GRP 81-Against All Odds: Two Green Berets overcoming Adveristy| Transnational Terrorism

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GRP 81- Co-hosting for this episode is Army veteran Tim Kolczak founder of The Veterans Project. On with us are two medically retired Green Berets. Mark Belden is a former 18 Delta (Special Forces Medic) who received several traumatic brain injuries during his operational service, and Jared Bullock a former 18 Echo (Special Forces Communications Sergeant) who rode over an IED in Afghanistan. Jared lost his right arm and right leg as well as one of his best friends in the blast. We discuss how both of these men have dealt with their injuries and what it took for them to adjust. We also touched on the topic of terrorism in today's day and age with the recent terror attacks taking place in the United Kingdom. Below is an excerpt.

Tim Kolzcak: I love freedom. I love the freedom of speech. There are certain dangerous viewpoints that can affect the nation. At what point does it become almost like a minority report where you're arresting people for thoughts and speech. Actions are really the problem. I'd rather we stop those types of people from coming in before we get to the point of having to go after people over speech.

Jared Bullock: I didn't want to sit in an office for another 8 years before I retired. I told the Sergeant Major I wanted to retire, and he was kind of butt hurt about it. I'm like ahh well I'm missing half of my body. I started making goals. I did races. I did a bodybuilding competition.

John: That's awesome.

JB: I beat dudes with four limbs. That's got to make you feel like shit (Laughs). This past weekend I met Clint Eastwood. I was speaking to raise money for the Gary Sinise Foundation because they are building up my new home. I made some amputee jokes and they actually laughed at them.

John: Jared and I were in a group chat. They started to joke about his arms, and I remember looking at my phone horrified. I see Jared laughing and going along with the jokes. I guess it takes some getting used to if you haven't been around that.

Tim Kolczak:
www.thevetsproject.com

Jared Bullock:

Instagram: Jared_Bullock

Social Media: The Veterans Project

Global Recon:

www.globalrecon.net

IgRecon – Instagram

BlackOpsMatter- Instagram

Mission_Critical – Instagram

IgRecon- Twitter

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 80-Memorial Day in Mosul: A Special Forces Veteran Returns to Iraq

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GRP 80- Memorial Day has a special place in American culture. It's a day we honor those who were killed in action during all wars fought by this country. Memorial Day is observed as a federal holiday, but there are men and women to which every day is Memorial Day. We have a special episode for this week with Special Forces veteran and co-founder of Raise the Black Bryan Myers who came on to the podcast with us while he's in Mosul, Iraq. Bryan spent his Memorial Day going back to a place where him and many of his American and Iraqi teammates fought and died fighting against Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and now ISIS.

He went to connect with the Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) to bring resources and help with the refugees, help with the families of the fallen, and meet with ISOF Commanders to further discuss the expansion of the role of Raise the Black in Iraq. We talked about unconventional warfare, some of the histories of it behind the region of the middle east. Below is an excerpt:

Bryan Myers: I spent Memorial Day this year trying to do something positive and to honor the guys. I left camp here and headed up to one of the screening points for the refugees. It's a place where they come in after being checked for suicide bombs, unfortunately, its a tactic ISIS has used. I went to see what they needed. Ran an assessment to see where I can help.  Handed out candy to the kids. You can see the pain in these people's eyes, and you get that moment of happiness in showing that love and respect.

I was with ISOF at the front lines for the rest of the day. It's my way to honor the men of ISOF who died fighting, and the men of B 2 3 (Green Berets).

My first trip to Afghanistan I was the Charlie that started the groundwork for Firebase Sweeny. It built into this huge base that was meant to disrupt Taliban movement from Pakistan into Afghanistan. After the deployment on our way out the villages, the women and children were coming out and clapping and waving. The way we messed up in Afghanistan was at first we made them work for the help we gave them. We built them wells but we needed help identifying the Taliban who were rocketing us. We impacted the area so well. People would legit point Taliban guys out right in front of us. "Hey, that guy over there he's Taliban". Eventually, villages started getting things without earning them.

Global Recon:

www.globalrecon.net

IgRecon – Instagram

BlackOpsMatter- Instagram

Mission_Critical – Instagram

IgRecon- Twitter

Bryan Myers:

www.Raisethe.black

www.WIMCF.org

Instagram- Raise_th_Black

Instagram-The_Bearded_Bryan

Chantel Taylor:

Instagram: Mission_Critical

Facebook: Battleworn

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 79-Baptism by Fire: The Resurrection of the Marine Raiders|Bombing in Manchester England

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GRP 79- We'd like to send our condolences out to the victims and families of those killed in the Manchester bombing attack that occurred Monday, May 22nd, in Manchester England. U.K. security forces are conducting several operations in response to the bombing which has killed 22 and wounded over 50.

I had the honor and privilege of having on former Marine Raider Pete Perry. Pete was a Reconnaissance Marine prior to the Marines Special Operations Command (MARSOC) being stood up.  For years the Marine Corps did not have a component within the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and the Marine Raiders became that force. We discuss what that was like and some of the growing pains that come with a special operations unit being stood up having to move at the speed of war.  Below is an excerpt from our conversation:

Pete Perry: This was my 2012 deployment. It was a company clearing operation so we had a handful of MSOT's (Marine Special Operations Teams) with an Army Special Forces team with 3rd Kandak (Afghan Special Forces) with us. During this time my element alone we found 100 pressure plates (IED’s). For this particular mission, we'd inserted and fought all day that first day. You're navigating at night in an extremely highly saturated IED'd area. We got to a compound of interest with one of our Afghan's stepping on an IED. He died. I grabbed about four U.S. with about 15 Afghan commandos and we exited the compound. We were immediately ambushed.

From that point, we fought all day long. We moved about 2 kilometers to a different compound. We were overextended. We had a British Apache Gunship overhead. We were notified that a guy is walking towards our compound. We spot him and plan on letting him get closer before we dumped him. He turns around and runs. I go chasing after him with my buddy we both had a carbine and one magazine. We start shooting at him. He fell in a field 50 feet away from us. The Apache is reporting all of this unbeknownst to us and a lot of ears are listening. We lost visual on the enemy. I see him and he fires a full burst at me. I'm shooting. I button hooked around and shot him in the face. We came under accurate machine-gun fire from the north. We are now out of ammo. I grabbed the dead dudes AK and start returning fire. The trees to the north began to erupt. After the second eruption, we realized it was the apache going on gun runs. On the 3rd gun run, we bounded back. The next day we found a reinforced machine gun bunker to the north and that's where we were taking fire from. Those guys were squared away.

Pete Perry:

Instagram-PeterPerry8

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 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:

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

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Itunes, or Soundcloud. Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you.

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