Avi Loeb

There I was, and I was better than my peers.

the members of my group that year in all, everything to do with physical abilities.

So, you know, I excelled when we parachuted, drove tanks, I did really well.

Parachuted?

Three times above my home.

Wow.

So you did like a basic training and all that?

Yeah.

So the idea was to train those recruits every year, to train them through all the military, the sections of the military, so that they know what it's like to be a soldier in the Air Force, in the paratroopers, you know, everywhere.

And so we went on a ship.

We did...

everything that allows us to basically imagine what a soldier feels like.

And then we were told that we could potentially be engaged in projects, research projects that are useful.

And I decided, no, I don't want to work with companies that develop means of weapons or means of defense.

I prefer to do fundamental research in physics.

That's what matters to me.

So I went...

on my own to a place and then convince the people there to propose a project that would involve fundamental physics and could be potentially useful.

And we wrote it on a napkin and I typed it in and suggested it to the leaders of the program I was in.

And they said, well, based on your record being so excellent in the paratrooper training that we gave you, you were the best, we will give you the privilege to be the first