GRP 78- Don’t Fear The Reaper: Nick Irving's Journey as a Sniper in the GWOT

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GRP 78-On for this week's episode is former Army Ranger Sniper and New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Irving. Nick served for several years in the military all with Ranger battalion. We discussed his journey as the child of two military parents and what motivated him to join the Army. We talked about mindset and some of the qualities that you need to succeed in anything you want to do in life. There is a lot of laughing going on in this episode so please bare with us. We talked some of the psychology of being a sniper which you guys might find interesting. Nick also shared some combat stories from his time as a sniper with the 3rd Ranger battalion. Below is an excerpt:

Nick Irving: I didn't learn until the first time I pulled the trigger with a sniper rifle is how intimate it is. We weren't getting shot at. There were 6 Taliban guys. A certain portion of Helmand province was shut down and Taliban commanders were killed that day. Me and my spotter are zooming in with our scopes, and we see the outline of a chest rack. Then we can see the outline of an AK-47. I remember getting the call for clearance to shoot these guys and right as we got that call a round cracks passed us. I remember dumping one guy and they started to scatter, but then they stopped and stood there. It was the strangest thing.

My first mission into Helmand province we got ambushed from this rooftop. I got off the helo and once we got off the ramp the skyline lit up. Maybe its a party I don’t know. I remember this tracer round whizzing passed and we got lit up a little bit. We got up onto this roof. I and my spotter get up on the roof and his gun jams. I'm like dude screw it just light me up. He puts on his IR flood and lights up the targets. You can see the enemy's eyes blinking.  I remember putting the cross hairs right in between this dude's eyeballs. I squeeze off a round the round misses. As dumb as he is the guy sticks his head back up and the next shot connects.

Nick Irving:

www.reaper33.com

OfficalReaper33-Instagram

Global Recon:

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Mission_Critical – Instagram

IgRecon- Twitter

Chantel Taylor:

Instagram: Mission_Critical

Facebook: Battleworn

Music provided by Caspian:

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GRP 77-Defiant: A Green Beret Overcoming Adversity|RIP 1st Lt. Weston Lee.

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1st Lt. Weston Lee

GRP 77- This week we bring somber news. 1st Lieutenant Weston C. Lee, 25, of Bluffton, GA died Apr. 29th, outside Mosul, Iraq, when he stepped on an IED (improvised explosive device) while conducting security as part of advise and assist support to partnered forces NE of Mosul. 1st Lieutenant Weston C. Lee was an infantry officer assigned to 1st Battalion, 325th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. Weston's good friends Josh Porter, and Marcus created a YouCaring crowdfunding page for Weston's family. https://www.youcaring.com/theleefamily-814467

Please donate, and share the youcaring page. Check out Josh on @sir.jumps.alot on Facebook and Instagram as he will give updates on when Weston will arrive at Arlington National Cemetery we encourage people to show up if possible and support the Lee family. Chantel Taylor and I had a conversation with former Army Green Beret Alan Shebaro. Alan lived in Europe for a number of years growing up as his father was a contractor with the U.S. government. Upon his return to the States Alan joined the Army. After a number of years, Alan reached a crossroad. He either went pro as a mixed martial arts fighter or went to Special Forces selection. He told us a story of a time in Iraq in which he was on an 18-hour mission hunting terrorist.

Upon his return to base Alan barely had enough energy to take off his gear as he sat and ate cereal. He looked up at the television and saw his training partner Travis Lutter win the Ultimate Fighter 4 with that victory securing his title fight against UFC legend Anderson Silva. Alan was 1 of only 4 Black Belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the U.S. Army and is the first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt in Special Forces Regiment. Alan went through a dark period upon leaving the military and he talks about it in great detail, and what helped him get out of that dark space. He is now the Vice President of the We Defy Foundation which through Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and fitness training provides combat veterans suffering from life-disabling injuries and/or PTSD a long-term means to overcome their challenges. Below Alan shares a story from his first deployment which involves MSG Stephen Walker Booth a Green Beret who died in a motorcycle accident here in the States:

Alan: We were already hearing the pings on the vehicle. My heart rate was over 200. I stepped out the vehicle and took 3 steps then hear a whip and saw a spark on the ground. A round missed my head and went by my foot. Everything was chaos. Blurs of colors. It wasn't that I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to do with the training I received to apply in this situation. I'll never forget this. Walker Stephen Booth. This guy comes running right passed me yelling out " I'm going to come at you like a spider monkey boy" laughing his ass off. I was in shock. He's making jokes in a firefight. The weirdest thing happened. Almost instantly the blur disappeared. I could hear crisped sounds. Everything slowed down and I jumped in with one of the cells. Everything clicked. It was all based off what Walker said. It was my 5th or 6th firefight. That affected my career in every single fight after that. In 3rd Group he's a legend.  

Alan Shebaro
Co-Founder/Director
We Defy Foundation™
www.WeDefyFoundation.org
Alan@WeDefyFoundation.org

Global Recon:
www.globalrecon.net

IgRecon – Instagram
BlackOpsMatter- Instagram
Mission_Critical – Instagram
IgRecon- Twitter

Chantel Taylor:
Instagram: Mission_Critical
Facebook: Battleworn

Music provided by Caspian:
www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 76-Who Dares Wins: The Story of SAS Assaulter Jason Falla

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GRP 76-We have a special guest on for this week's podcast. Former Australian SAS trooper Jason Falla who is also the owner of a tactical training company called "Redback One" came on to talk about his journey in the Australian Special Forces world. He spent the first 6 years of his career with the 1st Commando Regiment before then going to SAS selection and finishing out the remaining 6 years of his military service as an SAS an assault team member and patrol medic of a water operations troop in 1 Squadron, 1st SAS Regiment. Jason shared a deployment story with us, and we discussed his post-military career where he worked as an instructor for what was at the time known as Blackwater. He now runs a successful tactical training company which employs former Tier 1 special ops guys working in several facets. We also covered some Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) as both Chantelle and Jason were Combat Medics respectively. Below is an excerpt from the podcast:

Jason Falla: The Australian Special Operations Task Group rolled out after 9/11 into Afghanistan. We were primarily tasked with reconnaissance and surveillance. We had a large area of responsibility.  We had an incident where one of our vehicles struck an anti-tank mine. Our patrol commander was in a bad way. It turned into a situation of being in a minefield. SGT Andy Russell lost a lot of blood. We called a MEDEVAC with American PJ's jumping in. Unfortunately, Andy died on the way to the hospital. We re-postured and made sure we dished back what we got there.

