Only On The Midwatch

The Radio Shak is back baby! Listen to some wild sea stories and mid-watch type discussions with my boy, George.

I could not believe that some of my buddies had never gone up to the bridge after completing a full tour of duty onboard a submarine! Some of my highlights took place on the bridge. Well, I am here to do my part and save those would-be poor souls. There's a little Scotland story for you as well.

Retired Master Chief Jesse Cook comes onto the show to talk about growing up in the US Navy's Submarine force and mental health in the Navy. Jesse also shares his involvement and advocacy of great organizations, Back Country Hunters & Anglers and Big Fish Foundation (Links below). Jesse shares the way that these organizations work to get involved with veterans and provide a chance to organically recreate the camaraderie found in military service and for veterans to have ownership of their narratives. Thanks Jesse! Big Fish Foundation - Donate - https://www.bigfishfoundation.org/donate https://www.bigfishfoundation.org/ Back Country Hunters & Anglers https://www.backcountryhunters.org/ Website: https://www.teamtestdepth.comDiscord: https://discord.gg/HYsFWr2NYouTube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCNBgYzyf3sLetaWCa4qKUpQPodcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/onlyonthemidwatchPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamtestdepth

It's Mental Health Awareness month and we are having a lot of conversations in different forums on the internet and amongst our own circles. It is very clear that this is important to all of us. It is also clear that a lot of us are tired of recognizing the problem, but seeing no change. This episode is more of just how I feel about mental health care in the Navy and suicide prevention. Sure I know that some listeners will disagree with my thoughts and maybe even want to haze me for bringing up "watchstander's liberty." I believe it's past time to consider simple ways to improve the mental health care of our service members, even if it challenges the way we have always done things.

On this episode, we welcome back DGUTS. We talk Harry Potter, mental health, and the future of his platform!

Have you ever wondered what it's like to drive a submarine with the same person day in and day out? Now you can get an inside look into the peculiar relationship that develops between the two in charge of the sticks- and maybe also discover how much boogers weigh at the same time.

My friend and co-worker, George, joins me on this episode to talk radio, homo-erotic crews, and having some fine-ass (female) shipmates. This isn't one you're going to want to miss! If you like our podcast and want to help us keep going please remember to leave us a 5-star rating and a review! We read everyone.

My guy, Josh Knaak finally found his way back on the OTM podcast. For those of you that don't know, Josh and I started TESTDEPTH together back in 2020. Over the years, life has called him to pursue other ventures, so he stepped away from TESTDEPTH. We must've been doing something right because he's coming back for more! In this episode, we shoot the breeze and talk boat life, and special projects, and share the adventures of some of our most memorable shipmates. Be warned! This gets a lil spicy. NSFW.

Armon Owens, a previous guest on the show has returned to sit down and talk to us about his new book on leadership development, The Fight To Lead. For those of you who aren't familiar with Armon, he is a Master Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy's Submarine Force. He was my former Chief of The Boat on the USS Helena (SSN-725) and has had continued success in his career and personal life. Drawing from personal accounts, historical events, and the wisdom and failure of those who lead him, Armon has authored a great book that teaches us about the inward battles we must fight daily to lead at the highest levels. You can find The Fight To Lead by Armon Owens on Amazon as a paperback or Kindle Edition, with the audiobook coming soon. https://www.amazon.com/Fight-Lead-Overcome-Battle-Highest/dp/B0BYR88V6L Armon is also the host of The Unsung Leader podcast which can be found on most platforms you listen to podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-unsung-leader/id1516642556 Find him on YouTube with Anthony Amato @ Anthony Amato & Armon Owens https://www.youtube.com/@Leadership_State_of_Mind

Did you ever wonder what winning the lottery looked like in the military? Well, I'm not saying that this is it but... my buddy Chris had a sweet gig in the military and you'll wanna hear about it. This episode features two of my veteran friends, Chris(Army), and Kaleb(Navy). In true OTM fashion, we are all over the place, but as usual, I enjoyed shooting the breeze with these guys. Thanks, boys for coming on. Go Navy, beat Army! Hooyah!

