In 2012, former USMC Sergeant Paul Szoldra started a website satirizing the military. Over the last eleven years that site – The Duffel Blog – has entertained hundreds of thousands of people both within and outside the military. Hosts LTG (Ret.) Leslie C. Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sit down with Szoldra to talk about the effectiveness of satire, some of their favorite Duffel Blog articles, and a certain SMA ranking story from years ago…

Guest:  Former Sgt. Paul Szoldra (USMC), Duffel Blog, Founder and Editor in Chief

If you are interested in supporting AUSA’s educational programs, such as this podcast, please visit www.ausa.org/donate.

Recommendations for future topics are welcome via email at [email protected].

Disclaimer:

AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

After thirty years of heroic service, Colonel (Ret.) Kenny Mintz decided to undertake an epic adventure in 2022 – a walk across the United States, going from Washington, D.C. to southern California. The path allowed him to retrace the route he and his single mother drove when he was a child moving across the country. Hosts LTG (Ret.) Leslie Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sit down with COL Mintz to talk about how football led to his career in the Army, what drew him closer to his mother, and how it’s in our DNA as humans to walk and move.

Guest:  COL (Ret.) Kenny Mintz, Independent Entrepreneur, Kenny Walks, LLC

If you are interested in supporting AUSA’s educational programs, such as this podcast, please visit www.ausa.org/donate.

Recommendations for future topics are welcome via email at [email protected].

Disclaimer:

AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

For the past forty years, Daryl Davis has befriended members of the Ku Klux Klan and convinced (directly and indirectly) over 200 to quit the organization. How has he accomplished this? And how can everyone apply this technique to their own life? Hosts LTG (Ret.) Les Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sit down with Mr. Davis - along with Chaplain (MG) Thomas Solhjem - to chat about the power of conversation, the beauty of music, and how the Army uses Mr. Davis' experience to help soldiers take care of their health, fitness and well-being.

Guests:

Daryl Davis, Race Relations Expert and Musician, Actor and Author, Lyrad Productions

Recommendations for future topics are welcome via email at [email protected].

If you are interested in supporting AUSA’s educational programs, such as this podcast, please visit www.ausa.org/donate.

Music Credits:

Going Back To The Country, Karen Lee, and One Foot In The Graveyard; Written and performed by Daryl Davis; Courtesy of Lyrad Music and BMI Publishing.

Disclaimer:

AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

MSG Tim Kennedy was living a life without purpose until he joined the U.S. Army and then became an MMA fighter. Those two organizations allowed him to channel his aggression and led to a career as a top-ranked fighter, Army Special Forces sniper, television host, human trafficker hunter and entrepreneur. Series co-hosts LTG (Ret.) Les Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sit down with  MSG Tim Kennedy to talk about how failure continues to drive him, how to take punches, and how a Captain’s dry humor changed his life.

Guest: MSG Tim Kennedy, co-author of Scars and Stripes: An Unapologetically American Story of Fighting the Taliban, UFC Warriors, and Myself

Recommendations for future topics are welcome via email at [email protected]. 

Disclaimer:

AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

From the battlefields to the barracks to the boardrooms, Army Matters will find the best individuals and stories to entertain and inspire you. Produced by the Association of the United States Army. Subscribe and follow now.

Recommendations for future topics are welcome via email at [email protected]. 

Disclaimer:

AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

Johnny Morris, founder and CEO of the ever-present Bass Pro Shops, one of the world’s largest outdoor retail chains, makes his very first podcast appearance in today’s episode. New series co-hosts LTG (Ret.) Les Smith and SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sit down with Johnny to chat about how his father’s involvement in WW2’s Battle of the Bulge inspired him to make veterans and the military a priority for the business (and in life), how a love of fishing (and a mail catalog) led to the company’s success, and how one patriotic song (and its singer) has also inspired Johnny to give back to the country.

Guest: Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops founder and CEO

Recommendations for future topics are welcome via email at [email protected]. 

Disclaimer:

AUSA’s Army Matters podcast primary purpose is to entertain. The podcast does not constitute advice or services. While guests are invited to listen, listeners please note that you are not being provided professional advice from the podcast or the guests. The views and opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA.

Military spouse. Mother. Behavioral therapist. And AUSA Volunteer Family of the Year. Amanda Tomasura has spent the last fourteen years aiding her communities; she sits down with host Holly Dailey to discuss the importance of giving back to the community, how putting teens through boot camp can be an incredibly positive experience, and perhaps her most terrifying moment – jumping out of a plane.

Guest: Amanda Tomasura, 2022 AUSA Volunteer Family of the Year Recipient

Host: Holly Dailey

Recommendations for future topics are welcome via email at [email protected]. 

Lt. Colonel Jacob Helgestad was fast asleep in Kuwait when someone knocked at his door in mid-August, 2021. “Hey, Sir, we gotta go to Afghanistan.” Within 24 hours Helgestad’s 625 troops were landing at Hamid Karzai International Airport and in the thick of a mass evacuation. Host Colonel (Ret.) Scott Halstead speaks with Helgestad about how he had his team prepared for that very moment, the role the unit played in evacuating 124,000 people, and how science fiction military novels are a great escape (and also a tutorial).

Host: COL (Ret.) Scott Halstead

After a painful medical diagnosis, Chief Warrant Officer 5 (Ret.) Chad Butters and his wife Jodi decided to change their lives, leading them to pursue their passion about the outdoors, faming and starting a distillery. Host SMA (Ret.) Dan Dailey sits down with Chad at Eight Oaks Distillery, drinks in hand, to talk about Chad’s Army career, some sound advice for entrepreneurs and (most importantly?) what spirits he recommends.

• Guest: CW5 (Ret.) Chad Butters, Founder and CEO, Eight Oaks Farm Distillery

Resources: 

Eight Oaks Farm Distillery

What makes a battlefield hero? Is it upbringing, training, and being placed in a specific situation? Or a combination thereof? Host Joe Craig sits down with Dr. Raymond James Raymond, author of the book Elite Souls: Portraits of Valor in Iraq and Afghanistan, to discuss five heroes he profiled. Learn how their moral courage led them each to saving the lives of many, how these officers’ upbringings and West Point experiences influenced them, and how Dr. Raymond’s cousin’s exploits in World War II inspired him from a very young age.