15 Minutes Prior

IC2 Mike "Snake Wake" Weiler was in the Navy from 89-94 where he did Interior Communication aboard submarines.  Mike talks about the day to day life aboard a ship as well as how he got his rate and becoming Submarine Warfare qualified earning his dolphins.  Mike explains the many positions within a sub and some details of multiple ways they surface, including breaking through ice in the Arctic and getting his "Blue Nose". After his departure from the Navy Mike also spent 2 years in the PA Guard.  

SGT Chris Naganuma was Infantryman in the Army from 2003-2008. In 2004 he deployed to Mosul Iraq in Strykers.  Chris talks about a few events during this deployment that stood out to him.  After the deployment he had an injury that eventually led to him getting out.  After getting out he learned to run and operate his business, S3F solutions, and worked with Napalm Cannabis.  Chris currently works on running the Project Leaflet page covering the war in Ukraine.  He's also helped with gear acquisition and spent 3 weeks in country conducting interviews and covering the war.  We got to talk about the use of drones and how effective they've become in the fight against the Russians.  

Matthew "Whiz" Buckley was an F/A-18 fighter pilot in the US Navy.  After getting commissioned in the early 90's he spent his time on aircraft carriers in support of Operation Southern Watch as well as Operation Noble Eagle. He discusses places he's traveled to as well as discussing what it was like to be an adversary pilot at the Top Gun school.  While on ship and not flying, he spent his time as a Landing Signal Officer. After getting out he started a career in trading and consulting and wrote a book "From Sea Level to C Level".  We touch on some recent events with the balloon situation as well as Ukraine.  He started the "No Fallen Heros Foundation" to help give vets and first responders an alternative to help with mental health.  We get into this quite a bit as it's not a standard option readily available to us here. There are options coming forth which he talks about as well.  He is very open about the Medicines used and the benefits of psychedelics in these treatments.  Visit the website for more information https://nofallenheroesfoundation.org/

Our guest is Chris Bentley who enlisted in the Marines in 1999 and got out in 2013.  His MOS was 0431- Logistics/Embarkation Specialist. Throughout his enlistment he went on 6 total deployments and spent time in both Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as time aboard ship.   Gunny talks about the places he got to travel to and explains a bit of what his responsibilities were.  He talks about one of his deployments of being on an embedded Afghan training team and his experience with that.  After getting out he started a company called Bellatorum Resources, which he talks about the success of and the ultimate shut down.  He is currently awaiting sentencing in a fraud case in relation to the company.   Chris has a book called "Burning Bellatorum" which talks about this at length

Steve joined the Army in 1973 and managed to get assigned to the White House Communications Agency in DC.  We talk a good bit about getting into a job most people don't know about and what that entails and how it helped lead to more opportunities he got along the way.  After getting out he applied and got into the Secret Service and goes into what was involved with getting in and some stories of traveling around.   Steve Has also worked in the contracting industry and we talk a bit about how volatile that world can be.  He also spent time in the Guard and getting to do counter drug missions.  Steve is currently writing; his book Shadow Tier is available.

Josh Abuzaid is currently a SFC in the Army and nearing retirement but started his career in the Marines in 2005. Working in Legal on Camp Smith in Hawaii until 2009, he then got out and went right into the Army where he works in corrections and detention.  He worked in Leavenworth for 2 years, spent some time in Germany and Afghanistan. He also spent time as a Drill Sargeant and talks about what it's like to mold and train civilian kids into soldiers and the toll a career can take on relationships.  Josh goes into detail about his deployment to Asadabad Afghanistan where he got his purple heart. He gets into some deep detail about the mentality of a tough deployment and being wounded, and the realities of what comes with those experiences, and the mental aspect of people wishing their deployments were different or wanting these tough deployments without knowing what that means and what comes with it.

