general public do?

I want to kick off the AMA by answering this from the pre-post: “If someone wants to get more involved in UAP investigations/disclosures, aside from contacting local representatives, what would be a good place to start?” 

Join us

I think one of the most important things you can do in the fight for transparency is to join us at ASA and refer friends. When we talk to Congress, we tell them how many of their constituents want transparency about UAP. Every member adds to the credibility and urgency of our mission. 

We have 3k members today, and I am asking each of you as one of the million members of to send a message to Congress by joining us!

Anyone can join ASA at or follow us on Twitter .

Write your representative

If you are willing to do more, write your elected representatives. In advance of this AMA, we released a beta version of a new to write an effective email to your representatives in about 9 minutes. 

Introduce new people

If you are new to the UAP topic or want to introduce anyone new, try for a 15-minute introduction that is widely endorsed by UAP thought leaders and “safe to share at work.” 

I am here because we need your help. I also want to know, how can we help?

We can answer questions for the next two hours live, and then we will try to answer more over the weekend. Ask me anything.

EDIT:

Whew, that was awesome! Thank you all for the great questions, we had a lot of fun answering them! I will keep answering questions over the weekend. Please join us in this mission by signing up at and follow us on Twitter: @SafeAerospace, @uncertainvector, @haleymorris and @bradcrispin.

Keeping looking up!

You guys probably know this already but I just wanted post this for those who don’t. You guys are very in demand in the aerospace industry right now. You won’t get the pay and benefits that you would at a shiny apple or google job, but you may at least get a job.

I am an aerospace engineer and have worked at NASA and other aerospace companies and they always need coders of some kind. I know the job market is rough for new grads right now so I thought this would be good to post.

Some examples of companies you could apply to: SpaceX, Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, NASA, Raytheon, Honeywell, GE Aerospace, many more. Also look at local aerospace contractors if you get really desperate.

Edit: rough list of companies from least competitive to most competitive

Raytheon, General Dynamics, GE Aerospace, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Blue Origin, NASA, SpaceX

Edit 2: I do want to clarify that these aren’t all necessarily easy jobs to get. However they are another option that you probably have a real chance at landing(for some of the companies listed atleast). Never hurts to apply!