Joe Chenelly’s path to the Marine Corps started from a very unlikely place. As he describes it, his parents were hippies. And after initially finding college to be something he didn't necessarily have an affinity for, Chenelly enlisted in the Marines. Joining not long before 9/11, Chenelly would eventually end up at the forefront of America’s war on terror as a combat journalist. In fact, Chenelly was the first Marine combat correspondent to step foot into enemy territory after 9/11. He was also...
May 12, 2020•1 hr 16 min
Vincent "Rocco" Vargas thought his life would be baseball. He was on the path to take a stab at the majors, but academic ineligibility while playing college ball pushed him in a different direction. Inspired by military service and seeking a way to provide a stable means of supporting his first child, Vargas enlisted in the Army in 2003. He knew he wanted the most challenging job possible in the military, and ultimately settled on becoming an Army Ranger. After 3 deployments with the 75th Ranger...
May 05, 2020•1 hr 7 min
Will Bardenwerper returns to the show, and goes back to Ranger School. Will graduated the Army's grueling combat leadership school in 2004, but returned recently to write a piece for Outside Magazine on Ranger class 05-19. Bardenwerper admits he's more often jolted from a deep sleep by a dream about Ranger School than he is by anything related to his own experiences in combat. Going back to chronicle class 05-19 may have actually changed that, but if anything, it gives outsiders a look into one ...
Apr 21, 2020•1 hr 8 min
This week we're featuring another Special Guest, whose story is characterized by resilience as well as connected to recovery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. On April 15, 2013, Marc Fucarile was severely injured by the second of two bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon. He was attending the race as a spectator, watching a friend of his run, and was standing just a few feet away from the second bomb when it detonated. Fucarile lost his right leg above the knee in the blast, nearly l...
Apr 14, 2020•1 hr 27 min
A measured decision led Tom Kerr to pursue the Green Beret after 4 years in the Infantry. He wanted to do more in combat, serve with the elite, and know that what he was doing every time he deployed to a combat theater was not only challenging, but tangible. Following more deployments as a Green Beret, a back injury nearly sent Kerr out of the military and a job he loved more than anything. But, he found purpose in a new position working to modernize and innovate combat gear and systems for Spec...
Apr 07, 2020•1 hr 16 min
Dr. Bob Adams is fifth generation career military, dating all the way back to the Civil War. His military career spans 30 years, and began at the U.S. Naval Academy. Following graduation, Dr. Adams served a few years in the Navy before pursuing his dream to become a Navy SEAL. He would serve 12 years as a SEAL before embarking on a career shift, enrolling in medical school, and becoming a doctor - specifically an Army doctor. From there he would go on to fill such prestigious positions as the Co...
Mar 31, 2020•1 hr 12 min
He is credited with making roughly 5,325 rescues during his 20 year career in the Air Force. That's an average of approximately 5 rescues each week for 20 years straight! Mike Maroney joined the Air Force to become a PJ. He says he joined the military to earn his keep for living in a free country. And when you look at what he's done during his military career, it's clear he's done more than earn his keep. He's saved the lives of not only American servicemembers, but also those of Coalition Force...
Mar 24, 2020•1 hr 20 min
When Jeremy Staat was drafted out of Arizona State by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1998 NFL draft, it looked as if his life for the foreseeable future would be based solely around pro football. He was a standout player, but after four seasons in the NFL Staat decided to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and serve in the military. Staat enlisted in the Marine Corps, and served from 2005 to 2009, deploying to Haditha, Iraq as an infantry Marine. In this episode, Jeremy talks ...
Mar 17, 2020•1 hr 11 min
If you're looking for motivation, or simply inspiration to never, ever quit, then you should listen to this episode with Green Beret, Nick Lavery. Nick enlisted in the Army to become a Green Beret after he graduated college in 2007. Since earning his Special Forces tab, Lavery took shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade to his shoulder, leaving a sizable wound; he was shot in the face; and ultimately lost part of his right leg from machine gun fire, all in three separate encounters with the en...
Mar 10, 2020•1 hr 36 min
Following in the footsteps of his father and both grandfathers, Thomas Gibbons-Neff joined the military at the end of his senior year in high school. He enlisted in the Marine Corps. Like many of his contemporaries, he just wanted to get in the fight. He was in 8th grade when 9/11 happened. So any doubt that he would follow his family into the military, and eventually war, vanished when his country was attacked. But war would bring a new revelation for Thomas and his fellow Marines: that life wo...
