Podcasts about special tactics

Great leaders don't always have the answers. But they know how to build teams that do. SUMMARY In this episode of Long Blue Leadership, Mitch Torrel '14 discusses the power of mentorship, constructive feedback, humility and creating an environment where everyone can contribute. His leadership lessons are just as relevant in the boardroom as they are on the battlefield.   MITCH TORREL'S TOP 10 LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS Lead Through Fear, Not Around It Even when you're anxious or scared, keep moving forward and executing the mission; courage is acting despite fear, not waiting for fear to disappear. Trust Your Preparation When you hit uncertainty, fall back on the work you've already put in — physical, mental, and technical — rather than spiraling about what's coming next. Focus on the Team to Get Out of Your Own Head Shifting your attention from your own anxiety to how you can support and elevate others makes hard environments more endurable and improves performance. Discover You Have “More in the Tank” Don't treat real missions or selections like workouts; push past your comfort ceiling and you'll find reserves of mental and physical capacity you didn't know you had. Break Big Fears into Small, Daily Gains You don't need to be the best today — just better than yesterday; attack weaknesses with small, consistent, incremental progress. Leverage Mentors and Learn Aggressively Assume you're not the first to face a challenge. Seek out people who've done it before and copy their mindset, preparation and frameworks to shorten your learning curve. Make Feedback Normal, Specific, and Frequent Build team habits where everyone gets clear strengths and weaknesses surfaced (even anonymously at first), then use trends in that feedback to drive personal change. Balance Urgency with Deliberate Planning In crises, don't rush in just because the situation is urgent. Pause to gather facts, build a simple plan and avoid making the emergency worse. Use Your Team's Brains — Don't Lead Alone As a leader, your job is to facilitate: Draw out the quiet voices, aggregate the best ideas, and delegate execution rather than trying to be the sole problem-solver. Set Clear Standards and Red Lines Early Explicitly communicate what you will and won't tolerate so you can enforce discipline fairly and consistently, protecting both people and mission over the long haul.   CHAPTERS 00:00:00 – Opening: Leading Through Fear 00:01:27 – Special Tactics Pipeline: Anxiety, Night Sweats and Uncertainty 00:03:50 – Trusting Preparation and Learning to Hate the Water Less 00:05:40 – Shared Hardship and Team Bonding in the Pipeline 00:07:27 – “More in the Tank”: Rucks, Mental Toughness and Selection 00:11:14 – Learning from Others, Mentorship and Owning Weakness 00:15:36 – Five Traits Torrel Looks for in Leaders 00:19:49 – Feedback Culture, Blind Spots and High-Performing Teams 00:25:34 – Thai Cave Rescue: First Mission and Leading Under Pressure 00:29:59 – New Leaders, Delegation and Facilitating the Team 00:36:34 – Failing, Standards and Command Red Lines 00:40:24 – Advice to Younger Self and Enjoying Each Season 00:43:25 – Transition to Business, Ongoing Service and Final Leadership Charge   ABOUT MITCH BIO Mitch Torrel, U.S. Air Force Academy Class of 2014, is a former Division I hockey player, Air Force Special Tactics officer, entrepreneur and founder of Sentry Operations. After beginning his Air Force career in pilot training, Torrel found his calling in special operations, completing the demanding Special Tactics training pipeline and serving in operational and leadership roles. While stationed in Okinawa, Japan, Torrel served as operations officer for the U.S. team supporting the 2018 rescue of 12 young soccer players and their coach from a flooded cave complex in Thailand. The experience, his first operational mission, became one of several defining chapters in a career shaped by high-stakes decision-making, teamwork, resilience and leadership under pressure.   CONNECT WITH MITCH LINKEDIN  |  SENTRY OPERATIONS   CONNECT WITH THE LONG BLUE LINE PODCAST NETWORK TEAM Ted Robertson | Producer and Editor:  ted.robertson@usafa.org Send your feedback or nominate a guest: socialmedia@usafa.org   < ----- > Ryan Hall | Director:  ryan.hall@usafa.org  Bryan Grossman | Copy Editor:  bryan.grossman@usafa.org Wyatt Hornsby | Executive Producer:  wyatt.hornsby@usafa.org     ALL PAST LBL EPISODES  |  ALL LBLPN PRODUCTIONS AVAILABLE AT USAFA.ORG/LONGBLUELEADERSHIP AND ON ALL MAJOR PODCAST PLATFORMS     TRANSCRIPT OUR SPEAKERS:  Guest, Mitch Torrel '14 | Host, Lt. Col. (ret.) Naviere Walkewicz '99 Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz 0:01 Sometimes leadership isn't about eliminating fear; it's about learning how to move forward, even if fear is sitting right next to you. I'm Naviere Walkowicz, Class of '99. Long Blue Leadership starts now. Today's guest is Mitch Teorrel, 2014 graduate of the Air Force Academy, former Division I hockey player, Air Force special tactics officer, also an entrepreneur near the founder of Century Operations. You know you've had a unique career. In fact, many probably know a lot of your work when it comes to an international rescue event, and we'll talk about that later on. But I think what's most exciting about this time with you, Mitch, is how you continue to lead, but you've done it through what some would call overcoming fear or maybe leading through fear. And so I think we're going to have a fantastic conversation today, and I welcome you to Long Blue Leadership. Mitch Torrel 0:53 Naviere, I appreciate you for having me out. Humbled to get the opportunity to kind of share some stories today, and so I'm looking forward to it. Thank you. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 1:01 Well, thanks for the time. We're going to jump right in with the time that you know when we had a chance to talk, Mitch. It was something that kind of surprised me, and I think others will really appreciate this. You know, when you're going through your Air Force special tactics training to kind of be in that role, you experience like night sweats and literally having to change your clothes at night. And I'm looking across to you. You're not sweating right now. You're looking pretty cool and calm. And so take me back to that experience, and let's just start there. Mitch Torrel 1:28 Yeah, pipeline is a pretty arduous process. It's two years; every day is a grind. It's difficult. You're not really sure what tomorrow holds, and they keep it that way, pretty close hold. You don't know what you got tomorrow. You just know it's going to be an early rise, and it's going to be really physically taxing. It's going to be mentally demanding, and you're not sure if. I think part of the anxiety is, do I mentally have what it takes to withstand and with withhold another day? Do I physically have what it takes to continue to drive on, and I think that unknown, the unknown on what's to come, am I going to be enough? The two years is a selection process, so you're getting assessed and selected every day, and it's a lot of anxiety to take on because you're not sure how you're going to perform. I think a lot of us have such internal pressures on ourselves to perform in and out every day that it makes it very difficult to get out of your mind and not worry about the anxiety of what's coming tomorrow. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 2:29 Well, it makes me think the closest thing that I can think of right at this moment is you know basic cadet training, which is six weeks, and you just talked about two years of uncertainty and not you know waking up early and not knowing what's next. You know, how did you kind of navigate through that? I think we all know how we navigated through BCT, but I think certainly this is much when it's something that's so enduring. I think that's a different situation. Mitch Torrel 2:51 I think a part of goes back to just trusting in your preparation. Did I do what it took to prepare? And if you did, if you didn't, there's not much you can change the night before, and so trusting in your abilities, your ability to adapt, your ability to withstand. I think I hated the water, and they always told you going through the pipeline. If you don't love the water, you're not going to make it through. And I'm a testament to I hated the water every day, dreaded it almost on a daily basis. But you know, learn to overcome and deal with that anxiety and just pressure that it brought. But every day is an opportunity to kind of build that wall up. Your ability to withstand, your ability to deal with anxiety, your ability to deal with the unknown, and I think the pipeline was a really good opportunity for me to kind of grow. I remember when we were in Mississippi, one of the earlier schools. It's three months. Every day was again very arduous. You didn't know it was coming. Are they going to put us in a pool tomorrow? Am I going to drown? You know, am I going to be able to make it through? Am I going to do a good job of leading the team? I think being able to focus on the team allowed me to not worry about myself and kind of focus on something else. And I think worrying about others allowed me to really make it through some of those arduous times, and that was very helpful to me. I remember I probably took a lot longer to grow to the point where you know you're not worried about tomorrow. I used to have to wake up at night, change my sheets, change what I was wearing, you know, and that happened every night because I would just wake up in a dead sweat and I was soaking wet, and eventually, you know, through exposure and through time, you learn to just exist and not worry about what's coming tomorrow. And it's a constant evolution. You know, that's not to say I don't get anxiety about things that are happening tomorrow today, but you start to learn to head off those thoughts early on and allow yourself to just take what comes tomorrow. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 4:57 So I'm thinking about you being in those moments, and when you said it was probably later on, I'm curious as how you know that every night you're changing your sheets, you're going through that. But I'm curious, were there others that were experiencing the same thing, or were others even helping you through navigating those thoughts that you had? Mitch Torrel 5:14 I think just being in a team environment makes things so much better. Sharing in in in the suffering, sharing in the stories, and getting to reflect on that. When I look back on the pipeline, what an amazing time and something that I think our entire team looks fondly about. We're very close still, and I think that shared hardship, that shared experience, is something that bonds you together for life. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 5:41 So that two-year journey, and obviously you graduated and became an Air Force Special Tactics Officer. You know what was, I guess, the moment that it clicked for you. You know, you said you got to that point. Do you remember that day? Do you remember what was different, or you just all of a sudden didn't sweat the same? Mitch Torrel 5:57 I think it probably lasted for me longer than a lot of people, and you know, it seems like I learned a lot of the lessons hard myself. You know, and but I think it's just something that gradually over time, you know, the way I remember it is one day it stopped, but I'm sure it was a little bit more gradual than that. Like I think over time you just learn to just, hey, tomorrow's going to be no different than it was today. Today was fine. We made it through. The team did great. You know, I performed up to my standard, or maybe if I didn't, tomorrow's another opportunity in which I can go back and get after it again. And there's plenty of times where I look back, and I think it's easy to learn and roll when you're being put in those situations each and every day. And so it was a very growth-oriented couple of years for me, and I really enjoyed it. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 6:52 I would have loved to have been working with you on the day after you didn't have to wake up and change the sheets. Whatever you had, you know, you know, you were more alert that day. You actually had better sleep. Mitch Torrel 7:01 Yeah, I think definitely had to drink a substantially less amount of water each night before going to bed. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 7:09 Oh goodness! Well, let's talk about — I think you know, there was something that you shared before about kind of uncovering in yourself that you had more in your tank than you thought, and I'm curious that that was during pipeline in those moments that were like you know forced experiences, or if you found that at other times when you kind of surprised yourself in learning that about. Mitch Torrel 7:28 I think the entire 10 years was a constant lesson of you've got more in the tank, both physically and mentally. I think when I first decided today, I was going through pilot training, and I just felt like it was more of a hobby than a job. And I got to meet guys in special operations, and was very impressed by the camaraderie, by the caliber of guys that were there. And to me, it was like a hockey team, and I missed that. I missed that group because you wanted to be a pilot first, correct? Is that what you're planning? Yeah, I think my family wanted me to be a pilot. I think they kind of pushed me that direction. I always enjoyed flight, you know. But for me, I just thought that some of my skills and abilities would better translate, and I would have a more fulfilling career, getting to be around you know that type of environment. And I think too, there's always you know, can I make it through the training? Do I have what it takes? You know, what will I learn about myself? And so that was a little bit of kind of just the unknown was alluring, you know. But I think there's just so much every day. Where I remember one of the first selection events, you do a long ruck event, and leading up to training, I was so focused on passing the initial fitness test to just start the assessment that I didn't rock, I didn't do underwater stuff. I was just focused on can I do push-ups? Can I do pull-ups? Can I do the 3-mile run? You know, and that took all my time and energy. And when I got to the ruck, it's unknown time, unknown distance, and they just tell you to go. And I remember I was like, all right, I'm going to treat this like a workout, and I'm going to run for a couple minutes, and then I'll walk for a few minutes, and I'll run for a couple minutes, and that'll help get me through. And I remember Master Sergeant came up to me, and he's like, “Why, why are you walking? And I remember being embarrassed at that moment, where it's do I not have it in the tank where I could have just been running this whole time? Do I want it enough where I can just dig a little bit deeper and showcase that? And I remember that fed me through the next two years, where it's like, do I have the mental hardness? Do I have the toughness? Have I prepared physically, you know, for these events? And so I think that was kind of a good wake-up call. Where it's not a workout, you know, what do you have left in the tank? And I think throughout two years there, went through another direction halfway through my career, and that was another opportunity to kind of dig in the dig in the tank a little bit. Did you approach that one differently? I did, and very proud of you know what I had learned throughout the years, what I was able to showcase. We did a much longer rec event, and I ran the whole thing, and was pretty proud of myself about that. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 10:22 What a fantastic example! Because I'm thinking about you know in in in our work and our profession, we do we think about how can I create something to be distinct, right? How can I do something for the long haul? But you're right. If we don't, if we aren't thinking about how can we perform at our best as part of that, you know, that that equation, then we might not even get to the long haul, right? And so I think that's really powerful that you kind of shared, you know, giving your all and realizing that there was more in there than you originally were trying to like, you know, save. Yeah. Wow, that's a really cool story. I bet there are many examples of that. It was quite. Oh my Did you see others? You know, as you had these moments where you kind of learned these things about yourself, and obviously, I think you know in hockey you probably saw this as well. But have you been able to pull others along with you in these experiences that you've had that you've seen? Maybe others are struggling the same way. Mitch Torrel 11:15 I think everybody struggles in different areas, especially in the pipeline. You're learning a lot of different skill sets. You're working on a lot of different things. Cardio is a part of it. Strength is a part of it. Determination. I mean, just — and there's so much. I think you pick up some really good traits from others. Hey, I really like what you're doing, or how you having such success, or how do you navigate this portion? I was always terrible in the water, bad swimmer, horrible underwater. I think when I went through initial selection, somebody pulled me out of the pool after we did underwaters, which is you go down, do a completely underwater, you know, swim underwater, swim underwater for the distance of the pool, and then come back up at a 45-degree angle. And I remember one of the cadre. He pulled me out of the pool, and he said, "You are terrible. Like I wanted to pass out watching you.   Col. Naviere Walkewicz 10:22 And you're like, "Thank you for that feedback.   Mitch Torrel 12:08 And so it's getting with people who are really good at it and getting advice. I think something throughout my career that I've been very blessed to have is really good mentorship. And you're typically not the first one to go through a process, find a new job, you know, and having a good network of people who, hey, how did you prepare? What set you up for success, or especially in business now, it's a completely new world for me. And having mentors who are able to help think of it this way, or there's a better way to orient your situation, or prepare yourself, and that's really important to surround yourself with people who, you know, are able to elevate you, make you rethink kind of your approach to things, and then give you tips and advice.   Col. Naviere Walkewicz 12:52 So I have to ask, do you like the water today? Mitch Torrel 12:54 I like being on the water, you know, on a boat, you know? Just hanging out. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 12:59 There's some material between you and the water, so that leads me to this question. I know that was a little comical, but I'm curious when someone, as that's you know a developing leader or wherever they're at in their leadership journey, if they really want to be part of something, but there is something that is fundamentally part of that that they just don't like or they're just not good at, what would be the advice you give them? Because you know some people might be like, I just hate that so much, I won't pursue the thing that I love because that component's in there. Mitch Torrel 13:28 I think there's kind of two factors in that. If you hate something so much that you know in your heart that it's not something that you can overcome or you want to deal with on a day-to-day basis, then then maybe that that's not worth you know getting through. But I would also argue that until you give yourself the opportunity to progress and grow and learn to get through whatever that difficulty or whatever that is that you don't like, you won't know. And I think there's a lot of ways to incrementally. You don't have to be the best swimmer today. You just have to be a little bit better than you were yesterday, and I think that was something that we and our team learned throughout the pipeline. Is hey, you don't have to be the best at everything today, but everything that you do today is just making you a little bit better for tomorrow. And so I think breaking down things into manageable and you know smaller bite-sized things that you can you can do. You know hey, when I first started swimming, I couldn't believe people swam multiple laps at a time. You know, and I was like, “All right, I'm going to swim two, you know, 50s at a time tomorrow, and then, you know, next week I'm going to build up to 100,” or, you know, and it doesn't have to all happen overnight. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 14:45 Right. For a moment, I thought two to 100 but you're talking 50s. Well, that's fantastic, and thank you for sharing that because I think what I also gleaned from that is there's some self-discovery that comes from, I really don't like something, a part of you starts to learn, “Really, did I really not like that?” Right? Maybe feared that because I'm not good at that. And so I think I really appreciated your thoughts of you haven't really given your chance to truly assess that. Mitch Torrel 15:10 And I think we build things up so much in our head. You know, I think dive school is one of those — “Oh, it's terrifying.” You know?   Col. Naviere Walkewicz 15:16 I mean, it probably is, I'm not gonna lie.   Mitch Torrel 15:19 And it really wasn't. I think we throughout training did a good job. And in preparation, again, you fall back on your preparation. Worked really hard to get there. Put in the extra And it just makes you know those hurdles that at once seem like mountains, you know, just small little hills that you have to go over. Yeah. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 15:38 Well, you mentioned some of those in your life that you realize when you're going through something, you're probably not the first person that's gone through it, and you have that network of mentors. What are some of the traits that— And I think you alluded to, there are five traits in a leader that you really kind of look to, you know, to see. What are those? Mitch Torrel 15:56 So drive, you know, and a lot of people that were surrounded with, especially at the academy, or in you know in the soft community, or in the military in general, have drive, and so that's not necessarily a unique characteristic, but it's something that you need in order to make you successful. Interpersonal effectiveness, and so how do I integrate with a team? How do I relate to others? And it can't be cookie cutter for everybody, and because team environments, people you know are different, and that's it's one of those soft and fuzzy skills that you need to work on and develop the way that you communicate, and so can I get my message across? Do people understand it? And that's both in writing, spoken. You know, be nonverbal, verbal, the way that you carry yourself, body language, super important. Problem solving. So that's something that the academy does a good job of exposing you to routinely. Can I solve this problem? How do I get my team to you know get after this complex problem? And so that's another one of those characteristics that we typically assess and select for. I think stress tolerance. You know, Pipeline does a really good job of building you up with that. The Academy, basic training, all of that is just another iteration at how am I handling things when I'm getting yelled at, when there's a timeline, when there's you know things at stake. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 17:19 So I'm curious, were those you've just over time recognized that when I see things or leaders succeeding really well or being able to accomplish things that maybe that others would think impossible, they carry those traits. Is that how you have kind of derived them down to five? Mitch Torrel 17:37 I think there's the foundation of it. Obviously, there's a lot of subfacets that go into each of those traits and characteristics and some leaders have you know all five of them in spades. Some of them are much more heavily reliant on some of their characteristics than others, but it's always a good thing to develop the traits that you're lacking. I think feedback is a really important trait and really important characteristic of well-functioning teams, and so how did I do this week? If I didn't do great, you know, like I don't need to be beaten down about it. But people typically want to be high performers, and everybody has blind spots, and so being able to call out those blind spots in a healthy and functional manner is super important because people want to be high performers. And I had the privilege of running and getting to work some of our selection events, and what we found was a really cool trend, which is we used to do weird feedback, and so guys would show up to selection, and right away the first day you'd have a bunch of tasks and events, and we'd bring everybody together and be like, all right, go down the row. Who is the two highest performing guys today? And that's really easy. People love to give praise, and then you go down the line, and you're like, all right, call out the two lowest performing guys and tell them why. And people go, I don't want to do that, and it's like, why? Like, do you not want them to get better? Do you not want them to have the opportunity? We're in Day 1 of day X, and it's not too early to turn their train around. What we saw is typically the guys who are the lowest performing early on are never the lowest performing at the end of the year, and they take that feedback, they internalize it, and they adopt and you know overturn that. And it's really fun to see that progression, but none of that happens if they don't get called out, if they don't get constructive feedback. “Hey, when we were working as a team, you were doing X and Y and Z by yourself, or you know, there's a million reasons why either an action is perceived as hey, you weren't for the team, or you didn't perform the standard.” I think people getting that feedback is what turns that train around. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 19:49 Right, it's almost probably like exactly what they needed. So I'm curious because feedback is challenging. It's hard to I think for some to give feedback. It's hard for some to receive feedback, I'm fascinated because when I think about the pace in which you have had to operate and do things, that you make time for feedback. I'm curious if you could talk about how you guys do that in a way that's received well. Mitch Torrel 20:13 I think it, again, it goes back to interpersonal effectiveness, and so you've got to know who do I have on my team? Are they somebody who's going to internalize this or not take it very well? There's a bunch of different ways in which you can get feedback and then provide it to somebody. Where we used to early on in the pipeline, as guys were learning to get feedback and you know not you know get too shaken up about it. Is we would have guys write, all right, hey, everybody on our team, we're going to do three things they do well, three things you wish they'd improve on, and then we strip out the names and we provide just a list of hey, here your three things that you're doing really well, and then here are your three weaknesses that you know everybody said we go around we talk about it, and that was a really good kind of introduction, where it's not tanked to anybody. Right. And then what's really nice is you start to see trends. So it's really easy for people to be like, “Oh, you know, Mitch doesn't like me,” or, “That's Mitch's opinion.” But when you start to see that correlation of, well, I got this five times. Is hey, my body language day to day is probably not where it needs to be, or I'm constantly putting others down, or I'm just you know not showing up on time, just small things, and I think drawing awareness to that and getting buy-in from guys to change it, and you see that transition all the time, where, all right, like, now I'm aware of it, I can fix it, I can identify it, and then you get the team to hold you accountable with it. