Echo Valor Podcast with David Burnell

For ten years, David Burnell lived in the invisible war—serving as a U.S. Air Force Communications Operations Specialist during the most volatile decade of the late Cold War.His battlefield wasn’t marked by trenches or gunfire, but by encrypted transmissions, coded messages, and the heavy silence of classified operations.

From the blackout classrooms of Sheppard Air Force Base to the fog-covered runways of RAF Sculthorpe, and from the jungles of Central America to the frozen plains of South Dakota, Burnell’s decade in uniform unfolded behind security fences, within cleared rooms, and beneath the constant hum of secrecy.

In The Quiet War, Burnell opens a window into the unseen world of intelligence operations—where loyalty is tested by polygraphs, trust is earned in whispers, and the smallest mistake can echo across nations.

He recounts the call that changed everything: volunteering for Task Force Bravo in Cabañas ’87, where a last-minute reassignment spared his life when a friendly-fire incident took down the helicopter he was meant to board.He describes the OSI polygraph interrogations after the capture of Navy spy John Walker, and the eerie feeling of serving “in the glass bowl” where every heartbeat was measured for loyalty.He walks through the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rising threat of global terrorism, and the quiet moments on the flight line when coffins draped in flags arrived home without ceremony.

Amid the secrecy and tension, Burnell’s story is deeply human. It is about faith, family, endurance, and the cost of commitment.It’s about the dream that first drew him in—the desire to become a Pararescue operator (“That Others May Live”)—and how that same drive would later carry him into real-world search and rescue, humanitarian missions, and crisis response long after the uniform came off.

The Quiet War is more than a military memoir—it is a testament to those who serve in silence, whose battles are unseen but whose sacrifices are just as real.

For readers of The Right Stuff, American Sniper, and The Operator, this is the untold story of a warrior who lived at the intersection of technology, intelligence, and faith during one of the most complex eras in modern history.

Themes & Tone

* True Cold War service through the eyes of an intelligence operator

* Faith, discipline, and moral courage under pressure

* Psychological and emotional costs of secrecy

* Human connection amidst technology and global tension

* The unseen link between military service and humanitarian rescue

Key Operations & Chapters

* The Road Not Taken – Pararescue Dreams and Duty

* Boot Camp – Breaking and Building

* The 12th Tactical Intelligence Squadron

* Into the Fire: Cabañas ’87

* The Polygraph – Loyalty Under Interrogation

* Signals in the Silence – RAF Sculthorpe and the Shadow War

* Bodies on the Tarmac

* And the Wall Came Down – Berlin 1989

* Ellsworth AFB and the End of the Uniform

* From Airman to Rescuer – A Life Built by Fire

Find this and other episodes from the Echo Valor Podcast by searching “Echo Valor Podcast” on your favorite podcast platform. You can also discover original music by searching “Echo Valor Music” on your favorite streaming platform, and explore books and written works by searching “David Burnell” on Amazon to visit his author page.

Combat Ready: Mastering Force-on-Force Training is a powerful, experience-driven guide to the most realistic and practical methods for preparing for combat, crisis, and confrontation. Written by David Burnell—a veteran, tactical instructor, rescue diver, and founder of the Urban Warfare Center—this book takes you deep inside the philosophy, psychology, and technology of modern force-on-force training, where warriors, law enforcement officers, and protectors of all kinds learn to think clearly and act decisively under extreme pressure.

Burnell shares the evolution of stress-based tactical realism and the principles that make it life-changing, from the establishment of the Urban Warfare Center after 9/11 to today’s cutting-edge use of Paintball systems, rubber projectiles, and enhanced simulations. You’ll learn how controlled chaos builds confidence, how stress inoculation reshapes performance, and how tactical decision-making, leadership, and communication are forged through consequence-based training.

Through detailed chapters on scenario design, OPFOR (opposing force) development, law enforcement applications, medical integration, stress reduction, and after-action reviews, Burnell delivers a blueprint for building safe, lawful, and practical training programs that produce calm, capable, and ethical professionals. His firsthand accounts and real-world lessons provide technical instruction and deep insight into the mental and moral dimensions of readiness.

