Podcasts about national intelligence medal

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Chris Whitlock and Frank Strickland discuss the importance of AI Education for Leaders. Drawing upon three decades of leading hundreds of advanced analytics and AI programs and projects in government and industry, Chris and Frank address the primary variable in the talent deficit – large numbers of qualified AI leaders. Whether you are a senior or mid-level leader who lacks hands-on experience with AI, or an AI practitioner who lacks leadership experience, Frank and Chris unpack the dynamics between AI programs, projects, people, and technology.  Research Questions:  Chris Whitlock suggests a question related to Large Language Models (LLM); how will LLMs perform with contemporary data feeds, novel, emergent topics? For example: intelligence summarizations? Frank Strickland believes that simulation technologies are ascendant and should be studied more. Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned #129 Eliot Jardines on Open Source Intelligence Ai Leaders https://aileaders.mykajabi.com Winning the National Security AI Competition: A Practical Guide for Government and Industry Leaders by Chris Whitlock and Frank Strickland Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller T-Minus AI: Humanity's Countdown to Artificial Intelligence and the New Pursuit of Global Power by Michael Kanaan and Braden Wright Link to full show notes and resources https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-145 Guest Bio:  Frank Strickland enlisted in the Marine Corps, graduating as the Honor Man of my platoon. During his 22 years of government service, he helped lead innovations including: evaluating and transitioning to production the nation's first long endurance unmanned aerial system; delivering intelligence to the tactical edge using narrow and wide-band technologies; and agile prototyping of big data analytics. The Director of Central Intelligence awarded him the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement in recognition of these accomplishments. He was the National Reconnaissance Office's (NRO) Legislative Director, and a member of CIA's Senior Intelligence Service, where he received the NRO's Medals of Distinguished and Superior Service. In the private sector he co-founded Edge Consulting and helped lead Edge's growth resulting in an acquisition by IBM. As a partner in IBM and subsequently Deloitte, he led large practices providing AI and analytics solutions and services to national security clients including innovations in massive scale property graphs and agent-based simulation.  Chris Whitlock completed undergrad in Oxford – Oxford MS – and began service as an Army infantry officer, then military analyst at CIA. He spent the majority of his 40-year career providing advanced analytics, AI, and management consulting services primarily to national security clients in the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and Department of State. He helped pioneer the rapid prototyping and integration of advanced algorithms with software applications starting in the early 1990s. In the past 10 years his work has emphasized machine learning and artificial intelligence applications. He led a large market offering in Deloitte Consulting focused on Mission Analytics and AI in addition to leading large programs for cabinet level departments. He co-founded an analytics company, Edge Consulting, personally leading the development of algorithmic approaches to quantify the value of intelligence. After an acquisition by IBM, he served as a Partner in IBM. If you notice parallels between Frank's and his careers, we are twins who were separated at birth. We found each other in 1991 and have done some cool stuff since including our most recent venture, aiLeaders. About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain. For more information, please contact us at communications@information-professionals.org. Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn. Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

20 year anniversary of the capture of Saddam Hussein ERIC MADDOX: https://www.ericmaddox.com https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Hussein-As-Soldier-Masterminded-Capture/dp/B002EQ9LV2 8 deployments 2700 interrogations Awards: the Legion of Merit, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Director's Award and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. Book: Mission: Black List #1 HE'S NEVER BEEN ASKED THIS QUESTION: Ever think about what your life would've looked like had you gotten on that plane to come home? MOST REWARDING FEEDBACK FROM HIS STORY STRATEGY | PLANNING BIGGEST PLANNING HURDLES IN IRAQ MISSION? DAILY RE-INVENT WHEEL? WHAT DID YOU LEARN MOST ABOUT CREATING STRATEGY AND PLAN DEVELOPMENT? UNIVERSAL KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL PLANNING? TEAM DYNAMIC WHAT CHALLENGES WITHIN A TEAM MIGHT WE BE FACED WITH RELATE: STARTING YOUR COACHING COMPANY ADVICE FOR SOMEONE WITH VISION AND DREAM? EXECUTION | FAILURE IS TOO PRAGMATIC A THING? HOW DOES IT PREVENT EXECUTION? WHY WE MAGNIFY THE EFFECTS OF FAILURE? WHY WE DEMONIZE BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD HOW CAN WE SEE PIVOTING AND MAKING ADJUSTMENTS AS INVALUABLEOPPORTUNITIES? EMPATHY-BASED LISTENING NOT ALL PLAYERS MAKE GREAT COACHES NOT ALL LEADERS MAKE GREAT COMMUNICATORS? WHERE WE FALL SHORT? HOW DOES YOUR COACHING TRANSLATE INTO YOUR PERSONAL LIFE? 3 KEYS TO BECOME BETTER LISTENER THANK YOU UNCOMMEN FOR PARNTERING WITH US: https://www.uncommen.org FOLLOW US ON IG: https://www.instagram.com/last_in_line_leadership/ PURCHASE OUR BOOKS AND GEAR: https://last-in-line-leadership.square.site

In this fascinating discussion, Eric Maddox shares why he enlisted in the U.S. Army where he was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, a jumpmaster, and graduate of Ranger School. In 2003, he was sent to Tikrit, Iraq where he joined a Delta Force team who was searching for high value targets on the infamous Deck of Cards. After five months and over 300 interrogations, Eric was able to track down and eventually give the team the exact location of the spider hole in which Saddam hid. For this, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement, the Defense Intelligence Agency Director's Award, and the Bronze Star. Eric has successfully transitioned his technique of empathy based listening to teach business leaders across the globe on how to follow the breadcrumbs that lead to the stage of the person you are negotiating with. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WHOA!!  Are you ready to get naked and fired up with today's guest, Eric Maddox?!  Eric is a recipient of the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director's Award, Legion of Merit, and Bronze Star, for his direct role in the capture of Saddam Hussein.  Yes, that's right...Saddam Hussein!  Tune in to hear Eric and David talk about how Eric's interrogation skills can be used in business and learn to become effective at utilizing those tools.  Be sure to stay to the end to hear Eric tell the story of how his last 24 hours of hunting Saddam Hussein played out!IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN: [00:01:23] Beginning of Interrogation Career[00:11:18] Using Interrogation Skills in the Business World[00:15:57] How Can Someone Become More Influential?[00:20:26] How Can Someone Gain Leadership?[00:25:19] Eric's Last 24 Hours Hunting SaddamConnect with Eric Maddox:1. Follow Eric on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram & Twitter2. Find Eric on his website3. Contact Eric to schedule Consulting and/or TrainingConnect with David AsarnowFind David on his websiteFind David on his Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook

#84: Eric Maddox is a public speaker, author, and former special operations soldier. He was member of a Delta Force Special Operations team that was part of the Joint Special Operations Command responsible for tracking down the most wanted men in Iraq. During his six month tour with this Delta Force team, Eric conducted over 300 interrogations and collected intelligence which directly led to the capture of Saddam Hussein.As a result, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Director's Award, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. During his time working with the Department of Defense he conducted over 2,700 interrogations while deploying eight times in support of the Global War on Terrorism.Eric currently helps corporations, sports teams, universities, and CEOs master the art of empathy based listening, leading from behind, and negotiating. Eric is also the author of “Mission: Black List #1: The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein.” On the show Eric dives into how he was able to gather the intel that led to the location and capture of Saddam Hussein, his story, developing empathy based listening, confidence, faith, and a lot more. Enjoy the show!

This episode is a highlight clip from this week's full episode. To listen to the full episode, see yesterday's episode or use this link: https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/50652157/download.mp3Special Ops Interrogator, Eric Maddox shares his method of empathy-based listening that he used in interrogations leading to the capture of Saddam Hussein. KEY TOPICS- Recognizing that multitasking and listening cannot coexist- Removing your personal agenda from conversations- Trust-building and partnership through listening- Seeking to understand the perspective of the individual you're talking with- Giving others permission for vulnerability with you- Gaining clarity on others' feelings to make pure decisionsCONNECT WITH USDecidedlypodcast.comInstagram: @decidedlypodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/decidedlypodcastShawn's Instagram: @shawn_d_smith Sanger's Instagram: @sangersmith Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly decision-making tips: https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001aeU_pPBHJPNJWJBdVbaci6bjGIuEJurH12xHBWDEVT_NxyCadMd7wLSZjcEZglkSjDjehuIbTHD8nABOIdV69ctfYpSzg24RCIytetBUrlIPPKgaGzjGZ8DkM0Wp1LMjbErcYUur7PbZGjeVo4gyXlz821AoJGZRJoin us every Wednesday for more strategies to DEFEAT bad decision-making - one episode at a time!ABOUT ERIC MADDOXWebsite: ericmaddox.comInstagram: @eric_b_maddoxLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmaddoxmba/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EricBMaddoxTwitter: @ebmaddox Eric's Podcast “Creating Influence”: https://www.spreaker.com/show/creating-influenceEric's Book “Mission Blacklist #1”: https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Hussein-As-Soldier-Masterminded-Capture/dp/006171447X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=226F373E1JZ1Y&dchild=1&keywords=eric+maddox&qid=1635107112&sprefix=eric+maddox%2Caps%2C129&sr=8-1Eric Maddox joined the U.S. Army as an infantry paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne Division in 1994. After spending three years as a paratrooper, jumpmaster and a qualified ranger, Eric reenlisted as an interrogator and Chinese Mandarin linguist. Since 9/11, Eric has conducted over 2,700 interrogations while deploying eight times in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) to include multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. In 2003, while assigned to a special operations task force in Tikrit, Eric conducted over 300 interrogations and collected the intelligence which directly led to the capture of Saddam Hussein. As a result, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Director's Award, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. After being hired as a civilian with the Department of Defense, Eric continued to help fight the Global War on Terror (GWOT) until 2014. In May 2015, he earned his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and is now a private consultant and negotiator and lives in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Special Ops Interrogator, Eric Maddox shares his method of empathy-based listening that he used in interrogations leading to the capture of Saddam Hussein. KEY TOPICS- Recognizing that multitasking and listening cannot coexist- Removing your personal agenda from conversations- Trust-building and partnership through listening- Seeking to understand the perspective of the individual you're talking with- Giving others permission for vulnerability with you- Gaining clarity on others' feelings to make pure decisionsDON'T HAVE TIME FOR THE FULL EPISODE?Check out the 15-minute highlights: https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/50663030/download.mp3CONNECT WITH USDecidedlypodcast.comInstagram: @decidedlypodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/decidedlypodcastShawn's Instagram: @shawn_d_smith Sanger's Instagram: @sangersmith Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly decision-making tips: https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001aeU_pPBHJPNJWJBdVbaci6bjGIuEJurH12xHBWDEVT_NxyCadMd7wLSZjcEZglkSjDjehuIbTHD8nABOIdV69ctfYpSzg24RCIytetBUrlIPPKgaGzjGZ8DkM0Wp1LMjbErcYUur7PbZGjeVo4gyXlz821AoJGZRJoin us every Wednesday for more strategies to DEFEAT bad decision-making - one episode at a time!ABOUT ERIC MADDOXWebsite: ericmaddox.comInstagram: @eric_b_maddoxLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmaddoxmba/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EricBMaddoxTwitter: @ebmaddox Eric's Podcast “Creating Influence”: https://www.spreaker.com/show/creating-influenceEric's Book “Mission Blacklist #1”: https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Hussein-As-Soldier-Masterminded-Capture/dp/006171447X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=226F373E1JZ1Y&dchild=1&keywords=eric+maddox&qid=1635107112&sprefix=eric+maddox%2Caps%2C129&sr=8-1Eric Maddox joined the U.S. Army as an infantry paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne Division in 1994. After spending three years as a paratrooper, jumpmaster and a qualified ranger, Eric reenlisted as an interrogator and Chinese Mandarin linguist. Since 9/11, Eric has conducted over 2,700 interrogations while deploying eight times in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) to include multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. In 2003, while assigned to a special operations task force in Tikrit, Eric conducted over 300 interrogations and collected the intelligence which directly led to the capture of Saddam Hussein. As a result, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Director's Award, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. After being hired as a civilian with the Department of Defense, Eric continued to help fight the Global War on Terror (GWOT) until 2014. In May 2015, he earned his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and is now a private consultant and negotiator and lives in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