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 21:44 Well, in the way that you just described that, I'm curious how often you think that it's, you know, relevant or should be practiced. Is it, like, in the moment? Is it something, like, that where it's weekly? But I think, what I think is really neat about that — it was never attacking, and it was never something they had to defend. It just seemed like it was just information. Like it's what you do really well. This is what you need to work on. And taking the attribution away from it, like who said it? I think just made it, you know. Mitch Torrel 22:09 And I think everybody got to understand that you're a student, you know, of life and a student of your job. You're a student of life. You're a student of you know whatever position you're in. And I had a mentor growing up and played professional sports, and there was a conversation where, hey, “How do how do you know when it's time to retire? How do you know when you're done?” And it's when I stop improving and I stop learning. And so having that mentality where, no matter how long you've been around, there's things to improve upon, there's things to learn, is really hard to have because people, you know, you get comfortable in a position. It's like I've seen it all, I've done it all, I've been there. But the people who are the best at their jobs, and especially in the military, the people who show up every day, work on their trade, work on their skills and seek to improve, and I've been blessed to be surrounded by just, I mean, some of the most decorated warriors that the Air Force has put out on the battlefield. And it was a humbling experience, but even more so humbling was the approach they took every day. As they came into work every day and got better at something. They didn't sit on their laurels and “Hey, I did this two years ago, and now I can kind of walk through the rest of my career.” It was— they came in every day to work, and it was impressive. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 23:30 Oh man! What is something that and normally asks at the end, but it just seems so fitting right now. Like, how are you getting better and learning every day? Mitch Torrel 23:38 I think every day is new problem sets, and I think it's you know trying to expand my education. I think there's a lot of new tools out there. There's a lot of new opportunities and think the world's constantly changing. And so, staying informed is one of the ways in which I'm trying to be a better leader. I think business is this completely new hurdle. I think being in the military, there's a very different type of leadership that you're able to bring. And two, I mean, everybody is there for the mission generally and believes in the task and purpose. And business now, you kind of need to appeal to people in a lot more of a well-rounded manner. And so, I think having conversations with mentors, you know, I'm maintaining that. I try and just meet as many people as I can and glean information from them, experiences from them, because I'd like to think I'm getting smarter as I get older. I'm trying to learn all the lessons myself. So… Col. Naviere Walkewicz 24:39 Well, I'm grateful for that because the reason why we're talking here is because you answered, you know, and we're willing to talk about it. So I think that's you know just proof right there of that stretching and outreach. So before we shift into, I'm curious on you know you talk about you asked your mentor when does he know it's time to retire. I would love Kind of the business world, but before that, I'd like to visit actually one of your experiences while you're in in service, and you know it's something there's you know there's a movie on it. We actually featured in our 2018 checkpoint, but you were instrumental in rescuing the boys' soccer team in Thailand when they had a huge monsoon. And I was wondering if you kind of take me not so much. Maybe you can share with others in case they aren't familiar with it. But I'm really curious about the leadership piece of that because it was a huge operation, and it was dealing with water. So let's talk about that. Mitch Torrel 25:34 Yeah, exactly — my nightmare. You know what? I just happened to be in the right time at the right place. There was a team of pararescue men and combat controllers stationed out in Okinawa, Japan. There was a group of soccer players who got stranded in a cave after the monsoons came early and had flooded out a section. The Thai leadership and parks team, and then eventually the Thai Navy tried to attempt a rescue, and they weren't able to action it. So they reached out to the U.S. Embassy and asked if we had anybody in in the region who could come help. And that just happened to be our team out in Okinawa. I think it was definitely a challenge. There wasn't a lot of information when we left out the door. It was either, you know, is 13 individuals stuck in a cave. We don't know what the hurdles are. We don't know what's been tried. We don't know anything. We don't even know if they're alive. Oh my goodness. And so, getting on the ground, there was a lot of information to take in. There's a lot of people who were trying to help, trying to facilitate a rescue, working, you know, their own agendas, and I think coordinating and making sense of all that chaos was kind of the first task. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 26:47 And so, what was your role? So, you know, obviously, like the call came in, and then you know, you were — that was, you know, your, you know, was assigned to that. What was your piece, and like, how did you navigate that chaos? Mitch Torrel 26:58 So I felt like I had the best job out of you know anybody there. I got to be the operations officer, and so I was kind of the troop commander for the team that we had out. And you know, meanwhile, my leadership had to you know liaise with the other leaders. I got to be kind of down and in focused. All right, what plans are we working? How are we coordinating and liaising with our Thai counterparts? And got to be a little bit more down and in. And so I really enjoyed that part, and that was kind of why I got into special operations in general as I wanted to be, you know, working with a team of really, really high-functioning individuals on very hard problems. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 27:38 Right, and this was one of the first kind of very hard problems that you were, you know, working on. Mitch Torrel 27:43 It was. So this was my first operational mission, you know, coming out of the pipeline. I got stationed in Okinawa, and this was kind of the first opportunity to showcase what I'd learned and employ. And it was kind of, you know, everybody's dream is to go through training and then get to action some of those skills and traits that they've developed. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 28:02 Well, I imagine it was quite busy, you know, around the clock because you know time wasn't on their side, and so you were really working against the clock. But I'm curious how you, you know, how do you navigate with urgency as a leader, but still safely? You know, like how do you manage that? Mitch Torrel 28:21 I think, sometimes you got to know when to kind of pull the reins, and it's very easy— it was a very urgent situation, right? There's 13 kids trapped. They don't have food or water. We don't know if they're alive. The cave is continually flooding more and more every hour. But you got to have a plan to go off of. You got to be able to not rush into an emergency and make things worse. And I think off the start, nobody was monitoring who came and went from the cave, and that generated issues. John and Rick, the U.K. and British divers, stumbled on you know two would-be rescuers who got subsequently stranded in another section of the cave, and they were able to get them out. And then, and so we realized that taking a step back, generating a plan. When we arrived, there was a key leaders contingent that went into the cave to kind of get information first and foremost. And then we spent the rest of the team, all right download the gear, stage everything, prep everything, go get some rest, and then we're going to generate and come up with a plan in the morning. But sometimes you got to realize that you can't move them out in overnight, and so you need to take time, you know, do a little five-minute huddle and make sure that you have a plan that's not going to get you further into trouble. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 29:38 Yes, well, it's such an important role, and I'm thinking about you know those moments where your like, “Get some rest,” as the leader in this, and you know, kind of organizing this. What are the thoughts going through some of your in your head? And I ask that because I'm thinking about leaders who are experiencing something difficult for the first time, and maybe there's some doubt, or you know, how do you how do you calm yourself through some of those questions? Mitch Torrel 30:00 I think, for new leaders, you don't have to have all the answers yourself, and that is first and foremost. I on team, and probably one of the most junior guys. Yes, I'm in charge as the officer, but the guys who are working with me have been in the Air Force, have done rescue missions, have been doing the job for 15, 18, you know, upwards of 20 years, and so I think understanding that no matter where you're at in a team, you you're a part of a team for a reason, and you should be able to leverage input, leverage ideas, and you shouldn't be beholden to coming up with everything on yourself. I think delegation is super important. I think getting input and opinions from others is extremely important because sometimes the quietest guy in the room is going to have the best idea, and you need to enable and empower them to speak up, put them on the spot. You know, “Hey, what do you think? What do you— How do you think we should approach this?” And then your job as a leader is to take all these good ideas, is to empower the team to do its best, and so your job isn't to carry the water, come up with a plan, and do everything on your own. Like, you were there as a facilitator, and I think that that is the biggest takeaway. I spend, especially young cadets, please, please, please leverage you know the experience that that you're going to go out and be on team with. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 31:22 I think that's fantastic advice. And as you look back on it today, I know we chatted a little bit earlier. I said, gosh, you know, it probably it's a while ago, but maybe it feels like yesterday, and you said no, it feels like forever ago. You know, have you seen yourself? You learn from that, but have you grown in the way that you continue to do things now because of that experience? Mitch Torrel 31:43 I think everything is additive. You know, I mean that was a huge learning experience. It was I learned a ton. I think there are several things that having a second shot at it that would have done substantially different. I think the outcome ended up in a very happy manner; I think it's very easy now that we've developed this framework. Here's how we tackle this problem, but that's been applicable in other means and other avenues as well. And so again, you know, as you build your toolbox of experience, as you build kind of these traits, and you get to refine that, it's something that you continually get to bring out in other manners. And so yeah, I grew a lot from the event, learned a lot, and have been able to apply it since. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 32:29 Well, as I've been sitting across from you, one of the things that I'm just feeling in spades is that as a leader, you are somebody that's really humble, and you know you approach it, like, through humility. And so I'm curious, you know, how you've seen that carry you, and what you might share with others when they're thinking about, you know, how do I, you know, as I'm leading, how do I lead? Like how do I lead with humility? Because it seems like it's working very well for you. Mitch Torrel 32:51 I think it was easy to be humble when you're surrounded by the caliber of individuals that I was blessed to be around mean, every team I was on, it was. I mean, they were phenomenal guys who have done phenomenal things in their career and were just so impressive. And so I was just always just thrilled to be a teammate of theirs. I think, really going back to you know, again, your job as a leader is to facilitate the team, is to you know drive you towards mission accomplishment. I think if you always put things back onto why we here, it's not for leadership's sake, leaders don't exist, you know, outside of facilitation, and you know it's not to downplay the job of the leader. It's not at all. It's a big responsibility. You have the authority. You have the — you know all of that, and so now it's your job to delegate that accordingly and efficiently. And I think it's going back to just understanding that again, we exist for the mission. We exist to enable that team to accomplish whatever its task or business you know directive is, and so I think having an understanding of that, and then it's just fun to see people progress, right? You know that the cave rescue was my first mission, but that didn't mean because I hadn't had real world experience that I didn't have things that I could bring to the table, and I think it's understanding that as well as humility is important. Like maybe you know not jumping across the table and you know declaring yourself the king of whatever's going on, but individuals have a lot that they bring to the table. You know, having an ability to you know see other things that aren't being looked at, bring other perspectives to the table, even just making sense of the chaos. You know, and that's not something that you need to be a leader or in a leadership position to do. And being forward leaning enough to anticipate hurdles, second, third order effects. What else needs to be accomplished or taken care of? I mean, there's a lot of ways in which you can provide value. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 34:56 Mitch, have you always kind of been this way? Have you always kind of operated in that space or is it something that you've kind of learned over time about yourself, or taken on from others you've seen? Mitch Torrel 35:06 I think it's something that's developed. You know, I don't think you know. I think there's a little bit of nurture and nature into it, where you know you're born a certain orientation where it's like, hey, you're comfortable being you know in charging groups, and some people aren't, and that's OK. But a lot of people develop into it, and I think I've just been blessed with a lot of opportunities to try things out, fail, come back to the drawing board, work on it, improve, and you know the pipeline was monumentally developmental for me. I'm sure there's a lot of teammates who you know listen to this and laugh pretty hard about you know some of the stupid things that I did going through the pipeline, but they're learning experiences, and we had a really good group, and we pushed each other so hard, and so I had an assistant troop commander who was going through with me, and we had really healthy camaraderie, but a really healthy. I mean, we were constantly competing, and it just drove me to be so much better. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 36:07 So, you know, we were talking about how you are continually working on being better, right? Being better than you were yesterday, so that it's always kind of an additive improvement. I'm curious on when you've seen yourself fail. You talked about you failed and you've gotten better. Can you share an example of when you have failed and that literally shaped something very quickly instead of being additive, but quickly that you changed in the way that you already did. Mitch Torrel 36:34 I think just failures and take care of people, I think is one of the biggest things to learn is, you know, going through the pipeline, it's easy to you know lose sight of the overall end state. And at the end of the day, it's your goal is to there be there to make people better incrementally every day. I think there's been a couple situations in which maybe I was a little ax on some enforcement of rules or standard that came back to kind of bite us a little bit, you know. And so, and this this will probably feel free to cut this, you know. But I think there was an opportunity guys going through a pipeline. They're really young. I grew up, you know, in northern Minnesota, and you know, people drink underage. I was hey I'm OK hearing about it or you know like I'm you know as a commander it's like if it happens it happens you know but I think what's hard is how do you enforce the rules if you're looking the other way if you're not enforcing that standard and so I think what's really hard is you can be there be one of the guys but you got to set your red lines you got to set hey here's what I will and will not tolerate and so I think I learned early in the pipeline that if I'm OK or if I let the standard slip on certain things, you know, like guys drink underage, like guys do you know stupid things, and then they get in trouble for it. How do I, as a commander, enforce it? And so it was one of those learning experiences where going through the pipeline, guy had you know you know got found drinking underage, and it's like, “Hey, it's on you as the, you know, officer to discipline them.” It's like, “Well, I'm also a part of the problem because I didn't set that standard. I, you know, allowed it.” And so I think that was one of those heavy learning experiences where, you know, you're — yes, you're the quarterback of the team, but you got to there has to be some delineation between you know between what you allow and what you can't. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 38:49 I'm really glad you shared that because I think that's real. I think that is something a challenge that you know, especially when I think about the Class of '26 that just graduated and they just finished their six days of leave, and they're soon to head onto their bases, right? You know, the world doesn't always turn out, and so how do they navigate some of those things that they're going to inevitably come across? So I think that's a real conversation, and I really appreciate you sharing that. Mitch Torrel 39:14 And I think what I started doing, you know, from then on is, is you as a commander, you as a officer, should have you know your command guidance. It should be your checklist. Hey, here's what I value. Here's what my red lines are, and you gotta set the standard immediately to just let people know, “Hey, like here's what I'm gonna be irritated about if you show up late to meetings.” If, you know, here's what you know I'm not gonna handle any moral, legal, or ethical issues. Like if it's not moral or legally or ethically a problem, like my job is to you know delegate that down to you and allow you guys to do it. And so setting that standard early as leaders is extremely important because then it allows you to enforce, uphold the standard, and be like, "Hey, we talked about this. This is the expectation. You understood the expectation, and now I can hold you accountable.” And it's not me coming after you because we sat down and had a conversation. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 40:13 That's right. That's excellent advice. So one of the things that we like to do is ask you if you were sitting across, not Navid now, if you're sitting across young Mitch. What was what piece of advice you'd share with him? Mitch Torrel 40:25 I think, enjoy the period in which you're in every stage. I feel like every four years, I look back on the previous four years and just think about what an amazing time period that was. And you know, getting to play hockey, going to the academy, the academy was amazing. You're hanging with your friends. You're in college, and you know, increasingly as you age, it's going to be increasing responsibility. There's going to be a lot more you know burden on your shoulders, but it's fun, you know. And progression is fun, moving on to the next stage. But I think enjoy where you're at in life a little bit more. It would kind of be my advice. And then, you know, I don't necessarily regret anything, but it's you know continually to just work hard, progress, and you know have those cups coffee, learn from other mentors, you know, expand your network, and just grow.   Col. Naviere Walkewicz 41:20 What are you doing now that helps you enjoy life? Mitch Torrel 41:25 I think right now, so just moved, and you know, right now I'm trying to focus on a little bit more me, you know, be a little healthier with sleep, eating, you know, and just I think it's easy to kind of burn the candle at both ends, and now it's kind of taking a step back and understanding that you need to be rejuvenated, you need to you know unplug periodically to be able to bring your all to you know what you're working on, and sometimes things get monotonous, and sometimes you know you just need to take a step back and reinvigorate yourself. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 41:58 I love that. That's fantastic. So, today, in today's terms, what are you most proud about yourself when it comes to? And if I word this right, maybe I say, what are you most proud about in being a facilitator? I want to say being a leader, but I wonder if you're going to answer that. I'm really good at facilitating high-performing teams. I'm curious how it goes. Mitch Torrel 42:19 I think what I'm most proud about is just looking back at the people I've had the blessing of coming across and just seeing them grow in their life. You know, like I think we allow sometimes in in the military where everybody's going to leave the military at some point, and that's OK. You know, I've got friends who stayed in for 2030, years and done phenomenal things. I've got friends who've gotten out, and you know progressed in their professional careers, and to me, it's just fun to see where everybody ends up. Like I love seeing people have success, and especially people who, you know, I may or may not have helped at least a little bit. You know, or you know, at least been a bad example of what not to do. But I think, yeah, it's the relationships that I look back on, and I'm just very happy to have you know gotten to know the people that I've come across. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 43:13 Well, you yourself made that transition, I think, from you know active service and obviously an entrepreneur. You know, what's some advice you might give someone in in that kind of decision calculus of transitioning their career? Mitch Torrel 43:26 I think it just goes back to again, am I am I continually am I student of the game? Am I showing up every day invigorated to learn and be better at my job? And you know maybe if the answer is if not, you need to step away for a little bit, reinvigorate yourself, reprioritize your life. And sometimes it's just, hey, I've got some goals that I've set out to get after, and sometimes your path diverges, and that's OK. And I think in my case it was I had some things that I wanted to accomplish in life that the — it was just time for me to, you know, change my path, of course. And so it wasn't. I loved the military. I loved the team environment, the camaraderie, the units that I got to be part of were phenomenal, and I miss that every day. But sometimes you just got to, you know, understand where you're going and you know set out and accomplish those goals. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 44:20 Well, I think there's been a theme across many of the graduates I get to speak with, and service continues even out of uniform. So I think that that definitely speaks volumes. So Mitch, was there anything today that we didn't cover that you would love to share with our graduate community, even if it's just words of encouragement? Mitch Torrel 44:37 No, I think it's just you know continue to build your skill set, build your toolbox, understand that every day is an opportunity to learn to better communicate, to invest in yourself, to professionalize you know your approach to things and building discipline, building you know your approach to complex problems, and I think a lot of us just want to check the box and move on and get you know. But every day again is an opportunity to better yourself, and so I think that that's what I would impart on, you know, younger next generation who are going to solve tomorrow's hard problems, who are going to be in these complex positions that we can't even fathom. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 45:21 Well, there are so many amazing things that we covered today that I think many can take back and internalize and find the way that it connects to them. But something that really stood out to me, just first and foremost, with you mentioned that you're more authentic and you just live with your heart. And so I think that came out in spades. I loved learning that you know leadership to you started with really kind of looking inward and what you really wanted, right? You could have gone a path of a pilot, and you could have done well, but you recognize that there is something that you wanted to do that might be more fulfilling with your skill set and align better with you. I think that that is that awareness as a leader is really important. I also really appreciate how you continue on focus on better every day, and you don't have to be the best tomorrow. But you need to be better than you were, and you're competing against yourself every day while lifting others up. I think the other thing that I really just enjoyed about you is remembering that the leader, yes, does have responsibilities to make decisions and you know, you know, advocate and empower others, but you're a facilitator and making sure that you help others have their voices bring out the best so that you actually can bring out the mission to success. So it's been an incredible conversation. I've thoroughly enjoyed this. So I just truly appreciate you being on Long Blue Leadership. Mitch Torrel 46:33 No, thank you. Col. Naviere Walkewicz 46:35 Absolutely. And so, for any of you that are still watching and listening to this, be sure to share this with others because the leadership journey is one that it never ends. Right? We're always growing and evolving, and this conversation and all of our conversations on Long Blue Leadership with the lives of Air Force Academy graduates can just help you in your own personal journey. So, see you next time on Long Blue Leadership. I'm Naviere Walkowicz. Thank you. Mitch Torrel 46:56 Thank you.   KEYWORDS Leadership, fear, resilience, mental toughness, preparation, adaptation, team cohesion, shared hardship, humility, mentorship, feedback, continuous improvement, self-awareness, stress tolerance, problem solving, interpersonal effectiveness, communication, delegation, accountability, standards, courage, growth mindset, trust, mission focus, servant leadership.   The Long Blue Line Podcast Network is presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association & Foundation    