Combat Ready also looks toward the future—examining how Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and biometric analytics are revolutionizing how we prepare warriors and first responders. Yet at its core, the book reinforces a timeless truth: technology can simulate the fight, but only disciplined humans can master it.

Whether you are a soldier, law enforcement officer, instructor, or civilian protector, this book will challenge your thinking about readiness. It will teach you how to turn stress into strength, uncertainty into confidence, and fear into focused performance.

Key Lessons and Takeaways

* The origins and evolution of force-on-force training

* How to design and lead safe, practical tactical scenarios

* The critical role of OPFOR and how to train them for realism

* Techniques for stress inoculation, performance tracking, and AAR mastery

* Integrating medical, rescue, and interagency response into scenarios

* The future of tactical training through VR, AI, and adaptive analytics

Train hard. Think clearly. Lead well.

Combat Ready: Mastering Force-on-Force Training by David Burnell is more than a manual—it’s a mindset. It’s a guide for anyone who must perform when everything is on the line.

Be prepared. Be disciplined. Be Combat Ready.

Find this and other episodes from the Echo Valor Podcast by searching “Echo Valor Podcast” on your favorite podcast platform. You can also discover original music by searching “Echo Valor Music” on your favorite streaming platform, and explore books and written works by searching “David Burnell” on Amazon to visit his author page.

Bad Gods: Haiti is a ground-level memoir of duty under pressure. In January 2010, David Burnell landed in Port-au-Prince as Chief of Security for the Utah Hospital Task Force—120 doctors, nurses, and volunteers dropped into a chaotic situation. With a five-man security element and the help of the 82nd Airborne, he built perimeters out of trucks, moved clinics through hostile streets, and called hard exits when daylight died.

This is the work as it really happens: food drops that tilt toward riot, a bus “explosion” that became a drill, camp sickness that knocked healers off their feet, and the quiet routine of rules that save lives—never alone, hide real cash, break contact early, at dusk security calls it. Threaded through it all is the search for a kidnapped boy, Gardy Mardy, pushed into Haiti’s hills and alleys where law had broken.

Burnell keeps the language simple and the tone honest. There’s some dry humor (yes, a “Fixer” and a few Jack-Bauer-for-TV moments), but the center stays steady: protect people, get them home, and live with the choices. Faith shows up in a truck-bed sacrament and field blessings—not a sermon, just the spine he leaned on.

If you want the polished press release, this isn’t it. If you want a protector’s notebook read aloud by the man who carried it, you’re in the right place.

Written & narrated by: David BurnellGenre: Nonfiction • Memoir • Disaster/Field Operations

Highlights

* Chief of Security in Haiti, 2010

* Working with the 82nd Airborne

* Food drop nearly overrun

* “We go up, you go down.”

* Rules that actually keep you alive

* Camp sick call and IV lines

* The hunt for an abducted child

* Faith without fanfare

Find this and other episodes from the Echo Valor Podcast by searching “Echo Valor Podcast” on your favorite podcast platform. You can also discover original music by searching “Echo Valor Music” on your favorite streaming platform, and explore books and written works by searching “David Burnell” on Amazon to visit his author page.

David Burnell and Jeffrey Denning team up for a practical, no-fluff guide to everyday preparedness. Starting with true-to-life scenarios—urban errands, highway shutdowns, earthquakes, and mass-casualty responses—they break down exactly what to keep on your person, in your vehicle, and in a grab-and-go 72-hour kit.

Topics include: picking footwear that won’t fail when you have to run, water storage and purification, calorie-smart foods, EDC blades and flashlights (and why “one is none”), tourniquets, gauze packing, chest seals, reflective vests, backup power/solar, analog radios, maps and alternate routes, meds/insulin contingencies, and simple annual kit refresh routines. Plus: realistic triage realities, Stop the Bleed/CPR training, and how-to kits for family members.

