The end of 2025 is here! Hard to believe as it may be, this is the last episode/discussion of the calendar, as we get ready to turn over, and dive head first into 2026. This past year been one of intense growth for me personally, and certainly for Prepared Mindset. The changes that came about this year in many cases were extremely challenging but in some ways very rewarding too. As with the other years gone by, I take this opportunity to walk through the highlights, and unfortunately some lowlig...
Dec 31, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 4Ep. 347
If you've been searching for information on breaching - how it's done, why one tool is used over another, considerations and constraints - this is the one guys. This week, I sit down with Steve, of Core Vision Training and dive into the topic and skillset of breaching. Steve is former Army, and currently active on what I would consider a pretty high volume SWAT team. Throughout our discussion we hit on various tools, including Rams, Halligans, Shotguns, torches and saws, we even spend time talki...
Dec 24, 2025•1 hr 47 min•Season 4Ep. 346
Go Take a Class! While you can certain do a lot of self study in today's day and age, with the access to articles and videos we have, instructor led courses are still the best source of information and learning available. While they alone won't magically make you better, getting the hands-on opportunity is invaluable in your personal journey of preparedness. Unfortunately, this concept is still one that is widely unadopted, leaving us with a community full of overly-empowered individuals, who pa...
Dec 17, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Season 4Ep. 345
Not having a personal background in military or law enforcement, I wasn't sure I would ever actually have the chance to teach in the 2A space. Sure, I have a lot of years under my belt as an educator, teaching music and marching band, but is that really relevant in the context of shooting, self defense, tactics, etc.? Well, I finally had a opportunity presented to me to give it a go, and I spend this weeks episode talking all about it. From my apprehension about the outward appearance of someone...
Dec 10, 2025•1 hr 10 min•Season 4Ep. 344
We roll through Thanksgiving, officially into the last month of the Calendar, and lots of strong economic indicators as things politically heat up across the country. In this installment of the Sunday SITREP, I talk about some crucial current events, talking about tensions across the country as religious protests increase and the friction heats up between protestors and residents in key cities across the U.S. With things become so tense, especially in the wake of the murder of two National Guard...
Dec 07, 2025•48 min•Season 4Ep. 343
Fresh off Black Friday weekend, I sit down with Kevin Holland of Custom Night Vision to catch up and talk about night vision, lasers, comedy, and more. It's always interseting to me when I get to chat with industry experts, some of the surprising stories and details their able to share. Being that devices like NODs are so prohibitively expensive for many folks, my assumption would be that when people are able to purchase finally, they've done a lot of research on basic use and common experiences...
Dec 03, 2025•1 hr 33 min•Season 4Ep. 342
Almost Cover is a social media presence that many of us may know, and many more of us may relate with. They started as a page, or rather a pseudo "art project" sharing good photos and funny video clips. Rather quickly however, this team of former veterans has turned into something else entirely, changing the world in ways that I think few realize. In this episode, I sit with Irish, one of the team members and founders of Almost Covert. We talk about his beginnings in the Airforce, touch on his t...
Nov 26, 2025•1 hr 41 min•Season 4Ep. 341
I finally have the opportunity to sit down with Rick of SSV Concepts, catch up, and have a great discussion. Just as the title says, we get into dogs as a low tech early warning system and the realities of dealing with them, combatting drug operations and how the landscape has changed, and general dumb ideas, that may not be so dumb. We spent time talking about utilizing data and personal outputs to track and maximize your own performance, and that of your team. We even took a moment to touch on...
Nov 19, 2025•1 hr 49 min•Season 4Ep. 340
Breaching has long been one of the most valuable skillsets in our community. To defeat our enemy, to eliminate the threat, we must be able to access that threat, access the hold of our enemy. While there's been so many advancements in breaching technology, the core concepts always remain. In this episode, I sit down with Chris Kuras of Good Dude Concepts to talk about breaching work as a part of a SWAT team in Florida, as well as what he's been able to bring to the conversation with the inventio...
Nov 12, 2025•1 hr 38 min•Season 4Ep. 339
While we call this all a community, with the social media platforms, the training events, the video content, the knowledge transfer, and everything in between, we really love to argue amongst ourselves on what's right and what's wrong. Some of these debates have been repeated thousands of times over, with different folks each claiming to have "the right answer" and feeling emboldened and empowered to tell their peers why what they're doing is wrong, and unnecessary. I'm not sure if this episode ...