Send us Fan MailPeaches sits down with retired SOF-TACP Clint “Dragon” to talk TACP, Special Tactics, mission planning, leadership, problem solving, and what separates a good operator from someone who just looks good on paper.Dragon walks through growing up around Fort Bragg, joining the Air Force in 2006, originally looking at CCT, choosing TACP, starting at the 15th ASOS, assessing for the 17th STS, and spending the majority of his career in the Special Operations side of the TACP world.The conversation gets into the difference between conventional and SOF-TACP life, the mindset shift in the career field, entitlement, grit, the danger of over-reliance on technology, and why the next generation is more capable than people give them credit for — but still needs to be led.Dragon also breaks down mission planning, danger close strikes, JTAC creativity, command presence, briefing under pressure, training younger guys, taking a knee when family life is burning down, and why the best operators are complex problem solvers who can still win a fight.The episode also covers retirement, fatherhood, false accusations, private sector friction, writing a book, TBI and PTSD treatment options, and why passing lessons to the next generation still matters.Check out Tasty Gains:TastyGains.comRegister for Operator Training Summit:OperatorTrainingSummit.comTrain with Modern Athlete Strength Systems:OnesReady.comChapters:00:00 - Intro, Tasty Gains, Operator Training Summit, and Modern Athlete03:24 - Meet Clint “Dragon”03:39 - Growing Up Around Fort Bragg04:06 - Choosing TACP Over CCT06:36 - How the TACP Pipeline Has Changed07:32 - 15th ASOS, Deployments, and Assessing for SOF-TACP08:14 - Conventional TACP vs SOF-TACP09:05 - Mindset Changes in the TACP Career Field12:06 - PhDs Who Can Win Bar Fights13:00 - Grit, Diva Mentality, and Human Performance Support14:14 - You Are Never Fully Ready15:20 - Building Problem Solving Skills16:49 - Briefing, Command Presence, and Pressure18:21 - Training and Equipping the Team19:03 - Team Sergeant Challenges21:25 - Knowing When to Take a Knee23:21 - Death, Mission Focus, and Moving Forward25:24 - TCCC, Emotions, and Critical Thinking27:35 - Mission Planning and JTAC Expertise29:39 - Danger Close and When Things Go Wrong32:26 - Quiet Professional vs Silent Professional33:45 - Lessons Learned From Mistakes35:20 - Attention to Detail in Training37:58 - Translating SOF Lessons to Real Life40:33 - The Next Generation of Warfighters42:26 - Technology as a Tool, Not a Crutch43:57 - Training, Leadership, and Knowing Your People46:02 - Keep It Simple and Master the Basics47:16 - Stress Inoculation and Staying Calm48:59 - Managing the Stack and Target Area Chaos49:40 - Retirement, Family, and Recovery51:30 - Where to Find Dragon52:37 - Private Sector, Business, and Protecting Ideas54:27 - Writing a Book and Giving People Their Flowers56:23 - False Accusations and Career Damage59:24 - Reconnecting After Retirement01:00:29 - MERT, TMS, PTSD, and TBI Treatment01:02:44 - Outreach Project and Veteran Support01:04:10 - Final Thoughts and Wrap-UpSupport the showJoin this channel to get access to perks: HEREBuzzsprout Subscription page:  HERERegister for our Operator Training Summit:  OperatorTrainingSummit.comFind an Air Force Recruiter: AirForce.comCollabs:Ones Ready - OnesReady.com 18A Fitness - Promo Code:  ONESREADY ATACLete - Follow the URL (no promo code):  ATACLeteDanger Close Apparel - Promo Code:  ONESREADYDFND Apparel...