This episode is a highlight clip from this week's full episode. To listen to the full episode, see yesterday's episode or use this link: https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/50505484/download.mp3Special Ops Interrogator, Eric Maddox joins the show to share his story of working though nightly raids, endless interrogations, and top-secret conditions as he sought out to find Saddam Hussein as Lead Interrogator. This episode will provide detailed examples of empathy-based listening in practice within a high-stakes situation. Though not as dangerous as Eric's, you find yourself in high-stakes situations in your business and leadership endeavors every day. How can Eric's empathy-based approach alter the cooperation within your team?CONNECT WITH USDecidedlypodcast.comInstagram: @decidedlypodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/decidedlypodcastShawn's Instagram: @shawn_d_smith Sanger's Instagram: @sangersmith Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly decision-making tips: https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001aeU_pPBHJPNJWJBdVbaci6bjGIuEJurH12xHBWDEVT_NxyCadMd7wLSZjcEZglkSjDjehuIbTHD8nABOIdV69ctfYpSzg24RCIytetBUrlIPPKgaGzjGZ8DkM0Wp1LMjbErcYUur7PbZGjeVo4gyXlz821AoJGZRJoin us every Wednesday for more strategies to DEFEAT bad decision-making - one episode at a time!ABOUT ERIC MADDOXWebsite: ericmaddox.comInstagram: @eric_b_maddoxLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmaddoxmba/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EricBMaddoxTwitter: @ebmaddox Eric's Podcast “Creating Influence”: https://www.spreaker.com/show/creating-influenceEric's Book “Mission Blacklist #1”: https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Hussein-As-Soldier-Masterminded-Capture/dp/006171447X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=226F373E1JZ1Y&dchild=1&keywords=eric+maddox&qid=1635107112&sprefix=eric+maddox%2Caps%2C129&sr=8-1Eric Maddox joined the U.S. Army as an infantry paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne Division in 1994. After spending three years as a paratrooper, jumpmaster and a qualified ranger, Eric reenlisted as an interrogator and Chinese Mandarin linguist. Since 9/11, Eric has conducted over 2,700 interrogations while deploying eight times in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) to include multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. In 2003, while assigned to a special operations task force in Tikrit, Eric conducted over 300 interrogations and collected the intelligence which directly led to the capture of Saddam Hussein. As a result, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Director's Award, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. After being hired as a civilian with the Department of Defense, Eric continued to help fight the Global War on Terror (GWOT) until 2014. In May 2015, he earned his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and is now a private consultant and negotiator and lives in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Special Ops Interrogator, Eric Maddox joins the show to share his story of working though nightly raids, endless interrogations, and top-secret conditions as he sought out to find Saddam Hussein as Lead Interrogator. This episode will provide detailed examples of empathy-based listening in practice within a high-stakes situation. Though not as dangerous as Eric's, you find yourself in high-stakes situations in your business and leadership endeavors every day. How can Eric's empathy-based approach alter the cooperation within your team?DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THE FULL EPISODE?Check out the 15-minute highlights from the episode: https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/50567636/download.mp3CONNECT WITH USDecidedlypodcast.comInstagram: @decidedlypodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/decidedlypodcastShawn's Instagram: @shawn_d_smith Sanger's Instagram: @sangersmith Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly decision-making tips: https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001aeU_pPBHJPNJWJBdVbaci6bjGIuEJurH12xHBWDEVT_NxyCadMd7wLSZjcEZglkSjDjehuIbTHD8nABOIdV69ctfYpSzg24RCIytetBUrlIPPKgaGzjGZ8DkM0Wp1LMjbErcYUur7PbZGjeVo4gyXlz821AoJGZRJoin us every Wednesday for more strategies to DEFEAT bad decision-making - one episode at a time!ABOUT ERIC MADDOXWebsite: ericmaddox.comInstagram: @eric_b_maddoxLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmaddoxmba/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EricBMaddoxTwitter: @ebmaddox Eric's Podcast “Creating Influence”: https://www.spreaker.com/show/creating-influenceEric's Book “Mission Blacklist #1”: https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Hussein-As-Soldier-Masterminded-Capture/dp/006171447X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=226F373E1JZ1Y&dchild=1&keywords=eric+maddox&qid=1635107112&sprefix=eric+maddox%2Caps%2C129&sr=8-1Eric Maddox joined the U.S. Army as an infantry paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne Division in 1994. After spending three years as a paratrooper, jumpmaster and a qualified ranger, Eric reenlisted as an interrogator and Chinese Mandarin linguist. Since 9/11, Eric has conducted over 2,700 interrogations while deploying eight times in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) to include multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. In 2003, while assigned to a special operations task force in Tikrit, Eric conducted over 300 interrogations and collected the intelligence which directly led to the capture of Saddam Hussein. As a result, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Director's Award, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. After being hired as a civilian with the Department of Defense, Eric continued to help fight the Global War on Terror (GWOT) until 2014. In May 2015, he earned his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and is now a private consultant and negotiator and lives in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

On this week's episode of the Iron Butterfly podcast, we are proud to welcome Melissa Smislova, the Senior Official Performing the Duties of Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A). Melissa brings decades of intelligence expertise with her, known for her work on the Soviet Union and North Korea. Prior to her service at DHS, she worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), earning several awards along the way such as the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation, the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement, and the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) 1998 Killian Award. Melissa embodies what it means to be a selfless and unapologetic woman in intelligence, balancing both fierce yet nurturing attributes within the Intelligence Community. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We have the pleasure of speaking to someone truly fascinating today! Eric Maddox is the person who led the team in the capture of Saddam Hussein. He has had a tremendous impact on the world and has received numerous prestigious awards for his achievements!   In this episode, Eric tells his story, talks about his experiences, shares his methodology for the art of Empathy Based Listening, and discusses how that methodology allowed him to track down the exact location of the spider hole in which Saddam Hussein was hiding.  We hope you enjoy listening to our conversation with Eric Maddox today! Eric Maddox's bio Eric Maddox is an author, motivational speaker, and consultant who teaches audiences worldwide about the art of Empathy Based Listening. He is the author of the book Mission: Black List No.1 (Harper Collins, 2008), which details his lead in the search and capture of Saddam Hussein. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 1994, Eric enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, a jump master, and a graduate of Ranger School. He then reenlisted in 1997 as a Chinese Mandarin linguist and interrogator. In 2003, he was sent to Tikrit, Iraq, where he joined a Delta Force team searching for high-value targets on the infamous Deck of Cards. After five months and over 300 interrogations, Eric was able to track down and eventually give the team the exact location of the spider hole in which Saddam hid. For this, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement, the Defense Intelligence Agency Director's Award, and the Bronze Star. Following the capture of Saddam, Eric was hired as the first-ever civilian interrogator by the Defense Intelligence Agency, where he went on to conduct over 2,700 interrogations of prisoners from 25 different countries. Having served in the U.S. Army and Defense Intelligence Agency for 20 years, Eric now devotes his work full time to teaching what he learned during that time to audiences worldwide—the art of Empathy Based Listening. Joining the military Eric grew up in Oklahoma. After graduating from the University of Oklahoma in the late 1990s, he joined the U.S. Military, became a paratrooper, signed up to study Chinese Mandarin in the foreign language program, and trained to become an interrogator. He was working as an Intelligence Collection Officer against the Chinese government for the U.S. Military when 9/11 happened, and America went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq.   Unexpected orders Three months into the war in Iraq, Eric received unexpected orders to join a Delta Force team to track down everyone in the infamous deck of cards in which Saddam Hussein was the Ace of Spades.  Interrogating prisoners After joining the Delta Force team, Eric began interrogating the prisoners that were brought in. Even though none of the techniques taught in the military about interrogation worked, Eric was determined to figure out what it meant to be Iraqi, Sunni, and Shiite.  Trust While listening to and communicating with the prisoners, Eric discovered that people subconsciously use communication to figure out how much they can trust one another. The challenge  Everyone has their biases and agendas. The challenge for Eric was to overcome his own biases and agendas, so he could understand the perspective of others and get to know what the world meant to them.  Empathy Based Listening He discovered that engaging with people on that level was empowering to them, and that level of empowerment was the key to making people willing to talk to him and work with him. He calls that Empathy Based Listening. Cooperation As a result of Eric focusing on the prisoners' needs and what he could do for them, the prisoners became extremely cooperative throughout the 300 interrogations with the Delta Force team. Finding Saddam  The cooperation of the prisoners led to the Delta Force team (that Eric was working with) capturing Saddam Hussein's bodyguard. The bodyguard then led the Delta Force team directly to the spider hole where Saddam was hiding.  The first civilian interrogator for the Defense Intelligence Agency As a result of the capture of Saddam, Eric got pulled out of the United States Army. Then, the Defense Intelligence Agency hired him as their first civilian interrogator.  The art of listening Over the following ten years, Eric did 2700 interrogations and eight deployments of prisoners from 25 different countries. In all the interrogations, he focused on the art of listening. A clear picture When you listen to someone's story, remove the biases of how you see their story. Then you will get a clear picture of how they see the world and how the world matters to them. How to listen to someone if you want to sell them something To sell something to someone, let them know that you are listening to them to get them. Once you have established that, they will tell you what they want and need without asking about the price. Eric's Influence Equation Add your value proposition to the level of respect you show someone and the worthiness you see in them. Put that into the power of the empathy-based trust you have built with them, and divide all of it by what you fear in your relationship with them. (We tend to fear not making a connection or not understanding what someone needs.) Eric's process Eric has a six-step process to get to understand people. The first step is to build their trust. Priorities If you are easily distracted, you need to have the priorities to guide your focus, because our brains cannot multitask.  Breadcrumbs (What you need to listen for when talking to a prospect) Listen for and focus on the words and statements in every sentence your prospect most wants you to hear.  Building trust To build the level of trust you need to make people want to partner with you, start your conversation with three minutes of empathy-based listening. Then, start picking up the breadcrumbs. Presentations at events Get to know what kind of overall experience the audience needs to get from the event. Then gear your presentation around that. Zoom Know that there is the potential for building as much trust with someone on Zoom as there is with meeting them face-to-face. Build the right mindset, stay focused, and prevent yourself from becoming distracted while talking.  Connect with Eric On LinkedIn On Facebook On Instagram On Website Connect with Eric Maddox Email Eric: info@ericmaddox.com On his Website

Today we hear the Combat Story of David Parke, a former Army Ranger and Sniper Team Leader, Navy diver, and Paramilitary Contractor, who spent almost 10 years in Iraq and Afghanistan post-9/11. [Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Loansteady LLC. A small-by-design lender, Loansteady believes in bringing a much-needed dose of humanity to the mortgage process. They are waiving all lender fees for Veterans in 2021. Visit http://www.loansteady.com/combatstory to request a rate quote or start an application. Loansteady LLC, All rights reserved, NMLS# 1701910, (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org/), Equal Housing Lender. For more licensing information, please visit https://www.loansteady.com/licenses-and-legal.] During his time down range as a contractor, he earned the ODNI's National Intelligence Medal for Valor, which the ODNI describes as being given “in connection with an Intel Community mission to national security” and awarded on a “highly selective and rare basis.” David now co-hosts The Team House, which livestreams interviews with special operators, intel professionals, and more. I'm a big fan of the Team House and you can check out our Combat Story interview with David's co-host Jack Murphy (Episode 13 https://youtu.be/ScqnGbPSfhY). David has written two books and appeared in several TV shows as an actor. I hope you enjoy this Combat Story with another battle-tested fighter as much as I did. Find David Online: Instagram @d.parke https://www.instagram.com/d.parke/ LinkedIN https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveparke11b/ The Team House Podcast Find Ryan Online: Ryan's Linktree https://linktr.ee/combatstory Instagram @combatstory https://www.instagram.com/combatstory Facebook @combatstoryofficial https://fb.me/combatstoryofficial Send us messages at https://m.me/combatstoryofficial Show Notes: 0:00 - Intro 0:41 - A word from our Sponsor (LoanSteady) 2:09 - Guest introduction (David Parke) 3:02 - Interview begins 3:27 - Getting attacked on a NYC subway in 2020 13:30 - David as a kid, his natural curiosity, and life before the military 18:08 - Why the Marines? 21:04 - From Marines to Navy Diver 26:59 - Going through Army boot camp at 27 years old 34:46 - His transition into linguist role 43:06 - Being in DLI training when 9/11 happened 46:49 - Fear of Missing the War 51:18 - What interrogations at Guantanamo were actually like 59:32 - Early mission sets in Afghanistan 1:11:23- Combat Story #1 - An unexpected (and funny) outcome in Iraq 1:15:43 - Combat Story #2 - the mission where David earned the ODNI National Intelligence Medal for Valor 1:27:54 - Combat Story #3 – The lighter side and things you can't help but laugh at 1:28:58 – Team House origin story 1:44:54 - What did you carry into combat? 1:46:02 - Would you do it all again? 1:47:27 - Listener comments and shout outs

This week, Special Ops Interrogator, Eric Maddox joins the show for part 2 of a 2-part episode. In this episode, Eric shares his story of working though nightly raids, endless interrogations, and top-secret conditions as he sought out to find Saddam Hussein through the process of empathy-based listening.This episode will provide detailed examples of empathy-based listening in practice within a high-stakes situation. He shares effective methods of asking the “right” questions, following conversational breadcrumbs, building trust, and conquering your own relational pitfalls. Though not as dangerous as Eric's experience, you find yourself in high-stakes situations in your business and leadership endeavors every day. How can Eric's empathy-based approach alter the cooperation within your team?MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEValues Exercise: https://www.think2perform.com/our-approach/valuesCONNECT WITH USInstagram: @decidedlypodcastFacebook: @decidedlypodcast or https://www.facebook.com/decidedlypodcastShawn's Instagram: @ampadvisorSanger's Instagram: @sangersmithABOUT ERIC MADDOXWebsite: ericmaddox.comInstagram: @eric_b_maddoxLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmaddoxmba/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EricBMaddoxTwitter: @ebmaddox Eric's Podcast “Creating Influence”: https://www.spreaker.com/show/creating-influenceEric's Book “Mission Blacklist #1”: https://amzn.to/3mDNeJd(We receive a small kickback from this link, at no extra charge to you. Thank you for supporting Decidedly!)Eric Maddox joined the U.S. Army as an infantry paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne Division in 1994. After spending three years as a paratrooper, jumpmaster and a qualified ranger, Eric reenlisted as an interrogator and Chinese Mandarin linguist. Since 9/11, Eric has conducted over 2,700 interrogations while deploying eight times in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) to include multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. In 2003, while assigned to a special operations task force in Tikrit, Eric conducted over 300 interrogations and collected the intelligence which directly led to the capture of Saddam Hussein. As a result, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Director's Award, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. After being hired as a civilian with the Department of Defense, Eric continued to help fight the Global War on Terror (GWOT) until 2014. In May 2015, he earned his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and is now a private consultant and negotiator and lives in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.Join us every Wednesday for a new episode as we DEFEAT bad decision-making – one episode at a time!