Elegance Bratton was in the Marines from 2005-2010. leading up to his enlistment he was homeless at the age of 16 for about 10 years after being kicked out of his home for being gay. We talk about struggles and what led him to the Corps. He explains getting to Camp H. M. Smith in Hawaii, getting to travel to Thailand and Korea, and connecting to other cultures through his camera.  After his time in Hawaii he went to New York as part of guard duty. After getting out, he applied and got accepted into Columbia University and after graduating from there he got into Tisch grad film at NYU.  during his school days and leading into after, he began working on films and worked on a show for Viceland called "my house". He then made a documentary called "Pier kids" and is currently awaiting the release of his film "the inspection" that he wrote and directed based on his life experiences."Greatest lessons to be learned in life, are learned through self-sacrifice"

Born in 1942, David Peters started his Air Force career flying F-4's doing 3 tours in Vietnam in '67, '68, and '69.  Afterwords, he instructed on the T-38 and in 1974 he found his way into the SR-71 program whereby 1977 he found himself in Japan flying missions over the Korean DMZ and the Chinese coast.  Dave talks about the cold war mentality and the main mission of a jet that flies at 85,000 feet at Mach 3+.  Dave talks about a few mission stories and being able to see the curvature of the earth as well as some technical stuff about the aircraft.  He retired in 1986 and went on to fly for American Airlines

Brittany spent her time in the CIA as a targeting Officer from 2005-2014. she goes over how she got into the agency and what a Targeting Officer does. She explains how working alongside the military works and other facets of the job as well. I wanted to reach out and have her on, because of the scale of the wars, and the reach it had amongst govt entities, to see what a different perspective was and how we all worked together to achieve the mission goal.We get into the role and importance of women in the agency, and what that was like when overseas and talking to sources of another culture. Which leads to her talking about how important it is to be prepared and how that set her up for success.  We also talk a bit about the fall of Afghanistan and what that means as a whole for young girls and women who are still there, as well as the Zawahiri strike and what that means.Shes written a book, The Syndicate Spy, so check that out as it releases soon

Joe Lombardo was in the Marines from 2007-2012 as an 1812 M1A1 Tank Crewman.  He was with 1st tanks out of 29 palms. he deployed in 2010 for the first time, and a 2nd time in 2012. In 2012 he deployed with tanks to Afghanistan, something that was only done for a short time throughout the war. He talks about how he got the tank MOS, what school was like, the different jobs within the tank and what the day to day was with workups and on deployment.  Joe goes into detail about his second deployment and how the enemy tried to fight against the tanks. He also walks us through the experience of using his tank to take out an enemy attack and draw fire away from the other incapacitated tanks, which resulted in him being awarded a NAM with "V" Device. Joe then talks about going to flight school for helicopters when he got out, working that job, and having a crash landing in New York. We also get into a lot of detail about the struggles he had once getting out. Joe left his deployment early due to EAS and got out quickly after returning, and we discuss how that contributed to not having the best help to deal with the deployment and how to manage it as time continued.I'm very thankful for joes' story and being able to have all 3 Lombardo brothers on the show. I think it's safe to say that the Lombardo family has done more than their fair share..

Sgt Nick Lombardo was in the Marines from 2002-2006. He was a Mortarman in 1/7 weapons company out of 29 Palms. We go over his first impressions of getting to 29 palms and what his day to day was like in his new unit, what they did in the short time before deploying in 2003, and what it was like leaving the line of departure in Kuwait headed to Baghdad nearly 20 years ago. He goes over the differences of his 2 Deployments to Iraq, and what he got into after getting out...for the first time...  in 2010 after hearing his younger brother was deploying, he attached to reserve unit 3/25 Kilo to deploy to Afghanistan.  We touch on the importance of being prepared, and how the Marines teach you leadership traits at a young age.  Plenty of stories from his time out before going back in and him ultimately being out for good. Nick currently flies helicopters for a living and feeds sharks as a diver..

SSGT Dillon spent 12 years in the Marines from 1998-2011. She talks about her family history of service to the country and how that influenced her to go in and join herself.   She spent her time as an aircraft maintenance data specialist and eventually became a Drill Instructor on Paris Island.  She talks about the time in the Corps when it went from peacetime duty, to after 9/11 and the focus shifted to the war effort. She gets into becoming a drill Instructor and what life was like on the Drill field, as well as her time spent being a PMI.  We talk about getting out and trying to find a new purpose to push forward with, and in her case, she's continued the path of being a firearms instructor.  