Captain Ron welcomes Scott Gearen, a U.S. Air Force Pararescueman and Special Tactics pioneer, for a candid conversation about his personal UFO encounters.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aaron is an active duty Pararescueman currently stationed at a Special Tactics Squadron as a Troop Chief. He is a Team Leader, Evaluator, Special Operations Combatives Program (SOCP) Lvl 2 instructor, and an Onnit Certified Trainer, with a focus on Tactical Durability.Pararescuemen, or PJs, are the only DoD asset specifically trained, equipped, and employed to perform Personnel Recovery. They are Technical Rescue Specialists who provide gold-standard combat trauma medical care and evacuation in every environment and situation on the planet. They are trained in all methods of advanced employment and can employ from any vehicle, standard or non-standard, in the DoD and multinational partner inventory.Aaron enlisted in the Air Force in September 2001 and entered the Pararescue training pipeline as a cross trainee, previously an Aerospace Physiology Technician. He has served in Special Tactics and Rescue Squadrons, both overseas and stateside. He has also served in Air Education and Training Command, where he was integral in the complete rewrite of the Pararescue/Combat Rescue Apprentice Courses and has intimate knowledge of the Assessment and Selection process and pipeline management. He has seen multiple combat deployments to Iraq, Africa, and Afghanistan in positions from team member to Senior Enlisted Leader. He takes great pride in the training and mentorship aspect of being a Troop Chief. Aaron is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu player in his off time.You can learn more about Ones Ready and their Operator Training Summit at onesready.comSend us a message

MOPs & MOEs is proudly sponsored by Teamworks — the performance operations platform trusted by elite military units and professional sports organizations worldwide. Teamworks brings your scheduling, communications, athlete monitoring, and readiness data into one unified system — so your leaders stay informed, your people stay connected, and your unit stays ready. No more scattered spreadsheets or missed messages. Just one platform built for organizations where performance is the mission. Learn more at teamworkstactical.comWe are also supported by TrainHeroic — the coaching and programming platform built for strength and conditioning coaches who train serious athletes. Whether you're programming for a military unit, a tactical team, or individual athletes, TrainHeroic gives you the tools to build and deliver professional training programs, track athlete progress, and communicate directly with your people — all through one app. Your athletes get world-class programming on their phone; you get the visibility to actually coach them. Start your free trial at trainheroic.comThis week Drew and Alex sit down with Libby Alders — chaplain, researcher, library technician, and self-described tri-vocational nerd — to actually figure out what it is, why it matters, and why the military keeps trying to slap a number on something that might not need one.This one goes deep. Grab a coffee.What we get into:What spiritual fitness actually means — Libby breaks it down to four things: knowing what you believe, understanding that beliefs should evolve, being able to coexist with people who believe differently, and being able to recognize harmful or radicalizing ideologies when they show up.The Spiritual Fitness Survey — an 18-question tool with three subscales: horizontal (community and belonging), mixed (purpose and meaning), and vertical (relationship to the transcendent or divine). Moral injury versus PTSD, and why the difference matters for who you call. Libby's shorthand: shame points toward moral injury and the chaplain. Guilt and fear point toward PTSD and psych. Why the research on religion reducing PTSD risk might be missing a confounding variable — moral injury. If the thing that gives your life meaning is also the thing that got violated, you don't have a protective factor. You have an opening.The 724th Special Tactics case study — how Libby and former podcast guest Chris ran focus groups instead of surveys, built a communication tool instead of a formal metric, and ended up with leadership asking to do their own version because the unit couldn't stop talking about it. Capability-based blueprinting — what it is, why more of the military should use it.The interdisciplinary team problem — why nobody knows when to call the chaplain, why over-specialization and over-generalization are both failure modes, and what "informed consumer" training actually looks like in practice.The table theology tangent — why the ritual of eating together is a human performance intervention that no macro calculator captures.Mentioned in this episode:Dr. Harold Koenig, Duke University — geriatric psychiatrist and pioneer in spirituality, religion, and health researchDr. Warren Kinghorn, Duke — another key name at the intersection of mental health and spiritual healthCapability-Based Blueprinting — developed within CHAMP, Dr. Chamberlain's workMatt Larson — former podcast guest, moral injury talk from the H2F Symposium coming soon to the MOPs & MOEs InstagramCharles Vogel, The Art of Community — former podcast guest, Yale Divinity School; the ritual of meals chapter alone is worth the readAllen Frances, Saving Normal — Drew and Alex's white whale guest. Chaired the DSM-IV committee. By DSM-V, had renounced the whole enterprise. If you know him, please help.Rants and Rituals — Libby's upcoming podcast. No one take that name.Views expressed are those of the speakers and do not represent any official organization.

fWotD Episode 3243: Chris Redfield Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Sunday, 22 March 2026, is Chris Redfield.Chris Redfield is a character in Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan), a survival horror series created by the Japanese company Capcom. He was introduced as one of the two playable characters of the original Resident Evil (1996), alongside his partner Jill Valentine, as a member of the Raccoon Police Department's Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S. T. A. R. S.) unit. Chris and Jill fight against the Umbrella Corporation, a pharmaceutical company whose bioterrorism creates zombies and other bio-organic weapons. Later, the pair became founding members of the United Nations' Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA).Chris is the protagonist in several Resident Evil games, novels, and films, and has also appeared in other game franchises, including Marvel vs. Capcom, Project X Zone, and Dead by Daylight. In later games, such as Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017) and Resident Evil Village (2021), his features were based on New Zealand model Geordie Dandy. Several actors have portrayed Chris, including Wentworth Miller and Robbie Amell in the Resident Evil live-action films.Critics have been polarized in their critiques of the character, with a focus on the frequent modifications and inconsistency in his design. Several publications have referred to Chris as one of the sexiest video game characters. Some critics have referred to a scene of his punching a boulder in Resident Evil 5 (2009), which became an internet meme, as one of the most memorable within the Resident Evil series.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:08 UTC on Sunday, 22 March 2026.For the full current version of the article, see Chris Redfield on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Amy.

On this episode I speak to Norwegian Police Trainer Espen Dahlen-Lervag who has taken CEW training to the next level. Espen recently showcased his electric combatives earlier this year at Axon Week to a standing room only crowd. Espen is a Subject and Training lead for Taser, Use of Force, and Special Tactics at the Norwegian Police University College. Espsen is also a BJJ black belt and MMA fighter. Espen can be reached at: espler@phs.noDisclaimer: The opinions of the host and guest are theirs only and not that of any agency they may have or currently work for. This episode was sponsored by Wild Boar Social Club - it's a lifestyle!Show links:@forceoptionstrainingX @forceoptionspodIntro/Outro Music: "Hybrid Cinematic Sport Dubstep" by ComaStudio - Pixaby Content License.

Send us a textSome dudes show up shredded with swagger. Others show up ready to grind. Rylan Tanner showed up both — and still had to bleed for it. In this brutally honest episode, Aaron and Jared break down the rise, stall, and redemption of one of the most talked-about Special Warfare candidates to come through the prep pipeline.You'll hear about what it's like to crush PSTs and still struggle, the lessons of humility when leadership doesn't think you're ready, and why “doing everything right” sometimes still ends with you getting dropped. But guess what? That doesn't mean you're done.This episode's about embracing failure, owning the pain, and building back with twice the fight. If you're preparing for A&S and think heart alone will get you through, press play. You're gonna need more.

Send us a textIn this episode, we dive deep into why the Air Force is reimagining its Special Tactics pipeline. Peaches, Aaron, and Trent chat with Maj Col Chris Walsh about why change fatigue is a cop-out, the pitfalls of staying stuck in GWOT-era training, and why your excuses are just as outdated as your skills. From CVT validations to the mysteries of SOCOM expectations, this episode is equal parts brutal truth and unfiltered sarcasm. Like, subscribe, smash the bell, leave a review, and join our membership—because if you're still making excuses, you probably shouldn't be here anyway.Support the showJoin this channel to get access to perks: HEREBuzzsprout Subscription page: HERECollabs:Ones Ready - OnesReady.com 18A Fitness - Promo Code: 1ReadyATACLete - Follow the URL (no promo code): ATACLeteCardoMax - Promo Code: ONESREADYDanger Close Apparel - Promo Code: ONESREADYDFND Apparel - Promo Code: ONESREADYHoist - Promo Code: ONESREADYKill Cliff - Promo Code: PODCASTKC20...

Exciting news for football fans! Real Madrid is gearing up with some special tactics to take on Manchester City in the upcoming Champions League quarter-final. The stage is set for a thrilling match - who do you think will come out on top? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/footballheadlinenews/message

Welcome back to the team room! This week, Trent sits down with Purple Heart recipient, prior Combat Control Tech Sergeant and current Flight Commander, Special Tactics Officer Marc Esposito! From his time in Afghanistan, the unfortunate event that injured him, his recovery and move to officer, Capt Espo has a wealth of knowledge that he hopes to communicate to everyone that thinks they might want to give Air Force Special Operations a go. Make sure to follow Capt Esposito on Instagram at Esposito_Unbroken, and thanks to all of you for your continued support. Want early access to these podcasts and a whole lot more? Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9aFBBZoBcQk8UUN_pO7nDA/joinChapters00:00 Introduction and Appreciation01:25 Motivation to Join the Military05:13 Training in the Pipeline07:39 First Assignment in Okinawa, Japan10:07 Deployment to Afghanistan13:03 Injury from an IED28:25 Meeting a Vietnam Veteran30:24 Recovery at the Center for the Intrepid32:17 Going to College and Finding a New Passion34:02 Cross-Country Bicycle Ride for Wounded Warriors36:27 Returning to the 2-1 and Facing New Challenges37:53 Running the Battle Program and Training Future Operators40:43 Training at Athletes Performance (EXOS)42:10 Becoming an Officer and Returning to the Teams45:02 Working at the Special Warfare Training Group46:01 Returning to the 2-2 STS and Deploying53:42 Returning to ATC and Improving the Pipeline59:06 Starting the Esposito_Unbroken Instagram PageJoin this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9aFBBZoBcQk8UUN_pO7nDA/joinCollabs:Ones Ready - OnesReady.com 18A Fitness - Promo Code: 1ReadyAlpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADYATACLete - Follow the URL (no promo code): ATACLeteCardoMax - Promo Code: ONESREADYDread River - Promo Code: ONESREADY Eberlestock - Promo Code: OR10Hoist - Promo Code: ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADYThe content provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The host, guests, and affiliated entities do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided. The use of this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship, and the podcast is not liable for any damages resulting from its use. Any mention of products or individuals does not consti...

On today's Zero Limits Podcast I chat with Dustin Watts former NZ Police Special Tactics Group (STG) and Private Security Contractor.Dustin joined the NZ Police in 1996 and spent 8 years as a general duties officer and in 2003 Dustin successfully completed selection and training to become an Operator in the Special Tactics Group. However one month into his STG career he was suspended from duties due to an incident he was involved in whilst a general duties officer. After being cleared from the incident after one year he resumed his STG career. After 12 years in the NZ Police Dustin left the police and moved into the private security sector working in the hostile environment sector and then celebrity close personal protection for names like Metallica and System Of A Down.Website - www.zerolimitspodcast.comInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/zero.limits.podcast/?hl=enShow Sponsors www.3zeroscoffee.com.au Discount code 3ZLimitswww.getsome.com.au Discount code ZEROLIMITS

Welcome back to the Team Room! Make sure you catch the first part of this episode here on our YouTube channel or wherever you download your podcasts! The intro says it all. Chief Peaches sits down with former TACP, current librarian and scholar, part-time historian, and full-time awesome dude Morgan Huston. We hope you enjoy! 00:00 Jared steals the intro from himself 01:00 The Shift in the Pathfinder Mission02:30 The Formation of Combat Control Teams05:28 The Role of Combat Controllers in Aerial Port Squadrons10:00 The Impact of Vietnam on Combat Control11:56 The Importance of Personnel Rescue13:46 The Coalescence of Career Fields16:39 The Role of Combat Controllers in Vietnam19:26 The Importance of Human-Based Operations23:18 The Shift to Counter-Terrorism25:45 The Creation of Special Operations Command27:13 The Role of Controllers in Operation Eagle Claw29:36 The Integration of Special Tactics and Global Access32:00 The Formation of Special Tactics Groups35:45 The Role of Controllers in Desert Storm37:42 The Importance of Controllers in Bosnia and Kosovo41:02 Shared Military Experience42:01 Bonds and Legends43:02 Uncertainty and Evolution44:11 The Importance of Adaptation45:36 Patience and Future Operations46:45 Pride in Service47:41 The Air Force as a Life-Changing Opportunity48:35 Tight-Knit Community49:28 Supporting Organizations50:09 The Global War on Terrorism51:09 The Challenge of Discussing Recent History52:36 Recommended Books53:48 Reading List54:26 Partners and Promotions55:23 Connecting with Morgan HustonCollabs:Ones Ready - OnesReady.com 18A Fitness - Promo Code: 1ReadyAlpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADYATACLete - Follow the URL (no promo code): ATACLeteCardoMax - Promo Code: ONESREADYDread River - Promo Code: ONESREADY Eberlestock - Promo Code: OR10Hoist - Promo Code: ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADYThe content provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The host, guests, and affiliated entities do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided. The use of this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship, and the podcast is not liable for any damages resulting from its use. Any mention of products or individuals does not consti...