This week, Special Ops Interrogator, Eric Maddox joins the show to share his story of working though nightly raids, endless interrogations, and top-secret conditions as he sought out to find Saddam Hussein as Lead Interrogator. This episode will provide detailed examples of empathy-based listening in practice within a high-stakes situation. Though not as dangerous as Eric's, you find yourself in high-stakes situations in your business and leadership endeavors every day. How can Eric's empathy-based approach alter the cooperation within your team?ABOUT ERIC MADDOXWebsite: ericmaddox.comInstagram: @eric_b_maddoxLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmaddoxmba/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EricBMaddoxTwitter: @ebmaddox Eric's Podcast “Creating Influence”: https://www.spreaker.com/show/creating-influenceEric's Book “Mission Blacklist #1”: https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Hussein-As-Soldier-Masterminded-Capture/dp/006171447X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=226F373E1JZ1Y&dchild=1&keywords=eric+maddox&qid=1635107112&sprefix=eric+maddox%2Caps%2C129&sr=8-1Eric Maddox joined the U.S. Army as an infantry paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne Division in 1994. After spending three years as a paratrooper, jumpmaster and a qualified ranger, Eric reenlisted as an interrogator and Chinese Mandarin linguist. Since 9/11, Eric has conducted over 2,700 interrogations while deploying eight times in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) to include multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. In 2003, while assigned to a special operations task force in Tikrit, Eric conducted over 300 interrogations and collected the intelligence which directly led to the capture of Saddam Hussein. As a result, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Director's Award, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. After being hired as a civilian with the Department of Defense, Eric continued to help fight the Global War on Terror (GWOT) until 2014. In May 2015, he earned his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and is now a private consultant and negotiator and lives in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.CONNECT WITH USInstagram: @decidedlypodcastFacebook: @decidedlypodcast or https://www.facebook.com/decidedlypodcastShawn's Instagram: @ampadvisorSanger's Instagram: @sangersmithJoin us every Wednesday for a new episode as we DEFEAT bad decision-making – one episode at a time!

Eric spent three years as a paratrooper, jumpmaster and a qualified ranger in the US Army He reenlisted as an interrogator and Chinese Mandarin linguist. Since 9/11, Eric has conducted over 2,700 interrogations while deploying eight times in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) to include 8 tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. In 2003, while assigned to a special operations task force in Tikrit, Eric conducted over 300 interrogations and collected the intelligence which directly led to the capture of Saddam Hussein. As a result, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Director's Award and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. Eric is also the author of Mission: Black List No. 1 https://www.ericmaddox.com https://youtu.be/J3GmlRCc05U

On this week's podcast we are joined by Special Guest Eric Maddox, a former US Army Special Forces Interrogator who conducted over 300 interrogations and collected intelligence that led to the direct capture of Saddam Hussein. He now consults with the corporate world on the lessons of Empathy-Based Listening. I share a glass of Yuzu Lager from the Kiuchi Brewery in Ibaraki-ken, Japan.Upon graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 1994, Eric Maddox joined the U.S. Army as an infantry paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne Division. After spending three years as a paratrooper, jumpmaster and a qualified ranger, Eric reenlisted as an interrogator and Chinese Mandarin linguist. Since 9/11, Eric has conducted over 2,700 interrogations while deploying eight times in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) to include multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, Southeast Asia, and Europe.In 2003, while assigned to a special operations task force in Tikrit, Eric conducted over 300 interrogations and collected the intelligence which directly led to the capture of Saddam Hussein. As a result, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Director's Award and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. After being hired as a civilian with the Department of Defense, Eric continued to help fight the Global War on Terror (GWOT) until 2014. In May 2015, he earned his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and is now a private consultant and negotiator and lives in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.Eric is also the author of Mission: Black List No. 1 (Harper Collins, 2008), which he wrote with the permission of the Department of Defense.Connect with Eric at https://www.ericmaddox.com/

WHOA!! Are you ready to get naked and fired up with today’s guest, Eric Maddox?! Eric is a recipient of the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director's Award, Legion of Merit, and Bronze Star, for his direct role in the capture of Saddam Hussein. Yes, that’s right...Saddam Hussein! Tune in to hear Eric and David talk about how Eric’s interrogation skills can be used in business and learn to become effective at utilizing those tools. Be sure to stay to the end to hear Eric tell the story of how his last 24 hours of hunting Saddam Hussein played out!IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN: [00:01:23] Beginning of Interrogation Career[00:11:18] Using Interrogation Skills in the Business World[00:15:57] How Can Someone Become More Influential?[00:20:26] How Can Someone Gain Leadership?[00:25:19] Eric’s Last 24 Hours Hunting SaddamConnect with Eric Maddox:1. Follow Eric on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram & Twitter2. Find Eric on his website3. Contact Eric to schedule Consulting and/or TrainingConnect with David Asarnow1. Find David on his website2. Find David on his Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn & FacebookAbout Get Naked PodcastWelcome to the Get Naked In Business video podcast. So the big question is… how do entrepreneurs like us, who built our businesses from the ground up, who spend our own capital, who want to make a huge impact on this world, how do we do all that and create a great income? My mission for this podcast is to interview amazing entrepreneurs who are willing to get naked in front of the mirror, jump up and down, and let the real, raw insights all hang out. Insights to help accelerate your business growth. My name is David Asarnow and welcome to Get Naked In Business. I’m glad you're here… now it's time to get naked! GetNakedInBusiness.com