Nov 04, 2025•1 hr 12 min•Season 4Ep. 338
We're approaching the one month mark, and the U.S. government remains in shutdown. As we come upon the Novermber 4th election day, many wonder if we'll see a resolution. Additionally, news has broken of a suspected terror attack here in Michigan, planned to take place on Halloween. As always, the Sunday SITREP is the opportunity for me to share my thoughts and insights on current events, and provide some commentary that may help you fill in the gaps on what's going on, what's already happened, a...
Nov 02, 2025•42 min•Season 4Ep. 337
Garrett is back, and this time, we're deep diving into the Carbine platform and everything that goes with it. From competition to practical shooting, we found a way to touch on a whole heck of a lot in this discussion. There's so much detail and nuance when talking about performance shooting, from optic height to grips, to muzzle devices and more. We found opportunities to talk about almost all of it in this conversation. Both myself and Garrett shared lots of personal experiences and opinions o...
Oct 29, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Season 4Ep. 336
Brandon Wombough is a former Marine, and currently the armorer at T-Rex Arms. Following up our discussion last month in the wake of the Kirk assassination, I wanted to take the opportunity to sit down with Brandon for a conversation. We touched on many different topics including personal accountability and prioritization of efforts, to how you can test yourself and your own capability, and talking the realities of pride and ego. Of course, we had to spend some time getting into the community, ta...
Oct 22, 2025•1 hr 40 min•Season 4Ep. 335
While many of us are still reeling from the tragic death of Charlie Kirk, many more of us have responded to the tragedy with righteous action. It's often unfortunate that we must see evil to know its existence, and adjust our preparation. Being reactive, rather than proactive is never preferable. Perhaps one of the most affected populations in this turbulent time, are faith based institutions and organizations. I sit down this week with Jonah Norman to talk about not only Executive Protection, b...
Oct 15, 2025•1 hr 41 min•Season 4Ep. 334
Fresh off of our group training trip to Ben Franklin Range in Pennsylvania, I sit down with Blake Flannery of Orion Training Group and Maneuver Training Solutions, to talk about the work we did in the shoot house. Additionally, we dig into some of the concepts, as well as context, to structure clearance work and CQB in general. There's so much information and opinion floating around within the training community on this subject, it's hard to really grasp what can truly be called right and what r...
Oct 08, 2025•1 hr 33 min•Season 4Ep. 333
Unfortunately, as the time has gone on over the past few years, it seems the world around us has only gotten more violent. While we at one point all wanted to believe it was a question, a discussion of right versus left, this religion versus that religion, it's becoming more and more obviously that the lines that are being drawn, aren't as clear and convenient as we would like them to be. In this iteration of the SITREP I talk about a handful of recent events, attacks on houses of worship that a...
Oct 05, 2025•51 min•Season 4Ep. 332
Personal Accountability. In my experience, it is the single greatest characteristic that I've seen in high performing individuals. While many folks claim they desire to be a highly capable individual with a high level of preparedness, the truth is that many simply fall flat. Accountability is at the crux of that issue more often than not. In a discussion that hits very close to home for me personally, I dig in to why it's so important and I add color and context to the situations that I think ma...
Oct 01, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 4Ep. 331
Understanding your tools and how to use them to solve problems effectively is probably the best way to summarize much of what our training is about. Just as with any skillset or trade, if you don't know to use those tools, or understand the entire purpose of having them, you're going to run into issues, and certainly will be less effective. This is why it becomes so frustrating for many, seeing the emulation and "copy-catting" that is triggered by influencers, when it comes to equipment and supp...
Sep 24, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Season 4Ep. 330
The fallout from the assassination of Charlie Kirk has weighed heavily on everyone's minds. What is next? What will we do? Why do we feel this way? To do my best to tackle those questions as well as bring insight on how to honor his memory, I sit down with Jeremiah and Brandon to break apart everything that's gone on over the last several days. Specifically we talk about faith, and the inherent morality that comes with it, and how it must be our guiding principle as we push forward in a world th...
Sep 17, 2025•1 hr 35 min•Season 4Ep. 329
Unfortunately, I'm releasing this SITREP out of cadence, but in light of these events it's something that is needed. Charlie Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA and a major political voice in our country, has been assassinated. During his stop at Utah Valley University to kick off a public speaking tour, he was shot. This comes as a major blow to many, and serves at least as a shocking reminder of how far our society has fallen in these turbulent times. As always, I share my thoughts, my f...
