GRP 83-Operation Nimrod: The Story of the Iranian Embassy Siege by SAS Staff Sergeant Rusty Firmin

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GRP 83- We have the distinct honor and privilege of having on 22 SAS Staff Sergeant Rusty Firmin. Rusty was the blue team leader during the Iranian embassy siege in London, May 1980. The footage captured by the British media show SAS assaulters storming the embassy in which they rescued 19 hostages and killed 5 of the 6 terrorists. The major motion picture "6 Days" is a film about the embassy siege that is based on Rusty's book " Go! Go! Go!: The SAS. The Iranian Embassy Siege. The True Story".

Below is an excerpt:

John Hendricks: This incident was really the first time the world caught a glimpse of what counter-terrorism and hostage rescue is really about. It shocked the world.

Rusty Firmin: That's right. The incident lasted for six days until the resolution was put in on the 5th of May and the mission, of course, was to rescue the hostages. That's exactly what the red and blue teams of B Squadron did all of those years ago.  That was never supposed to be shown on TV. Part of the plan was when the assault did go in it was supposed to be smoked off so nobody could see. What happened is the prime minister (Margret Thatcher) said "We're not going to do that. We're going to show the world how we deal with terrorist" and that's exactly what happened. There was nobody more surprised than me when I finished the operation a few hours later to see it being run on TV when Mrs. Margret Thatcher sat with us in Regence Park Barracks and we were all going "what happened there?"  (Laughs).

I became blue team commander by day 5. The guy I took over from Roy, went to make the distraction charge which is the one you heard that initiated the assault. Once they killed Mr. Lavasani everything changed. Unless they threw their hands up and ran out this was it. It took 16 minutes for us to get into our final assault positions covertly. The idea was to hit everything simultaneously. It was 56 rooms on 6 levels. We had 34 guys ready to go. As soon as we got the go, big loud explosion and we went in. The guy who shot Lavasani came down passed me I saw his hand grenade so I spun him around and shot him.

Global Recon:

www.globalrecon.net

Rusty Firmin:

www.rusty-firmin.com

IgRecon – Instagram

BlackOpsMatter- Instagram

Mission_Critical – Instagram

IgRecon- Twitter

Chantel Taylor:

Instagram: Mission_Critical

Facebook: Battleworn

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 82-Killing in Combat: A Navy SEALs perspective on killing on the battlefield

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GRP 82-Today marks the 12th anniversary of Operation Red Wings with what was at the time the worst loss of life for American forces in Afghanistan, and the worse loss of life for Naval Special Warfare in their storied history.

Back on the podcast is retired U.S. Navy SEAL and New York Times bestselling author Kevin Lacz. Kevin is trained as Corpsman (Medic) and a Sniper. This places Kevin and those like him on opposite ends of the spectrum of combat arms in taking life on the battlefield and saving it. Chantel Taylor the co-host of the show served as a Combat Medic in the British Army. During a tour in southern Afghanistan, a convoy she was traveling in was ambushed. In the ensuing battle, Chantel became the first British woman in history to kill an enemy in close quarters. We talked about the psychology of killing in combat which Kevin touched on in his book. Below is an excerpt from the podcast:

Kevin Lacz: I read "On Killing" prior to my first deployment. It made a mark in the back of mind. At the end of that first deployment, I was like ok I fall in that 2 percent crowd that can conduct business and keep going without the psychological and physiological changes that are experienced by most. In most memoirs, you won't read about how killing effects you. Most people just write about being a tough guy, but there hasn't been much of a psychological approach of having gone through combat and how it affects you. How you sleep at night. It's important to read about how you put your feet in front of you as you walk down the street, but also what you're thinking when you're about to squeeze the trigger and you have someone in the crosshairs.

Also then 10, 20, 30 seconds, 10 mins, or even 3 years later how you react to that situation. That's what drives people to dig deeper and read more.   

Global Recon:

www.globalrecon.net

IgRecon – Instagram

BlackOpsMatter- Instagram

Mission_Critical – Instagram

IgRecon- Twitter

Kevin Lacz:

The Last Punisher: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0176M3PUG/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

www.kevinlacz.com

Instagram: RealKevinLacz

Facebook: KevinDauberLacz

Twitter: Dauber246

Music provided by Caspian. www.caspianmusic.net

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

Click the buttons below to access the full episode on Itunes for Apple devices, or Soundcloud for Android devices. Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you. Itunes, or Soundcloud. Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you.

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

Click the buttons below to access the full episode on Itunes for Apple devices, or Soundcloud for Android devices. Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you. Itunes, or Soundcloud. Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you.

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