Senior Chief Candace Esquivel joined the Navy in 2005 as a cryptologic technician with advanced training in signals exploitation systems. From there, she went to the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, where she worked as a SIGINT Geospatial Analyst. 

At Dev Gru, she was selected as an Intelligence Detachment Leading Chief Petty Officer (LCPO) for Tactical Evaluation and Development Squadron THREE, where she deployed and served as a Director of Intelligence (J2) for two rotations in the CENTCOM AOR supporting overseas contingency operations.

She then screened for and was selected for duty at the Joint Cyber Operations Group, where she was a Troop Senior Enlisted Leader before she was selected as the Command Senior Enlisted Leader to establish North Squadron, an O5 operational squadron.

In 2021, Senior Chief Esquivel was selected as a DoD Congressional Fellow for Representative Seth Moulton. While serving in the House of Representatives, she advised the Congressman on technical policy, cyber operations and talent management, and information operations across the DoD.

Senior Chief Esquivel holds a bachelor’s degree in management studies and is pursuing her master’s in management interdisciplinary studies. Currently, she is a policy analyst in the Office of Culture and Force Resilience’s Office of Women’s Policy, where she works to develop and implement policies involving Navy servicewomen in coordination with the higher authorities in the DoD, like the Secretary of the Navy, the Chief of Naval Operations, and the Chief of Naval Personnel. 

More about Candace:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/candace-esquivel-a41669270/

The Valkyrie Project: https://www.thevalkyrieproject.org/

Timestamps:

00:00:22 Introduction to Senior Chief Candace Esquivel

00:01:55 Walkthrough of Candace Esquival’s Career

00:06:01 Role as Signals Analyst and J2

00:07:36 What Type of Signals Are Analyzed?

00:08:27 How Vulnerable Are Smart Devices?

00:12:21 Protecting Yourself from Data Tracking

00:14:59 Protecting Yourself on Social Media

00:17:20 Hilarious Failed Attempts of Espionage

00:18:44 Selection Process for DEVGRU and JCOG

00:25:22 What Does it Mean to Be a Congressional Fellow?

00:28:57 Which Policies Does Candace Esquivel Push For?

00:30:54 What Does the Office of Culture and Force Resilience Do?

00:34:30 Sponsor Note: Fuelmydayfoods.com

00:35:11 Changes for Women in the DoD Communities

00:40:07 Progress in Fertility Services

00:47:29 Possible Toxins During Deployment

00:53:52 New Policies for Women

00:58:20 CFL Training 

01:01:37 Adaptable Training and Modifications for Health and Recovery

01:03:21 Best and Worst Advice Received

01:07:00 Outro

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We all must pay for our food. 

We can't choose not to pay; we only decide how. 

We can pay with our time. 

We can pay with our money. 

Or, we can pay with our health. 

You can invest time to learn how nutrition works and how to cook good meals, and then do the shopping, prep, cooking, storage, and cleanup. With practice, this all becomes easier and more efficient. The longer you go without investing your time, the harder it is to start and the more constrained you will be.

You can pay for somebody else's expertise and have them tell you what to eat. You can pay for a meal delivery service or expensive restaurant meals.

You can save time and money in the short term by not investing in nutrition knowledge, never learning to cook, and buying cheap convenience foods. The costs of following this last strategy take years to accumulate and manifest. The harm it does to gut health, metabolism, cognitive function, and every other process in your body may remain invisible for a long time. It might even seem like a free ride in your teens and early twenties. But eventually, you will pay for it.

This is why the food we eat is so important.

Eating well is hard. And it’s hard for everyone, whether you’re a young athlete trying to juggle training and school, a business traveler trying to stay healthy while living in hotels and airports, or a parent trying to keep yourself and your child alive with minimal sleep and no spare time. It can be even more challenging for military personnel deployed to locations with very few resources.

In this episode, we discuss how to put together a healthy meal on the go, and the science behind how that works, and how it affects our bodies.

Learn more: www.fuelmydayfoods.com

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The idea that no one gets left behind is such a common phrase associated with the special operations community that it’s almost become a cliche. We can hear and say it without thinking about what it means. 

But it’s a critical concept in military operations, particularly in the SOF community, where people often work in small groups behind enemy lines doing dangerous things. 

It’s not enough to carry your own weight. That’s just the baseline, the entry stakes. You also must repeatedly demonstrate that you’re willing and able to carry the weight of one of your teammates when the situation calls for it. It’s crucial to be strong as an individual, but you must also be a strong part of the team. Without both, you don’t have the raw material the SOF community needs. 

