GRP 58-Assassination, Terror in Germany, Navy EOD Tech

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GRP 58-A lot has been going on in the past 24 hours with Russia's ambassador to Turkey being assassinated in Turkey, as well as a terrorist attack in Berlin. We are proud to announce that we've revamped the article section for the website and have put together a solid team of writers to release content very soon.

 On with me for this week's podcast is active duty Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician (EOD) Damian. We discuss what led him to join the Navy and talk about his career throughout. Damian gives you guys a combat story from his first rotation, and most importantly we talk about those Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice. We discuss what it's like to lose someone you love, and how it can motivate you to work extremely hard as it has done for both of us. Below is an excerpt.

John: Spending the amount of time you've spent in EOD you've had some guys who've lost limbs, as well as having lost some of your brothers in combat. Is there anyone you'd like to pay a tribute to?

Damian: There's a lot. We just Jason Finan in October from my unit Mobile Unit 3. That hit us hard. He was, in my opinion, EOD Tech I've ever been around. I can't think of anyone more highly regarded than him in my field. He was a good man. I remember telling the guys in my division before he came through with his platoon when he finished you'll say that's the best EOD Tech that ever came through and they all agreed. It was a huge loss. They're all huge. I remember getting the phone call and I just could not.....we're still reeling from that. Jan 2nd, 2012 we lost Chad Regelin. We went to Afghanistan together in Aug 2010. We'd come home from that one and he'd volunteered to go right back. He was with an ODA from 5th Group in Helmand when he was killed. That's still very hard.......you know.... he was such a good kid. It's really hard because to me he was so young.

He was extremely humble; they were aggressive without being reckless. We lost Shawn Carson. We lost Christian Pike he was a CCT (Combat Control Technician). Killed in a firefight that we were in. We always lose the best people. Mark Forester was a CCT that I worked with. My first IED strike was the one he ran over. Calvin Harrison the same day Mark was killed. He was an 18 Delta. Pat Feeks was a SEAL that I worked with. You cross paths with some many people.

John: It's crazy because you go right through the door with the IED, you move and the guys behind you set it off. You're standing in one spot a second later the next guy standing in that same spot gets shot. I use the personal loss as my motivation to honor the memory of the people I lost. You almost feel like they're watching you.

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 57-Slovenian Special Forces Medic, Kosovo, Albania

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GRP 57-  Co-hosting for this podcast is British Army Combat Medic Chantel Taylor. I had a conversation with retired Slovenian Special Forces Medic "Sidik". Slovenia is a small country located in Eastern Europe. We talk about Sidik's time in the Mechanized Infantry in which he has a peacekeeping deployment into Kosovo. During the 1990's the Serbian government was pushing into the Serbian region of Kosovo which is mostly home to ethnic Albanians.

I have good friends of mine who are Albanian, and I remember a time when their fathers left the U.S. to go and help in the effort countering the Serbian advances. The Serbian military pressed into Kosovo and commenced acts of genocide, and ethnic cleansing. The United States and its allies deployed into Kosovo and bombed targets inside Serbia to stop their advances. Sidik upon his return from Kosovo began his journey into the Slovenian Special Forces Regiment. He became a Special Forces Medic and underwent his medical training here in the States alongside American Special Operations Medics. Sidik has a combat rotation into Afghanistan alongside a Green Beret Special Forces ODA. Below is an excerpt from our conversation:

John: A lot of times until something bad happens people believe it could never happen until it's too late. We end up reacting. Having basic knowledge of bleeding control and tourniquet use could make a difference. Let's say someone gets in a car crash and you have a bilateral amputation of your lower leg, with a tourniquet and understanding of how to use it someone's life can be saved.

Can you share with the audience a story of your deployment?

Sidik: We were mentoring the Afghan Police, we ran armed reconnaissance, direct action in going after high-value targets. We went on a big operation into a valley that was Taliban-held territory. The plan was to have one team to set up over watch on top of the mountain with the other team clearing out the valley. I was on over watch. My team consisted of three Slovenians, and two Americans and a bunch of Afghani's. We started out with a couple of hundred guys, but upon reaching the top of the hill it turned out to only be us, and the American's (laughs). We got into a firefight and called in CAS (Close Air Support), but even with the gunships, these guys were still hammering us. When the op was over walking back down the hill suddenly we got 10 guys with us, and then 50 people, and by the time we got back down the hill, we had 300 guys with us again (laughter).

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 56-2 Commando, Eddy Robinson, Iraq, Counter Terrorism

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GRP 56-Co hosting for this podcast is Army veteran Tim Kolczak the man behind the Veterans Project. On with us for this podcast is Australian Special Forces Veteran Eddy Robinson. Eddy has multiple combat rotations with the 2 Commando Regiment. We discuss Eddy's career path, get into some combat stories, and honor Eddy's best friend Corporal Cameron Baird, VC, MG. Corporal Cameron Baird is the first Australian commando to be awarded a Victoria Cross and the first posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia. Corporal Baird is also the 100th Australian to be awarded a Victoria Cross. He's one of Australia’s most highly decorated soldiers of the modern era. We discuss Iraq, counter-terrorism, and Afghanistan. Below is an excerpt from the episode:

John: I'm reading about the rise and roots of ISIS. A lot of it is credited a to the Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The U.S. named him as one of the reasons for going into Iraq when he was just in charge of a small terror cell prior to that. After naming him it catapulted him into the spotlight.  Making him a major player. He then stoked the flames for a civil war between Sunni and Shia Muslims throwing the country into chaos.