Today we get to talk with Col Ron Stenger, a retired AF Special Tactics Officer, who is known for creating what is now known as the Air Force's Special Warfare Training Center. He is an expert in organizational leadership and an incredible motivator. If you're going to listen to one podcast, this is the one to listen to! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tuco-talks/message

Today's episode of The Debrief  features a unique format: this episode was recorded live at the National Tactical Officers Association Annual Conference in Aurora, Colorado. I was fortunate to moderate a panel discussion that included the presidents of five separate tactical associations including: Brent Straton from the California Association of Tactical Officers, Chris Eklund from the Florida SWAT Association, Thor Eells from the National Tactical Officers Association, Nick Sprague from the Rocky Mountain Tactical Teams Association and Dan Colasanto from the Texas Tactical Police Officers Association.  This was a wide-ranging discussion that covered a number of current topics in special tactics including: Constitutional Policing, Militarization of law enforcement, SWAT standards, no-knock warrants, and the use of dynamic tactics in search warrants.  The contrast between the different regional and national perspectives on these issues made for a great conversation.  I'd like to thank the NTOA, CATO, Florida SWAT, RMTTA, and TTPOA for their willingness to share this discussion with our audience. A note regarding audio quality: this episode was recorded live, in a large group setting, at the NTOA conference. We have done our best to reduce most, but not all, of the background noise. It is our hope that you find this content informative and thought-provoking despite these distractions. Important Links:CATO - Home | CATO (catotraining.org)Florida SWAT Association - Home (memberclicks.net) NTOA - NTOA | National Tactical Officers AssociationRMTTA - Rocky Mountain Tactical Team Association (rmtta.com)TTPOA - TTPOA

Lance "B11" Belobraijdic has one of the craziest stories we have ever had here on the podcast. Lance was the first Special Operations Weather Team cross-trainee and experienced a pipeline like no other. After a great career in the Air Force and Special Tactics, Lance pulled the ultimate Weather Boi move and took his talents to NASA. That's right everyone- space weather. Thanks to B11 for coming on and sharing his diverse experience, we really appreciate it!00:00 Trent crushes the intro, impersonates Aaron, messes up the guest's name, B11's backstory08:00 The first cross-trainee story, bad information, and the weirdest pipeline story ever22:00 Lance had now clue he had to swim, and hundreds of other things29:15 The hardest parts of the pipeline- Combat Control School40:00 NCO expectations, older guy expectations46:00 STTS as the first SOWT Cross Trainee53:10 Getting to the 10th Weather Squadron as a first assignment 1:02:00 Getting to the 21 STS1:12:00 Moving on to NASA, and being a super strong nerdCollabs:18A Fitness - Promo Code: 1ReadyAlpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADYATAC Fitness - Promo Code: ONESREADY10CardoMax - Promo Code: ONESREADYEberlestock - Promo Code: OR10Hoist - Promo Code: ONESREADYStrike Force Energy - Promo Code: ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADYGrey Man Gear - Promo Code: ONESREADY The content provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The host, guests, and affiliated entities do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided. The use of this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship, and the podcast is not liable for any damages resulting from its use. Any mention of products or individuals does not constitute an endorsement. All content is protected by intellectual property laws. By accessing or using this you agree to these terms and conditions.

Messy Times is focused on making the American military culture and its people available to a wider audience. Only 7% of Americans are either in the military or family members of our all-volunteer force. Our Enlightentaining Host is privileged to serve on the Board of Directors for the Combat Control Foundation. Tom DeSchane had a 28-year career in Combat Control, retiring as a Chief Master Sergeant, after entering the Air Force for four years to pay for college. He joins us in the studios to give his perspective on CCT as a career, how this Special Tactics group operates with other branches of the military and some guidance for people considering this as a career. You can learn more about this Special Operations branch of the Air Force at Combat Control Foundation. After this video, hop on over there to enjoy the wealth of information and please leave a donation to support our veterans and their families. A donation of any size is welcome - as important as the dollars raised is the number of people who take the time to donate their hard-earned money as a way of expressing appreciation for the hard, difficult and dangerous work our military volunteers perform on our behalf. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/messytimes/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/messytimes/support

Col James Oeser, an Air Force Special Tactics Officer, initially started his career as a navigator. However, after working alongside Special Tactics Airmen, he realized that he had found his true calling. With his vast experience, ranging from coaching wrestling at the Air Force Academy to leading Air Force Special Operations Command, Col Oeser is a treasure trove of knowledge and wisdom. If you have ever wanted to know about Operation Just Cause and the jump into Panama, this is your chance- Col Oeser was one of the leaders on the ground. It was an absolute honor to have Col Oeser join us for our Living Legend Series. He shared his incredible stories in an engaging hour-long conversation with Peaches, Trent, and Aaron. We are immensely grateful to Col Oeser and eagerly look forward to having him back with us for another chat!00:00 - Trent crushes the intro for Eberlestock and Drink Hoist - Codes below!!!04:19 - Col James Oeser C-141s, C-130s, Wrestling Coach at the Academy19:40 - Crossovers are the worst thing ever invented in the history of humanity, and Scuba School23:10 - Meeting teammates, first command, and designing training 39:59 - Invasion of Panama/Operation Just Cause, stress inoculation - "Just Take 5 Seconds"47:35 - Lessons learned, innovating on the go, and preparing for the next fight57:25 - Peaches gets yelled at in the shower59:00 - Col Oeser's adviceDon't forget to subscribe to the Podcast on your favorite player! http://bit.ly/2OG2OlfHave a question? Please email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram http://bit.ly/2OeNoFIAs always, THANK YOU for your support; we truly appreciate it.#podcast #combatcontrol #specialop The views and opinions expressed by the OnesReady team and any guests are those of the team and themselves and do not reflect the official policy or position of the DoD. Any content our Podcast guests, bloggers, sponsors, or authors provide is their opinion. It is not intended to malign the DoD, any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone.Collabs:18A Fitness - Promo Code: 1ReadyAlpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADYATAC Fitness - Promo Code: ONESREADYCardoMax - Promo Code: ONESREADYEberlestock - Promo Code: OR10Hoist - Promo Code: ONESREADYStrike Force Energy - Promo Code: ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADYGrey Man Gear - Promo Code: ONESREADY The content provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The host, guests, and affiliated entities do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided. The use of this podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship, and the podcast is not liable for any damages resulting from its use. Any mention of products or individuals does not constitute an endorsement. All content is protected by intellectual property laws. By accessing or using this you agree to these terms and conditions.

My guests today are Thor Eells and Don Kester from the National Tactical Officers Association or NTOA which is the largest tactical organization in the United States. Thor is a retired commander from the Colorado Springs Colorado Police Department where he served for 30 years. The majority of which was in tactical response including serving as a swat operator, a swat team leader and a team commander. Thor is currently the Executive Director for NTOA after serving many years as a board member and a trainer. Don is retired from the Pima County Sheriff's Department in Arizona where he served as a SWAT team operator, team leader, team sergeant, training director and SWAT team commander eventually retiring as a DivisionCommander and Captain. Don is currently the training and education director for the NTOA after many years of service as a trainer and a board member.Timestamps02:00 – Thor's background and law enforcement career05:00 – Don's background and law enforcement career11:00 – The mission of the National Tactical Officers Association15:30 – The relationship between state associations and the NTOA20:30 – Police reform movements & the role of the NTOA as information provider37:00 – National standards for special tactics teams46:00 – Maintaining training standards with diverse team capabilities55:00 – The NTOAs role in supporting teams with subject matter expertise1:00:00 – The need to honest self-examination and debriefing1:05:00 – The roots of bad legislation and need for law enforcement to oppose it1:11:00 – No knock warrants, dynamic entries, and the NTOAs position paper1:32:00 – The counter arguments for dynamic tactics and no-knock warrants1:34:00 – Risk management and safety prioritiesContact InfoThor Eells - teells@ntoa.orgDon Kester - dkester@ntoa.orgLinksNTOA | National Tactical Officers Association

This edition features stories on 15 Airmen from across the country participating in the Special Tactics community Tim Davis Memorial Walk to honor the Special Tactics Airmen who lost their lives in support of Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, the U.S. Air Force having two competitors participating in this year's Ironman competition, a Hispanic Heritage Children's Night sponsored by the Incirlik Air Base library, students from Kadena Elementary school in Okinawa gathering outside for a demonstration on fire safety from the Kadena Fire Department, and service members at Yokota Air Base conducting FOD walks weekly to keep the flight lines clean and serviceable. Hosted by Airman 1st Class Alina Richard.

On today's Zero Limits Podcast I chat with Nick Kaldas APM former NSW Police Deputy Commissioner and Chair for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Nick Kaldas held two of the most senior roles in the New South Wales Police Force, serving as Deputy Commissioner for almost a decade and, prior to that, Assistant Commissioner (Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics). He relieved as Commissioner of Police extensively. His career as a NSW Police Officer spanned almost 35 years, primarily in major and organised crime investigations, and counter-terrorism, with over a decade in homicide investigations. He also served in a number of senior roles within the United Nations system, and led the UN investigation into the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri, and the investigation into the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict. He was a member of numerous Government committees, at State and national levels. He is Egyptian-born, and fluent in Arabic and partially in French. Nick is the current Chair of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Royal Commissions are the highest form of inquiry on issues of public importance. The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was established to look into the high rates of suicide in Defence and veteran communities and make recommendations to government. The terms of reference outline the main issues we are considering. Support the show - https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=9LG48GC49TW38Website - www.zerolimitspodcast.comInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/zero.limits.podcast/?hl=en

Before there was Air Force Special Tactics, there was Chief Master Sergeant retired Wayne Norrad. Chief Norrad started his career before the Air Force knew precisely what Combat Control was going to be and ended his career as the Second AFSOC Command Chief, and the accepted Godfather of what we know Special Tactics to be today.  Chief Norrad is the definition of the word "legend", which is why we asked him to come on and tell us his story; and we are pumped to bring you Part 2!!!Huge thanks to Chief Norrad; we genuinely appreciate his impact on Combat Control and Air Force Special Tactics as a whole! Don't forget to subscribe to the Podcast on your favorite player! http://bit.ly/2OG2OlfHave a question?  Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram http://bit.ly/2OeNoFI00:00 Peaches Crushes it07:00 Wires for Tourniquets14:00 Noreaga, that silly goose55:00 Operation Eagle ClawAs always, THANK YOU for your support, we truly appreciate it.#vietnam  #combatcontrol #USSOCOMCollabs:18A Fitness - Promo Code: 1ReadyAlpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADYATAC Fitness - Promo Code: ONESREADYCardoMax - Promo Code: ONESREADYEberlestock - Promo Code: OR10Hoist - Promo Code: ONESREADYOut of Regs Pomade - Promo Code: ONESREADYStrike Force Energy - Promo Code: ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADY

Colonel (retired) Kurt Buller is a legend in the career field. He has dedicated his life to leadership, helping the men and women of Special Tactics, and making every single person around him better every single day. Col Buller is one of the most motivating individuals our community has ever produced. We are so thankful that he took time out of his busy life to sit down with us and get some of his immense knowledge and experience to you, to help you with your journey. What was your favorite part of the podcast? What questions would you ask Col Buller? Drop them in the comments! 00:00 Eberlestock - OR10, Ataclete ONESREADY02:30 Short People and Col Buller's Intro and Ones Ready08:30 Being a smaller dude is a strength09:10 Col Buller's Background17:45 Quitting Don't forget to subscribe to the Podcast on your favorite player! http://bit.ly/2OG2OlfHave a question?  Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram http://bit.ly/2OeNoFIAs always, THANK YOU for your support, we truly appreciate it.#Onesready #podcast #realtalk Collabs:18A Fitness - Promo Code: 1ReadyAlpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADYATAC Fitness - Promo Code: ONESREADYCardoMax - Promo Code: ONESREADYEberlestock - Promo Code: OR10Hoist - Promo Code: ONESREADYOut of Regs Pomade - Promo Code: ONESREADYStrike Force Energy - Promo Code: ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADY

Before there was Air Force Special Tactics, there was Chief Master Sergeant retired Wayne Norrad. Chief Norrad started his career before the Air Force knew exactly what Combat Control was going to be and ended his career as the Second AFSOC Command Chief, and the accepted Godfather of what we know Special Tactics to be today.  Chief Norrad is the definition of the word "legend", which is why we asked him to come on and tell us his story; it was so amazing we had to break it into 2 parts! Huge thanks to Chief Norrad, we truly appreciate his impact on Combat Control and Air Force Special Tactics as a whole! We already have Round 2 in the books- be on the lookout for that one to drop, in the Legends series! 00:00 Check out AFSPECWAR.com for the most up-to-date info01:52 Chief Norrad's Backstory20:10 How did CCT and PJ become Special Tactics? 31:30 Chief Norrad's impact on the Panama missions and awards program38:00 AFSOC's Second Command Chief52:00 The AFSOC Parachute Team1:01:00 The Combat Control Association beginning! 1:08:00 Chief Norrad's AdviceDon't forget to subscribe to the Podcast on your favorite player! http://bit.ly/2OG2OlfHave a question?  Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram http://bit.ly/2OeNoFIAs always, THANK YOU for your support, we truly appreciate it.#vietnam  #combatcontrol #USSOCOMCollabs:18A Fitness - Promo Code: 1ReadyAlpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADYATAC Fitness - Promo Code: ONESREADYCardoMax - Promo Code: ONESREADYEberlestock - Promo Code: OR10Hoist - Promo Code: ONESREADYOut of Regs Pomade - Promo Code: ONESREADYStrike Force Energy - Promo Code: ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADY

BJJ Brown Belt and  Come Home Safe founder Kurt Vied, has deep knowledge and experience in keeping people safe from his 18 years with the United States Navy as a corpsman and Navy Intelligence Officer and over 21 years as a Massachusetts State Trooper.As a Naval Intelligence Officer, Kurt provided analytical and operational support to U.S. Naval Special Warfare units both in-country and those preparing to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan. Later, he was the lead interrogator for a Special Operations Task Force in Iraq.​As a Massachusetts State Trooper, Kurt was a member of the Special Tactics and Operations (STOP) SWAT Team. The STOP Team worked with the Secret Service and State Department on presidential and dignitary protection, including three different Presidents and Vice Presidents as well as VIPs such as the Dalai Lama. In addition, his team played a large role in the response to the Boston Marathon bombing. Later, Kurt served with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in Boston.​As a Task Force Officer, his primary focus was the detection and prevention of terrorism-related activity. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice from Western New England University. Find out about how Kurt is helping people prepare for travel:  https://www.comehomesafe.com/Thanks for listening to My White Belt!Order your My White Belt Shirt here: https://www.mywhitebelt.com/shopJoin our free, My White Belt Wednesday, newsletter here: https://www.mywhitebelt.com/Follow us on Instagram @mywhitebeltSupport My White Belt when you shop ORIGIN x JOCKO FUEL by using discount code: TRICK10 https://originmaine.com/?ref=iRlDmaPt8CdIHSBighorn Athletics is the official grappling tape of My White Belt!Use code Mywhitebelt to save 10%https://www.bighornathletics.com/Submit podcast questions here:https://www.mywhitebelt.com/podcast

This episode of Policing Matters reviews use of force issues, including the recent history of the carotid restraint, electrical conducted devices (what most generally refer to as TASERs) and other force options that have been restrained or discontinued from use, such as tear gas options in some jurisdictions for crowd control. We will talk about innovations and possible options for the future. Host Jim Dudley speaks with Jon Becker, the founder and CEO of AARDVARK Tactical, a leading provider of tactical equipment and custom solutions. Along with training and integrating force systems at AARDVARK, Jon became an attorney, where his interest in civil rights and police litigation merged and led him to write for many of the top tactical publications on a variety of topics. In addition, Jon is the host of The Debrief with Jon Becker podcast where Jon sits down with tactical leaders and operators to discuss all things leadership, training and tactics. Access additional show notes and resources related to this episode here. This episode of the Policing Matters Podcast is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