Donnie B.: All right, guys. So I want you to strap it in today. So we're going to get pretty deep and heavy on this one. This is a hell of a story from a hell of a guy and my buddy, Patrick Mudge said, “Donnie, you got to sit down with Charlie and let him tell you his story and everything they're doing.” So just strap it in, guys. It’s going to be a really good episode. So I'm Donnie Boivin. This is Donnie’s Success Champions. Charlie Strange. Welcome to the show, my friend. Please, tell us your story. [Music] Donnie B.: Hey, before the show starts, I wanted to jump in here and let you guys know that I could not do this show without the support of Point Blank Safety Services. Stacey and Michael McGovern over there have been a huge asset for the show, the Success Champions Family and everything we do and it's because of their support, we're able to bring you such awesome guests and such awesome stories. So do me a favor. Go check them out. Man, if you're in Texas and you need security officers or you need active-duty police officers on off-duty hours, protecting your sites, construction, security sites, commercial offices, whatever, go check out Point Blank Safety Services. You'll be glad you did. Now, guys, I'm not kidding. Strap it in today. This is a hell of a story. Here comes Charlie Strange. Charles S.: Thank you, Don. My name is Charles Strange. I'm the gold star father of Michael Strange. Michael was killed in action in August 6, 2011 along with 38 other men and 29 Americans and Bart, The Warrior Dog. It was the biggest single loss of life in Iraq and Afghan War and it was the biggest loss of life in the history of America. 22 men from DEVGRU, Navy Special Warfare. And it was the worst day of my life. Michael is my oldest son from Philadelphia. He grew up in Philadelphia. Not too far for your audience. From the Rocky Steps, the famous Rocky Steps. Michael ran the Rocky Steps before he went in. “Adrian!” We're Philly and cheesesteaks and Michael joined the military right out of high school and he took off. He took off from there and went to the Great Lakes. I flew out, seen him graduate boot camp. From there, he went to Pensacola, Florida. And from there, he finished first in his class for cryptology. Michael was a code breaker. They actually gave Michael the National Intelligence Medal of Valor. Only 17 have ever been given out in the history of America since World War II and the windtalkers. Given that at the NSA with Admiral Alexander under about five floors underground. But he went to Hawaii because he was a crypto and Admiral McRaven was there and he loved it. We flew out to Hawaii, spent 15 days with Michael in Hawaii and he became a surfer and he got really into the intel there and he started getting deployed on different missions. His buddy, I also don't want to forget about, who died with him, John Douangdara was there. John was the dog handler for the Gold Team DEVGRU. And from Hawaii, he spent a little over three years in Hawaii and then they put him on DEVGRU in Virginia Beach where he had to buy a home and he was with SEAL Team Six, the Gold Squad. His call sign was GY4, Gold Yankee 4 and I said, “Michael! How are you affording a $300,000-house here, Michael? You're 21 years old.” And he loved it and he had to be by the secret base and we still take the train down, drive down. He drived back to Philly because he missed his family, his friends and I'll tell you what, like yesterday was the day we killed Bin Laden and a lot of memories going by one night and Michael called me before that, before the Bin Laden raid. Two weeks prior, he said, “Dad, everything's getting shut off.” I'm like, “What?” He said, “I'm not going to be able to talk to you, Dad.” And I tried to get information out of him and me and Michael had a little code. Even if it was January, he’d ask me, “Are the Phillies winning?” That means, “Don't ask me any more questions, Michael.” Because they would give them a lie detector test every two or three months. And the first question on the lie detector test was, when was the last time you lied? So he wouldn't have me ask any more questions. And he said, “Look, Dad!” He was getting mad. He said, “Dad, look, if something happens, I'm sure you'll hear about it.” And that was the Bin Laden raid and yesterday was, every day is emotional. But he loved what he was doing. He loved protecting and serving his country and his family and August 6th, he came home from the Bin Laden raid in June and it was his birthday, June 6th. It was his birthday and we had a big party, his friend, Kevin and Danny and all of them and the girls. They had about four kegs and a hundred bottles of Jameson's in the pool. But he was different. He was different after the raid and something was going on. A guy by the name of Joe Biden opened his mouth and after the Bin Laden raid at the Ritz-Carlton in Delaware and told everybody, “SEAL Team Six killed Bin Laden.” Nobody ever heard of SEAL Team Six before that. And I don't know if that was one of the things that was bothering Michael after the raid. But he was different. He was different in June when he came home. He talked about a will. He never talked about a will before. A couple of other parents were telling me about the guys in Michael’s crew and they talked about a will and something was going on. Something was going on, Don. He calls me up. He goes back and he's getting deployed back to Afghanistan. I still have his voice on my cellphone here and he said, “I love you, Dad. I'll see you for Thanksgiving for Eddie and Maggie.” That's my sister. We always do Thanksgiving in Philadelphia, in Fishtown and, “I'll see you for Thanksgiving.” And I knew something was up, something was going on and he was completely different. He had just told me about the will. He told my sister. He told his buddies, his brother, his sister and he got deployed in the worst day of my life, Don. August 6, they came knocking on the door. There was like four or five different guys, CAOs, Casualty Assistance guys and they didn't really say much about what happened. They didn't know. Some of the parents said, they ran into a mountain. Some people say, you know. The guys who came to the door, God bless them. They were very nice. They said, “Your son passed along with a tragedy on a helicopter in Afghanistan.” A couple of the parents I know, when you hear that, that's a piece of your heart. Donnie B.: Right. Charles S.: You get rushed to the hospital and I was screaming and yelling and crying and it's like a nightmare. It's a nightmare that actually really don't stop. You learn to walk with a limp the rest of your life, Don. And there was a lot of questions about that August 6, 2011 and the Taliban, actually, after they killed them guys, it was on the internet a half-hour later, bragging. “We just killed SEAL Team Six.” How did they know who was in the Chinook? And there's a lot of questions and we did the ceremony in Arlington. 17 to 30 men were in Arlington. In October 2011, we went down to Little Creek and a guy by the name of, Brigadier General Jeffrey Colt did the investigation on what happened and we were in the auditorium, the 60 parents and he was explaining about the pilots. God bless the pilots and some other things. He seemed like, it took a while due to the presentation, but he was only over there for two weeks to do this investigation for 30 men dying and I know and I still don't know today, Don, about the black box which is really orange. And General Colt put his hands up in the air like theatrically and he said, “A flash flood came and washed it away.” I said, “Oh, you didn't find it?” And they said, they never found the black box and there are some people who say, there is no black box in them CH-47. These are some kind of recording device. Then he said, “An RPG hit the helicopter from 200 yards in the pitch dark and it was a lucky shot.” So I stood up and the Philadelphia in me came out and I said, “Did you just say lucky shot and all our sons are dead?” And I threw a couple of F-notes out there and a couple of gentleman from the military grabbed me. Yeah. So it was, you got to be kidding me? And I asked questions. I had some of the other parents asking questions. When we left there, Donnie, they gave us a folder, a binder and you don't look at it. Just hearing about how your son died. They told me, my son burned to death because of the fire, the fuselage which was all a lie. My son wasn't burned at all. I have pictures of him. Four months, I called Dover and asked for the autopsy and a whistleblower in Dover, God bless his soul, I still don't know who it is, sent me a disk and the paperwork and my beautiful wife, Maryanne, she took the disk. She said, “Don't look at it. Don't look at it.” And she looked at it and I said, “Pretty bad?” And she says, “Well…” I'm like, “Well, they said he was burned beyond recognition.” And it was in all the papers. All over the world, 38 skulls, 38 c-spines. No identifiable remains. So I said, “I want to see. I want to see.” And not that bad and I looked at the pictures of my son and he wasn't burned at all, Donnie. He jumped out of the helicopter or got thrown out of the helicopter. They weren't that high. They weren't that high. I have pictures of the helicopter where they gave us this binder in October after Jeffrey Colt got done doing the thing and there was 25 pages in there. In the first page, you can look at, as you open it up, you can't read it. It ran out of ink. I know the government's doing bad, but they didn't have no ink. So I called Admiral Sean Pybus. He was Commander-in-Chief and God bless him and I said, “I got a bad copy here, Admiral Pybus. Can I get another copy?” He said, “Well, Mr. Strange, we had a lot of complaints about that.” I said, “Okay, good. Send me another one.” He said, “We can't. We burned it.” I said, “You burned it? Already?” But in that packet was a disk and I put the disk in the computer and as you can tell by earlier, I'm not super suave. And there was like a hundred little blocks on this disk and I'm like … My wife, Maryanne, she says, “Let me look at that.” And she took it somewhere and she printed out 1,364 pages, Don. Donnie B.: My God. Charles S.: Which was encrypted with a virus. And the Taliban knew. The Taliban knew. Don, I'm going to read something to you from these 1,364 pages. I wasn't in the military. But in Jeffrey Colt’s investigation, he says, “For the Tangi Valley,” he says, “The next piece of reporting that I have that fits within the timeframe comes from May 11th, 2011.” And it's late May. There's no date on this and it's going to be, I'm reading it. There was a couple of blank spots. It's very brief. Again, it’s out of the task force and it says something to the fact that over 100 Talibans planned to travel from the Blank Province through the Tangi Valley to possibly shoot down the coalition force aircraft. They knew. A 100 Talibans were going to the Tangi Valley. I got it right here in front of me, Don. Right in front of me. Donnie B.: Wow! Charles S.: So these 1,300 pages, some of the other parents started asking questions and they're like, “How did you get that information? How do you know that?” And my wife wrote a letter to the gold star parents down in Florida, telling them how to download the disk to get the 1,364 pages. And then our phone got tapped and our computer got tapped and we won the first case in the history of America for the NSA when we went against the NSA and Obama down in Washington, DC. Judge Leon was our judge. You might remember, he called it, “Aurelian state that we live in.” And so we went to Congress. We went to the Senators. We went to President Obama when he was President. I met President Obama in Dover and tried over and over to try to get answers. I met President Obama in Dover. He came up to me and he said, “Michael changed the way America lived. Michael could do this and Michael could do that.” I grabbed President Obama by the shoulders and I sort of shook him and I said, “I don't need to know about my son. I need know what happened.” Then the Secret Service guys grabbed me. Donnie B.: I see a theme with you, Charlie. Charles S.: Yeah. And President Obama whispered in my ear and he said three times. He said, “Mr. Strange, I want to look into this very, very, very deep.” And we tried going back and not just me and my wife. We had other gold star parents. We’re just asking questions. We had a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. We had like 12 of the gold star parents. We had Allen West. We had General Boykin, General [inaudible] and this needs to be a congressional hearing. And we never got anything. We never got any answers and even if nobody's going to take accountability for the biggest loss of life and my son getting killed, just don't let it happen to someone else's son. Who put 38 men in a Chinook helicopter? 8 of the Afghans, Don, right before they took off, got off and no one's got on. Their names were never on the manifest. I'm like, and they told us this and then I think they wanted to not tell us that but, who were they? Who were they? They told us in Dover. They brought the Afghan bodies back to Dover and they had their flag over the coffins. My daughter said, “What's this?” I said, “That's the Afghans.” She said, “What the eff are they doing here?” That was our question. And they had to call the families from the Afghans and tell them they had the wrong people. They didn't know who they were. You don't know who they are getting on the helicopter? Their names’ not on the manifest? Who okayed all this? And then it was supposed to be a rescue mission for the Rangers and there was no … the Rangers, I’ve talked to personally, who were coming out said, “We didn’t need a QRF. We didn't need a Quick Reaction Force.” They had eight of the Talibans locked up. It's in the 1,300 pages. I got their names. I got their names. And then they said, “Well, we were after Qari Tahir.” Qari Tahir is a high-level guy. He was a big target. Qari Tahir, in the 1,300 pages, knew. Knew. He moved from village to village. Somebody was giving him all the information. Here you go, Hamad, I can't talk. I don't know these Middle Easterners. Harad, Hamad, Hamaz, Zaha, Guli, Nabi, Al-Qazar. The raid in Khawatir Village was targeting Qari Tahir, Ismael, Qali, Tahir had been located in another village during the raid, at the house of Habibur Rahim in the [inaudible]. Everything's written out here, Don. And I can't get no answers on who killed my son? Who made the call? It's crazy. So we went through all kinds of stuff. Donnie B.: Here's the crazy thing, Charlie, is one, God loved you, and I mean this wholeheartedly. I mean, I'm sorry for the loss of your son. It’s tragic. It sucks. No parent needs to go through that, right? But God loved you, man, because somebody's going to pick the fight, right? When something goes like this and I love your Philly freaking attitude, your vibe for you. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes in that room. But I love the way you've handled yourself all the way through this and fucking kudos for just picking the fight because I mean, I'm hearing your side of it. So I've got to go with what I'm hearing. And from what I'm hearing, man, shit, why the hell isn't there a further investigation? Why isn't there more people asking questions? And I get it, man. Some of the parents that have tragically lost their kids in this, they're like, “Okay. We just want to move on and get past it.” But I'm thinking, man, if I'm in your shoes, I'm still asking fucking questions. I want somebody's ass to fry because they made a bad call or they're a traitor to the freaking country. One of the two. Why the cover-up? And what dumbass put the disk in the freaking binder to you guys? Charles S.: Right. Donnie B.: Somebody's ass should get fired just for that stupid mistake on that side of things. So wow. What a shitty thing to go through, man. My heart hurts for that kind of stuff but fucking kudos for your boy for stepping up and doing what not many have the courage to do and fucking defending our country, man. Being a veteran myself, that dude is just freaking awesome. That's just awesome. So now, you guys are doing a lot of cool things for gold star families and you guys are holding events and bringing these families together and helping them get through some of these tough times they’re going through. Tell us a little bit about your foundation, your organization and what you guys are doing. Charles S.: Well, there's a lot of support at the funeral and after the funeral, everybody goes back to work. Everybody goes on vacation. Everybody is still going on. I'd be looking out my window saying, “My son died and everybody is still moving on.” And I was, the five stages of grief. Like I didn't know nothing about the five stages of grief and the first one is denial. No way. He was just sitting on my couch. We were just at a party and the second stage is anger. I was shopping in a food market and some guy had a towel around his head and he had to call the police on me for that one. My wife was at my back. Somebody was going to get it, Donnie. You know what I mean? The third one is bargain. And God don't bargain. And the fourth one they say is depression. I don't like to use that word. I think it's the Grim Reaper and the fifth one is acceptance. But like any other ones, what I learned is, with the loss of a son or a daughter or burying a child, it don't stop. It just keeps coming. I buried my father. I buried my cousin. I buried good friends. Not even in the same circle is burying a child and I ran into another gold star father named, Grant Smith. His son Tristan Smith was killed in an IED from Philadelphia three years prior. So I got in touch with this guy and we met for coffee and he started crying and he was angry and I felt good, Don. I was like, “This guy's just like me. We’re both fucked up. All right!” And I came home. I told my wife. I said, “We should bring more parents together.” And my wife, she started reaching out to some gold star parents and we did it. I said, “Let do …” in Philadelphia, we call it Beef and Beer and some guy named Drago, a Navy SEAL named Drago came along and him and his wife, great wife, Rachel and their two kids came down and we had an Irish band, of course, Blackthorne, donated their time and we raised some money and we brought like 20 gold star parents in for a weekend and we had a grief counselor there and we get the parents to talk. I want to hear from the other dads and moms. How do you get through the birthday? What are you doing in the holiday? How do you get through every day? And from there, the other gold star parents started telling other gold star parents. “When are you doing that again? Are you doing that again?” And I was like, “Well, okay. We'll do another one.” And we went to Wildwood, New Jersey and we did Thursday to Sunday and we brought some gold star parents from Michigan, Heath Robinson’s dad, he was on Team 6, Heath was a sharpshooter and we brought Debbie Anne who lost her son and they never seen the ocean. They never seen the ocean. So it was really cool and we did a lot of healing in Saturday night, whatever area we’re in, we ask the VFW or American Legion or [inaudible] Club, the hostess for dinner. We get the motorcycles, the cops, the firemen involved and my wife makes these beautiful reefs, biodegradable reefs and we go to the ocean and we say our sons’ names and we say a few prayers and we throw them, knowing that we'll see our sons again on the other side. We went to Tucson, Arizona to this guy Mike and Bonnie Quinn's house and we had a beautiful hotel out there and we had gold stars. We had Bob Huff. His daughter was Samantha Huff, the first girl killed in Iraq. My man, Bob and we had about 38 gold star parents out there. So the healing begins in meeting these other families and just to know what you're walking into, knowing you're not alone because a lot of the gold star parents go, “Don, nobody cares if my son died.” I said, “There is people that care, man. There is people that care.” I brought my buddy in, Kali Thomason. He's from Louisiana, Shreveport, Louisiana and you think I got an accent. I live about 60 miles from them duck boys. That's where I live at. “You better look for the gators, Charlie.” You can look Kali up on Facebook. He was putting up on Facebook, “My son died because of the rules of engagement.” His son was, they had to pull over to the side of the road. He was in the middle with some brass. And the van coming down since they pulled over drove right into the middle loaded with bombs and killed his son, Josh. But yeah. Meeting Kali and we brought Kali down to Ocean City, Maryland in the Royal Princess Hotel. We had 36 gold star parents and I tell you what, they put the fire engine trucks. They put it in the newspaper. Me and my wife go wherever we're going to go for the weekend retreat with the gold star families, we go down like a month early to let the VFW Post know, the police and firemen and they put it in the newspaper. There was people out in the street, Don with the flags. They brought the bugler. Each city that we've been to really rolls out the red carpet. But we're a small foundation. We need help. MichaelStrangeFoundation.org. Donnie B.: Well, hold on. Let me jump in here just one second, Charlie. A couple of things. One, you guys are close because obviously, it's your kids, right? I mean, that's not going to be something that's ever going to be [inaudible] place in your life, right? So it's really close to you. But I want to say it for all of us that aren't gold star families, man. It's not that we're not thinking about it. We're just not as close to it as you guys are. I mean, you guys are there every day. But I want you to also recognize that everywhere you've been, look at the good people that show up to support. I mean, at the end of the day, man, they're special people in this world. And unfortunately, society as it is, as a whole, likes to just paint a bad fucking picture on everything. So if you turn on the false shitty-ass news and all the other BS out there, all that you're going to see is the negative stuff. But for all of your friends that you guys are doing these amazing things for, just remember, it's not that we’re not thinking about it. It's just, we're not as close to it as you guys are. And we show up. Because there's still some of us that that sacrifice means a fuck ton to a lot of us. So I just wanted to get that out. Now, tell us about your damn foundation. Charles S.: Thank you, Donnie. Thank you. And that means a lot, man. That means a lot. Thank you. Donnie B.: You get me all freaking choked up here, Charlie. Charles S.: I make you cry. I do. My wife's over here on the side crying and tearing up. A piece of my heart's missing now, Don and meeting these other gold stars, we got a big event coming up. We got Drago coming back, November 2nd with a guy by the name of Rob O'Neill who’s coming back from his second time. One of Michael’s buddies. A lot of you guys’ buddies and we're teaming up with another foundation called Operation First Response, Peggy Baker and Nick Constantino’s. And we're doing it, November 2nd. I know you guys don't like to come to the East Coast over here, Donnie. Donnie B.: That’s cold-ass weather in November, dude. You’re crazy as hell. Charles S.: We’ll get you a Philly cheesesteak at [inaudible]. Donnie B.: That’s awesome. Charles S.: In case you do, Nikki and Joey bag of doughnuts and Rocco and all the guys. Yeah. We’ll take care of you. But November 2nd, seriously, Pat Mudge is speaking, one of Michael's close friends. Donnie B.: Just really quick, Charlie, for the ones that have listened to this podcast all the way through, if you guys go back before, I think, Episode 50, someone there, you'll hear Patrick Mudge’s story, man. And let me tell you, Patrick Mudge is the only interview I've ever done where I think I said two words through the whole thing, man. When that dude tells his story, holy fuck. That dude went through some shit. So great dude, great story. So to see him speak in person will be huge. Charles S.: Pat spoke at our little dinner event last year when he came down. He was close with Michael. It's hard, man. And you got to ask God for help. A guy opened up the Bible to me a little bit about Jesus and He died on the cross for us and His only Son and so we meet new veterans and asking God for help and we meet these other great gold star parents from all over the country, Don. We’ve had 250 gold star parents. We’ve done weekends in Pennsylvania, Jersey, Ocean City, Maryland, Tucson, Longmont, Colorado, Washington, DC, Lenox, Massachusetts and we need help with the airfare. We need help with the hotels because the parents already paid the ultimate price, right? I don't like saying that. Ultimate sacrifice. I don't like that shit. It was no sacrifice. My son had a gun in his hand when he died, you know what I mean? And that fucks with me too. He was alive for 15 minutes and nobody came to help him in my nightmares. Donnie B.: Here's the thing, man, is you guys are doing a freaking awesome thing, right? It's a hell of a thing you guys are doing and through your story, what people are able to feel, see and embrace is, this is a tough fucking thing and I personally can't relate to any of it. I've never lost anybody that close to me, right? But I will tell you, the fucking strength that you guys have to bring these families in across the world, across the US and be able to put them in one place, one room so you all can freaking go through this shit together and then you realize, you're not fucking alone is huge, is really, really, really huge and fucking kudos. I mean, there's always somebody who picks up the torch and says, “Come sit by my fire,” and you guys are doing it. Charles S.: Thanks, Don. Donnie B.: Yeah. Really freaking awesome. Charles S.: Thank you. Yeah. It helps. It helps meeting these gold stars. My friend, Jeannie Cathcart, his son was Michael Cathcart and all over, all over and we did one up in Lenox, Massachusetts, the gold star families with Derek Benson's dad there, Fred and a couple of the families from Extortion 17 came. Doug Hamburger and his son, Patrick was on there, out of Nebraska, full-time National Guard. And I'll tell you what, the one up in Lenox, Massachusetts, it's called Pug’s Farm. The guy bought a Chinook helicopter, Don. He bought a Chinook helicopter and has a memorial site. It’s called Pug’s Farm. If you're ever up in Lenox, Massachusetts, it's free. It's a beautiful memorial site. A guy by the name of E.L. Shapiro. Just amazing site. So we did a weekend up there with them. That was, going inside the Chinook, seeing the pictures but it's healing. Something else that’s healing too. You learn to walk with a limp every day and some days are harder than others. Sometimes, that Grim Reaper comes in on you and then it's good to … through the foundation, I met Mike Anderson. His son was a Marine. Fast-track, killed in Fallujah. His son got hurt. He was out, came back and then got shot right through the heart. Mike Anderson, good friend of mine. And meeting Michael and his daughter, Ally. Sometimes, we bring the siblings in if they're over 18 and they asked me to do the siblings and as you can tell, I'm not a doctor. I do have a PhD though, Donnie. Plumbing, heating and drainage. See, we learned to laugh again, bro. We learned to laugh again. Donnie B.: I get that, Charlie. I come from a blue-collar lifestyle. So I get that, man. That's awesome. Charles S.: Absolutely. I was in the laborers’ union in Philly. So that's the Michael Strange Foundation. You can see videos on Michael Strange Facebook. You'll see all the videos, all the gold star parents, different events. But November 2nd is our big dinner. Everybody's welcome. We’ll have it up on the website in about two months so you can buy tickets online. We’ll have auctioneer. Pat Mudge is going to battle for us, get some stuff donated. We need some donations for the auction. Rob O’Neill is coming in to speak. He's going to be there. Drago, Pat, a couple of veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq through Operation First Response who will talk for a few minutes to tell their stories, how Operation First Response helps them and then of course, I have some gold stars there from all over the country just to do some healing and show people that freedom is not free, babe. Freedom is not free. 9/11, man, Boston Bombing, San Bernardino and I know Michael did some things in this country to stop certain things that even went on here and you never hear about it and that's what I love about everybody who serves in the military. To sign that line and to protect us for our freedoms, man. For our freedoms. We live in the greatest country in the world. Donnie B.: That's it. That's it, man. That's it. Charles S.: President Trump had me down to the White House. He was great. He asked me to bring ten gold stars down there. It was a trip. They even put it in the newspaper in Philadelphia. “Family and Fawn Meets the Trumpster.” They put the Trumpster up. They had to throw a little shot in. But he was good. I had 15 minutes alone with him. Me and my wife. Him and the First Lady. He opened up an investigation about Extortion 17. I gave him some of them 1,300 pages. He actually read them in front of me. I said, “President Trump, my son got killed in a 1960-helicopter, man, with 30 other guys.” He goes, “You see what I did about that? I just signed a bill. $500 million gives them new damn helicopters for them.” Then I said to him, I said, “When you drop that mother bomb over there,” I said, “Next time you call Charlie Strange from Philadelphia and drop like eight or nine on them motherfuckers. Kill them all. Kill all them fucking people.” He goes, “Yo, yo, yo.” I said, “Yo, yo, yo?” I said, “Your son is still here. My son's not.” Then he gave me a hug and then he invited me back for Christmas dinner, Don. Yeah. That was cool. Donnie B.: So tell the family. You're not going to be home for Christmas. You're going to be chilling in the White House. Charles S.: We were in the gold room, the green room, the red room. They were feeding us all kinds of stuff. They did a beautiful tribute to the men and the gold star families. The First Lady, she was elegant. She said, “I don't know what you're going through. I can't understand what you're going through. I can't imagine.” She read a beautiful poem. General Kelly was there. He lost his son. And that's what the gold stars. You get a gold star pin and a folded flag. And we've had some of the parents, some of the mothers come to our weekend and they’re wearing their gold star pin now and another lady says to her, “Man, I like that pin. How do I get one of that?” People don't know what a gold star is and you don't want that gold star pin. It’s the pin that nobody wants but I wear it with honor. My son wore his uniform with honor and what he did to protect and serve for our freedoms and he loved what he did. You hear all kinds of things on our weekends. The one guy said, “I know what you're going through.” His neighbor told him, “I know what you're going through. I had my dog for 12 years.” “You lost your dog? I lost my son. I don’t think you know.” We understand. You know what I mean? Just don't say something like that to me the first year it happened. Donnie B.: Right? Charles S.: Michael Strange Foundation. Donnie B.: That's awesome, brother. Charlie, I got to tell you, I'm honored to have you come on here and share your story. I mean, because you're right. There's a lot of people that don't understand what the gold star families are. I mean, it's thrown around every once in a while but not a lot of people fully understand what it means. So thank you for coming in and really sharing Michael’s and your story, your family’s story. Thank you for everything you're doing. It means a ton and I just have so much respect for what you guys are doing. You're doing so much for other families going through it and thanks for being the light for those people. That's a really truly beautiful thing. How do people get in touch with you guys? So what's the website? What's the best way for them to reach out to donate, to get help if they're a gold star family member that maybe don't know about you guys, those type of things, how do people get in touch with you guys? Charles S.: The best way for the gold stars is Michael Strange Facebook. Message me, Charles Strange Facebook. Message me. Our PO Box is Michael Strange Foundation. PO Box 6038, Philadelphia, PA 19114. Philadelphia, PA 19114. The PO Box is 6038, Michael Strange Foundation. We got PayPal. We got PayPal on MichaelStrangeFoundation.org. You see some t-shirts for sale. You'll see the PayPal in there. We could really use your help. We could really use your support. We're a 501(c)(3). All the money goes to paying for the hotel, the food, the plane tickets and we give the parents a little present at the end, a little gold star bag and it pays for the lodging and that's what we need help for. We need to raise money for these gold star families. Because it's not like after you burry a child, you wake up and go back to work in two weeks or three weeks. I did. I went back to work like two months later, but I couldn't stay for a full week. I go every day but I'll break down and the Grim Reaper ain't no joke and then you wipe yourself off, you drink a bottle of water, you smoke a cigarette, you wash your face, you go back out, you're good for another hour and then bam! It's like, “Damn. My son, you got to be kidding. I got to go to a cemetery to see my son? Who the fuck came up with this? Who the fuck put all these guys in a helicopter?” But the only thing for me is meeting these gold star parents and learning what you're walking into, knowing that you're not alone and it is God working through me. Believe me. That’s the other thing. I give God credit for everything. If it was up to me, I'd be smoking some left-handed cigarettes and drinking, but I don't do that. I probably shouldn’t have said that. Donnie B.: You’re fine. We live in a new time, Charlie. Everybody smokes. Charles S.: I know it is God working through me and meeting that other gold star to start this off and my wife, God bless her, she was Michael’s stepmom and she's like my rock and my boulder. And like you just said, a guy named Shawn Greener from Delaware, Navy veteran, he did some of our counseling. We had another guy from Wildwood. We're looking for a grief counselor actually, Donnie. If anybody … I just interviewed a gentleman yesterday. He's becoming a doctor. He works at a couple of VA’s. He's going to get back to me. If anybody wants to reach out that does grief counseling, we could use some support on that too. My friend in Delaware is not doing too good. He's going through some problems. But yeah. We need a grief counselor. I got two on the line but they’re not sure. We're having an event, June 21st in Jersey, Edison, New Jersey. We’re having a weekend for gold stars we have gotten from Florida, Chicago, coming from all over. So we could use your support. MichaelStrangeFoundation.org. We have PayPal. You can order some shirts and also, our PO Box is on the foundation page. Donnie B.: Awesome. Awesome. Charlie, thanks so much for doing this. Thanks for sharing your story with us. I really appreciate it. Now, here's how I like to wrap up every show. And I do stump some people with this, Charlie. So stand by for that. If you were going to leave the Champions who listen to this show, 91 countries that tune in every day to hear the stories of the Champions that have been through heaven and hell in their life to figure out what they're going to do and where they're going, if you were going to leave them with a quote, a phrase, a saying, a mantra, something they can take with them on their journey, especially when they're stacked up against it, what's that quote or phrase you would say, “Remember this…”? Charles S.: My one phrase I would say would be, “Easy does it, but do it. Remember the fallen and freedom is not free.” Donnie B.: That's awesome, Charlie. Just freaking beautiful, my friend. Thanks so much for doing this. Keep rocking. Keep being the torch for those gold family members and we're fixing to show up to support you, brother. Appreciate you. Charles S.: Thank you so much, Don. Thank you so much for your service. And thanks for helping us. Donnie B.: Absolutely. Charles S.: God bless, brother. Donnie B.: Man, if that story didn't hit you, wow. Charles, I got to say bud, I'm really grateful for your time coming and sharing your story on the show and everything you guys are doing. If you guys would do me an honor, take a minute and just think about the guys who gave it all so we could enjoy the freedoms that we have. Think about all the guys that are deployed overseas now protecting our freedoms and by God, thank a veteran when you see them. They've been through hell in their own form or fashion and those kind words go quite a long ways and for the veterans, when somebody thanks you, take that, receive that and own that for me, because you deserve it. I know I struggled the longest time when people said, “Thank you for your service.” I found a great phrase that allowed me to continue to embrace it because it's not about them thanking me. It's about how it makes them feel that they can do something for us. So anytime they thank you, just turn around, look at them and say, “It was my honor.” Embrace that. Guys, I hope you come hang out in our Success Champions group on Facebook. Over 600 members and growing strong. It has become a family. It has become networking. It is a bunch of badasses all going forward. We are creating Success Champions on a daily basis and let me tell you, you want to come hang out because as I am a Success Champion, so are you. Just go to Facebook, type in ‘Success Champions’, click on groups and we'll see you there. [Music]