Greg Coker enlisted in 1986 as an infantryman in the US Army where he spent his enlistment in the 101st.  He applied to flight school and got accepted in 1989.  Once he completed flight school in 1990, he went to Korea, during his time as a pilot he flew the Cobra and Apache helicopters.  in 93 he put in his package to go to selection for the 160th, he got accepted and completed his training and flew the AH-6 Little Bird.  Greg talks about his time doing all of this and gives a history of what the 160th is and why it's an important part of Special Operations and their mission.  Greg was in while our countries latest wars were just starting, and he talks about what it was like to be one of the first people into Iraq and Afghanistan and what that time was like.  During a deployment in Iraq, he was shot down, and he goes into detail about this experience.  Greg retired in 2008, making his career span 22 years that included 11 deployments. As always, we discuss the transition to the civilian world, and Greg talks about the struggles he had adjusting. Now Greg is exploring other opportunities to help fellow vets and has written a book about his experiences. his book is called "death waits in the dark"

On this episode we have Blake Flannery who spent 20 years in the Marine corps, starting as an 0311 and then transitioning to 0321-reconnaissance Marine.  Enlisting in 2001, 9/11 happened while he was on Paris Island, and he ended up waiting in Kuwait to cross the border to Iraq.  working his way through Iraq and into Baghdad he made his way to Saddam's palace, as well as having experienced Fallujah.  We discuss a bit of how the military tends to have 1 plan set, and then it changes through a few examples. His time spent in Recon was during a period when MARSOC was being stood up and he talks about how that effected the Recon units and how the Corps ultimately brought the force units back. He also talks about having to try and hitch a ride after just getting to Okinawa to get to Camp Schwab. As always, we talk about the transition to civilian life, and dealing with the idea of trying to find a job.  look him up on socials to see what he's doing with his training now.

Roger spent his time in the Army from 2006-2019 as a Chaplain. Roger discusses his pipeline of becoming a chaplain and what some of his duties were. He talks about the duties while in Afghanistan and working with people there, as well as explaining what it was like doing Family notifications for fallen soldiers once back in Australia.  He was medically discharged after dealing with the mental toll these duties had on him.  We get into typical Army life and experiences he had along the way.  We get into something I'm learning more here, regardless of nationality there seems to be a common ground of understanding amongst the veteran community that we don't easily get from our local civilian communities.  Another common aspect is the reality that, no matter what happens, we still have a job or mission to do the next day..    Roger has written 2 books- "Echos In The Wind", and  "A wind Of Bitter Tears"

Gunny Keyes spent 20 years in the Marines.  He started as an 0311 and eventually designated an 0341.  Along the way he went on multiple deployments to 50 countries aboard multiple ships including being on the USS Peleliu across Asia and the USS Tortuga off the coast of Africa.  He talks about becoming a Drill Instructor and what that tour was like.  He later gets into his time spent at the University of Idaho as the assistant Marine instructor to train ROTC.  He brings up being a company gunny and standing in as a battalion 1st Sgt leading up to him retiring.   As always, we talk about the transition to civilian side.

Our guest is Army Captain, Kayla Hodges who spent her time in from 2012-2020. She started her career at West Point Academy. She gives us detail about her experience at the academy and what genral life is like there.  We get into a good bit of detail about bureaucracy and the overall mindset of the military to do things the way they've always done it and how that can hinder unit sucess.  She went through Air Assault school and was stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. We touch on a few topics that she has written about that include Physical standard differences, the impact of leadership positions being rotated so frequently, and how some senior leadership, instead of taking criticism and working to improve things, double down instead...Leading up to her getting out, she spent time doing an internship for the fish and wildlife program in Washington state. From there she talks about the decision to live the van life for a year to help her take time to find an outside personality that didn't revolve around being a soldier and how important that is. She also touches on doing some Conservation work in places like Costa Rica, Belize, and Kenya and being headed to Southern Africa with the program Soldiers for Wildlife.

This episode features a guest who is from the same hometown as we are in eastern Pennsylvania, who had an extensive 25-year career in the Navy as a SEAL from 1987-2012.  After finishing college, he enlisted and made his way to SEAL team 2 where he went on several deployments.   During one of which he experienced being in a helicopter that made a crash landing in the ocean.  In 1993 he went to and passed selection for the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU); or as most will know it: SEAL team 6.  He spent the majority of his career within DEVGRU where he eventually became the Command Master Chief of the team from 2009-2011.He talks about the basic pipeline of becoming a SEAL, types of trainings and what the typical team mentality is, which we touch on quite often and how it differs from the conventional big military type of mentality.  We talk about ways to succeed and what to do with failures, including being able to look at shortcomings and be honest about them so you can improve and succeed in the future. We get to talk about a few of his missions he was part of and helped plan, one of which was when he took a team into eastern Europe undercover to search for and snag a war criminal.  Another we get into is one most people are familiar with, the raid into Pakistan to go after Osama bin Laden... He talks about the weeks leading up to the raid, things that made it more difficult, and how they worked around those hurdles.

