Will Jones spent 4 years (2004-2008) in the US Army-1st Cav, with 2 deployments to Iraq. Will's second deployment was a 15 month hitch to Sadr City, Baghdad, where he and his fellow soldiers faced the Madhi Militia. After completing his service, Will came back home to Los Angeles, entered UCLA film school, and later took trips to Afghanistan and another film school in the Philippines. Will is an inferno of positive energy and he speaks frankly about some very dark times (as well as some very ...

James Karp was a US Marine (1st Battalion, 3rd Marines) and fought at the 2nd Battle of Fallujah. After leaving the Corps, James joined the French Foreign Legion and went on to be an archaeological technician, working throughout North and Central America. Most recently, James volunteered for the Ukraine Foreign Legion and was in country for 6 months.  James also started SV Chasing Horizon a group of veterans who help other veterans reconnect and regain a sense of purpose by organizing short...

Rodger Carlyle was part of the US Navy-AVROC (Aviation Reserve Officer Candidate) program and on track to become a Naval Aviator when a medical issue caused his Naval career to be cut short. Rodger then embarked on a civilian career that took him around the globe, including extensive time in Russia just as the Soviet empire was crumbling. Rodger's career path saw him start and run multiple businesses, writing for political campaigns and getting his pilot's license. Rodger is an author of...

DeAnna Charett served 10 years in the US Air Force and 10 years in the US Army Reserve. She is the founder of Bad Habitz Productions https://www.badhabitzproductions.com, a Louisiana-based production company that provides quality filmmaking with a specialization in working with military veterans.

Nick Allen served 8 years in the US Army, earning his Green Beret. Nick's career in special operations was cut short in his first training mission where he sustained multiple concussions. Nick continued to provide value to his team for the remainder of his Army career but like so many in the military, separation and civilian life proved difficult and Nick has gone thorough many extreme ups and downs. Nick has continued to stay engaged with fellow vets through the Green Beret Foundation and...

Col. Mike Bennett (US Army-Retired) spent 30 years in the US Army and is a graduate of Ranger School and the Special Operations Qualification Course. Mike deployed 7 times around the globe during his career and is the author of the Warlock Series, including the latest in the series, Moths to the Flame-Origin of Warlock. Mike describes his career and writing thusly, "I plan to write a little different take on the traditional 'spy' novel. Oftentimes, the journey to 'actionable intelligence' is...

Mario Morales spent 7 years in the US Marine Corps (2005-2012) with deployments to Africa and Afghanistan. Mario is a board member for Ruck For Veterans, a veteran service organization that organizes bi-annual rucks every Veterans Day and Memorial Day to bring awareness to veterans' issues and aims to bridge the gap between the community and the military with various events throughout the year.  Learn more at https://www.ruckforveterans.com 

Nick Aicardi served 5 years in the US Marine Corps with a deployment to Afghanistan as an advisor to the Afghan army and police that saw him on way outside the wire on daily patrols on the most dangerous roads in the country. Nick is the host of the excellent Hard To Kill Podcast. Check out their Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Ab2FBsV5q6_fabi-3OUXw and social media @HardtokillPodcast. 

Steve Stratton spent 20 years in the U.S. Army in a career that was anything but typical. Starting at the White House Communications Agency supporting the needs of Presidents Ford and Carter, Vice Presidents Rockefeller and Mondale and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. His work took him around the world introducing him to new cultures, ways of thinking, and the various agencies tasked with projecting and protecting American interests abroad. Steve was awarded his Green Beret in 1986. From...

Thom Shea spent 23 years as a US Navy SEAL with multiple combat deployments across the globe, and later as an instructor/officer in charge of the SEAL sniper course. Thom's incredible story is one of perseverance, honoring his word and exhibiting the will to keep coming back again and again, no matter what was thrown at him. Thom is the author of "Unbreakable: A Navy SEAL's Way of Life"  and "Three Simple Things: Leading During Chaos".  Thom shares valuable, hard earned lessons with...

Jose Belen spent 4 years in the US Army and saw combat in the early stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom. As a Field Artilleryman (13B), Jose was with Old Ironsides (1st Armored Division) as they pushed into Iraq in spring of 2003 and he speaks in stark and bracing terms of the mindset of preparing for war and the atmosphere of combat that he and his fellow soldiers faced.  After leaving the Army in 2005, Jose embarked on a successful civilian career, but was battling inner demons related to his...

Joe Hayes served four years in the US Marine Corps and deployed twice to Iraq in the early stages of the GWOT. Joe was part of 2nd Battalion/4th Marines (Magnificent Bastards) and his first deployment took him into the heart of the Sunni Triangle and Ramadi, where he and his fire team engaged in an intense gunfight that would forever change Joe and those he served with. Joe goes into fascinating detail of that fateful April day in Ramadi and speaks with moving respect and reverence of his...