Donnie B.: All right, guys. So I want you to strap it in today. So we're going to get pretty deep and heavy on this one. This is a hell of a story from a hell of a guy and my buddy, Patrick Mudge said, “Donnie, you got to sit down with Charlie and let him tell you his story and everything they're doing.” So just strap it in, guys. It’s going to be a really good episode. So I'm Donnie Boivin. This is Donnie’s Success Champions. Charlie Strange. Welcome to the show, my friend. Please, tell us your story. [Music] Donnie B.: Hey, before the show starts, I wanted to jump in here and let you guys know that I could not do this show without the support of Point Blank Safety Services. Stacey and Michael McGovern over there have been a huge asset for the show, the Success Champions Family and everything we do and it's because of their support, we're able to bring you such awesome guests and such awesome stories. So do me a favor. Go check them out. Man, if you're in Texas and you need security officers or you need active-duty police officers on off-duty hours, protecting your sites, construction, security sites, commercial offices, whatever, go check out Point Blank Safety Services. You'll be glad you did. Now, guys, I'm not kidding. Strap it in today. This is a hell of a story. Here comes Charlie Strange. Charles S.: Thank you, Don. My name is Charles Strange. I'm the gold star father of Michael Strange. Michael was killed in action in August 6, 2011 along with 38 other men and 29 Americans and Bart, The Warrior Dog. It was the biggest single loss of life in Iraq and Afghan War and it was the biggest loss of life in the history of America. 22 men from DEVGRU, Navy Special Warfare. And it was the worst day of my life. Michael is my oldest son from Philadelphia. He grew up in Philadelphia. Not too far for your audience. From the Rocky Steps, the famous Rocky Steps. Michael ran the Rocky Steps before he went in. “Adrian!” We're Philly and cheesesteaks and Michael joined the military right out of high school and he took off. He took off from there and went to the Great Lakes. I flew out, seen him graduate boot camp. From there, he went to Pensacola, Florida. And from there, he finished first in his class for cryptology. Michael was a code breaker. They actually gave Michael the National Intelligence Medal of Valor. Only 17 have ever been given out in the history of America since World War II and the windtalkers. Given that at the NSA with Admiral Alexander under about five floors underground. But he went to Hawaii because he was a crypto and Admiral McRaven was there and he loved it. We flew out to Hawaii, spent 15 days with Michael in Hawaii and he became a surfer and he got really into the intel there and he started getting deployed on different missions. His buddy, I also don't want to forget about, who died with him, John Douangdara was there. John was the dog handler for the Gold Team DEVGRU. And from Hawaii, he spent a little over three years in Hawaii and then they put him on DEVGRU in Virginia Beach where he had to buy a home and he was with SEAL Team Six, the Gold Squad. His call sign was GY4, Gold Yankee 4 and I said, “Michael! How are you affording a $300,000-house here, Michael? You're 21 years old.” And he loved it and he had to be by the secret base and we still take the train down, drive down. He drived back to Philly because he missed his family, his friends and I'll tell you what, like yesterday was the day we killed Bin Laden and a lot of memories going by one night and Michael called me before that, before the Bin Laden raid. Two weeks prior, he said, “Dad, everything's getting shut off.” I'm like, “What?” He said, “I'm not going to be able to talk to you, Dad.” And I tried to get information out of him and me and Michael had a little code. Even if it was January, he’d ask me, “Are the Phillies winning?” That means, “Don't ask me any more questions, Michael.” Because they would give them a lie detector test every two or three months. And the first question on the lie detector test was, when was the last time you lied? So he wouldn't have me ask any more questions. And he said, “Look, Dad!” He was getting mad. He said, “Dad, look, if something happens, I'm sure you'll hear about it.” And that was the Bin Laden raid and yesterday was, every day is emotional. But he loved what he was doing. He loved protecting and serving his country and his family and August 6th, he came home from the Bin Laden raid in June and it was his birthday, June 6th. It was his birthday and we had a big party, his friend, Kevin and Danny and all of them and the girls. They had about four kegs and a hundred bottles of Jameson's in the pool. But he was different. He was different after the raid and something was going on. A guy by the name of Joe Biden opened his mouth and after the Bin Laden raid at the Ritz-Carlton in Delaware and told everybody, “SEAL Team Six killed Bin Laden.” Nobody ever heard of SEAL Team Six before that. And I don't know if that was one of the things that was bothering Michael after the raid. But he was different. He was different in June when he came home. He talked about a will. He never talked about a will before. A couple of other parents were telling me about the guys in Michael’s crew and they talked about a will and something was going on. Something was going on, Don. He calls me up. He goes back and he's getting deployed back to Afghanistan. I still have his voice on my cellphone here and he said, “I love you, Dad. I'll see you for Thanksgiving for Eddie and Maggie.” That's my sister. We always do Thanksgiving in Philadelphia, in Fishtown and, “I'll see you for Thanksgiving.” And I knew something was up, something was going on and he was completely different. He had just told me about the will. He told my sister. He told his buddies, his brother, his sister and he got deployed in the worst day of my life, Don. August 6, they came knocking on the door. There was like four or five different guys, CAOs, Casualty Assistance guys and they didn't really say much about what happened. They didn't know. Some of the parents said, they ran into a mountain. Some people say, you know. The guys who came to the door, God bless them. They were very nice. They said, “Your son passed along with a tragedy on a helicopter in Afghanistan.” A couple of the parents I know, when you hear that, that's a piece of your heart. Donnie B.: Right. Charles S.: You get rushed to the hospital and I was screaming and yelling and crying and it's like a nightmare. It's a nightmare that actually really don't stop. You learn to walk with a limp the rest of your life, Don. And there was a lot of questions about that August 6, 2011 and the Taliban, actually, after they killed them guys, it was on the internet a half-hour later, bragging. “We just killed SEAL Team Six.” How did they know who was in the Chinook? And there's a lot of questions and we did the ceremony in Arlington. 17 to 30 men were in Arlington. In October 2011, we went down to Little Creek and a guy by the name of, Brigadier General Jeffrey Colt did the investigation on what happened and we were in the auditorium, the 60 parents and he was explaining about the pilots. God bless the pilots and some other things. He seemed like, it took a while due to the presentation, but he was only over there for two weeks to do this investigation for 30 men dying and I know and I still don't know today, Don, about the black box which is really orange. And General Colt put his hands up in the air like theatrically and he said, “A flash flood came and washed it away.” I said, “Oh, you didn't find it?” And they said, they never found the black box and there are some people who say, there is no black box in them CH-47. These are some kind of recording device. Then he said, “An RPG hit the helicopter from 200 yards in the pitch dark and it was a lucky shot.” So I stood up and the Philadelphia in me came out and I said, “Did you just say lucky shot and all our sons are dead?” And I threw a couple of F-notes out there and a couple of gentleman from the military grabbed me. Yeah. So it was, you got to be kidding me? And I asked questions. I had some of the other parents asking questions. When we left there, Donnie, they gave us a folder, a binder and you don't look at it. Just hearing about how your son died. They told me, my son burned to death because of the fire, the fuselage which was all a lie. My son wasn't burned at all. I have pictures of him. Four months, I called Dover and asked for the autopsy and a whistleblower in Dover, God bless his soul, I still don't know who it is, sent me a disk and the paperwork and my beautiful wife, Maryanne, she took the disk. She said, “Don't look at it. Don't look at it.” And she looked at it and I said, “Pretty bad?” And she says, “Well…” I'm like, “Well, they said he was burned beyond recognition.” And it was in all the papers. All over the world, 38 skulls, 38 c-spines. No identifiable remains. So I said, “I want to see. I want to see.” And not that bad and I looked at the pictures of my son and he wasn't burned at all, Donnie. He jumped out of the helicopter or got thrown out of the helicopter. They weren't that high. They weren't that high. I have pictures of the helicopter where they gave us this binder in October after Jeffrey Colt got done doing the thing and there was 25 pages in there. In the first page, you can look at, as you open it up, you can't read it. It ran out of ink. I know the government's doing bad, but they didn't have no ink. So I called Admiral Sean Pybus. He was Commander-in-Chief and God bless him and I said, “I got a bad copy here, Admiral Pybus. Can I get another copy?” He said, “Well, Mr. Strange, we had a lot of complaints about that.” I said, “Okay, good. Send me another one.” He said, “We can't. We burned it.” I said, “You burned it? Already?” But in that packet was a disk and I put the disk in the computer and as you can tell by earlier, I'm not super suave. And there was like a hundred little blocks on this disk and I'm like … My wife, Maryanne, she says, “Let me look at that.” And she took it somewhere and she printed out 1,364 pages, Don. Donnie B.: My God. Charles S.: Which was encrypted with a virus. And the Taliban knew. The Taliban knew. Don, I'm going to read something to you from these 1,364 pages. I wasn't in the military. But in Jeffrey Colt’s investigation, he says, “For the Tangi Valley,” he says, “The next piece of reporting that I have that fits within the timeframe comes from May 11th, 2011.” And it's late May. There's no date on this and it's going to be, I'm reading it. There was a couple of blank spots. It's very brief. Again, it’s out of the task force and it says something to the fact that over 100 Talibans planned to travel from the Blank Province through the Tangi Valley to possibly shoot down the coalition force aircraft. They knew. A 100 Talibans were going to the Tangi Valley. I got it right here in front of me, Don. Right in front of me. Donnie B.: Wow! Charles S.: So these 1,300 pages, some of the other parents started asking questions and they're like, “How did you get that information? How do you know that?” And my wife wrote a letter to the gold star parents down in Florida, telling them how to download the disk to get the 1,364 pages. And then our phone got tapped and our computer got tapped and we won the first case in the history of America for the NSA when we went against the NSA and Obama down in Washington, DC. Judge Leon was our judge. You might remember, he called it, “Aurelian state that we live in.” And so we went to Congress. We went to the Senators. We went to President Obama when he was President. I met President Obama in Dover and tried over and over to try to get answers. I met President Obama in Dover. He came up to me and he said, “Michael changed the way America lived. Michael could do this and Michael could do that.” I grabbed President Obama by the shoulders and I sort of shook him and I said, “I don't need to know about my son. I need know what happened.” Then the Secret Service guys grabbed me. Donnie B.: I see a theme with you, Charlie. Charles S.: Yeah. And President Obama whispered in my ear and he said three times. He said, “Mr. Strange, I want to look into this very, very, very deep.” And we tried going back and not just me and my wife. We had other gold star parents. We’re just asking questions. We had a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. We had like 12 of the gold star parents. We had Allen West. We had General Boykin, General [inaudible] and this needs to be a congressional hearing. And we never got anything. We never got any answers and even if nobody's going to take accountability for the biggest loss of life and my son getting killed, just don't let it happen to someone else's son. Who put 38 men in a Chinook helicopter? 8 of the Afghans, Don, right before they took off, got off and no one's got on. Their names were never on the manifest. I'm like, and they told us this and then I think they wanted to not tell us that but, who were they? Who were they? They told us in Dover. They brought the Afghan bodies back to Dover and they had their flag over the coffins. My daughter said, “What's this?” I said, “That's the Afghans.” She said, “What the eff are they doing here?” That was our question. And they had to call the families from the Afghans and tell them they had the wrong people. They didn't know who they were. You don't know who they are getting on the helicopter? Their names’ not on the manifest? Who okayed all this? And then it was supposed to be a rescue mission for the Rangers and there was no … the Rangers, I’ve talked to personally, who were coming out said, “We didn’t need a QRF. We didn't need a Quick Reaction Force.” They had eight of the Talibans locked up. It's in the 1,300 pages. I got their names. I got their names. And then they said, “Well, we were after Qari Tahir.” Qari Tahir is a high-level guy. He was a big target. Qari Tahir, in the 1,300 pages, knew. Knew. He moved from village to village. Somebody was giving him all the information. Here you go, Hamad, I can't talk. I don't know these Middle Easterners. Harad, Hamad, Hamaz, Zaha, Guli, Nabi, Al-Qazar. The raid in Khawatir Village was targeting Qari Tahir, Ismael, Qali, Tahir had been located in another village during the raid, at the house of Habibur Rahim in the [inaudible]. Everything's written out here, Don. And I can't get no answers on who killed my son? Who made the call? It's crazy. So we went through all kinds of stuff. Donnie B.: Here's the crazy thing, Charlie, is one, God loved you, and I mean this wholeheartedly. I mean, I'm sorry for the loss of your son. It’s tragic. It sucks. No parent needs to go through that, right? But God loved you, man, because somebody's going to pick the fight, right? When something goes like this and I love your Philly freaking attitude, your vibe for you. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes in that room. But I love the way you've handled yourself all the way through this and fucking kudos for just picking the fight because I mean, I'm hearing your side of it. So I've got to go with what I'm hearing. And from what I'm hearing, man, shit, why the hell isn't there a further investigation? Why isn't there more people asking questions? And I get it, man. Some of the parents that have tragically lost their kids in this, they're like, “Okay. We just want to move on and get past it.” But I'm thinking, man, if I'm in your shoes, I'm still asking fucking questions. I want somebody's ass to fry because they made a bad call or they're a traitor to the freaking country. One of the two. Why the cover-up? And what dumbass put the disk in the freaking binder to you guys? Charles S.: Right. Donnie B.: Somebody's ass should get fired just for that stupid mistake on that side of things. So wow. What a shitty thing to go through, man. My heart hurts for that kind of stuff but fucking kudos for your boy for stepping up and doing what not many have the courage to do and fucking defending our country, man. Being a veteran myself, that dude is just freaking awesome. That's just awesome. So now, you guys are doing a lot of cool things for gold star families and you guys are holding events and bringing these families together and helping them get through some of these tough times they’re going through. Tell us a little bit about your foundation, your organization and what you guys are doing. Charles S.: Well, there's a lot of support at the funeral and after the funeral, everybody goes back to work. Everybody goes on vacation. Everybody is still going on. I'd be looking out my window saying, “My son died and everybody is still moving on.” And I was, the five stages of grief. Like I didn't know nothing about the five stages of grief and the first one is denial. No way. He was just sitting on my couch. We were just at a party and the second stage is anger. I was shopping in a food market and some guy had a towel around his head and he had to call the police on me for that one. My wife was at my back. Somebody was going to get it, Donnie. You know what I mean? The third one is bargain. And God don't bargain. And the fourth one they say is depression. I don't like to use that word. I think it's the Grim Reaper and the fifth one is acceptance. But like any other ones, what I learned is, with the loss of a son or a daughter or burying a child, it don't stop. It just keeps coming. I buried my father. I buried my cousin. I buried good friends. Not even in the same circle is burying a child and I ran into another gold star father named, Grant Smith. His son Tristan Smith was killed in an IED from Philadelphia three years prior. So I got in touch with this guy and we met for coffee and he started crying and he was angry and I felt good, Don. I was like, “This guy's just like me. We’re both fucked up. All right!” And I came home. I told my wife. I said, “We should bring more parents together.” And my wife, she started reaching out to some gold star parents and we did it. I said, “Let do …” in Philadelphia, we call it Beef and Beer and some guy named Drago, a Navy SEAL named Drago came along and him and his wife, great wife, Rachel and their two kids came down and we had an Irish band, of course, Blackthorne, donated their time and we raised some money and we brought like 20 gold star parents in for a weekend and we had a grief counselor there and we get the parents to talk. I want to hear from the other dads and moms. How do you get through the birthday? What are you doing in the holiday? How do you get through every day? And from there, the other gold star parents started telling other gold star parents. “When are you doing that again? Are you doing that again?” And I was like, “Well, okay. We'll do another one.” And we went to Wildwood, New Jersey and we did Thursday to Sunday and we brought some gold star parents from Michigan, Heath Robinson’s dad, he was on Team 6, Heath was a