KamranAstana was an interpreter for 3rd Battalion 6th Marines

When the Americans left Afghanistan my friend was still there. Anyone who was a fighter reported to the Panjshir Valley to join the Mujahideen resistance.

Rick joins us as a US Army trained Russian-Eurasian expert to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine, one year after.  

 Rick is a former Army Colonel and served at US Embassy Moscow from 2000-2007 leading counterterror, counter-proliferation, and threat reduction cooperation efforts with  Russian Ministries, including the Ministry of Defense.  He was a Harvard University National Security Fellow in 2003, and served in Germany 1996-1999 assigned as an Arms Control Inspector.  He led on-site and international inspection teams throughout Eastern and Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union, monitoring treaties and agreements like the Dayton Accords in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, Conventional Forces in Europe, Intermediate Nuclear Forces, and Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions.  Rick, a senior paratrooper and jumpmaster, was assigned in his basic branch, Military Police, to Fort Bragg (Airborne), NC, Fort Drum (Light Infantry), NY and Fort Hood (Armor), Tx before his overseas assignments.  

He spent six months in 1994, in Georgia, monitoring and reporting progress and ceasefire violations for the United Nations during Georgian-Abkhaz-Russian civil war. 

 In 1998, just prior to the NATO air campaign to expel Serbian forces from Kosovo, Rick was assigned to the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as part of the multinational Kosovo Diplomatic Observers' Mission (KDOM).  

He has work, travel and living experience in over 50 countries including 6yrs in Germany, 6 in Russia and ~3 in Iraq.  Rick is a fluent Russian-speaker with varying degrees of aptitude in Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Czech, Arabic, German, Spanish and Serbian.  Active Duty hostile fire zones include Grenada, Georgia, Former Yugoslavia, Kosovo, and Iraq and Afghanistan after he retired.  

He has supported DoD missions and initiatives for over 40 years.

Dr. Thomas Williams Joins the show to talk about life, service, and current events. I met Thomas years ago in the Marine Corps and we quickly became friends. Thomas is originally from Canada, where he spent ten years in the Canadian Army in a Highlands Infantry unit. Later, he would come to America with his wife and ultimately serve in the United States Marine Corps. Thomas deployed multiple times in support of Infantry units as an explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) technician. He retired from the Corps and is now an online professor and he coaches Lacrosse. I hope you enjoy the conversation!

In The Marine Corps, we don’t have medics. We have warfighters and we have Navy Corpsmen. The warfighters generally wage the war, and the Navy Corpsmen keep them healthy, and should they fall; he patches them back up. The Navy Corpsmen are in many ways the lifeblood of the infantry line. They live, train, fight and die right beside their men. In the Navy, they are referred to as “Green Side Corpsmen”, in the “Infantry line” they go by Brother or DOC. Anderson (Doc H.)Hernandez, joins us on this episode. Doc. H. was Second Platoon’s lead DOC on the Marjah push in 2010. Doc Hernandez was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions in 2010, and his accounts are necessary for future Corpsmen to hear. Look out for the full episode on 02-07-23. Thanks for watching.