Mar 03, 2020•56 min
If you've ever wondered what it's like to be a Special Forces Medic, Robert Patrick Lewis can certainly tell you. They are some of the most highly trained field medical professionals in the world. Lewis signed up to become one after 9/11, and deployed multiple times to Afghanistan, Iraq, and North Africa, eventually finding himself on the receiving end of field medical care. He received the Purple Heart for wounds he sustained on one of those deployments to Afghanistan. In this episode, Lewis ta...
Feb 25, 2020•1 hr 26 min
Originally, Terry Wilson wanted to be a Marine. But, following a brief education on the recruiting business, Terry opted for the Army instead when he learned his "guaranteed" MOS wasn't so guaranteed with the Marine Corps. He would eventually become a Combat Engineer with the Army, deploying to Afghanistan where his job was lead Husky vehicle driver, searching for IEDs during route clearance operations. Prior to his assignment as a Husky driver, Terry was blown up by three IEDs in the Buffalo A2...
Feb 18, 2020•1 hr 14 min
There are Marines...There are Recon Marines...And then there is Rudy Reyes. At the age of twenty-six, Rudy joined the Marine Corps out of a desire to serve his country and honor the warrior mentality he had built within himself through years of rough upbringing and various physical challenges. After graduating Parris Island, Reyes earned a coveted spot to try out for Marine Force Reconnaissance. He would go on to complete the training and land a job in the Marine Corps that only an extremely sma...
Feb 11, 2020•1 hr 9 min
Brad Thomas returns to the show! Brad is a musician and retired 1st SFOD-Delta operator, who also fought in the Battle of Mogadishu - better known as "Black Hawk Down" - as an Army Ranger. Brad's band, "Silence & Light", were featured in Episode 58, just before they were getting ready to head into the studio to record their first album. Their self-titled debut album was released on December 20, 2019. All proceeds from the album are being donated to two veteran support organizations: Warriors...
Feb 04, 2020•55 min
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the conclusion of Operation Just Cause, this week we bring you an incredible story of combat and survival from that campaign. David Reeves was a Ranger fire team leader with Charlie Co, 3rd BN, 75th Ranger Regiment during the invasion of Panama. His company's mission was to seize the airfield at Torrijos Airport, the international airport of Panama City. During the mission, Reeves was shot three times with an AK-47 at point-blank range while hunting down two e...
Jan 28, 2020•1 hr 10 min
As someone who was rising through the ranks and performing at a very high level in the Army's top tier, elite special operations unit, Patty Collins never thought she would suffer an injury that would end up taking her leg, when she wasn't serving in a war zone. But, in 2006, while riding her bike to work on Fort Bragg, she was struck from behind by an automobile. The marathon runner and triathlete, survivor of multiple combat tours, and recipient of both a Senior Parachutist Badge and the Milit...
Jan 21, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Born prematurely due to drugs and alcohol, to a mother he would never meet, Kionte Storey spent the first 10 years of his life raised by his second cousin. He would spend 8 more years in foster care, before he found the Marine Corps. Joining the Marines was a form of escape, but also a way to prove something to himself, and possibly a chance at a better life. Unfortunately, his time in the Marine Corps would be cut short by an IED in Afghanistan that took his right leg. Storey found new challeng...
Dec 31, 2019•1 hr 31 min
As an Infantry Marine, Geoff Hopf experienced a unique side of the Persian Gulf War we rarely hear about. Hopf's relatively small team was tasked with forming the first line of defense if Saddam Hussein decided to invade Saudi Arabia during the buildup of coalition forces prior to Operation Desert Storm. Left in the desert for week's on end, Hopf's team literally ran out of food at one point, while still carrying out the vital mission of defend and delay. The kick-off of combat operations would ...
Dec 17, 2019•1 hr 7 min
Anytime combat photographer Kevin Wallace was involved in a firefight, he often had a critical decision to make: shoot back at the enemy, or pick up his camera and take a much different shot. The decision could be painstaking, but Wallace knew the importance of documenting combat, while still trying to help those to his left and right. The process weighed on him so much that he spent hours and hours training himself so that he could flip from camera to weapon and back without thinking about it. ...
Dec 10, 2019•1 hr 13 min
There isn't much we can say about Kyle Carpenter to further accentuate just how special a human being he is. He served as a Marine in combat and received the military's highest award for valor with humility, strength, and optimism - qualities that were certainly tested by the years of pain and frustration that followed his exit from combat. Kyle was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Afghanistan on 21 November 2010. On that day, Carpenter threw himself on an enemy grenade in order to ...