Special Tactics Training Squadron, or STTS, is one of the premier training squadrons in the entire Air Force. Every single Combat Controller and Special Reconnaissance Airman passes through the doors of STTS, and for a good reason- it's where ST performs it's final evaluations on all candidates before they hit their unit. Maj Chris Walsh, a Special Tactics Officer, took over STTS after his stint trying out for the Olympic Bobsled team as part of the World Class Athlete Program and has worked hard to make the organization the crown jewel of the ST pipeline. He was kind enough to talk about all things STTS- where it's going, its challenges, and what he has in store for you at the end of your pipeline. Huge thanks to Maj Walsh for coming on, and make sure to follow his IG @walsh.usa . Hope you all enjoy this one and train hard!Enlisted to Officer Application:  https://www.afspecwar.com/_files/ugd/ccb394_94e4733d7cdb4f9bb9b8be6183a15ecb.pdfROTC/Academy/Civilian/Officer Application: https://www.afspecwar.com/_files/ugd/ccb394_a18f3d5ef19a4c3994ea890dbd787535.pdfDon't forget to subscribe to the Podcast on your favorite player! http://bit.ly/2OG2OlfHave a question?  Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram http://bit.ly/2OeNoFIAs always, THANK YOU for your support; we truly appreciate it!#specialtactics #onesready #military  Collabs:18A Fitness - Promo Code: 1ReadyAlpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADYATAC Fitness - Promo Code: ONESREADYCardoMax - Promo Code: ONESREADYEberlestock - Promo Code: OR10Hoist - Promo Code: ONESREADYOut of Regs Pomade - Promo Code: ONESREADYStrike Force Energy - Promo Code: ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code: ONESREADY

Chad McCoy served in the Air Force for over 22 years, 18 of which with the 24th STS. (24th Special Tactics Squadron). Chad has been on 17 deployments the majority of which with JSOC and earned the rank of Chief Master Sergeant.  Check out Chad here: Foxtrot3 http://Foxtrot3.com LifeLine Rescue Tools  https://lifelinerescuetools.com/ Firestorm Labs https://www.launchfirestorm.com/ Today's Sponsor: BUB's Naturals  https://www.BUBSNATURALS.com/ Use the code "TEAMHOUSE" for 20% your order! Pick up their collagen protein, MCT oil, and apple cider vinegar gummies today! BUBS Donates 10% of all profits to charity in Glens honor, starting with the Glen Doherty Memorial Foundation GO TO: https://www.BUBSNATURALS.com/?discount=TEAMHOUSE  or Use the code "TEAMHOUSE" at checkout for 20% off your order! FEEL GREAT. DO GOOD. Words that we live by. To help support the show and for all bonus content including: -2 bonus episodes per month  -Access to ALL bonus segments with our guests -Ad Free audio feed Subscribe to our Patreon!

On this episode of the Ones Ready podcast, the team sits down with retired Combat Control Legend Chief Mike Lampe.  The term legend gets thrown out a lot these days, but Chief Lampe really embodies what a legend is and you'll understand as soon as you see his resume and hear some of his stories.  Even SOCOM recognized him as a legend after retirement by presenting him with the Bull Simmons Award.  Chief conducted unconventional warefare and irregular warfare operations starting back in Vietnam and continued to pave the way for SOCOM to be what it is today.  Ones Ready, Special Tactics, AFSOC, nor SOCOM would be what it is today with out Chief Lampe.  The podcast is a way for us to give back, serve each one of you, and build our community up with the most educated and well-train members.  Please enjoy the episode and give us your feedback. If you liked it and feel so inclined, please leave us a review.  If we didn't answer your questions, please let us know, and thank you for your support!Want to watch this episode on Youtube? https://www.youtube.com/OnesReadyHave a question?  Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram @onesreadyFollow us on YoutubeFollow us on FacebookCollabs:Alpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code:  ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code:  ONESREADYEberlestock - Promo Code:  OR10Hoist - Promo Code:  ONESREADYStrike Force Energy - Promo Code:  ONESREADYCardoMax - Promo Code:  ONESREADYOut of Regs Pomade - Promo Code:  ONESREADY18A Fitness - Promo Code:  1ReadyATAC Fitness - Promo Code: ONESREADY

On this episode of the Ones Ready podcast, the team sits down with retired Combat Control Legend Chief Mike Lampe.  The term legend gets thrown out a lot these days, but Chief Lampe really embodies what a legend is and you'll understand as soon as you see his resume and hear some of his stories.  Even SOCOM recognized him as a legend after retirement by presenting him with the Bull Simmons Award.  Chief conducted unconventional warefare and irregular warfare operations starting back in Vietnam and continued to pave the way for SOCOM to be what it is today.  Ones Ready, Special Tactics, AFSOC, nor SOCOM would be what it is today with out Chief Lampe.  The podcast is a way for us to give back, serve each one of you, and build our community up with the most educated and well-train members.  Please enjoy the episode and give us your feedback. If you liked it and feel so inclined, please leave us a review.  If we didn't answer your questions, please let us know, and thank you for your support!Want to watch this episode on Youtube? https://www.youtube.com/OnesReadyHave a question?  Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram @onesreadyFollow us on YoutubeFollow us on FacebookCollabs:Alpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code:  ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code:  ONESREADYEberlestock - Promo Code:  OR10Hoist - Promo Code:  ONESREADYStrike Force Energy - Promo Code:  ONESREADYCardoMax - Promo Code:  ONESREADYOut of Regs Pomade - Promo Code:  ONESREADY18A Fitness - Promo Code:  1ReadyATAC Fitness - Promo Code: ONESREADY

Resident Evil Caliban Cove by S.D. Perry. The second book in the Resident Evil series. They knew it wasn't over... in the aftermath of The Nightmare they survived in Umbrella Corporation's secret underground research facility, the surviving members of Special Tactics and Rescue Squad (S.T.A.R.S.) tried to warn the world about horrifying bio-organic weapons (B.O.W.s). But the conspiracy is far from dead the S.T.A.R.S. are declared outlaws by the people who trained them. Forced underground to battle Umbrella on their own. On another determined to put an end to Umbrella's vile experiments. Combat medic and biochemistry Rebecca Chambers, the sole survivor of Bravo Team joins a new S.T.A.R.S. strike force. Just like Raccoon City, Umbrella has lost control of another facility. Hidden beneath the rocky cliffs of Caliban Cove, Maine. An army of undead, a sinister lighthouse, the husk of a sunken ship, a maze of sea caves, unspeakable horrors and a mad scientist hellbent on infecting the entire world. Will the S.T.A.R.S. survive even as they are infected with an aggressive DNA altering virus engineered by Umbrella to create Living Weapons? Stay tuned and find out. I hope you enjoy. Chapter 1 0:05:52 Chapter 2 0:34:55 Chapter 3 0:58:54 Chapter 4 1:21:29. Chapter 5 1:51:55 Chapter 6 2:09:52 Chapter 7 2:41:12 Chapter 8 3:05:05 Chapter 9 3:31:36 Chapter 11 4:27:12 Chapter 12 4:50:32 Chapter 13 5:14:20 Chapter 14 5:37:06 Chapter 15 6:00:21 Chapter 16 6:23:39 Chapter 17 6:36:13 Chapter 18 6:46:56 Epilogue 7:00:53 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/beast669/support

-Jake Kauffman is a O2X Business Development Manager. In this role, he leverages his tactical background and subject matter expertise to implement comprehensive performance programs into agencies within his area of responsibility. His daily focus is on forging new relationships, as well as client retention and management, ensuring each O2X client gets the highest impact program in support of their mission. -He recently retired from the United States Air Force as a Pararescueman. Jake completed basic training in 2006 and went through the Pararescue Pipeline where he graduated from Kirtland AFB in 2008.  He served at the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron before being selected for the Air Forces Tier 1 unit, the 24th Special Tactics Squadron at Fort Bragg, NC, where he served for over 10 years.  -Throughout his career, he completed 10+ combat deployments in support of numerous worldwide operations, to include Operation Enduring Freedom. His awards include the Silver Star, 3 Bronze Stars, 2 with Valor, 2 Purple Hearts, and 5 Joint Service Commendation Medals along with numerous unit and campaign awards.FirstNet Built with AT&T:http://www.firstnet.com/healthandwellnessDownload the O2X Tactical Performance App:app.o2x.comLet us know what you think:Website: http://o2x.comIG: https://instagram.com/o2xhumanperformance?igshid=1kicimx55xt4f 

On this episode of the Ones Ready podcast, the team sits down with retired Combat Controller Chief and Legend, Mike Lamonica.  Chief Lamonica is renowned across the Special Tactics and Special Operations community.  He's had five combat jumps and a countless number of missions to boot.  What he's more proud about though is everything that him and the Combat Control Association & Foundation have accomplished.  The CCA/CCF take care of members, their families, retirees, and veterans that are need of some assistance.  They hold events all over the US to help raise money and bring awareness to the good things they're doing.The podcast is a way for us to give back, serve each one of you, and build our community up with the most educated and well-train members.  Please enjoy the episode and give us your feedback. If you liked it and feel so inclined, please leave us a review.  If we didn't answer your questions, please let us know, and thank you for your support!Want to watch this episode on Youtube? https://www.youtube.com/OnesReadyHave a question?  Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram @onesreadyFollow us on YoutubeFollow us on FacebookCollabs:Alpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code:  ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code:  ONESREADYEberlestock - Promo Code:  OR10Hoist - Promo Code:  ONESREADYStrike Force Energy - Promo Code:  ONESREADYCardoMax - Promo Code:  ONESREADYOut of Regs Pomade - Promo Code:  ONESREADY18A Fitness - Promo Code:  1Ready

On this episode of the Ones Ready podcast the gang switches it up where Peaches holds Aaron's feet to the fire on one of Special Tactics' most well known mission sets, Personnel Recovery.  This is a fast and furious episode dedicated to the Personnel Recovery mission set trying to explain what the hell it actually means, but it's provocative and it gets the people going.  PJ's being heroes...I'll take it!  Please enjoy the episode and give us your feedback. If you liked it and feel so inclined, please leave us a review.  If we didn't answer your questions, please let us know, and thank you for your support!Want to watch this episode on Youtube? https://youtu.be/hiwwRyAK3wkNeed the show notes? onesready.com/episode/104Have a question?  Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram @onesreadyFollow us on YoutubeFollow us on FacebookCollabs:Alpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code:  ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code:  ONESREADYEberlestock - Promo Code:  OR10Hoist - Promo Code:  ONESREADYStrike Force Energy - Promo Code:  ONESREADYCardoMax - Promo Code:  ONESREADYOut of Regs Pomade - Promo Code:  ONESREADY

On this episode of the Ones Ready podcast Aaron and Peaches deep dive into the Special Tactics mission set Global Access. This is the bread and butter of the CCT capabilities, but really PJ and SR play pivotal roles in the Global Access mission sets.  Please enjoy the episode and give us your feedback. If you liked it and feel so inclined, please leave us a review.  If we didn't answer your questions, please let us know, and thank you for your support!Want to watch this episode on Youtube? https://youtu.be/crXHaGALT_YNeed the show notes? onesready.com/episode/104Have a question?  Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram @onesreadyFollow us on YoutubeFollow us on FacebookCollabs:Alpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code:  ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code:  ONESREADYEberlestock - Promo Code:  OR10Hoist - Promo Code:  ONESREADYStrike Force Energy - Promo Code:  ONESREADYCardoMax - Promo Code:  ONESREADYOut of Regs Pomade - Promo Code:  ONESREADY

On this episode of the Ones Ready podcast the gang switches it up and Aaron grills Peaches on one of Special Tactics' most well known mission sets, Precision Strike. Aaron rapid fires questions about Precision Strike, what's the mission set look like, what's the future of JTAC, and will the JTAC qualification even be a thing in the future. Please enjoy the episode and give us your feedback. If you liked it and feel so inclined, please leave us a review.  If we didn't answer your questions, please let us know, and thank you for your support!Want to watch this episode on Youtube? https://youtu.be/crXHaGALT_YNeed the show notes? onesready.com/episode/104Have a question?  Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram @onesreadyFollow us on YoutubeFollow us on FacebookCollabs:Alpha Brew Coffee Company - Promo Code:  ONESREADYTrench Coffee Company - Promo Code:  ONESREADYEberlestock - Promo Code:  OR10Hoist - Promo Code:  ONESREADYStrike Force Energy - Promo Code:  ONESREADYCardoMax - Promo Code:  ONESREADYOut of Regs Pomade - Promo Code:  ONESREADY

The first podcast of 2022 started with the news I helped spread this week of an AFSCO whistleblower memo alleging wildly favorable treatment to a female officer combat control candidate and the chaos it has unleashed within the Special Tactics community. Then it was the India temple stampede, the North Korean defector who changed his mind, a new product to help premature ejaculation, old man falls to his death in a volcano, and an old guy in Korea killed an employee by jamming a 70cm stick into his rectum. Music: Daggers/"We Came As Romans"

On this episode of the Ones Ready podcast Aaron and Trent hold court with a Special Tactics Officer who recently graduated the pipeline and has arrived on team.  He walks through his journey of becoming a Special Tactics Officer or Special Warfare Officer (depending on who you ask), how he prepared for the pipeline, and much more!  The podcast is a way for us to give back, serve each one of you, and build our community up with the most educated and well-train members.  Please enjoy the episode and give us your feedback. If you liked it and feel so inclined, please leave us a review.  If we didn't answer your questions, please let us know, and thank you for your support!Want to watch this episode on Youtube? https://youtu.be/xrcCqia9WIkNeed the show notes? onesready.com/episode/95Have a question?  Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram @onesreadyFollow us on YoutubeFollow us on Facebook

Today's Story: Humanitarian Efforts in Haiti

We discuss the best ways to catch up, or protect your mini league positions in UEFA Euro Fantasy Football. Phil ends up being offered weird clothing. Mike gets Matterface Heavy We Get to see if Ant Knowing the Rules Helped!