Our next major operation over there was during Operation Anaconda we were the SAS patrol up there. We got a call that a U.S. helo had been shot down. A special operations component was in a break contact situation. We had to re position ourselves and get eyes on the crash site and provided situational awareness, and interdiction of enemy forces. It was a long arduous march in full kit up to an OP. We had an American Combat Controller attached to us. He started bringing in aircraft. We had B-52's coming in fast air, we were calling in predators hot with AC-130's going Winchester. We asked for a Bomb Damage Assessment (BDA) and an American voice came back " Well, I’m following a trail of cold dead bodies"

Jason Falla:

Web: www.redbackone.com

Instagram: Redbackone

Facebook: Redback One

Twitter: @RedbackOne

Global Recon:

www.globalrecon.net

IgRecon – Instagram

BlackOpsMatter- Instagram

Mission_Critical – Instagram

IgRecon- Twitter

Chantel Taylor:

Instagram: Mission_Critical

Facebook: Battleworn

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 75- The Journey Of A British Special Boat Service Operator: Jason Carl Fox

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GRP 75- Chantel Taylor and I begin this week's podcast by discussing some of the recent events taking place in the past week to include the U.S. dropping the largest nonnuclear bomb in its arsenal the MOAB, we also touched on some of the rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula and some other topics.

Our special guest for this week's podcast is former British Special Forces Operator Jason Carl Fox. "Foxy" spent 20 years as a Royal Marine with the last 10 serving as a Special Boat Service commando. Foxy and I met up here in NYC and had an in-person interview. We discussed his background and career in the Royal Marines as well as his personal struggles with PTSD, and separation from the military. He's been very active lately working on television in the U.K. as well as anchoring programs to help veterans transition and teaching mindset and team building. Below is an excerpt:

Foxy: I did multiple deployments predominately to Afghanistan. Everything from counter-narcotics to going after the big hitters on the opposite side. I was also involved in a high-profile hostage rescue operation. That was my last tour of Afghanistan and it was a defining few months for me. Within two days of the beginning of our tour, we went on this hostage rescue. The guy was a New York Times reporter. We were getting shot at in the sky while flying in for a good six minutes. You could see the Chinook behind us getting shot at. You could see air burst RPG's going off. I remember sitting there with a friend of mine and me I thought I was holding my knee and hurting it, but I was holding his and he was holding mine (laughs). We were willing the helicopter to land so we can gain some control over our destiny. We landed and ran off the back and into a crazy firefight. I was a senior guy by this time with multiple tours. I ran about 50 meters and dived into a ditch. The emotion must have been a split second. I remember thinking I wanted to be back at home. I reflected on that moment a lot. What did it mean? We were successful that night but lost a teammate.

Introduction speech by Winston Churchill

Global Recon:

www.globalrecon.net

IgRecon – Instagram

BlackOpsMatter- Instagram

Mission_Critical – Instagram

IgRecon- Twitter

Jason Carl Fox:

Instagram: Jason_Carl_Fox

Twitter: JasonFox1976

Chantel Taylor:

Instagram: Mission_Critical

Facebook: Battleworn

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 74- A Green Beret's Journey Into the Darkness: Countering Child Sexual Exploitation

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GRP 74-Co hosting for this week's podcast is former British Army Combat Medic Chantel Taylor. We have a special guest on a retired Army Special Forces Green Beret named Mike. Mike served as a Tanker in Iraq where he first came across Special Forces. He knew right away that this was something he would like to be a part of someday. He had a growing young family so when his contract was up he got out of the Army. He eventually went back in and became a Green Beret until he was injured and medically retired.

As he was retiring he was approached by an organization that recruits personnel from the Special Operations community in order to hunt down and put a stop to child sexual exploitation here in the United States. For Mike it was a no brainer. He was in. Below is an excerpt from our conversation:

Mike: After I was told I wouldn't be able to be do Green Beret stuff anymore and I could either take a desk job, or medically retire. As I was in the retirement process I got approached by someone. He told me about the Hero Child Rescue Corps. It's recruiting veterans from the Special Operations community who are wounded or disabled. Are you interested? It was to fight child sexual exploitation. I jumped on it. I declined other opportunities to make a lot of money working overseas. I knew this was a once in a lifetime deal. It was to save kids. Now I have 3 kids. Once I retired I went to training for it.

I do computer forensics fighting child sexual exploitation.

John: Its important work. You hear about these kinds of things and immediately you think of places like Africa, but this is happening in the States. I think Americans aren't as aware of it as they should be.

Mike: I was in a class one time. They pulled up a map of the United States. It was a live feed of child pornography being downloaded. Within 15 minutes the entire map was red. You can live in the nicest neighborhood, and you wont know there's pedophile’s in that same area. People in these areas producing it.

www.globalrecon.net
IgRecon – Instagram
BlackOpsMatter- Instagram
Mission_Critical – Instagram
IgRecon- Twitter

www.goruck.com

music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net