Brought to you by EchoValor.com with friends at CrisisResponse.Help, JeffreyDenning.com, and DavidBurnell.com—because being prepared is an act of love.

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Find this and other episodes from the Echo Valor Podcast by searching “Echo Valor Podcast” on your favorite podcast platform. You can also discover original music by searching “Echo Valor Music” on your favorite streaming platform, and explore books and written works by searching “David Burnell” on Amazon to visit his author page.

Former operators David Burnell and Jeffrey Denning dive into what happens to your mind and body when chaos erupts—physiologically (cortisol, adrenaline, dopamine) and practically (fight/flight/freeze, tonic immobility, decision-making under fire). Sparked by a recent attack at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints meetinghouse and Jeffrey’s conversation with 22 SAS CQB instructor Christian Craighead (the Nairobi hotel rescue), they unpack how elite training translates to civilian readiness: stress inoculation, when to hold vs push, accuracy on demand, and building a lifestyle of preparation—not paranoia.

Along the way: Nairobi lessons on small-team initiative, why some people get calmer as the danger rises, drills you can do without a “tier one” facility, and a faith-centered framework for managing fear using concentric “rings of control” (control, influence, everything else). It’s a candid, unscripted talk about courage, conscience, and competence—so you can protect what matters without losing your peace.

You’ll learn:

* How cortisol and other chemicals shape performance under stress

* Simple training ideas to build real decision speed (no hero cosplay required)

* When “wait” is the best tactic

* When surprise, speed, and violence of action save lives

* A practical, faith-anchored way to stay prepared without living in fear

Find this and other episodes from the Echo Valor Podcast by searching “Echo Valor Podcast” on your favorite podcast platform. You can also discover original music by searching “Echo Valor Music” on your favorite streaming platform, and explore books and written works by searching “David Burnell” on Amazon to visit his author page.

In this powerful episode of Echo Valor, David Burnell sits down with longtime friend and seasoned law enforcement officer, federal agent, military veteran, and mental health professional Jeffrey Denning. Together, they unpack the realities of crisis response, the cumulative toll of trauma, and the tools needed to stay grounded amidv overwhelming events.

From frontline experiences in Iraq to critical incident stress debriefings after officer-involved shootings, Jeffrey shares practical strategies for pre-incident preparation, managing acute stress, and long-term self-care. The discussion covers primary, secondary, and tertiary trauma, how first responders and families are impacted by tragedy, and why sleep, exercise, connection, and gratitude are essential for healing.

Whether you are in law enforcement, EMS, the military, or simply navigating today’s chaotic world, this episode offers wisdom, actionable insights, and hope. Learn why “healing hurts, but helping heals”—and how to prevent isolation, find community, and keep your mental armor strong.

Find this and other episodes from the Echo Valor Podcast by searching “Echo Valor Podcast” on your favorite podcast platform. You can also discover original music by searching “Echo Valor Music” on your favorite streaming platform, and explore books and written works by searching “David Burnell” on Amazon to visit his author page.

“Wings of the Silent Few” is an adrenaline-charged anthem honoring the United States Air Force Special Warfare community. From the legendary pararescue who risk all to save lives, to Tactical Air Control Party operators who rain steel on the enemy, Combat Controllers who open up the fight, Special Recon teams in the shadows, and SERE instructors who break and rebuild the best — this song dives into their world with respect and raw energy. It celebrates the brutal selection process, the power of tactical comms, and the unmistakable roar of special operations helicopters and AC-130 gunships — a dedication to those who live on the edge for us all.

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I’m David Burnell. In March 2011, while most were flying out of Japan, I flew in—alone, with two hundred pounds of gear and a quiet prayer: Use me how You need me. This audiobook is my field journal read aloud—plain talk from the mud and the cold—about rescue and recovery after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

You’ll hear what it felt like to embed with the Mexico City team, Los Topos, crawl under broken homes in Onagawa and Ishinomaki, and stand at the tape with families waiting for names, not headlines. You’ll meet a young woman in a white mask bowing through tears, kids in a gym who reset the room with a single “boing,” and two American boys who needed a velvet-hammer nudge to go home and fix what was

theirs. You’ll ride with me past Fukushima as the meter pegs, through aftershocks and tsunami alerts, and into small mercies—a rice ball shared with both hands, a paper crane, a bow that lasts one breath longer than expected.