sharpshooter and we brought Debbie Anne who lost her son and they never seen the ocean. They never seen the ocean. So it was really cool and we did a lot of healing in Saturday night, whatever area we’re in, we ask the VFW or American Legion or [inaudible] Club, the hostess for dinner. We get the motorcycles, the cops, the firemen involved and my wife makes these beautiful reefs, biodegradable reefs and we go to the ocean and we say our sons’ names and we say a few prayers and we throw them, knowing that we'll see our sons again on the other side. We went to Tucson, Arizona to this guy Mike and Bonnie Quinn's house and we had a beautiful hotel out there and we had gold stars. We had Bob Huff. His daughter was Samantha Huff, the first girl killed in Iraq. My man, Bob and we had about 38 gold star parents out there. So the healing begins in meeting these other families and just to know what you're walking into, knowing you're not alone because a lot of the gold star parents go, “Don, nobody cares if my son died.” I said, “There is people that care, man. There is people that care.” I brought my buddy in, Kali Thomason. He's from Louisiana, Shreveport, Louisiana and you think I got an accent. I live about 60 miles from them duck boys. That's where I live at. “You better look for the gators, Charlie.” You can look Kali up on Facebook. He was putting up on Facebook, “My son died because of the rules of engagement.” His son was, they had to pull over to the side of the road. He was in the middle with some brass. And the van coming down since they pulled over drove right into the middle loaded with bombs and killed his son, Josh. But yeah. Meeting Kali and we brought Kali down to Ocean City, Maryland in the Royal Princess Hotel. We had 36 gold star parents and I tell you what, they put the fire engine trucks. They put it in the newspaper. Me and my wife go wherever we're going to go for the weekend retreat with the gold star families, we go down like a month early to let the VFW Post know, the police and firemen and they put it in the newspaper. There was people out in the street, Don with the flags. They brought the bugler. Each city that we've been to really rolls out the red carpet. But we're a small foundation. We need help. MichaelStrangeFoundation.org. Donnie B.: Well, hold on. Let me jump in here just one second, Charlie. A couple of things. One, you guys are close because obviously, it's your kids, right? I mean, that's not going to be something that's ever going to be [inaudible] place in your life, right? So it's really close to you. But I want to say it for all of us that aren't gold star families, man. It's not that we're not thinking about it. We're just not as close to it as you guys are. I mean, you guys are there every day. But I want you to also recognize that everywhere you've been, look at the good people that show up to support. I mean, at the end of the day, man, they're special people in this world. And unfortunately, society as it is, as a whole, likes to just paint a bad fucking picture on everything. So if you turn on the false shitty-ass news and all the other BS out there, all that you're going to see is the negative stuff. But for all of your friends that you guys are doing these amazing things for, just remember, it's not that we’re not thinking about it. It's just, we're not as close to it as you guys are. And we show up. Because there's still some of us that that sacrifice means a fuck ton to a lot of us. So I just wanted to get that out. Now, tell us about your damn foundation. Charles S.: Thank you, Donnie. Thank you. And that means a lot, man. That means a lot. Thank you. Donnie B.: You get me all freaking choked up here, Charlie. Charles S.: I make you cry. I do. My wife's over here on the side crying and tearing up. A piece of my heart's missing now, Don and meeting these other gold stars, we got a big event coming up. We got Drago coming back, November 2nd with a guy by the name of Rob O'Neill who’s coming back from his second time. One of Michael’s buddies. A lot of you guys’ buddies and we're teaming up with another foundation called Operation First Response, Peggy Baker and Nick Constantino’s. And we're doing it, November 2nd. I know you guys don't like to come to the East Coast over here, Donnie. Donnie B.: That’s cold-ass weather in November, dude. You’re crazy as hell. Charles S.: We’ll get you a Philly cheesesteak at [inaudible]. Donnie B.: That’s awesome. Charles S.: In case you do, Nikki and Joey bag of doughnuts and Rocco and all the guys. Yeah. We’ll take care of you. But November 2nd, seriously, Pat Mudge is speaking, one of Michael's close friends. Donnie B.: Just really quick, Charlie, for the ones that have listened to this podcast all the way through, if you guys go back before, I think, Episode 50, someone there, you'll hear Patrick Mudge’s story, man. And let me tell you, Patrick Mudge is the only interview I've ever done where I think I said two words through the whole thing, man. When that dude tells his story, holy fuck. That dude went through some shit. So great dude, great story. So to see him speak in person will be huge. Charles S.: Pat spoke at our little dinner event last year when he came down. He was close with Michael. It's hard, man. And you got to ask God for help. A guy opened up the Bible to me a little bit about Jesus and He died on the cross for us and His only Son and so we meet new veterans and asking God for help and we meet these other great gold star parents from all over the country, Don. We’ve had 250 gold star parents. We’ve done weekends in Pennsylvania, Jersey, Ocean City, Maryland, Tucson, Longmont, Colorado, Washington, DC, Lenox, Massachusetts and we need help with the airfare. We need help with the hotels because the parents already paid the ultimate price, right? I don't like saying that. Ultimate sacrifice. I don't like that shit. It was no sacrifice. My son had a gun in his hand when he died, you know what I mean? And that fucks with me too. He was alive for 15 minutes and nobody came to help him in my nightmares. Donnie B.: Here's the thing, man, is you guys are doing a freaking awesome thing, right? It's a hell of a thing you guys are doing and through your story, what people are able to feel, see and embrace is, this is a tough fucking thing and I personally can't relate to any of it. I've never lost anybody that close to me, right? But I will tell you, the fucking strength that you guys have to bring these families in across the world, across the US and be able to put them in one place, one room so you all can freaking go through this shit together and then you realize, you're not fucking alone is huge, is really, really, really huge and fucking kudos. I mean, there's always somebody who picks up the torch and says, “Come sit by my fire,” and you guys are doing it. Charles S.: Thanks, Don. Donnie B.: Yeah. Really freaking awesome. Charles S.: Thank you. Yeah. It helps. It helps meeting these gold stars. My friend, Jeannie Cathcart, his son was Michael Cathcart and all over, all over and we did one up in Lenox, Massachusetts, the gold star families with Derek Benson's dad there, Fred and a couple of the families from Extortion 17 came. Doug Hamburger and his son, Patrick was on there, out of Nebraska, full-time National Guard. And I'll tell you what, the one up in Lenox, Massachusetts, it's called Pug’s Farm. The guy bought a Chinook helicopter, Don. He bought a Chinook helicopter and has a memorial site. It’s called Pug’s Farm. If you're ever up in Lenox, Massachusetts, it's free. It's a beautiful memorial site. A guy by the name of E.L. Shapiro. Just amazing site. So we did a weekend up there with them. That was, going inside the Chinook, seeing the pictures but it's healing. Something else that’s healing too. You learn to walk with a limp every day and some days are harder than others. Sometimes, that Grim Reaper comes in on you and then it's good to … through the foundation, I met Mike Anderson. His son was a Marine. Fast-track, killed in Fallujah. His son got hurt. He was out, came back and then got shot right through the heart. Mike Anderson, good friend of mine. And meeting Michael and his daughter, Ally. Sometimes, we bring the siblings in if they're over 18 and they asked me to do the siblings and as you can tell, I'm not a doctor. I do have a PhD though, Donnie. Plumbing, heating and drainage. See, we learned to laugh again, bro. We learned to laugh again. Donnie B.: I get that, Charlie. I come from a blue-collar lifestyle. So I get that, man. That's awesome. Charles S.: Absolutely. I was in the laborers’ union in Philly. So that's the Michael Strange Foundation. You can see videos on Michael Strange Facebook. You'll see all the videos, all the gold star parents, different events. But November 2nd is our big dinner. Everybody's welcome. We’ll have it up on the website in about two months so you can buy tickets online. We’ll have auctioneer. Pat Mudge is going to battle for us, get some stuff donated. We need some donations for the auction. Rob O’Neill is coming in to speak. He's going to be there. Drago, Pat, a couple of veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq through Operation First Response who will talk for a few minutes to tell their stories, how Operation First Response helps them and then of course, I have some gold stars there from all over the country just to do some healing and show people that freedom is not free, babe. Freedom is not free. 9/11, man, Boston Bombing, San Bernardino and I know Michael did some things in this country to stop certain things that even went on here and you never hear about it and that's what I love about everybody who serves in the military. To sign that line and to protect us for our freedoms, man. For our freedoms. We live in the greatest country in the world. Donnie B.: That's it. That's it, man. That's it. Charles S.: President Trump had me down to the White House. He was great. He asked me to bring ten gold stars down there. It was a trip. They even put it in the newspaper in Philadelphia. “Family and Fawn Meets the Trumpster.” They put the Trumpster up. They had to throw a little shot in. But he was good. I had 15 minutes alone with him. Me and my wife. Him and the First Lady. He opened up an investigation about Extortion 17. I gave him some of them 1,300 pages. He actually read them in front of me. I said, “President Trump, my son got killed in a 1960-helicopter, man, with 30 other guys.” He goes, “You see what I did about that? I just signed a bill. $500 million gives them new damn helicopters for them.” Then I said to him, I said, “When you drop that mother bomb over there,” I said, “Next time you call Charlie Strange from Philadelphia and drop like eight or nine on them motherfuckers. Kill them all. Kill all them fucking people.” He goes, “Yo, yo, yo.” I said, “Yo, yo, yo?” I said, “Your son is still here. My son's not.” Then he gave me a hug and then he invited me back for Christmas dinner, Don. Yeah. That was cool. Donnie B.: So tell the family. You're not going to be home for Christmas. You're going to be chilling in the White House. Charles S.: We were in the gold room, the green room, the red room. They were feeding us all kinds of stuff. They did a beautiful tribute to the men and the gold star families. The First Lady, she was elegant. She said, “I don't know what you're going through. I can't understand what you're going through. I can't imagine.” She read a beautiful poem. General Kelly was there. He lost his son. And that's what the gold stars. You get a gold star pin and a folded flag. And we've had some of the parents, some of the mothers come to our weekend and they’re wearing their gold star pin now and another lady says to her, “Man, I like that pin. How do I get one of that?” People don't know what a gold star is and you don't want that gold star pin. It’s the pin that nobody wants but I wear it with honor. My son wore his uniform with honor and what he did to protect and serve for our freedoms and he loved what he did. You hear all kinds of things on our weekends. The one guy said, “I know what you're going through.” His neighbor told him, “I know what you're going through. I had my dog for 12 years.” “You lost your dog? I lost my son. I don’t think you know.” We understand. You know what I mean? Just don't say something like that to me the first year it happened. Donnie B.: Right? Charles S.: Michael Strange Foundation. Donnie B.: That's awesome, brother. Charlie, I got to tell you, I'm honored to have you come on here and share your story. I mean, because you're right. There's a lot of people that don't understand what the gold star families are. I mean, it's thrown around every once in a while but not a lot of people fully understand what it means. So thank you for coming in and really sharing Michael’s and your story, your family’s story. Thank you for everything you're doing. It means a ton and I just have so much respect for what you guys are doing. You're doing so much for other families going through it and thanks for being the light for those people. That's a really truly beautiful thing. How do people get in touch with you guys? So what's the website? What's the best way for them to reach out to donate, to get help if they're a gold star family member that maybe don't know about you guys, those type of things, how do people get in touch with you guys? Charles S.: The best way for the gold stars is Michael Strange Facebook. Message me, Charles Strange Facebook. Message me. Our PO Box is Michael Strange Foundation. PO Box 6038, Philadelphia, PA 19114. Philadelphia, PA 19114. The PO Box is 6038, Michael Strange Foundation. We got PayPal. We got PayPal on MichaelStrangeFoundation.org. You see some t-shirts for sale. You'll see the PayPal in there. We could really use your help. We could really use your support. We're a 501(c)(3). All the money goes to paying for the hotel, the food, the plane tickets and we give the parents a little present at the end, a little gold star bag and it pays for the lodging and that's what we need help for. We need to raise money for these gold star families. Because it's not like after you burry a child, you wake up and go back to work in two weeks or three weeks. I did. I went back to work like two months later, but I couldn't stay for a full week. I go every day but I'll break down and the Grim Reaper ain't no joke and then you wipe yourself off, you drink a bottle of water, you smoke a cigarette, you wash your face, you go back out, you're good for another hour and then bam! It's like, “Damn. My son, you got to be kidding. I got to go to a cemetery to see my son? Who the fuck came up with this? Who the fuck put all these guys in a helicopter?” But the only thing for me is meeting these gold star parents and learning what you're walking into, knowing that you're not alone and it is God working through me. Believe me. That’s the other thing. I give God credit for everything. If it was up to me, I'd be smoking some left-handed cigarettes and drinking, but I don't do that. I probably shouldn’t have said that. Donnie B.: You’re fine. We live in a new time, Charlie. Everybody smokes. Charles S.: I know it is God working through me and meeting that other gold star to start this off and my wife, God bless her, she was Michael’s stepmom and she's like my rock and my boulder. And like you just said, a guy named Shawn Greener from Delaware, Navy veteran, he did some of our counseling. We had another guy from Wildwood. We're looking for a grief counselor actually, Donnie. If anybody … I just interviewed a gentleman yesterday. He's becoming a doctor. He works at a couple of VA’s. He's going to get back to me. If anybody wants to reach out that does grief counseling, we could use some support on that too. My friend in Delaware is not doing too good. He's going through some problems. But yeah. We need a grief counselor. I got two on the line but they’re not sure. We're having an event, June 21st in Jersey, Edison, New Jersey. We’re having a weekend for gold stars we have gotten from Florida, Chicago, coming from all over. So we could use your support. MichaelStrangeFoundation.org. We have PayPal. You can order some shirts and also, our PO Box is on the foundation page. Donnie B.: Awesome. Awesome. Charlie, thanks so much for doing this. Thanks for sharing your story with us. I really appreciate it. Now, here's how I like to wrap up every show. And I do stump some people with this, Charlie. So stand by for that. If you were going to leave the Champions who listen to this show, 91 countries that tune in every day to hear the stories of the Champions that have been through heaven and hell in their life to figure out what they're going to do and where they're going, if you were going to leave them with a quote, a phrase, a saying, a mantra, something they can take with them on their journey, especially when they're stacked up against it, what's that quote or phrase you would say, “Remember this…”? Charles S.: My one phrase I would say would be, “Easy does it, but do it. Remember the fallen and freedom is not free.” Donnie B.: That's awesome, Charlie. Just freaking beautiful, my friend. Thanks so much for doing this. Keep rocking. Keep being the torch for those gold family members and we're fixing to show up to support you, brother. Appreciate you. Charles S.: Thank you so much, Don. Thank you so much for your service. And thanks for helping us. Donnie B.: Absolutely. Charles S.: God bless, brother. Donnie B.: Man, if that story didn't hit you, wow. Charles, I got to say bud, I'm really grateful for your time coming and sharing your story on the show and everything you guys are doing. If you guys would do me an honor, take a minute and just think about the guys who gave it all so we could enjoy the freedoms that we have. Think about all the guys that are deployed overseas now protecting our freedoms and by God, thank a veteran when you see them. They've been through hell in their own form or fashion and those kind words go quite a long ways and for the veterans, when somebody thanks you, take that, receive that and own that for me, because you deserve it. I know I struggled the longest time when people said, “Thank you for your service.” I found a great phrase that allowed me to continue to embrace it because it's not about them thanking me. It's about how it makes them feel that they can do something for us. So anytime they thank you, just turn around, look at them and say, “It was my honor.” Embrace that. Guys, I hope you come hang out in our Success Champions group on Facebook. Over 600 members and growing strong. It has become a family. It has become networking. It is a bunch of badasses all going forward. We are creating Success Champions on a daily basis and let me tell you, you want to come hang out because as I am a Success Champion, so are you. Just go to Facebook, type in ‘Success Champions’, click on groups and we'll see you there. [Music]

