GRP 141-Easy Day: A conversation with Navy SEAL Jason Higgins

https://www.instagram.com/globalreconpodcast

GRP 120-Warriors Heart: Two Brothers Serving in Special Missions in The War on Terror

November 7, 2018

Click the buttons below to access the full episode on ITunes(Apple users), or Soundcloud(Android users). Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you

GRP 120-Warriors Heart: Two Brothers Serving in Special Missions in The War on Terror

For this week's podcast, I have on Tom and Scot Spooner. Both served in the infantry than became Special Forces Engineers. After 9/11 Tom who joined the Army before Scot went to selection and made it into the Army’s Special Missions Unit as an operator. For the next decade, he deployed without a break into combat as an operator and a sniper.
 Scot was on an instructor tour at the Special Forces schoolhouse where he taught everything explosives for young men becoming Green Berets. Once Scot’s instructor time was up he went into the Special Missions Unit as apart of the heavy breacher’s program. They’ve been deployed to Iraq at the same time and discuss what that was like. We talked about their new podcast Original Freedom, Post Traumatic Stress, and several other topics. Enjoy.

0:00-Ronald Regan Speech

6:00-Tom Spooners Army Career

12:51-Scot Spooners Army Career

20:16-Deployed with Army Special Missions in Iraq at the same time.

37:02- “It was harder to be at home watching television then it was to be deployed in combat”

58:06-Warriors Heart

Follow The Spooner brothers:

http://www.ogfree.com

YouTube Channel: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCqARyF74PZilCKFb4-YNq9A

Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/original-freedom-podcast/id1438086939?mt=2

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2pmwoSqWGA9fezImaR6odU?si=yCZfmhJjSU6DFIIXllHebA

Follow us at our Original Freedom Facebook page and @BeOGFree on instagram and Twitter

Follow Global Recon below:

https://www.instagram.com/blackopsmatter

https://www.instagram.com/mission_critical

Chantel Taylor:

https://www.instagram.com/altern8rv

Tim Kolczak:
www.thevetsproject.com

www.instagram.com/theveteransproject

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 97- “Thank You for Your Service” with Adam Schumann

October 27, 2017

Click the buttons below to access the full episode on ITunes(Apple users), or Soundcloud(Android users). Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you.

GRP 97- “Thank You for Your Service” written and directed by “American Sniper” screenwriter Jason Hall depicts Adam Schumann (played by Miles Teller) and other, real-life soldiers with the 1st Infantry Division. The movie, opening Friday, portrays their struggles with traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and suicidal thoughts following their return from Iraq to Fort Riley, Kansas. We have Schumann on for this episode to discuss his career in the Army as well as some of the challenges he’s faced over his 34 months on the ground in Iraq.

We talked about PTSD and brain injuries. This is an incredible movie that I had the opportunity to attend an early screening back in August. I was literally gripping the edge of my seat. It’s very emotional. Enjoy.

0:00-Episode overview

1:08-Retired four-star general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Leadership

5:18-Introduction to Adam Schumann. Three combat deployments into Iraq for a total of 34 months of time on the ground.

13:19-How we deal with brain damage as a society.

23:44-Blast wave injuries, explosively formed penetrator’s (EFP). “Separate your arms and legs so you weren’t sitting parallel. A lot of times you sit with your arms on your knees guys were getting hit by EFP’s and losing all four in one shot”- Adam Schumann

Follow my co-host and my pages on social media. Links below.

Global Recon:

www.Globalrecon.net

https://www.instagram.com/igrecon

https://www.instagram.com/blackopsmatter

www.twitter.com/igrecon

https://www.facebook.com/GlobalReconPodcast/

HP Lefler:

https://www.instagram.com/4runner.freyja

Chantel Taylor:

https://www.instagram.com/mission_critical

https://www.instagram.com/altern8rv

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/magazine/what-if-ptsd-is-more-physical-than-psychological.html

GRP 87-Combat Concussions: The cause and effects of blast wave injuries on veterans of combat arms

August 8, 2017

Click the buttons below to access the full episode on ITunes (Apple users), or Sound Cloud (Android users). Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you.

GRP 87-We have a very special and powerful episode for you guys. Back on the podcast is retired SARC Dan Brown, and retired Army Special Operations veteran Kevin Tretter. Dan served with Force Recon and the Marine Raider Battalions as a highly trained Corpsman. Kevin started out as a Combat Engineer 12 Bravo then went into Special Forces as an 18 Charlie Engineer Sergeant. He got picked up by a special unit to serve as a heavy breacher. He then went back into Special Forces in the Commanders in Extremis Force (CIF) which is the counter terrorist arm of the Green Berets.

During his time in the CIF he survived a helicopter crash in Iraq eventually retiring after 20 years of service. This episode is important because we discussed Traumatic Brain Injury in a deep and honest way as both Dan and Kevin have brain injuries due to the culmination of training in tight spaces with live rifle fire, explosives, airplane jumps and combative training. They have both received blast injuries in combat. We talked the negative effects of having physical brain damage, and how the government protocols for diagnosing PTSD and TBI are flawed. Discussed the positive effects of Cannabis on healing brain injuries. We talked about some problems and solutions with veterans who don’t need care for TBI or PTSD taking advantage of the government and sucking up resources from service members who need the treatment.