This is not a hero story. It’s a real account of steady hands, quiet humor, dignity under pressure, and the simple rules that still guide me: go when you’re called, carry your weight, bow first, measure risk then move, and lift where you stand.

What you’ll get

* Short, chapter-length episodes in my voice

* Firsthand scenes from Sendai, Onagawa, Ishinomaki, and the Fukushima corridor

* Lessons on leadership, service, faith, and resilience you can use at home

Includes frank, respectful descriptions of disaster scenes, body recovery, and earthquakes. If you’re a first responder, a volunteer, a person of faith—or someone who believes ordinary people can do hard things—I made this for you.

Share this with someone who needs courage today, and let’s lift where we stand.

Find this and other episodes from the Echo Valor Podcast by searching “Echo Valor Podcast” on your favorite podcast platform. You can also discover original music by searching “Echo Valor Music” on your favorite streaming platform, and explore books and written works by searching “David Burnell” on Amazon to visit his author page.

New release, rewritten entirely, 27 December 2025

In the hidden war of Burma, where the jungle swallows armies and landmines outnumber crops, one humanitarian mission became a journey of faith, danger, and unexpected brotherhood.

When former Air Force veteran David Burnell answered a call to enter the denied territories of Burma (Myanmar), he expected heat, hardship, and risk. What he did not expect was how deeply the people would carve themselves into his heart—the Karen tribe, fighting for survival against a half-million-man regime; warriors missing limbs who still stood watch on one leg; a British scout now reduced to begging; a pig named Herman who became a companion; and a small boy with a spinning top who became his shadow.

This book is the accurate account of that mission.

Alongside a Special Forces legend, a 40-year medic and Vietnam veteran, Burnell crossed the border with no sanction from any Government and no promise of rescue. Their task: complete the fourth phase of a covert combat-medic program for the Karen, a Christian people hunted since World War II.

What followed was a week in the jungle that felt like a lifetime.

Dragon boats through drug-running waters

Booming monsoon storms over bamboo hooches used as classrooms

Landmine belts, where every misplaced footstep could end a man’s life

Nights on the hooch railing as John shared memories of Vietnam, including the first man he ever killed

A beggar who once scouted for the British and offered what little he had—a boiled egg

A child named No Do Tu, who said nothing, yet spoke straight to the soul

This is not a war story about fighting.It is a war story about showing up.

About choosing compassion when fear is justified.About being willing to cross borders that other men won’t.About believing that courage can belong to ordinary people.About faith, carrying you where training cannot.

If we genuinely believe in love, what are we willing to do about it?

In the Land of Broken Rivers is a firsthand account of service, sacrifice, and the quiet heroism of a forgotten people. It is a testimony of spiritual prompting, a meditation on what it costs to keep going, and a reminder that sometimes the smallest hands leave the deepest marks on a life.

This story is real.This mission happened.And every step was worth it.

Available on Amazon and Streaming Services

* Amazon Kindle & Paperback: View David Burnell’s Amazon Author Page

* Listen on Spotify

* Listen on Apple Podcast

* Listen on Soundcloud

In January 2010, a catastrophic earthquake shattered Haiti, collapsing its government, hospitals, and fragile infrastructure in seconds. Amid the chaos, doctors, nurses, and humanitarian volunteers entered a country without order, protection, or certainty.

This episode of Echo Valor tells the true story of a security mission carried out alongside the Utah Hospital Task Force—protecting medical teams, evacuating orphans, and operating in an environment where law had collapsed, and danger was constant.

This is not a story of victory.It is a record of service carried into chaos—and of those who stood watch so others could heal.

Echo Valor exists to tell stories forged in courage, duty, and sacrifice.

👉 Follow and subscribe for more true stories of valor👉 Visit echovalor.com to learn more about the Echo Valor mission