March is Women's History Month, and what better way to celebrate it than with our show's most historic female guest, granted the only female guest, we have ever had on the show. Jessie is an awesome person who has had great success throughout her Naval career. She exemplifies a go-getter mentality and enjoys serving her naval community as a CPO. In this episode, we show recognition to the women in our submarine force but also call out the unfortunate backlash that has been coming with the integration of women onboard submarines. Sprinkle in some great stories and maybe some jarring memories and it was a good time all-in-all. Thanks Jessie for coming back on!

ELT1, the admin of RC C*msock, is a STA-21 participant and submarine nuclear machinist's mate. I'm very grateful that he was willing to come on the show and share with everyone his experience with the application process for STA-21 as well as what to expect. For those of you seeking to eventually commission in the Navy, and those who want to know what options are available for your career should you enlist, give this episode a good listen! Thanks again ELT1(SS)!

It's been a while since we were able to consistently pursue the Only On The Midwatch podcast and Testdepth project. As you will hear in the show, a lot has happened these past couple of years but we are now at a place where we can focus our efforts on this awesome goal - to create a great community for submariners past, present, and future! So, stay locked, and stay tuned. Be sure to visit our website www.teamtestdepth.com to read our latest blogs post that will cover varying topics of interest related to our community as well as summaries of our episodes. This will be a new way to see what you missed on the show. Another new feature of our site allows you to submit yourself for a chance to come onto the show and shoot the sh*t. Remember that we want to look out for our own, so if you are a submarine veteran and have something you would like to promote, contact us with details and we can see how we may be able to help a fellow bubblehead grow.

What's better than having one great meme page admin on the show? Having 2 great meme page admins! RC_Cumsock is on this episode and I am pumped that he was willing to come on. Thank you to 69 Fathoms for hooking that up. We had such an awesome time. I'll apologize now for the retelling of the same welcome to your first boat story... I may or may not have been drinking. Enjoy!

Glad to have 69 Fathoms to come back and introduce himself and what his page is all about. We had a laid back chat and a lot of laughs. Looking forward to speaking more with this great guy! Hope you all enjoy!

My friend and runner of the 69Fathoms meme page was back on the show. I say back on the show and understand that you guys haven't heard the first visit yet because of technical difficulties but, never the less! I enjoy speaking with him about anything. I hope you guys enjoy. He will definitely be back on the show!

The first time was just too good to leave it there. Back on the show is the DGUTS Podcast host providing a lot of food for thought concerning leadership. He has a very upfront and extreme ownership mentality when it comes to this topic and I think its great to hear someone in a senior leadership who is active duty spreading this message. I hope you guys enjoy the talk and if you want more of DGUTS, visit the website at https://www.dgutspodcast.com/ and checkout the new shop at https://www.dgutsapparel.com

There was a lot to talk about! Mandatory Covid-19 Vaccines for federal workers, uniform regs, a few sea stories and some other stuff. As usual, love shootin' the sh*t with Jessie and hope you guys do too.

This was one of my favorite conversations on the show thus far. The Host of Don't Give Up The Ship Podcast or DGUTS Podcast was willing to have a long chat with me about leadership and his mission with his projects. It was an incredible conversation and thrust me back into the spirit of a Second Class Petty Officer looking to make positive change in the work space and community. I love how candid and true he really is and I am sure you all will appreciate that as well. This man has got a real passion for leadership and we look forward to having him come back on to further this discussion. Let us know what you guys think by hitting us up on instagram, or sending us a message here! Thanks

If you are an OG listener of the show, you know Jessie and her story. She's back to help us kick off Season 3 of the Only On The Midwatch Podcast and begin a mini-series of episodes we will be doing with her. Jessie is a great person to talk to considering her resume and the fact that she's a hard charger. We hope that she can pass on some valuable info to all of you would be submariners and current sailors out there looking for a nudge in the right direction, all while having some laughs! Thanks for rocking with us guys. We hope you enjoy!

Nick has been a great friend that our team met at the beginning of the TESTDEPTH journey. To say that his is driven is an under statement but it is our privilege to bring onto the show a seasoned veteran who has been through the enlisted ranks and now the commissioned; to share with you his story and what he has got going on with CWO Brian Browne. We hope you enjoy. As always don't forget to leave a review and submit feedback to us via instagram or our website. Thanks for listening.

There are a lot of Submarine sailors out there who do great things in parallel with their career. Nelson Velasquez has come onto the show to give us the run down of his photography biz and some insight into submarine deployment amidst COVID. We are grateful that we got to hear some funny seas stories and about his journey in the Navy. We hope you guys give it a listen and enjoy.