0:00-Intro

4:48-Kevin Tretter’s background. Combat Engineer 12 Bravo. 18 Charlie (Engineer Sergeant) with 3rd Special Forces Group. Worked as a Heavy Breacher with a special unit within the Army Special Operations Command.

8:08- Tretter joined the Commanders in Extremis Forces. Survived a helicopter crash in Iraq.

9:25-Understanding the compounding struggles of all of the concussions. Prolonged exposure, retirement, and realization

14:20- Medical Marijuana and creative output.

20:20-Issues with memory and placing memories in proper chronological order.

25:08-Difference between sports concussions and concussions received by blast waves.

27:00-New York Times article on PTSD being misdiagnosed most likely being TBI. Area’s of the brain damaged by TBI.

32:29-Doctors misdiagnosing TBI, and not factoring the cumulative effects of the blast waves on the brain.

44:05-Servicemembers who claim PTSD falsely, sucking up resources for induvial who need it. Solutions to fixing this issue.

1:02:28-Changing our approach to care for TBI. Potentially changing the name to Post Blast Wave Concussion Syndrome.

1:25:51-Finding a sense of purpose. Getting back to the basics. Utilizing creativity.

1:34:02-The positive effects of Cannabis on the brain, and the politics behind keeping Marijuana illegal when it heals.

Below are links for some of the articles referenced by Dan Brown during the podcast:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/military-misconduct-ptsd.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/07/25/sports/football/nfl-cte.html

Hemingway's Brain

http://whqr.org/post/coastline-hemingways-suicide-incorrectly-attributed-alcoholism-and-bipolar-disorder#stream/0

Brain/Vestibular Therapy in Dallas

http://cerebrum.com/

CBD/Canabis for Seizures sited research studies within article

https://www.projectcbd.org/article/medical-marijuana-seizures-sulak-saneto-goldstein

Penn State Neuroscientist and Engineers find link between Seizures and Migraines

http://news.psu.edu/story/332549/2014/10/30/research/link-seen-between-seizures-and-migraines-brain

Hormone therapy for TBI

http://waftbi.org/

Introduction audio is from the NRA series “Patriot Profiles” with Army Special Operations veteran Scot Spooner speaking: https://www.nratv.com/series/patriot-profiles/episode/patriot-profiles-season-3-episode-11-forward-march

Kevin Tretter:

https://warriorwoven.com

https://www.instagram.com/warrior_woven

Dan Brown:

The Dangerzone Podcast on Sound Cloud, ITunes, and YouTube.

https://www.instagram.com/danielthebarbarian

Global Recon:

https://www.instagram.com/blackopsmatter

https://www.instagram.com/mission_critical

Chantel Taylor:

https://www.instagram.com/altern8rv

http://stormtacticalconsu.wixsite.com/stormtactical

GRP 86-The Tip of the Spear-An Operator’s Perspective|Storm Tactical Consulting

August 2, 2017

Click the buttons below to access the full episode on ITunes (Apple users), or Sound Cloud (Android users). Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you.

On for this week’s podcast is a 20-year veteran of the Army Special Operations Command is the owner of Storm Tactical Consulting Fred. Fred served as a Special Forces Medic for a number of years before trying out and getting selected to serve as an operator in a Special Missions Unit. We discussed the oversaturation of the tactical training industry, and some of the core principles of being an effective gunfighter i.e. mastering the basics. We talked about combat medicine and the evolution of trauma protocols as the wars progressed.

I wanted to get Fred’s take on leadership. He shared a story of a time in Fallujah, Iraq where his Special Forces ODA could have easily avoided an ambush, but due to poor leadership, they walked right into one. Recently I’d listened to a popular podcast on iTunes where the host talked about how ISIS shocked everyone and kind of popped up out of nowhere. This couldn’t be further from the truth so Fred and I discussed a man named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who is the ideological founder of ISIS but was killed in 2006 in Iraq. His followers have continued on the path set forth by him and in recent years we’ve seen the rise of the Islamic State.

Over a long career, Fred has served as an Assaulter, Breacher, Sniper, Human Intel Specialist, and finishing up as a Dog Handler. We touched on PTSD and TBI to close out the episode.

0:00-Intro

2:30- Storm Tactical Consulting

3:37-The oversaturation of the tactical training industry

6:00-Mastering the basics, muscle memory

7:44- Fred’s background 20 years of service as an 18 Delta Green Beret Medic, and later as an operator in the Army’s Special Missions Unit

12:48-Special Operations Combat Medics Course(SOCM) Combat Trauma, Special Forces Medical Sergeant(SFMS) Dentistry, veterinary care, public sanitation, water quality, and optometry. TCCC

17:00-Great leadership

20:55-Story of an avoidable ambush in Fallujah, Iraq under poor leadership

31:38- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and the rise of the Islamic State

38:15-Assaulter, Sniper, Breacher, and a dive into Special Operations Dog Handling

53:39-Traumatic Brain Injury, PTSD

Storm Tactical Consulting:

https://www.instagram.com/storm_tactical_consulting/

Global Recon:

https://www.instagram.com/blackopsmatter

https://www.instagram.com/mission_critical

Chantel Taylor:

https://www.instagram.com/altern8rv