Mike Nelson spent 23 years in the US Army, first in the 82nd Airborne and then the majority of his career in the special operations community as a Green Beret. Mike grew up in an Army family and attended Virginia Military Institute. He served at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels including as the Deputy Director of the US Central Commander’s Action Group, Future Operations director of Combined Joint Interagency Task Force-Syria, Director of the Baghdad Targeting Cell, and as a...

Fran Racioppi spent 13 years in the US Army, much of that time in Special Operations as a Green Beret. Fran's Army career saw him deploy 3 times to Iraq as well as to multiple countries throughout Africa. His service there included coordinating Special Operations response to Al-Shabab throughout East Africa. In 2014, he planned and coordinated the Special Forces response to Boko Haram in West Africa, as well as oversaw the operations of Special Forces teams countering the Lord's Resistance...

Kyle Cassel spent 4 years in the US Marine Corps and another 3 years as a private contractor assigned to the US Army. In that capacity, Kyle was deployed to multiple forward operating bases (FOBs) in southern and eastern Afghanistan, where he spent his days in small workshops and even smaller living quarters. In this wide ranging conversation, Kyle talks about learning cricket from soldiers of the Afghan National Army, the sensations of being under a rocket attack for the first time and how...

Joe Winslow served in the US Marine Corps for 21 years. Enlisting in the late 1980s, Joe's career took him to Germany as the Berlin Wall fell, to reserve status and then back to active duty and Officer Candidate School through multiple deployments, to the last years where he was Combat Historian in Iraq for the Corps as they battled al Qaeda and other Iraqi insurgents in the Battles of Fallujah. Joe was given carte blanche access to all levels of the fighting and time and again witnessed his...

Kenneth Earl is a retired Navy Master Chief Cryptologist who spent 21 years in the Navy. Deploying around the globe multiple times throughout his career, Earl dealt with America's most sensitive secrets and classified information, helping to keep America's warfighters at the cutting edge of the battle space. After retiring from the Navy, Earl went on to work for multiple government agencies, combatting cyber crime of all kinds, intelligence operations, trafficking and all manner of threats to...

Matthew Charette spent 5 years in the US Marine Corps. From a family of Marines and military service stretching back generations, Matthew knew early on he was going into the military, taking the ASVAB in 9th grade! Initially assigned to Fleet Anti-Terrorism/Security Forces, Matthew deployed to multiple locations in Europe. Later assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines-Kilo Company, Matthew was deployed to Helmand, Afghanistan and was part of the initial assault of Operation Moshtarak, also...

Christopher Strom spent four years in the US Marine Corps, twenty years as a police officer in the NYPD, retiring a sergeant with the NYPD Intelligence Division. In October 2007, Chris was recruited by the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), a government agency that devised top-secret strategies for combating IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the lead tactical debriefing officer, he participated in over 110 combat missions and 91 captures of high-value targets...

Ryan Rogers served over a decade in the US Marine Corps. Inspired to join the Corps by the 9/11 attacks, Ryan's service saw him deployed five times, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan. Ryan also had a ten month stint on the All-Marine Boxing Team, earning a 5-1 record. It was his deployment to Afghanistan as a Squad Leader in 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines in the Battle of Marjah, that formed the basis for his book, Lions of Marjah. In this conversation, Ryan describes this 7-month...

Shaniqua Cousins spent 8 years in the US Navy. Originally from South Carolina, Shaniqua's Naval service took her to frozen Maine, tropical Puerto Rico, Arctic Iceland, sunny Mediterranean Sicily and finally back to the US for a stint at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Shaniqua talks movingly about the Sailors and Marines who she served with and how her Naval service opened up the world to her and still fills her with a great sense of pride. Upon retirement, she founded Shaniqua...

JB Spisso spent 26 years in the US Army, including a decade in special operations with the 75 Ranger Regiment. In a career that began with being among the first on the ground jumping into Panama and ended with a deployment to Afghanistan, Spisso has seen the Army go from the end of the Cold War to the height of the Global War on Terror. Spisso held multiple leadership positions in the Army during his career, including a stint at West Point.  Upon retirement, Spisso entered the...

Maury Abreu spent 4 years in the US Marine Corps, including a year-long deployment in Iceland and being selected as a Close Combat Instructor. Maury then took a job as a corrections officer with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Shortly after 9/11, he began working for a government agency training individuals who operate globally and independently without backup, specifically in extreme close quarters combat and counterterrorism. Maury is the CEO and founder of Omega Protective Concepts, a...

Toby Harnden spent a decade in the British Royal Navy, deploying Internationally multiple times, retiring from naval service in 1994. A graduate of Oxford, Harnden embarked on a career in journalism that has spanned three decades and sent him to 33 countries while working for The Daily Telegraph and Times of London. While posted in Belfast, Harnden covered the Irish Troubles and from those experiences, he wrote his first book, Bandit Country: The IRA and South Armagh (1999).  From 1999-2003,...