The very first episode of the PixelLit Podcast. We covered the opening few chapters of S.D. Perry's Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy. There's the telltale signs of some weird mic issues right away, but hey, what's the first episode of a podcast without that?  Book Overview Raccoon City: a remote mountain community suddenly besieged by a rash of grisly murders. At the epicenter, a dark secluded mansion belonging to the mysterious Umbrella Corporation. Deployed to investigate the strange goings-on is the Special Tactics and Rescue Squad (S.T.A.R.S.) but what unfolds as the team penetrate the mansion's long-locked doors is terror beyond their worst nightmares. (from Thrift Books store page) Buy on Thrift Books: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-umbrella-conspiracy_sd-perry/265856/ Buy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Umbrella-Conspiracy-Resident-Evil/dp/0671024396/ About the Pod Pixel Lit is the video game-literary nerd's dream come true. It's a podcast where we read and discuss video game novelizations, and the games they're based on. This is a podcast for the former kid who read their instruction booklets cover to cover. For the gamer who listens to every audio log in Bioshock. The Pixel Lit Podcast! Because the only thing better than playing a video game is reading about it. Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pixellitpod Our website: https://www.pixellitpod.com

Welcome to the Insight Thru Experience Podcast. In this 3rd episode of Season 3, I was lucky enough to interview Bryan who is a very experienced TACP operator from the 17th Special Tactics Squadron. He shares tons of info about his background, his life as a TACP, and why the 17th STS is such a special place to work. Don't miss this episode!!! Visit us online at https://www.airforcespecialtactics.af.mil/724STG

04MAR2002: Planning to insert on a mountaintop in support of Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan, TSgt John Chapman's aircraft was hit by enemy fire. Buckling from the explosion, PO1 Neil Roberts was thrown from the aircraft, landing near al-Qaeda positions while the Chinook was forced to land four miles away. Coordinating their pick up and reinsertion to the top of Takur Ghar, TSgt Chapman volunteered for the mission to rescue their stranded comrade. As soon as they landed on the mountaintop, the entire seven man team came under heavy enemy fire. Without regard for his own safety, T/Sgt Chapman charged forward, with Senior Chief Britt Slabinski close behind, and cleared the nearest bunker killing two enemy fighters in the process. Now with a little breathing room for their SEAL team, Slabinski and Chapman began their assault towards the second bunker. At this point, TSgt Chapman was shot twice and presumed dead by his teammates. As enemy fire intensified, Slabinski made the call to begin movement back down the hillside to a more tenable position. Approximately 30 minutes after his team moved down the mountaintop, Chapman regained consciousness and began his one man stand against at least twenty al-Qaeda fighters. For nearly an hour, Chapman engaged the enemy positions, fending off multiple charges and engaging in hand to hand combat. With his SEAL team still sustaining casualties and heavy enemy fire, Chapman stayed out front providing cover as best he could. Suffering from multiple wounds, Chapman's final act was to stand and suppress the enemy positions as reinforcements were nearly shot down and landed mere meters behind his position. TSgt Chapman's sacrifice and continued determination allowed for the survival of his SEAL team as well as countless Rangers that landed with the QRF. Without him bearing the brunt of the enemy attack, American casualties likely would have been substantially worse that day. For his actions Technical Sergeant John Chapman would be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the first in the war in Afghanistan.

06DEC2001: Serving as a combat controller with the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, T/Sgt Michael Stockdale was working with teams from the U.S. Army SFOD-D in Afghanistan.  With word that bin Laden had moved into a mountain range bordering Pakistan, Stockdale's team along with their Afghan allies moved in. Holed up in what's known as Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan, bin Laden and al-Qaeda had built a substantial defensive network amidst what was already a formidable natural fortress.  In order to assault the defenders, American air power would be critical. The first three days of the fight would see T/Sgt Stockdale masterfully employing close air support in a devastating manner.  As the fight raged, Stockdale moved to the front lines to gain a better view of the enemy positions and started servicing one after the other. Working non-stop for days on end, T/Sgt Stockdale was regularly coordinating between multiple aircraft, sending targets, and aligning attack headings all while more aircraft came on and off station.  An incredible feat from a secure environment, Stockdale accomplished this in the midst of a deadly close-range fight. Over a three day span, T/Sgt Stockdale averaged 13 hours a day of uninterrupted air support, directing over 300 missions and 600,000 lbs of munitions.  This overwhelming firepower had bin Laden so shaken that he notated a last will and testament, found later by US forces. For his incredible skill in the midst of the deadly fight, T/Sgt Michael Stockdale was awarded the Silver Star.

Today's KNSS Salute to Service See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

We're back to the future...but we actually just pre-recorded this episode... Ingve and John talk about the 4231 wide which they both used extensively and were only shared with the trainees from the FUTcoaching Elite program! We also show that podcasting is hard work, John's voice breaks and the red recording button means that the mixer is actually recording... www.patreon.com/futinreview www.futcoaching.com

Captain Chris Walsh is a Special Tactics officer with the 24th Air Force Special Operations Wing. A member of the Air Force's World Class Athlete Program, Chris is also a member of Team USA Bobsled and is an Olympic Hopeful for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Self-diagnosed with a need for speed Chris also competes in Endurance Road Racing Events in his downtime. Chris talks a bit about his background and his role within the Air Force's Special Operations. An avid athlete, he shares the multiple athletic pursuits he's had along the way while in the military and how he ultimately found the sport of bobsled. He explains the role and benefit of the World Class Athlete Program. What training for the “niche” Olympic sport actually requires. How he balances the demands of his career, sport and family. How a lack of fear of failure has helped him to dream and achieve big. We learn about his entrance into the world of Endurance Road Racing and what it's like to compete in a 14+ hour event. He recounts the recent injury that sidelined him and the unlikely silver lining that bought him more time as he continues his Olympic pursuit. Mentioned in the show: Books: The Mission, The Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander. By: Peter Blaber Chris's Racing Videos: https://youtu.be/hOnwTR28Qug https://youtu.be/jm6NaNhrDnM Follow Chris: Instagram: @walsh.usa Follow The Professional Athlete Podcast with Ken Gunter: Instagram: @the_professionalathlete Website: https://www.kengunter.com/ YouTube: Ken Gunter https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRhgjkoSiJXAbS_MIasvvzQ/ Produced By: Justin Gunter, Ken Gunter Music By: Justin Gunter, Ken Gunter

This episode is a re-record of a podcast that was lost due to technical difficulties deep into social distancing, and appropriately is about the 2015 remaster of the 2002 remake of the 1996 game Resident Evil. Supremely confusing. This classic survival horror game by Capcom was given a graphical upgrade and improved controls. We touch on how Jill found her dream job, how atmospheric fixed camera angles can be, tiny inventory management and the downside of having your heart on the outside of your chest. Time Stamps:00:12 Introductions06:56 Main Topic: Resident Evil Remaster33:40 Resident Evil story discussion – extra spoilers!54:05 Resident Evil final thoughts56:54 Listener shoutout57:25 Ending Spiel: What we're loving this weekFrom the show:Games featured in our Ending Spiel: Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Yes, Your Grace, Ghost of Tsushima Please don't judge us too harshly for any lore mistakes on this one, we tried. Youtube make-up drama videos referenced by Emma: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t8fkXFs7m8&t=1346s- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2WBythSGoQ&t=2920sAlso, Emma might have called Shane Dawson, "Shawn" Dawson accidentally. Watch some nerdy voice actors play D&D on Critical Roll mentioned by Rachel- playlist on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byva0hOj8CU&list=PL1tiwbzkOjQxD0jjAE7PsWoaCrs0EkBH2S.T.A.R.S. stands for Special Tactics and Rescue Service.Doki Doki theory videos recommended by Emma: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i28Dd8jXZxs- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9AWvi82uDwBronycon video mentioned by Emma: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fVOF2PiHncFind us:Website: https://utterlyunqualifiedgaming.com/Email: utterlyunqualified@gmail.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/utterlyunqualifiedgaming/Twitter: https://twitter.com/uugamingpodcastFacebook: http://facebook.com/utterlyunqualified

08APR2003: Serving as a Close Combat Controller with the Air Force's 24th Special Tactics Squadron, SSgt Scott Sather was working with the Army's 75th Ranger Regimental Reconnaissance Detachment during the initial invasion of Iraq. Serving as the key link between ground troops and American airpower, SSgt Sather's job was to provide targeting information in support of a few critical missions. First, his unit was tasked with capturing any HVTs attempting to flee Iraq west into Syria. Second, he was responsible for creating a diversion convincing the Iraqi military that an American division was approaching Baghdad from the west. The intent of the diversion was to fix Iraqi units in and around Baghdad so the main thrust of the American advance could push up from the south. SSgt Sather and his unit were successful and on April 6th American units entered Baghdad as many Iraqi forces stayed to the west expecting an assault that never came. On April 8th, as US forces shifted to assault Tikrit,just north of Baghdad, SSgt Scott Sather was killed at the age of 29. SSgt Sather would be awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star posthumously.

My guest today is Dan Schilling who spent more than 30 years in the military, primarily as a Combat Controller and Special Tactics Officer. His numerous combat deployments have taken him around the world and include Operation Gothic Serpent, known as Black Hawk Down, where he is credited with saving the lives of a Ranger and SEAL Team Six member while under fire. He later founded and then served as the first commander of two special operations squadrons, one of which's name and purpose remains classified. He also holds the  World Record for most BASE jumps in 24 hours (201), which he conducted to benefit children who've lost a parent in special operations Dan is now a full-time writer of both fiction and nonfiction. His latest book, Alone at Dawn, which captures the  story of Medal of Honor Recipient John Chapman, is a NY Times Bestseller.Sign up for my newsletter for a few ideas and tools to help you grow--occasional patch giveaways as well. You can sign up here. LinkedIn-- Justin Hasard LeeInstagram-- @justinfighterpilotFacebook--@justinfighterpilotYou can review the show by tapping here and scrolling to the bottom where it says: "Write a Review." Thanks for the support

Want to hear about the special tactics we used in the LEC final? Carlos was joined by Mikyx and Wunder on this week's episode of G2 Run it Down, as they talked about what it was like to win the LEC final!

The Ones Ready team sits down with a newly graduated Physician Assistant (PA), Jon Courtright. John was enlisted in the US Air Force after spending some time in Japan to become a PJ. He was a PJ for many years and even served at one of the special mission units where many of our Special Warfare team members go. After being at that unit for nine years, John decided to try his hand at being a PA. Just a few weeks ago he graduated and is on his way to his next assignment and the brand new chapter in his professional and personal life. Please enjoy the episode and give us your feedback. If you liked it and feel so inclined, please leave us a review. If we didn’t answer your questions, please let us know, and thank you for your support!Want to watch this episode on Youtube? https://youtu.be/zbsPjUM2v_sNeed the show notes? onesready.com/episode/29Have a question? Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram @onesreadyFollow us on YoutubeFollow us on Facebook

Special Tactics Officers play a critical role in delivering airpower for our joint partners and leading battlefield airmen. In this episode Major John Doe (alias) explains his experience as a cadet at USAFA, preparing for selection, and working to correct personal character flaws. 05:15 - Introduction and John's background10:45 - Being a cadet at USAFA16:36 - Earning a pilot slot18:47 - John decides to pursue STO selection (see Air Force Special Tactics: https://www.airforcespecialtactics.af.mil) 29:11 - Explaining the Special Tactics Officer career field 40:04 - Who does the STO exist for? 46:20 - Highs and lows of being a STO 53:39 - John's thoughts on professional development 59:01 - Hindsight advice to Cadet John Doe 01:04:34 - Commentary Contact Air Force Special Tactics at STO.recruiter@us.af.mil. Email your questions and comments to airforceofficerpodcast@gmail.com. Join the discussion about the podcast, the Air Force, officership, and the Profession of Arms at https://www.facebook.com/groups/airforceofficerpodcast/.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AirForceOfficerPodcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/airforceofficerpodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/afofficerpod Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/afofficerpod Share your officer stories of all flavors using #officerAF.

On this week's episode of the Ones Ready podcast, Aaron sits down with Lt. "Wink" Winkeleer who is a Special Tactics Officer who recently transitioned from being an enlisted Combat Controller. They discuss the differences between the roles of enlisted and officers as well as what growing pains Wink had during his transition and his views on the Air Force Special Warfare going forward. They also discuss the recent changes to the officer AFSCs within Special Warfare (19Z series AFSCs). There is some story time thrown in from Wink's experiences when he was in Okinawa, Japan and the humanitarian aid and relief efforts in Puerto Rico post Hurricane Irma and Maria. Wink is absolutely a pipe hitter and we feel privileged to have him on. Please enjoy this episode and give us your feedback. If we didn’t answer your questions, please let us know!Want to watch this episode on Youtube? https://youtu.be/veb1FzNobkINeed the show notes? onesready.com/episode/24Have a question? Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram @onesreadyFollow us on YoutubeFollow us on Facebook

Air Force Special Warfare has implemented vast changes in their recruiting, development, and selection processes. The A & S (Assessment & Selection) course is now named “Special Tactics & Guardian Angel Course.” With the new AFSC 9T500, candidates desiring the career-fields: Pararescue (PJ), Combat Control (CCT), Special Reconnaissance (SR), and TACP will forego a human-performance-based program converging all candidates under the 9T500 Air Force Specialty Code with the purpose of selecting & assigning the most appropriate Special Warfare career-field to candidates. Selection criteria is based on:1. Candidate Preference2. Physical, Academic, & Mental Performance3. Character & Personality4. Air Force’s manning needs.The Air Force intends to increase the quantity & quality of candidates while eliminating uncertainty/confusion on which career-field is most-appropriate, assigning a specialty (PJ, CCT, SR, or TACP) to candidates after the vectoring program is complete.• Become a Patreon Donor to support us & keep the podcast going: https://www.patreon.com/socomathlete• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel:(With One Click!): http://www.youtube.com/c/SOCOMAthlete?sub_confirmation=1• Website: https://www.socomathlete.com/• Listen to our new Podcast on any platform: https://sendme.buzzsprout.com/• Follow us on instagram: https://instagram.com/socomathlete?ig...• Check out our Reviews on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socomathlete/

Everyone is going to want to buckle up for this rollercoaster of an episode where the Ones Ready team and “OB” discuss how the Thai Cave Rescue transpired. These teams from numerous countries were able to work together against all odds (a continuously flooding cave, hungry and scared kids, cold water, an enormous cave network, shall I continue???). There are some real nailbiters in this episode and you can see it in the faces of the Ones Ready team as OB explains what happened. Everyone involved in this rescue did an outstanding job and is the reason that soccer team is alive today. This type of high-level problem solving is exactly what Special Warfare is looking for and if this is the type of person you are, then you need to join us! Please enjoy this episode and give us your feedback. If we didn’t answer your questions, please let us know!Want to watch this episode on Youtube? https://youtu.be/VbZ_HvEB0yQNeed the show notes? onesready.com/episode/17Have a question? Email us at info@onesready.comFollow us on Instagram @onesreadyFollow us on YoutubeFollow us on Facebook

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Peter Kraines, 33, a Special Tactics pararescueman with the 24th Special Operations Wing, died from injuries sustained in an incident while performing mountain rescue techniques in Boise, Idaho, Tuesday, according to a news release from the 24th SOW Public Affairs Office. Kraines, an Albany, New York, native who was assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, enlisted in the United States Air Force in March 2011. He immediately entered the two-year pararescue training program. He became part of Special Tactics in March 2017, according to the 24th SOW news release. “This is a tragic loss to the Special Tactics community,” said Air Force Col. Matthew Allen, commander of the 24th SOW. “Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and teammates at this time.”