Colin Ferguson spent 22 years in the British Army from 1985-2007. he finished his career as a Regimental Sergeant Major. He talks about his time on Two deployments to Northern Ireland when the IRA was active, Time spent during the first Gulf war, missions to Bosnia and ultimately supporting OIF. we talk a lot about the typical life of a young soldier/Marine and how looking back we realize better ways to set up for a career or being able to help yourself better prepare for the transition of getting out, which can come at any point of your career regardless of personal planning.  he also has a podcast: The Unconventional Soldier 

We have on SPC Ecker, who spent her time in the Pennsylvania National guard out of Fort Indiantown Gap. She was an Air traffic control operator and explains what she did as her job, explains what the guard schedule was like, as well as other trainings she got to do. As always, we talk about getting out and transitioning to civilian life

A very exciting episode featuring Charles Stoeng who spent 15 years in the French Foreign Legion.  Charles is from Norway, and he explains what it was like to join the legion, going to France, the process and selection and what life in the Legion is like.  he talks about his time as part of a Desert Reconnaissance unit where he spent time in multiple countries in Africa, the Middle East, and former Yugoslavia.  We get into detail about brotherhood and the sense of belonging we all feel and ultimately miss about the military. We also touch on how in the military, especially the Legion, can open people up to many types of people with different cultures, backgrounds, economic status and how we learn to work together and become family.

Our guest in this episode is LCDR "Wombat" Matson of the US Navy. He is our first commissioned officer we've on, and he does explain a few ways of how to become a commissioned officer. He spent 20 years between active duty and the reserves and spent his time flying the E-2 Hawkeye and eventually got the opportunity to switch and go fly the F/A 18c Hornet fighter jet. We get into the process of being able to change the type of plane he flew.  He explains the process of landing on an aircraft carrier in both of his planes. He gets into his time on the Nimitz Aircraft Carrier, getting to fly an F-18 that was setup for airshow purposes, and get talks about his time as an instructor for other pilots.  He is now a pilot for a major airline in the US, and also trains there as well.  One thing we talk about is during the transition to civilian life is and missing the camaraderie and trying to find that again.  

Joe Barna of northern Pennsylvania was drafted at the age of 21 to go to South Korea in 1951. While in the Marines he carried a Flamethrower while in a mountain region outside of Panmunjom.  Joe spent 13 months in and getting out in 1953. During his time in country, he received 2 purple hearts, one of which was for being bayonetted, he talks about this experience and the Corpsman who saved his life, Jackie Kilmer. Joe also talks about his time after the service and where he worked, where he took a job at PPL and getting a significant raise over his last job where he made $2.18/hr in 1956. Having Mr. Barna on the show was a great experience and an honor for us to have the opportunity to help share his story. 

on this episode we have another armorer Cpl Waldron, but he was in a 3rd Eschelon shop, which we explain in the episode.  We go over the differences of the armories and how the Marines break them down, we also get into his time as a shooting instructor on the Kbay range. We then get into how he got involved in shooting competitions while on the Pacific Division Shooting team where he qualified to go shoot at a championship event on Camp Lejune in N. Carolina.There's a lot of shop talk and intricate details of armory work as well as the ins and outs of the shooting teams and what that's like.   

on this episode we have MSgt Defazio who retired from the Air Force. He started out in the Army where he got to work on the international shooting team and working on their firearms. After his stint in the Army he finished his career in the Air Force after a total of 30 years... He mentioned about getting stop-lossed and his retirement being delayed. He talks about civilian contracting after his retirement and our experiences on the road together.