Eric Maddox was a new interrogator in 2003 on his first deployment since 9/11 when he conducted over 300 interrogations which led to the capture of Saddam Hussein. Upon completion of the mission and for his direct role in the special operation, Eric received the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director’s Award, the Legion of Merit, and the Bronze Star. After having conducted over 2700 interrogations, Eric has mastered two things: adapting to new situations and environments and gathering the most accurate information so that the best decisions can be made. Link to episode: http://bit.ly/gdapodcast30 Transcripts, blogs, and more: www.gdapodcast.com For booking info: www.gdaspeakers.com or call (214) 420-1999 twitter: @gdapodcast instagram: @gdapocast fb: facebook.com/gdapodcast

Retired agent Mike Rochford served in the FBI for 30 years, five years as a clerical employee and Russian translator, and 25 as a special agent.  Prior to his retirement, Mike was Section Chief of the Espionage Section. Based on his language skill, Mike worked Foreign Counter Intelligence (FCI) cases for most of his career. While assigned as a supervisor at FBI Headquarters and in the field, he oversaw such cases as Aldrich Ames and Earl Pitts and worked to identity six unknown subjects, government spies the FBI and CIA had been for years trying to uncover. One of those "unsubs" was eventually identified as FBI agent Robert Hanssen. In this episode of FBI Retired Case File Review, Mike Rochford reviews the investigation of FBI agent turned spy, Robert Hanssen. Hanssen is considered the most damaging spy in FBI history. Mike recruited the source, a Russian agent of the KGB/SVR, who provided the information that led to Hanssen's identification. For this effort, Mike received the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement from the CIA.