This isn’t just a physical capacity, tested by carrying your teammates on your shoulders at the most inconvenient times. It’s a general attitude expressed in countless ways, big and small, physical and otherwise. 

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Andrew is a strength and conditioning coach, business owner, national team powerlifter, and veteran with a tactical operations and physical training background.

As a former Maritime Assault Operator in the U.S. Coast Guard’s Deployable Specialized Forces, Andrew has firsthand experience in high-stakes situations, including anti-terrorism operations, drug and human smuggling interdiction, anti-piracy operations, and executive/dignitary protection. 

He has dedicated himself to coaching and guiding other athletes to set state records and achieve medal-winning performances. He is currently the lead strength and conditioning coach at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, and he has dedicated his career to helping individuals develop physical and mental resilience.

More about Andrew:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-siepka-cscs-9381461b7/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siepka_ludus_/

Timestamps:

00:00:22 Intro to Andrew Siepka

00:01:09 About Andrew’s Career

00:01:51 Was Viral Video of "Submarine Attack at Gunpoint" Andrew’s Unit?

00:03:19 What Led Andrew from Gunner’s Mate to MSST?

00:13:19 Outsourcing Knowledge from Multiple Units

00:14:38 Having Self-Doubt in Selection Courses

00:18:04 Preparing Endlessly vs. Winging It

00:21:27 Operational Life in the Unit

00:26:26 What Does It Mean to Be “An Earner”?

00:27:33 An Example of Andrew Failing Forward

00:32:08 Sponsor Note: Mentorship Course

00:32:30 Transition from Coastguard to Coach

00:41:36 What New Recruits Need to Start and Stop Doing

00:44:37 How Does Andrew’s Background in Powerlifting Affect His Coaching Method?

00:46:40 Andrew’s Career in Powerlifting

00:49:21 How to Powerlift for Decades Without Injury

00:52:13 Different Concepts of Training for Recon Marines

00:54:52 Banded Resistance Training

00:56:03 Things to Address to Handle Heavy Training

01:00:41 Best and Worst Advice Ever Received

01:02:01 Outro

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Tiffany Myrick-Woodley served two decades in the US Army, and played an essential role in the integration of women into the Army’s Combat Arms occupations. She served as a member of Cultural Support Team – Two (CST-2), enabling the 75th Ranger Regiment and Naval Special Warfare Development Group by engaging the Afghan female and adolescent populations prior to the lift of the Combat Exclusion Policy. 

She was also selected to observe and advise on the implementation of standards during gender integration of Ranger School, the Army’s premier leadership course.

Over the span of her military service, Tiffany discovered that real change comes through policy and education. This prompted her to leave the military to influence policy on a broader scale while continuing to provide inspiration, mentorship, and advocacy to future generations. Her ideals prompted her to accept a role as a board member for the Valkyrie Project, a nonprofit organization devoted to the advocacy and support of female service members.

More about Tiffany:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-m-b477671b6/

The Valkyrie Project: https://www.thevalkyrieproject.org/

Timestamps:

00:00:22 Introduction to Tiffany Myrick

00:01:28 Tiffany’s Roles in the Military

00:03:35 Being On the Other Side of Basic Training

00:05:18 One Station Unit Training

00:06:51 What Did Tiffany Learn from Being a Drill Sergeant?

00:10:03 The Cultural Support Team

00:11:14 Selection Course for Cultural Support Team

00:12:52 The White Board System

00:13:15 Being a Student Versus Being Qualified to Do the Job

00:14:54 Ranger Physical Assessment

00:15:45 Working Closely with the Same Partner for an Entire Mission

00:16:48 Room for One Tactically

00:17:38 What Does the Mission Objective Look Like?

00:20:13 Deciding What Looks Important on a Mission

00:20:40 Interacting with the Local Populous

00:22:43 Main Security Concerns on Assignment

00:23:46 Did Tiffany Know Ashley?

00:24:39 Particular Missions That Stood Out to Tiffany

00:29:23 Moments Where Everyone Is Suffering

00:31:11 Wearing NODs (Night Observation Devices)

00:32:01 Lifting the Combat Exclusion Policy

00:32:59 Sponsor Note: Coaching Mentorship Course

00:33:21 Advisory Role to Integrate Women into Ranger School

00:35:25 Identifying Common Characteristics Among Graduates

00:36:00 What Did the Army Learn as Women Were Integrated?

00:38:33 The Gray Man, Middle of the Pack

00:40:46 Why Couldn’t Women Shave Their Heads Like the Men?

00:41:23 When did Tiffany Retire?

00:41:32 What Led Tiffany to the Valkyrie Project in 2023?