Eddy Robinson:  My experience there was from a contracting perspective 05-06 period. Every morning before 10'o clock you hear the huge IED's being detonated. For the guys on the ground, it was relentless.  Zarqawi was the perfect catalyst for making the situation worse. We got our intelligence reports about mass graves being found on the side of the road. People being mass executed by these guys. It was a very difficult situation during that time.

Tim Kolczak: I joined in 05 I was 17. My drill sergeants were coming back from their 18-month tours. You could just tell how it affected them. We were the first trainees to get trained up by these guys. I remember the recruiter telling me not to become a truck driver because 1 in 5 was getting killed. One of the guys I knew was killed by a Somali contingent in Samarra. We were fighting people from all over the globe.

The Veterans Project:

www.thevetsproject.com

Social media: TheVeteransProject

Global Recon:

Social Media: IgRecon/BlackOpsMatter on Instagram

FB Recon on Facebook

IgRecon on Twitter

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 55-SAS Major DR. Dan Pronk, TacMed Australia, RIP Scott Cooper Dayton

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GRP 55-First and foremost I want to send my condolences to the family of Senior Chief Petty Officer Scott Cooper Dayton, 42. Dayton is the first American service member to die to fight the Islamic State in Syria was a decorated and highly experienced Navy explosive ordnance disposal specialist.

On with me for this podcast is Australian SAS Major Dr. Dan Pronk. Dan did multiple deployments and was the regimental medical officer for both 2 commandos and SASR (Special Air Service Regiment). Dr. Dan completed his medical schooling on an Army scholarship and served the majority of his military career with Special Operations Units, including four tours of Afghanistan and over 100 combat missions. Dr. Dan was awarded the Commendation for Distinguished Service for his conduct in action on his second tour of Afghanistan. We discuss bleeding control, how to treat internal bleeding, and prolonged field care. Major Pronk is the Medical Director for Tac Med Australia which provides training for civilians, military, and police tactical units in Australia. Below is an excerpt from the podcast:

John: One good thing to come out of this Global War on Terror is the advancement of medical treatment.  There are various methods and procedures that have been effective at saving lives on the battlefield. One thing you said that interested me was a way to slow down internal bleeding. Can we talk about that a little bit?

SAS Major DR. Pronk: Medical literature goes back and forth on how useful this drug is. The name of the drug is Tranexamic acid or referred to as TXA. It's not a new drug, but its only in the last decade or so that people have been looking at it in a new light. The biggest cause of preventable death on the battlefield was people bleeding out so hence the use of arterial tourniquets.  The Soldiers might have stepped on an IED and got horrendous bilateral lower leg amputations if you can put a tourniquet high above that wound and cut off the blood flow to that leg you can prevent him from bleeding out.

If it's a little bit higher maybe in the groin or the armpit, it's what we call junctional bleeds. It's too high on a limb to a tourniquet. So that's where your quick clot and hemostatic dressing come in. You can cram that into the wounds and the chemicals in those dressings can speed up the clotting process and stem the bleeding.  Once you get bleeds inside the body, the chest, the abdomen, the pelvis areas where you can drop a huge amount of blood but can't get a tourniquet or quick clot on is difficult to control. The key there is to get that person to a surgical facility quickly.

TXA or Tranexamic Acid the concept of it is when your body starts bleeding chemicals in your body will identify it and try to stop that bleeding. It's an evolutionary process that stops us from bleeding out. As soon as your body starts forming clot chemicals will break down the clots. TXA inhibits the system that breaks down clots. TXA stops the system of breaking down the clot.

Dan Pronk:

http://www.tacmedaustralia.com.au/

https://www.facebook.com/TacmedAustralia/

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 54-Dave Maynard, Navy SEAL, Global Response Staff, Warfighter Academy

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GRP 54- We have a special guest on for today's podcast. Dave Maynard is a lead instructor at Warfighter Academy, and a retired U.S Navy SEAL who made it into the Teams in 1972 just missing the Vietnam war. Dave left the Navy after a couple of years as the SEALs were downsizing after the war. During this time, he worked repairing Navy ships as a contractor, as well as working in different capacities in the realm of tactical development for Fleet Training Center.  Once the Global War on Terror kicked off Dave became a contractor for the U.S Government's Global Response Staff. Below is an excerpt from our conversation.

John: You joined the SEAL Teams just as the Vietnam war was winding down, worked as a ship repairing contractor, developed tactics with the Fleet Training Center, then became a GRS Contractor working for the Government.

Dave Maynard: In 2006 in Iraq we got into a major gun battle. I took a round in my helmet. We had to rescue three guys that were trapped in a vehicle. Surrounded by a lot of enemy fighters just pounding these guys. We got into a big firefight but got these guys out. We were having some contract issues. Black Water lost the contracts and they wanted us to switch over to a different company. Now they’re trying to pay us $400 a day during a time that more contractors were getting killed then during any other time of the war. I told them they’re going to lose all of the talent, and fast.  So we had the GRS heads come in and they said you know what screw all the contractors we’ll just direct hire these guys.

Now I can go to Amman Jordan, Uzbekistan, or wherever they want to send me so we go wherever they want us to go. The guys in Benghazi were typical GRS guys. Outnumbered, outgunned, but they fought like lions. 

Dave Maynard:

www.warfighteracademy.com

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net