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GRP 59- Co-hosting for this week's podcast is Tim Kolczak the creator of the Veterans Project. Tim was recording from the house of an American warrior who survived the Bataan Death March during World War 2. Tim's featuring this gentleman on his next project which will come out soon. It's very good. Our guest for this week is retired Army veteran, Mylee Cardenas. Mylee worked in several capacities throughout her Army career. She made her way into the Cultural Support Teams, a program that put women alongside Special Operations units in Afghanistan to assist in intelligence gathering and other aspects of the mission because of the culture sensitivity of Afghanistan. We talk about dealing with adversity and how to overcome it. Mylee discovered a lump in her breast while on deployment in a combat zone in which it was discovered to be stage 3 breast cancer. Below is an excerpt: John: You've been in the Special Operations community for a few years now. There was a need in Afghanistan because of the cultural differences to have women alongside Special Operators to deal with the women and children and to handle other facets, working in several capacities as the strategy was changing. Eventually, you signed up for the special job? Mylee Cardenas: 2009 I was voluntold to go to the school house at FT. Brag. The good idea fairy visited some people in SOCOM. For a while, in Afghanistan, there was a top-down approach to promoting governance and security. The Special Ops community decided that we needed to go back to the basics with a bottom-up approach. The Green Berets started setting up these Village Stability Operations camps all over of Afghanistan to train the local police, gather intelligence, and promote governance at the village level. As amazing as these men are they were only able to reach 50 percent of the population because of the cultural differences. A message came out about the program and I said nope I'm not doing it. I felt like it was a knee-jerk reaction, and there wasn't enough time put into setting this program up. The second time around it was more like you're going. The reactions to the program from the guys also made me not want to do it. I didn't want them talking about me the way they talked about these other chicks. I knew the men weren’t happy with this program.

Mylee Cardenas served in the U.S. Army as a civil affairs non-commissioned officer before volunteering to join the cultural support team (CST)initiative where she was assigned to the Special Forces in Afghanistan. While deployed, she noticed a lump on her breast, but ignored it so she could finish the eight-month tour. Mylee returned to the United States to find out that she had stage 3 invasive ductal carcinoma. She began chemotherapy and 35 rounds of radiation, before undergoing a bilateral mastectomy. She finished a marathon while on chemo. We discuss the many obstacles that she has overcame as well as why the CST program had difficulties with SOF soldiers. Mylee is now working on a documentary about the reasons so many are joining the fight in Afghanistan and what compels them. Follow Mentors for Military: SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/mentors4mil Instagram: www.instagram.com/mentors4mil Twitter: www.twitter.com/mentors4mil Facebook: www.facebook.com/mentors4mil Homepage: www.mentorsformilitary.com

This week I compiled sound bites from several past episodes. I went back to the female athletes that have been on the podcast and collected their answer to the question "What does it mean to be a warrior?" Featured in this compilation are: Joanna Lohman, Midfielder for Washington Spirit Jessica Aguilar, MMA Fighter Lori Lindsey, former USWNT player Meghan Klingenberg, current USWNT defender Sue Bird, WNBA legend Mylee Cardenas, US Army veteran & fitness nut Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and stay tuned for more amazing interviews!

Mylee Cardenas is one of the most inspirational and awesome people I've ever had the pleasure of working with.  This marks my third interview with her. I first spoke with her for the Veteran Empire podcast a couple years ago. Then, she contributed a story on veteran suicide for One2ManyProject.com. Now, she is here to talk to her fellow warriors about challenge and inspiration. Join us this week to learn about Mylee's visit to some refugee camps in the Middle East, her lace bra tattoo, modeling, fitness, and more. Be sure to use #FuelForWarriors to join the conversation and let us know if you enjoyed Mylee's interview. @MyleeYC @TimLawson21 @LockNLoadJava @LawsonEntertainment