Good ole banter with the guys. This here is just a fun shoot the sh*t show. Something about the Walmart of liquor stores, haunted CT, moles having moles... Oh and 300 nuts on board submarines. Not to mention, AMBER alert for the nukes out there. We want to have some nukes on the show, so if you are interested please reach out to us over social media.

Jessie Barnes is a returning first season guest of our show and we couldn't be more excited to have had her back. Checking in with Jessie, we find out some awesome opportunities coming her way and discuss how COVID-19 has changed things for a lot of us. Oh, we also talk about submariner bowel movements and such... We hope you enjoy!

It's just a fan-freakintastic time when we hangout with Sailors & Sticks founders Brian Browne and Nick Church. This was collaboration that we were super excited about and had a blast doing. We asked you guys to send us in some sea stories and you did. We shared them and had some laughs and some concerned mumblings. We told you guys we were giving away prizes, and we did; a bunch of them. We hope you guys enjoyed the live show and for those you that missed it, here ya go! Enjoy!

Author of "I Have The Watch Watch: Becoming a Leader Worth Following" Jon S. Rennie was a submarine officer during the end of the Cold War. He has over 20 years of experience in corporate America leading manufacturing teams to find great success. If you have not heard his podcast yet tune into Deep Leadership Podcast for great information and tips on how to improve your leadership skills and effectiveness. We are very honored to have Jon on the show and hope you enjoy! 

Another one of our own, LTJG Reginal Ritchie has come on to the show to go back in time to his enlisted moments being a part of the crew of the good ship USS Helena. We talk about his First Class moments, his CPO moments, and what its like to be a Naval Officer with a flight squadron! Oh, and there is a big reveal! Tune in to the Only On The Midwatch Podcast!

After some platform technical difficulties and a little more editing to keep it more user friendly, OTM #8 is up! We joke, we laugh, we remember not so brighter days. So kick back, throw some headphones in while you're doing field day or at the DMV, and laugh along with us. Only On The Midwatch.

Join us for a very special guest that has been highly requested! Jason is on our show as we dive into being command of a US Submarine as well as other leadership topics!

Had a great time talking with ITS1 (SS) Jessie Barnes the Navy's first female submariner/scuba diver. This meeting was wrapped a little earlier than we had hoped but that just means we will have her on again very soon! We talked about plenty of things from the pipeline to dive school, to being on easy street on a GN... Jk, we love y'all. We hope you enjoy this episode of OTM!

One of the best leasers in the Navy and our former COB. We touched on being a young sailor, the chaos occurring all over, leadership anddd... Armon gave us the exclusive on his new book! Great to have a fellow Guardian on the show, one of our very own. You don't want to miss the gems on this episode of Only On The Midwatch!

We are lucky to have the all around great guy behind the well known and loved diver community brand 15 Fathoms, on our show. From sharing stories and lessons learned from a healthy childhood, to talking about the difficult times that were overcome, this an episode you don't want to miss! Enjoy listening to us shoot the sh*t with our friend, US Navy Diver, Tommy McConnell.

Well, we realized that you guys may not know much about us. So, we decided to take the time to provide a little back story and entertain you folks with some accounts of the ridiculous moments we found ourselves in starting out in the Navy. We hope you enjoy laughing at us. Thanks again for continuing to listen and don't forget to tell others about our show!

Despite no-one traveling as hard as the People's Warrant, we were able to get CWO Brian Browne to talk with us while out on his military travels. Through an hour so of trouble shooting technology, we were able to ghetto-rig a long distance podcast recording set up. Though it created some complications on playback you might notice, the conversation was great and we all had a great time remembering times in the Submarine Force. We were psyched to get the chance to have Brian on our show and hopefully in the future, he will continue to return to the Only On The Midwatch Podcast.

Well we have finally done it. We worked up the guts to just let one of our recording sessions fly onto the inter webs to bless your ears. On OMW we just shoot the sh*t and have fun for your entertainment. Im sure we will iron out the kinks of this podcasting thing real soon, but for now...We're nubs. Enjoy and don't forget to swing by our website www.teamtestdepth.com in order to pick up some great products and get on the forums to let us know what you think about the show!