Dec 03, 2019•1 hr 45 min
Unless you served in Vietnam, you probably weren't aware that U.S. forces fought alongside other allies, Australia being one of them, and an important one at that. Dave Sabben was one of those soldiers who bravely led Australian military forces not long after the U.S. war in Vietnam began. Sabben joined the army as part of Australia's National Service program in 1965. By the end of '65 he had completed officer training, graduating as a 2nd lieutenant. Shortly thereafter he deployed to Vietnam as...
Nov 26, 2019•1 hr 24 min
Geoff Dardia's special operations career was pretty much over before it even began. Having rolled multiple phases of BUD/S due to injuries, at 21, Dardia had broken his body down to the point where the Navy was willing to compensate him for the rest of his life, if he chose. But having a goal to become a SOF operator, Dardia switched gears, enlisted in the Army, and relatively quickly worked his way to becoming a Green Beret. Perseverance would earn Dardia a successful career in Special Forces, ...
Nov 19, 2019•1 hr 22 min
Two completely different military career paths: one, a Lieutenant General who served over 30 years as an Army Infantry officer, the other an enlisted Infantry Marine who served four years, with two overseas deployments to combat zones. Both brought together though, by their experiences and unique perspectives serving multiple combat tours. Now retired, Lieutenant General "Burke" Garrett would go on to become the Executive Advisor to the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program, a nationally renowned pr...
Nov 12, 2019•1 hr 4 min
Like many kids coming out of high school, James LaPorta just wanted to get on with life. His country was at war, and he had little interest in going to college - at least right away. So he joined the Marine Corps, signing up for the infantry. That decision would take him to Afghanistan, to fight in his country's war, and fundamentally change who he was as a person. It would also prepare him for life after the Marine Corps. He wanted to make the Marines a career, but the military had different pl...
Nov 05, 2019•1 hr 55 min
Before "Lone Survivor" - the story of Operation Red Wings as told by Marcus Luttrell, the only SEAL to survive that operation - there was ODA 525. Assigned a special reconnaissance mission inside Iraq on the eve of the Desert Storm ground war, the Green Berets of ODA 525 faced a moral dilemma of magnificent proportions when their hide site was discovered by local children. Poor intel on the hide site location put the men of ODA 525 in a populated area of the desert, where they would face overwhe...
Oct 29, 2019•1 hr 28 min
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Jason Robinson felt a calling to serve in the military. Notably, he felt it was his duty to serve having been born into a free society - a way to earn his citizenship. He also wanted to do his part to ensure the U.S. military didn’t revert back to a draft to fight the Global War on Terror - something his sons could have faced as they grew older. Robinson chose the Infantry at age 34 - no easy feat. He literally had to fight his way into the Infa...
Oct 15, 2019•1 hr 11 min
We've covered the Battle of Mogadishu - popularized by the movie and book, "Black Hawk Down" - multiple times on the podcast. But, we haven't covered it from the perspective of the combat search and rescue (CSAR) team sent in to rescue the crews of the Black Hawks shot down on October 3, 1993 over the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia. John Belman was a Ranger on the CSAR team that was dropped in to the first crash site. On arrival at the site, Belman and his teammates were thrust into a chaotic sce...
Oct 08, 2019•1 hr 28 min
John Stryker Meyer earned his Green Beret in December of 1967. About five months later, he was based in Vietnam, fighting a very deadly and secret war in Laos and Cambodia. For John and his fellow Green Berets, the war in Vietnam was fought in the shadows. And they arguably gained considerable ground in the fight, despite virtually zero public recognition for their contributions at the time. Their efforts were audacious and struck at the heart of an enemy fighting an unconventional war - tricky ...
Oct 01, 2019•1 hr 1 min
On November 9, 2010, Zach Stinson, a Marine fighting in Afghanistan, stepped on an IED. The blast took both of his legs, and a few fingers. But, the blast did not take his zeal for life. Listening to him talk about this experience, you would never think that he's faced great challenges and extremely low moments trying to get back to the normalcy of everyday life. He has handled his injuries with the same bravery and stoicism he displayed when taking "point" while searching the village compound t...
Sep 24, 2019•1 hr 12 min
When Pasha Palanker was 15, he and his family immigrated to the U.S. from Moldova. Although his family lived in a rough neighborhood on a very low income, Pasha was happy and proud to be living in America, whose opportunities far outnumbered those of his birthplace. In an effort to repay the U.S. government for the assistance provided to him and his family after they arrived from Moldova, Pasha enlisted in the Army, shortly after the war in Iraq kicked off in 2003. Following multiple deployments...
Sep 17, 2019•1 hr 5 min