Paul and I were joined by Eric Maddox. As an Army Staff Sergeant, Eric was an interrogator assigned to Tikrit where he soon realized that the insurgency was not being run by former regime elements, the so-called Deck of Cards. Eric realized that the regime elements went into self-preservation mode and were too fragmented. Saddam was using his most basic social networks for protection and to run the insurgency. For his efforts, Eric Maddox was awarded the DIA Director’s Award, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement for his key role in the capture of Saddam Hussein. He’s written a great book about his experiene in Iraq called Mission: Black List #1 The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein Today, Eric has been hired by the DoD as the first ever civilian interrogator. He has deployed to Afghanistan, back to Iraq, and other locations around the world for interrogation operations. He teaches new interrogation methodology and techniques for the government and to allied countries. This is a fascinating discussion between two subject matter experts who realize that social networks are really about human beings and not technology. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here. What is Pundit Review Radio? Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called "groundbreaking" by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston's Talk Station.

Paul and I were joined by Eric Maddox. As an Army Staff Sergeant, Eric was an interrogator assigned to Tikrit where he soon realized that the insurgency was not being run by former regime elements, the so-called Deck of Cards. Eric realized that the regime elements went into self-preservation mode and were too fragmented. Saddam was using his most basic social networks for protection and to run the insurgency. For his efforts, Eric Maddox was awarded the DIA Director’s Award, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement for his key role in the capture of Saddam Hussein. He’s written a great book about his experiene in Iraq called Mission: Black List #1 The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein Today, Eric has been hired by the DoD as the first ever civilian interrogator. He has deployed to Afghanistan, back to Iraq, and other locations around the world for interrogation operations. He teaches new interrogation methodology and techniques for the government and to allied countries. This is a fascinating discussion between two subject matter experts who realize that social networks are really about human beings and not technology. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here. What is Pundit Review Radio? Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called "groundbreaking" by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston's Talk Station.

When Army Staff Sergeant Eric Maddox arrived in Iraq he had never interrogated a prisoner. Five months later he left with the DIA Director’s Award, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement for his key role in the capture of Saddam Hussein. Not only did he do that, his work identified the insurgency funding and leadership network, which had been previously unknown to the US military. He did this by focusing on the social and family networks of captured prisoners. Mission: Black List #1: The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein—As Told by the Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture "After months of chasing down leads, following hunches, and interrogating literally hundreds of detainees, Sergeant Maddox uncovered crucial details about the insurgency. In his final days in Iraq, he closed in on the dictator’s inner circle and, within hours of his departure from the country, pinpointed the precise location of Saddam’s Tikrit spider hole. Maddox’s candid and compelling narrative reveals the logic behind the unique interrogation process he developed and provides an insider’s look at his psychologically subtle, nonviolent methods. The result is a gripping, moment-by-moment account of the historic mission that brought down Black List #1." Just incredible what he did and how he did it. This is a great book and it was an honor to be able to speak to SSG Maddox. What is Pundit Review Radio? Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

When Army Staff Sergeant Eric Maddox arrived in Iraq he had never interrogated a prisoner. Five months later he left with the DIA Director’s Award, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement for his key role in the capture of Saddam Hussein. Not only did he do that, his work identified the insurgency funding and leadership network, which had been previously unknown to the US military. He did this by focusing on the social and family networks of captured prisoners. Mission: Black List #1: The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein—As Told by the Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture "After months of chasing down leads, following hunches, and interrogating literally hundreds of detainees, Sergeant Maddox uncovered crucial details about the insurgency. In his final days in Iraq, he closed in on the dictator’s inner circle and, within hours of his departure from the country, pinpointed the precise location of Saddam’s Tikrit spider hole. Maddox’s candid and compelling narrative reveals the logic behind the unique interrogation process he developed and provides an insider’s look at his psychologically subtle, nonviolent methods. The result is a gripping, moment-by-moment account of the historic mission that brought down Black List #1." Just incredible what he did and how he did it. This is a great book and it was an honor to be able to speak to SSG Maddox. What is Pundit Review Radio? Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 8-10 pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

This presentation, by a former Deputy Legal Adviser to the White House National Security Council, and author of a chapter on legal issues in the forthcoming "Case Studies for Implementing the NSA IEM," will provide information security consultants and information technology providers alike with insights into: how emerging United States national security and cybersecurity policies and initiatives could impact the work of consultants and technology providers; emerging standards of potential legal and regulatory liability for such consultants and providers; and strategies for mitigating risk and protecting proprietary and vulnerabilities information. Bryan Cunningham has extensive experience as a cybersecurity and intelligence expert, both in senior U.S. Government posts and the private sector. Cunningham, now a corporate information and homeland security consultant and principal at the Denver law firm of Morgan and Cunningham LLC, most recently served as Deputy Legal Adviser to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. At the White House, Cunningham drafted key portions of the Homeland Security Act, and was deeply involved in the formation of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, as well as numerous Presidential Directives and regulations relating to cybersecurity. He is a former senior CIA Officer and federal prosecutor, founding co-chair of the ABA CyberSecurity Privacy Task Force, and, in January 2005, was awarded the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement for his work on information issues. Cunningham holds a Top Secret Security Clearance and counsels corporations on information security programs, as well as information security consultants on how to structure and conduct their assessments and remediation to mitigate potential liability. C. Forrest Morgan (JD (1987), Trained in NSA IAM) has extensive experience in corporate practice and structure including contracting, corporate formation, and operations. Mr. Morgan advises information security consultants on drafting and negotiating contracts with their customers to best protect them against potential legal liability. Mr. Morgan's practice also has emphasized commercial contract drafting and reorganization, and corporate litigation, providing in-depth understanding of the business and legal environment. He has represented both national corporations and regional firms in state and federal courts and administrative agencies in matters of litigation, creditors' rights, bankruptcy, administrative law and employment issues. Mr. Morgan served as the Regional Editor of the Colorado Bankruptcy Court Reporter from 1989 to 1992, and he co-authored the Bankruptcy section of the Annual Survey of Colorado from 1991 to 1997. As a Principal of the Denver law firm of Morgan and Cunningham, LLC, Mr. Morgan's practice also includes corporate information and security consulting. He counsels corporations on information security programs, including development of corporate policies and procedures to minimize business risks and litigation exposure.

This presentation, by a former Deputy Legal Adviser to the White House National Security Council, and author of a chapter on legal issues in the forthcoming "Case Studies for Implementing the NSA IEM," will provide information security consultants and information technology providers alike with insights into: how emerging United States national security and cybersecurity policies and initiatives could impact the work of consultants and technology providers; emerging standards of potential legal and regulatory liability for such consultants and providers; and strategies for mitigating risk and protecting proprietary and vulnerabilities information. Bryan Cunningham has extensive experience as a cybersecurity and intelligence expert, both in senior U.S. Government posts and the private sector. Cunningham, now a corporate information and homeland security consultant and principal at the Denver law firm of Morgan and Cunningham LLC, most recently served as Deputy Legal Adviser to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. At the White House, Cunningham drafted key portions of the Homeland Security Act, and was deeply involved in the formation of the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, as well as numerous Presidential Directives and regulations relating to cybersecurity. He is a former senior CIA Officer and federal prosecutor, founding co-chair of the ABA CyberSecurity Privacy Task Force, and, in January 2005, was awarded the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement for his work on information issues. Cunningham holds a Top Secret Security Clearance and counsels corporations on information security programs, as well as information security consultants on how to structure and conduct their assessments and remediation to mitigate potential liability. C. Forrest Morgan (JD (1987), Trained in NSA IAM) has extensive experience in corporate practice and structure including contracting, corporate formation, and operations. Mr. Morgan advises information security consultants on drafting and negotiating contracts with their customers to best protect them against potential legal liability. Mr. Morgan's practice also has emphasized commercial contract drafting and reorganization, and corporate litigation, providing in-depth understanding of the business and legal environment. He has represented both national corporations and regional firms in state and federal courts and administrative agencies in matters of litigation, creditors' rights, bankruptcy, administrative law and employment issues. Mr. Morgan served as the Regional Editor of the Colorado Bankruptcy Court Reporter from 1989 to 1992, and he co-authored the Bankruptcy section of the Annual Survey of Colorado from 1991 to 1997. As a Principal of the Denver law firm of Morgan and Cunningham, LLC, Mr. Morgan's practice also includes corporate information and security consulting. He counsels corporations on information security programs, including development of corporate policies and procedures to minimize business risks and litigation exposure.