John C. Stratton is a former American soccer defender and retired U.S. Air Force officer and fighter pilot.

He then attended the United States Air Force Academy, where he played on the men's soccer team from 1993 to 1996.

[1] He spent the 1997 season with the Colorado Foxes, an A-League soccer team before attending Air Force flight training.

[1] Stratton retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2022 and went into the civilian sector as a Boeing 767 pilot for FedEx.

According to the film's voice-over, many of the training scenarios at Red Flag are more complex and dangerous than actual combat.