What happens when a Navy intel specialist fails BUD/S – twice – and decides to run toward the next hard thing anyway?

In this Operator Series episode of Build Your A-Team, Freddie and Charlsey sit down with Nathan Sable, Market Area President at Apex Service Partners, where he oversees multiple HVAC brands across Central and Southern Virginia. Nathan’s path to leadership wasn’t conventional — from U.S. Navy Intel to Cyber Command and the DIA, from Deloitte consulting to commercial fishing in Alaska and mold restoration — and now leading one of Apex’s top-performing markets. It’s a story built on discipline, resilience, and executing when it counts.

Nathan breaks down:
◦ Why no one is ever “qualified” to run a business
◦ What failing BUD/S taught him about leadership and resilience
◦ How Intel tradecraft translates into running a PE-backed operator business
◦ How active listening builds trust across every level of a company

If you’re a veteran transitioning into business, a PE operator, or a leader building teams at scale – this episode is for you. Because winning isn’t about pedigree; it’s about discipline, execution, and taking care of your people.

In this episode, Freddie Kim and Charlsey Mahle sit down with Tasha Smith, a retired Army Sergeant First Class and former Drill Sergeant, now General Manager at Victors Home Solutions, overseeing two branch locations (Cincinnati + Columbus) across a massive regional footprint. With zero prior roofing industry experience, Tasha shares how she translated military leadership into civilian execution – and why culture, expectations, and being present with your people still win every time.

If you’re a veteran transitioning, a leader building teams, or an operator scaling execution – this one is packed with real tools.

#OperatorMindset #HomeServices #ScalingTeams #VeteranLeadership #ExecutionDiscipline

🎙️ The Bring You A Team (BYAT) Podcast spotlights veteran leaders building teams with resilience, clarity, and impact. Hosted by Freddie Kim of MilSpec Talent.

🔔 If this episode helped you level up your team: like, subscribe, and share with a veteran leader who needs it.

Connect with our guest: 
🎖 Retired Army Sergeant First Class & Drill Sergeant. 🪜 General Manager at PE-Backed Firm. 🎓 Master’s candidate in Psychology.
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tashareneesmith/
 🏢 Victors Home Solutions: http://www.victors.com/
📘 Resources: 
Backwards Planning — a military-inspired method for learning fast and setting priorities
Tell • Show • Do — a structured approach to training and developing people
“You can’t expect what you don’t inspect” — driving execution through presence and accountability

In this episode of Bring Your A-Team, Freddie Kim sits down with two Veteran founders running recruiting businesses from totally different angles — Stephen Hrutka (HRUCKUS) and Ryan Hogan (Talent Harbor). They break down what actually works in hiring, what’s total nonsense, and how founders can build teams that scale without getting trapped by bad process, bad JDs, or bad assumptions.

Ryan Hogan is Founder & CEO of Talent Harbor, a Navy veteran (former aircrewman and commissioned officer) and multi-time entrepreneur. After exiting Hunt A Killer, Ryan built a recruiting model focused on Recruiting-as-a-Service — a flat monthly approach — primarily for EOS companies hiring sales talent.

Stephen Hrutka is Principal Consultant at Hrutkas LLC (SDVOSB), delivering management consulting and recruiting solutions across SLED (state/local/education) and supporting veteran-owned and 8(a) firms across federal, DoD, and IC-adjacent work. Former Navy SWO, Wharton MBA, with prior experience at Gartner and A.T. Kearney.

From stalking astronauts as a kid to launching a large-format 3D printer on Kickstarter, Major Samantha Snabes has taken bold, thoughtful risks. She’s the Co-Founder & Catalyst at re:3D, the company behind Gigabot — a large-format industrial 3D printer that can run on polymers or shredded plastic waste.

In this BYAT episode, Sam breaks down how she built a mission-driven team that will “run through brick walls,” why she doesn’t believe in competitors, and how she balances bootstrapping, research, and service in the Air National Guard. Hear how re:3D grew from a NASA side project to printers in 50+ countries — all fueled by grit, curiosity, and an abundance mindset.