Cpl Burford comes on and talks about his time in legal services. He touches on his time being stationed on Pearl harbor and then transferring to Camp smith. We talk about picking up second award ranks and all that. He got to work and be around the Court Martial system a bit

Sgt Robey spent 5 years in the Marines, during which he spent time in Korea and Thailand.  While stationed in Hawaii he spent time in multiple shops as part of MARFORPAC. He talks about how he was presented with new ideas or ways of thinking in a way that wasnt force fed and made him think and process what he was beibng asked

Sgt DeLuzio comes on and talks about his time in the Connecticut Army National Guard from 2005-2011. His unit received Active orders to deploy to Afghanistan in 2010, While there he was in the area of Torkham, only a few miles from the Pakistan border.  While on mission, he learned that his brother, who was also deployed in country, had been KIA...within a short period of time he found himself in a firefight of his own. Afterwords he was sent back home, and he talks through the rest of his time in dealing with his loss and his transition out of the service.  he then took notes he had been keeping, to write a book about the situation, its called Surviving Son. be sure to check this one out as well as his book.  

We got to talk about his time in the Air Force stationed in Japan as part of the 376th Air Wing. He spent his time as part of the Strategic Air Command during the late 80's when everything at the time was still Cold War focused. 

This episode features Sgt Lombardo (in studio) who spent his time in the Marines as an 0351 Assaultman, as well as 8152 security forces. he talks about his time doing his security force work in Washington, transferring units to be with his brother and his deployment to Iraq. One thing that stands out amongst many, is how different of a road you can end up taking than the one you pictured on your personal map and where that can lead you.  This one is longer than the norm but well worth it! enjoy

this episode is with Chief Warrant Officer 3 Fry. he did 21 years in the Marines spanning from the 70's to the 90's. he talks about his career that included being stationed all over, being a drill instructor, the process of becoming a Warrant Officer, and his ultimate retirement. He touches on his Gulf War experience a bit, and then we progress to his time in Afghanistan as a Civilian contractor.

today's guest was a Navy veteran aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). She talks about normal life on a ship where she got to go while out to sea.  She runs a veterans help non-profit called Veterans Of Hope and we get to talk about the things they do to help the community

we discuss jeffs time in, where he went to Africa, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  he talks about the deployment differences between Iraq and Afghan, how it all operated and what it was like being lower enlisted during one and being in a leadership role for the other. we then get into his time as a contractor in Afghanistan and what he went on to do after his overall service time was over.

the first non-Marine guest is finally here.  Specialist Miller goes over his time in the Army as an Intel Analyst, and we discuss his time in Iraq and Afghanistan and how those experiences may have changed the outlook on everything as a whole... I've known Cody for about 24 years now, starting back when I was in the 5th grade, and fortunately our paths got to cross a few times throughout our military experiences, once in Texas and I got lucky enough to work on the same FOB as him in Afghanistan.

we talked to Sgt knight about his time in the Marines as a 2111, he spent 2 enlistments in multiple units, one of which was specific to foreign weapons training. Hes now a machinist for CMC triggers

Our guest today was supply at MARFORPAC and spent time at the Pu'uloa rifle range. We get into his time after active duty and on the reserve side in 4th Recon battalion in Hawaii and then his transition out.  we get into the Tattoo policy of the Marines during these years and how that affected us as a whole and individually.

Delo as we called him,  was my Cpl in the armory.  we go over some of our travels to Korea together, and we get into his time as a recruiter. Hes now about to retire from 20 years in the Marine Corps

on this episode we have Sgt Rambo who did her time in the Marines as Combat Camera. we talk about time in MARFORPAC as well as her time spent working in the Pentagon. we also get into her medical retirement and her transition to her bus life and all she's doing for other vets running the painted buffalo traveling studio. give her socials a fallow and keep up with her story on the road.

in this episode we get to talk to Cpl Ream who was in admin during her time in the Marines. we talk about more of the barracks life and the things we got into there, as well as some NJP talk and how all that goes down

this episode we talk to Sgt Whittington who was in Public affairs in the Marines. he was one of the first more senior guys in the barracks to show me around the island in Hawaii outside of Marine mode. He also took me along to places he would go and i got exposed to a different side of people i wasn't generally around before i joined, we hung out at the tattoo shop a lot and I'm grateful for being around someone who was willing to take me under his wing. enjoy

Our first episode with a guest, and fortunately he's my best friend. we just talk about his experience while in the Marines and his transition out, that will be a common theme for the show

SSgt Ramos talks about his career in the Marines, he was the battalion SACO when I had my second incident in Korea... always a great guy and an awesome Staff NCO to be around

this episode will be done to show how the episodes will go with me essentially talking through the sort of things ill be asking the guests of the show to give everyone a basic idea of how the shows format will go.

A brief talking point on a few goals and an outline of what the purpose of this show is going to be.