Neben Kotzgeschichten auf dem Oktoberfest, abgestorbene Zähnen und News aus dem PCH gibt es diese Woche zwei wichtige Fragen. Wie war das Aufeinandertreffen mit Obama? Und wer hat eigentlich das Sushi Bike gewonnen? Dies & mehr, hier. AWFNR #321. 00:00:00 Das erwartet euch: Dental & Oktoberfest Geschichten, ein Präsident, Firmengründer und der 2. Reichste Mensch. 00:00:50 Das alles und nicht mehr! AWFRN präsentiert von o2 für mehr O in deinem Leben. 00:01:51 Blindfisch Joko. 00:03:00 Stell dir vor du gehst zum Zahnarzt und lässt dir alle Zähne ziehen. Um hinterher neue einzusetzen. 00:03:37 Pauls Bodenleger kümmert sich nur um den Pari Store, damit er sich neue Zähne kaufen kann. 00:05:30 TO DO für nächste Woche: Beißerchen untersuchen lassen! 00:06:00 Paul über seinen abgestorbenen Zahn. 00:08:44 Keramik- oder Goldzahn? Joko toppt das Ganze. 00:10:25 WERBEPAUSE: 30 Jahre nach dem Mauerfall: David Hasselhoff is back! Und zwar mit seinem neuen Hörbuch „Up Against the Wall – Mission Mauerfall”, geschrieben von David Hasselhoff, gelesen von William Cohn. Ab dem 03.10.2019 exklusiv auf https://www.audible.de/pd/Up-Against-The-Wall-Hoerbuch/B07S24P2G4 erhältlich! 00:11:40 Der goldene Herbst in LA. 00:12:30 Warum die Werbebranche nervt. 00:16:35 Mit dem Skateboard zum Pari Flagship Store. 00:17:00 Der Boden ist endlich draußen! 00:18:34 Zweierlei Menschen die im PCH vorbeikommen. 00:19:14 Die neue Nutzung des Club House. 00:21:12 Da hat Paul sich verkauft. 00:24:00 Was? Das Pari Club House ist ein Weed Store? 00:25:00 Katzenkacke, ihre Krankheiten und Jokos Wahnvorstellungen. 00:28:04 Gewinne, gewinne, gewinne. Live Sushi-Bike Verlosung. 00:33:18 Franz Kämmer gibt‘s ab heute nur noch auf zwei Rädern. Glückwunsch! 00:31:00 Geschichten aus dem Schützenzelt. Wenn nicht mal Joko Winterscheidt reinkommt. 00:34:20 Die Angst vor dem Oktoberfest. 00:35:25 Joko der Bierzapfer. 00:36.33 Tödliches Ende nach der Schnappsbar mit UN1T Trainer. 00.38:00 Und dann kam die Kotzwiese ins Spiel. 00:39:27 Mit Winterscheidt in der Notaufnahme. 00:42:00 Auf der Suche nach Materia. 00:46:00 Entschuldigung Sms‘n und Alkohol Mentoren. 00:47:08 O-Moment der Woche: Fahrraddiebe auf frischer Tat ertappt. Dank Klaas. O2 Cloud – die Freiheit unlimitierten Speicherplatz zu haben. Egal wie groß deine Videos oder Fotos sind, du kannst alles in der o2 Cloud speichern. Für nur 4,99 € im Monat, o2 dir unendlichen Speicherplatz. Mehr dazu auf https://www.o2online.de/. 00:49:00 Wo hat Joko Barack Obama getroffen?! 00:52:10 Wie früher in der Schule. Neben Böhmi bei Bits & Pretzels. 00:57:00 Einmal so auftreten wie Barack Obama. 00:58:40 Sicherheitsmänner, Autoritäten und Special Tactics. 1:00:10 Wie auf einer falschen Party. 01:01:15 Jokos Men-Crush. 01:06:33 Joko kann gar nicht mehr aufhören zu Schwärmen. 01:08:31 Der müde Sohn und das super Brain. 01:09:43 Bis nächste Woche! AWFNR #321 – präsentiert von o2 für mehr O in deinem Leben!

Following his childhood dream to serve in the military, Zachary Rhyner joined the Air Force in 2004. He knew he wanted to serve in an elite group, that would no doubt face challenges in combat. Rhyner enlisted with the goal of becoming a combat controller. After a grueling two-and-a-half-year selection and training process, he became a special tactics combat controller. He would soon go on to serve with a Special Operations team, seeing their fare share of combat in Afghanistan. It was on one of those missions that he and his team would face extremely daunting challenges, fighting to their objective up 60-foot cliffs against a very well-defended enemy force. Rhyner's actions during that particular battle would earn him the Air Force Cross - the second highest military award that can be given to a member of the United States Air Force. During his sixth deployment, Rhyner would sustain injuries that ended his military career, but were the catalyst for him to continue a legacy of service with the help of the Pat Tillman Foundation. Hear this incredibly inspiring story on this latest edition of HAZARD GROUND! www.pattillmanfoundation.org Do your Amazon shopping with us, and give back to veterans organizations at the same time! Go to www.hazardground.com, click on the Amazon banner on the home page, and do your Amazon shopping from there. THE BEST PART IS we donate proceeds from this partnership to the vet organizations featured on this podcast. So far, we've been able to make small donations to Merging Vets and Players and The Headstrong Project. So let's keep this going so we can make more and bigger donations! Help us out, help out these great organizations, and head over to hazardground.com and click on the Amazon banner today, and shop away! Support the podcast by supporting our sponsors at www.hazardground.com/sponsors! So many great and honest companies with great products! Help grow the show! Spread the word, tell a friend!! Subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes!

What is it like to be a Religious Affairs Airman in Air Force Special Operations Command? Chaplain Boarts and MSgt Dilley interview two AFSOC Religious Affairs Airmen to find out. (Note--the audio sounds a little different as we used a teleconference app for this one!)If you are a Religious Affairs Airman and would like more information about submitting a package to be assigned to a Special Tactics billet, please look up the RST at the 24th Special Operations Wing HC office which is located at Hurlburt Field. That RST is currently Ch, Maj James Hendrick and MSgt John McClean.If you are an Airman looking to cross train as a Religious Affairs Airman or a civilian interested in joining the Air Force as a Religious Affairs Airman, please send us an email--our email address is in our podcast information. You can also find us on Facebook by searching for Air Force Chaplain Corps.

Edwin Richardson Jr., USAF Combat Controller retired after over 20 years served. Edwin is the Owner and President of The Richardson Unlimited Strategy Team, LLC (Richardson Strategy). During his time time in service, he has been stationed in various locations across the U.S. to include 6 years in Okinawa, Japan.  A large portion of his time served spent in Iraq and Afghanistan as well. Edwin's experience includes deployments involving humanitarian Aid, Disaster Relief efforts both on our nations land and abroad, and ground combat operations in support of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, and INHERENT RESOLVE. ​ ​Edwin brings years of experience directly advising leaders within Army Special Forces, Navy SEALs, Marine Special Operations Teams, along with various government agencies and International Forces during some of the most chaotic events and harsh environments imaginable. While serving in the U.S. Air Force, he held positions to include Section Chief, Flight Chief, and Operations Chief in multiple industries or AFSC’s (Maintenance, Operations, Training, and Special Tactics) while serving. Edwin has been awarded multiple Bronze Stars w/Valor for direct ground combat actions to include citations for service during Natural disaster planning and rescue operations. He has mastered the tools necessary to motivate and create effective teams, develop and guide future leaders, prioritize lines of effort, conflict resolution and risk mitigation, as well as maximizing overall personal and operational performance. 

Paul Walsh We have a really interesting guest on todays episode. Paul Walsh works in private security and his clients have included Metallica, Slipknot and Just Bieber. He’s also worked for the Police and The Special Tactics Group all over the world. We talk about his time in Afghanistan and Tanzania, the psychology behind his work, the close call with Metallica in Mexico and much more. We’ve also included a previously unreleased conversation between Danny McCrum and Gavin Downie about guitar amps, mic selection, Fender vs Marshall and how he helped develop Dave Dobbyn’s great tone. This is a fascinating listen, check it out!

When this 5'3″ tall airman was denied a waiver to be a pilot, along with women and a male gymnast, he had to figure out something else to do. 23 years later, he retired from the Air Force's elite Special Tactics community as a combat controller. Kurt Buller said he has “the energy of a […] The post Episode 036 – CCT Kurt Buller | I Will Run Thru the Brick Wall First appeared first on .

When this 5’3″ tall airman was denied a waiver to be a pilot, along with women and a male gymnast, he had to figure out something else to do. 23 years later, he retired from the Air Force’s elite Special Tactics community as a combat controller. Kurt Buller said he has “the energy of a […] The post Episode 036 – CCT Kurt Buller | I Will Run Thru the Brick Wall First appeared first on .

If you liked the show please let me know @krisshamloo or by leaving a review.

SHOW TITLE: CAR CRASHES AND "CRIME HOT SPOTS" -- STUDYING PATTERNS TO PREVENT CRIME BIOS: Greg Collins is the Research and Analysis Manager for the Shawnee, KS Police Department. He is primarily responsible for CALEA accreditation, policy review and updating, grant management, overseeing the Crime Analysis function, and managing police department volunteers. Greg joined the Shawnee Police Department as a sworn officer in 1991. In addition to road patrol duties, Greg has worked as a D.A.R.E. officer, detective, patrol sergeant, training sergeant, and traffic safety unit supervisor. Greg has also been a member of the department's Special Tactics and Response team, and a field training officer. Greg transitioned to his current civilian position in June 2008. Greg holds a B.A. in Management and Human Relations from MidAmerica Nazarene University and is an IACP Associate member. Dr. Kevin M Bryant is a professor and chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Benedictine College in Atchinson, Kansas. Bryant completed training and was certified in advanced crime mapping by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in 2011 and is currently working toward recertification. [Kevin, this is just what I pulled off the web -- if I missed an email from you with more info, a photo, and links you'd like us to use -- well, you both know you've been dealing with a sleep-deprived zombie here lately. Since the show doesn't air until March, we have some time if either of you would like to send additional material to us.]

SHOW TITLE: CAR CRASHES AND "CRIME HOT SPOTS" -- STUDYING PATTERNS TO PREVENT CRIME BIOS:  Greg Collins is the Research and Analysis Manager for the Shawnee, KS Police Department.  He is primarily responsible for CALEA accreditation, policy review and updating, grant management, overseeing the Crime Analysis function, and managing police department volunteers. Greg joined the Shawnee Police Department as a sworn officer in 1991.  In addition to road patrol duties, Greg has worked as a D.A.R.E. officer, detective, patrol sergeant, training sergeant, and traffic safety unit supervisor.  Greg has also been a member of the department’s Special Tactics and Response team, and a field training officer. Greg transitioned to his current civilian position in June 2008. Greg holds a B.A. in Management and Human Relations from MidAmerica Nazarene University and is an IACP Associate member. Dr. Kevin M Bryant is a professor and chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Benedictine College in Atchinson, Kansas. Bryant completed training and was certified in advanced crime mapping by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in 2011 and is currently working toward recertification.  [Kevin, this is just what I pulled off the web -- if I missed an email from you with more info, a photo, and links you'd like us to use -- well, you both know you've been dealing with a sleep-deprived zombie here lately.  Since the show doesn't air until March, we have some time if either of you would like to send additional material to us.]

Welcome back traveler to the dark times of the live action Resident Evil films. This time our team brave Paul W.S. Anderson's take on the Raccoon City incident in the form of Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Directed by Alexander Witt and produced and scribed by Anderson, this thrilling adventure sees Alice (Milla Jovovich) fight hordes of flesh eating undead, rabid zombie dogs, and some bloke in a rubber suit cos-playing as the Nemesis. Fan favourite Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) is also here alongside Carlos Oliveria (Oded Fehr). This is a stunningly faithful adaptation featuring the Special Tactics and Rescue Squad (Service anyone?), Charles Ashford (who?) and Nikolai Ginoveaf (who is now a good guy catching Jill's eye). Join Rombie, Neptune, Batman, STARS Tyrant, a returning George Trevor, and special guest Sonny Bauer for this deep-rooted analysis of this thrilling adventure. Again, Neptune is more excited than he really should be, Ty surprises himself with certain shots and Rombie as usual is the voice of common sense. He also full of praise for Anderson's use of little electronic maps to transition between scenes. Please enjoy and remember only a complete idiot would spend £25 on these films. Thankfully none of us are that stupid...

Chief Master Sgt. Ramon Colon-Lopez, who in 2007 was one of six airmen to be awarded the first Air Force Combat Action Medal, discuss the Global War on Terror from the perspective of a special tactics pararescueman.

On today’s show: Rhonda Rousey going to the Marine Corps. Ball. Chinese warships spotted in the Bearing Sea during President Obama’s visit to Alaska. JT picks September for the Chairborne Meet UP. Quick ISIS update. Finally Air Force will Test F35 against the A10 in CAS Operations. Invisible drone technology. Oshkosh gets the contract to […] The post Former Marine And Now Special Tactics Officer – Damon Friedman appeared first on Military News Talk Radio and Military Podcast - Chairborne Commandos.

In this conversation Tim Ashton, a former member of the Armed Offenders and Special Tactics group in the New Zealand Police force, talks with Professor Kevin Clements about guns, gun control and combating hypermasculinity in Aotearoa-New Zealand. In 1990 Tim was one of the Special Tactics team that shot David Gray in Aramoana. Over the course of his career he has been involved in many incidents where offenders have taken their own lives after killing others, including partners and children. Tim has been shot in the course of his duty and has received two medals for bravery. 15 September 2014

In this conversation Tim Ashton, a former member of the Armed Offenders and Special Tactics group in the New Zealand Police force, talks with Professor Kevin Clements about guns, gun control and combating hypermasculinity in Aotearoa-New Zealand. In 1990 Tim was one of the Special Tactics team that shot David Gray in Aramoana. Over the course of his career he has been involved in many incidents where offenders have taken their own lives after killing others, including partners and children. Tim has been shot in the course of his duty and has received two medals for bravery. 15 September 2014

In this conversation Tim Ashton, a former member of the Armed Offenders and Special Tactics group in the New Zealand Police force, talks with Professor Kevin Clements about guns, gun control and combating hypermasculinity in Aotearoa-New Zealand. In 1990 Tim was one of the Special Tactics team that shot David Gray in Aramoana. Over the course of his career he has been involved in many incidents where offenders have taken their own lives after killing others, including partners and children. Tim has been shot in the course of his duty and has received two medals for bravery. 15 September 2014

Over the last decade there has been an unprecedented increase in Special Operations around the world. This video showcases the dynamic mission of the Air Force Special Operations Command. Video by 2nd Combat Camera Squadron.