00:44:34 Advice for Women in SOF Pipeline

00:46:34 Similar Stories to “The Ranger on a Ridgeline Getting an I.V.”

00:49:21 Best and Worst Advice Ever Received

00:50:59 Outro

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After working with thousands of clients over the last twenty years, we tend to see people make the same mistakes when struggling to work toward their goals. They tend to fall into one of four categories: 

1. Trying to do too many things. 
2. Their values and time & energy allotment are not in alignment.
3. Spending time and energy struggling against the things they can’t change while not fully committing to what they can.
4. Constantly changing goals. 

Today, we will talk about the exercises and mental models we use to help our clients clarify what matters most so they can get unstuck and escape these traps. This isn’t a tome on why you should prioritize health or fitness or anything else. That’s precisely the point. Only you can decide the best way to spend the coin of your life. So, this episode aims to equip you with a few critical tools and mental models to get more clarity and make tough decisions.

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Kathleen Oswald is a Strength and Conditioning Specialist with a Master's in Exercise and Sport Science and is earning her Ph.D. in Cognition and Instruction. She works at Peterson Space Force Base and is the first human-performance professional with a cognitive performance background to work with Space Force Guardians. 

Before that, Kathleen worked under the Cognitive Performance Specialist at the 10th Special Forces Group. By integrating tactical professionals into the design process of her exercises and workshops, she leveraged their expertise to optimize her coaching to help Special Forces operators improve their performance in some of the most challenging aspects of their jobs, such as CQB training. 

Her Ph.D. work in Cognition and Instruction allows her to research optimal programming for cognitive performance, develop a cognitive performance program for the US Space Force, and improve her abilities to teach, coach, and mentor the human performance professionals who serve our nation’s military. 

Aside from her work with the Special Forces and Space Force communities, Kathleen is also an ultramarathon runner, competing in races at 50k, 50-mile, 100k, and 100-mile distances. She is also a nationally qualified powerlifter.

You can get in touch with Kathleen and learn more about her work on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katoswald/


Timestamps:

00:00:22 Intro to Kathleen Oswald

00:01:43 NSCA Tactical Annual Training Session

00:03:15 Cognitive Function and Cognitive Skills

00:04:24 Ensuring Skills Training Transfers to the Real World

00:06:22 Examples of Decision-Making Scenarios 

00:08:06 Training for Selection Courses

00:10:07 Adding Incremental Difficulties During Training

00:11:39 Sponsor Note: Our Book, “Building the Elite” and Mentor Course

00:12:25 Training Via Stress vs. Skill Mastery

00:14:31 Assessing Technical Skills vs. Testing the Skills

00:17:45 Knowing When to Display Certain Attributes

00:18:52 Evaluating What Someone Is Made of

00:20:47 Concocting Tests for Perseverance

00:22:10 Performing with Severe Gastrointestinal Issues

00:25:28 Addressing Imposter Syndrome

00:28:25 Why Younger Generations May Struggle with Self-Regulation

00:31:16 Training in Silence

00:32:23 Being Perpetually Distracted

00:34:07 Evaluation in the Shoot House

00:39:35 Video Training Scenarios

00:41:16 Rapidly Presenting Critical Decisions with Perceptual Learning 

00:44:23 Comparing Different Levels of Skill 

00:47:15 Changes in Eye Movement as Skill Progresses

00:49:38 Emotional and Stress Regulation Assessments

00:53:04 Does Your Fear Response Help or Hurt Your Performance?

00:56:20 How Do You Determine What Foundational Training to Implement First?

01:00:31 Tech Gadgets for Cognitive Skills Training

01:03:49 Improving Cognitive Skills on Your Own

01:06:32 Best and Worst Advice Ever Received

01:09:26 Outro

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In this episode, we discuss the first mental skill we have all of our clients work on developing: mindfulness. 

Mindfulness is the process of observing one's stream of consciousness or mental environment. It’s a form of attention in which one actively attends to one's internal and external experiences. 

You might wonder why we focus on mindfulness first. It probably seems a bit abstract or silly when mental toughness, grit, or resilience are skills that special operators are known for. 

But all of those are outcomes. They are collections of skills and capacities that you may or may not possess depending on your experiences. Instead of leaving it up to chance, we help people develop these skills, starting with the most fundamental and working up to the more complex. 

Just like you need to walk before you can run, you need to know your mind before you can shape it. 

The goal of a mindfulness practice is ultimately to experience life more clearly. The more skillful we become in untangling the difference between reality and our reaction to it, the more impact more complex mental skills will have. 