#3DPrinting #AdditiveManufacturing #HardwareStartup

Travis Bloomfield is an Air Force Veteran and the CEO & Managing Partner of Provisio, Salesforce’s largest consultancy dedicated to human services and social sector organizations. He shares his journey from air traffic controller to leading one of the nation’s most impactful mission-driven consultancies — built on grit, purpose, data expertise, and the emerging power of agentic AI. After six years in the Air Force, Travis entered IT consulting, eventually serving as COO for two firms before founding Provisio. Under his leadership, the company has earned four consecutive placements on the Inc. 5000, a spot on the IVMF Veteran 100, and recognition as one of Crain’s Best Places to Work in Chicago (2024).

This conversation dive into workforce culture, hiring with character, building stability through trust, and the technical future of human services, from homelessness to behavioral health.

#AgenticAI #HumanServicesTech #SalesforceConsulting

Vulnerability as a leadership superpower? Brian Handley runs a 175-year-old, fifth-generation foodservice company — and says the quiet part out loud: you don’t need all the answers to build an elite team. We dig into right-seat/right-role moves, KPI cultures that actually help people grow, and a raw, hopeful conversation on veteran mental health, meditation, and daily discipline.

Brian Handley is President of Palmer Food Services, serving 2,000+ customers across NY, CT, and NJ. A former Army infantry officer, he built his career in operations and supply chain with Wegmans, Raymour & Flanigan, and Constellation Brands before joining Palmer in 2021. Under his leadership, Palmer earned the 2024 Certified Angus Beef Independent Distributor Marketer of the Year. He’s also a Rochester Business Journal 40 Under 40 and Veteran Business Council “Member of the Year.”

Veteran founder Yolanda Clarke — Army Reserve Major and CEO of Powder River Industries — joins BYAT to show how process becomes culture: ISO that actually runs the business, “workflow bosses” who map reality, and a hiring system with clear KPIs and no-compromise standards. We get candid on handling bad hires with grace and evidence, leading remote teams through values and templates, and making decisive calls without burning bridges. Through disciplined execution and vision, Yolanda Clarke has established Powder River Industries as a certified SDVOSB, WOSB, and 8(a) federal contractor — ISO 9001-registered and trusted to deliver IT solutions across U.S. Government missions.

If you’re building a team in gov/tech or beyond, this will sharpen how you define the work, coach for performance, and scale what works. Tune in and listen now.

Former Marine Corps Captain James Han went from slinging wigs in Gary, Indiana to President & CEO of Triage Partners, a telecom services and supply-chain software platform that’s scaled from 120 → 400 employees across 20 states. In this episode, James breaks down how veterans can enter new industries fast, why recruiting was Job #1, and how to balance humility with confidence to win trust and deliver results. We dig into topgrading, root cause analysis, and the ETA (entrepreneurship through acquisition) path — including his recent Benton Technical Services acquisition to offer full turnkey fiber construction.

From Gulf War Veteran to AI Tech, CEO Barbara Jones-Brown served in the U.S. Army during Operation Desert Storm. Now, she is just as fierce leading Freeing Returns™, an AI platform helping retailers recover millions in lost revenue. She shares how grit, optimism, and a mission-ready mindset fuel startup resilience, what she learned raising capital from Serena Williams and Morgan Stanley, and why agentic AI is reshaping enterprise operations. Barbara’s journey is a blueprint for Veterans and entrepreneurs: running toward challenges, translating structured problem-solving from the battlefield to the boardroom, and finding opportunity where others see obstacles.

Rudy Cazares is a 15-year Marine Corps Veteran who led 400+ Marines and now leads high-performance delivery teams in New York. He founded Kazar Logistics in 2020 with 8 drivers; today his companies employ 200+, operate Amazon DSP routes, run Manhattan’s 24/7 same-day e-bike delivery, and manage FedEx routes through Joint Ops Logistics, earning FedEx’s Gold Contractor award twice. A Queens native and son of Mexican immigrants, Rudy builds culture with EOS discipline while keeping safety and people first. He is the 2024 Veteran Entrepreneur Award honoree, supports Nourish (2M+ meals for veterans), and coaches leaders on execution and team building.