Sep 10, 2025•37 min•Season 4Ep. 328
Night Vision. The super power that we all want, and the only capability which can be purchased. Unfortunately, to many, it's perceived to be unattainable due to the financial constraints which surround it. What many folks don't realize though, is that you have more options available than what you might think. To explore the options, and talk in depth on used and surplus options, I'm sitting down with Shane Sharp and Ty Morgan from Terrace Unity Solutions. TUS is a Michigan based night vision com...
Sep 10, 2025•1 hr 42 min•Season 4Ep. 327
Watches are an essential piece of field kit, and something that many of us take great pride and interest in. Understanding what goes into making a quality watch, what to look for, as well as why it's important, is critical in making a good selection. It's even more important if this is a functional tool that you'll depend on in either the military or law enforcement, out in the field. To discuss these details, and how Brigade Watch Co. is facing the challenges head on, I sit down with one of the...
Sep 03, 2025•1 hr 36 min•Season 4Ep. 326
Kevin Estela is a former History teacher and life-long outdoorsman, as well as an author, and talented educator. For me, Kevin was one of my earliest inspirations as a podcaster, and I couldn't be more excited to have the opportunity to sit down with him. We dive into history and fieldcraft, his transition from public school educator to full time instructor, as well as the importance of mindset in your individual training journey. Kevin shared a lot in this conversation, including the three esse...
Aug 27, 2025•1 hr 33 min•Season 4Ep. 325
As long as we've been chasing self-improvement and trying to run a gun faster and more accurately, there have been men trying to develop ways and means in which to do so with less effort, and more quickly. Certainly at the top of that list is the handgun compensator. A device which when attached to the end of the barrel, vents the gasses in various directions, helping to mitigate felt recoil to the shooter, and muzzle rise. Having just jumped into this myself, I reached out to our good friend Ja...
Aug 20, 2025•1 hr 34 min•Season 4Ep. 324
I think it's a safe statement to make, that we all are, or have at least at some point, struggled to understand the balance that exists between the three pillars of overall preparedness. Heck, at some points, I'm sure many of us didn't even realize that they existed. That's alright, it's part of the journey, and to a large degree, that journey never stops. You simply have many encounters along the way that shape your mission and your goals. While it can be confusing, once you're able to make sen...
Aug 13, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Season 4Ep. 323
Chris Costa is a man who truly needs no introduction. His early work with Magpul Dynamics helped to inspire thousands of us to pick up the rifle and start training, and his continued influence on the community is at best, difficult to measure. This week, I have the opportunity to sit down with Chris, one of my earliest influences in training, and pick his brain. We started by getting into Chris' experience in the Coast Guard, traveling the world on Counter-Drug operations, how that led to not on...
Aug 06, 2025•1 hr 58 min•Season 4Ep. 322
August is here, and we're two-thirds of the way through the year. For this iteration of the SITREP, rather than stepping into political news, or global developments, I have a update on our own training here in Michigan to share with you. Pulling together a diverse group from across our state, with backgrounds in Military, Law Enforcement, and obviously trained Civilians, we are fresh off our first "CQB Workshop" training session. This was a targeted exercise put together and planned to "pressure...
Aug 03, 2025•47 min•Season 4Ep. 321
In 2025, let's be honest, there's threats that we face in our daily lives that we can realistically prepare for. However, in the same token, there's a limit to how far that preparation can carry us. From emerging technologies, geopolitical turmoil, to the potential for civil unrest growing seemingly by the day, there's a lot out there. Far more to account for than certainly any one of us can alone, and even in a group limits to what can be accomplished. In this discussion I do my best to shine a...
Jul 30, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Season 4Ep. 320
While it's pretty well noted that I don't have a ton of knowledge or experience out in the wilderness or in the survival community, my guest this week, has more than enough to make up for what I lack. Craig Caudill is the owner and founder of Nature Reliance School, and has dedicated his life not only to teaching survival, bushcraft, and sustainment, but to continuously seeking out individuals who know more, and finding ways to learn new things in areas he's spent his whole life studying. This w...
Jul 23, 2025•1 hr 41 min•Season 4Ep. 319
The Red Letter Project is a unique company that takes the traditional approaches we see to skills like firearms safety and proficiency, force on force training, and individual capability, and builds on them through personal focus, and faith based principles. Maddy Scholar is the owner and founder of The Red Letter Project, as well as a avid shooter, as well as a student of business and faith. We sit down in this discussion, starting with Maddy's story of what led her to such an impactful life mi...
Jul 16, 2025•1 hr 33 min•Season 4Ep. 318