By working on mindfulness, you’ll sharpen your capacity to be present and skillfully direct the spotlight of your attention. Additionally, you’ll glean daily insights into how your mind works in a variety of situations, including your internal dialogue, emotional responses to pain and fatigue, and what you tend to focus on before, during, and after challenging situations. This forms the basis that amplifies the impact of other mental skills that you’ll practice over time. 

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John Spencer is one of the world’s leading experts on urban warfare. 

He currently serves as the chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, codirects the Urban Warfare Project, and hosts the Urban Warfare Project Podcast at West Point.

In addition to personal experiences from 25 years as an infantry soldier and officer in the US Army, including urban battles in Iraq in 2003 and the Battle of Sadr City in 2008, he has spent over a decade researching, publishing, and lecturing on all facets of urban warfare.  

In the last five years, he has conducted research in India, Israel, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Ukraine. He has served as an advisor to the top four-star general and other senior leaders in the U.S. Army as part of strategic research groups from the Pentagon to the United States Military Academy. He has also trained multiple militaries in urban operations. His research focuses on all military operations in dense urban areas, megacities, and urban and subterranean warfare.

In February 2022, Spencer wrote a guide, The Mini-Manual for the Urban Defender, for Ukrainian citizens on how to defend their cities. The manual was translated into Ukrainian and spread widely across Ukraine. It is now available in sixteen separate languages, with many other translations in the works.

In this episode, we’ll talk with John about the difficulties of urban warfare, his time in Ukraine, his recent trip into Gaza, and much more.

More about John:

Website: JohnSpencerOnline.com

X: https://x.com/SpencerGuard

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencerguard

Timestamps:

00:00:21 Intro to John Spencer

00:01:53 What is The Modern Warfare Institute?

00:03:56 Leading Academics Pushing Propaganda for Terrorist Organizations

00:05:29 Why is Urban Warfare so Hard?

00:09:21 The Battle of Stalingrad

00:10:50 Urban Legends/Myths about Modern Warfare

00:12:55 What’s Changed in Subterranean Warfare?

00:16:41 What is so Challenging About Subterranean Warfare?

00:21:25 Will People’s Perception of Russia Change?

00:25:40 General Sun-Tzu

00:26:10 Defeat Your Enemy Without Fighting

00:29:08 What Happens if Russia Wins the Propaganda War?

00:32:01 Gaza and Hamas

00:34:33 How Many Civilians are Killed in the Crossfire?

00:42:53 What if We Just Let Hamas Go?

00:48:04 Proxy Groups of Iran

00:50:12 Extreme Misogyny in Iran

00:53:15 The Spread of an Ideology

00:56:03 Eradicating Extremist Ideologies Efficiently

01:02:00 “Pay for Slay” Program

01:03:04 Independence of Gaza in 2005

01:04:00 Responsibilities of Israel for the Conditions in Gaza

01:05:11 Hamas Leadership Using Economic Oppression

01:07:55 Outro

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Meg Tucker began her career as an Army Kiowa Warrior pilot. After the Kiowa was removed from the Army inventory, Meg was assessed and selected for Army Special Operations as a Psychological Operations officer. She has served in several conventional, Joint, and SOF roles in South Korea, El Salvador, and Syria. She left military service as a Major in 2023. 

In 2018, Meg founded The Valkyrie Project to fill the need for intuitive, woman-centric human performance training in the wake of the revocation of the Combat Exclusion Rule. Valkyrie is now a 501c3 nonprofit focused on the advancement of American servicewomen through research, education, and advocacy. Meg currently serves as the President of the Board of VP Inc. She holds a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Modern Languages from Winthrop University and a Master's of Science in Information Strategy and Political Warfare from the Naval Postgraduate School.

More about Meg:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meg-tucker-937493207/

More about The Valkyrie Project:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-valkyrie-project/

Website: http://thevalkyrieproject.org

Facebook: @valkyrieprojectus

Instagram: @valkyrieprojectus

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@valkyrieprojectus

Timestamps:

00:00:22 What Languages Does Meg Tucker Speak?

00:02:37 Getting Away with Brazilian Portuguese in Portugal

00:05:42 Relearning Languages

00:06:47 Starting The Valkyrie Project in 2018

00:16:34 Body Armor Changes for Women

00:20:27 Current Progress on Improvements for Women’s Armor

00:22:31 What About MOLLE Packs?

00:26:00 The Skill of Packing a Rucksack

00:29:07 Distribute the Types of Testing for SOF Candidates for More Balanced Athletes

00:31:29 The Valkyrie Project’s Military Women’s Symposium

00:34:05 Worst Advice Ever Received

00:36:18 Good Advice for Everyone in the Service

00:38:34 Outro

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