Global Recon

GRP 35-On this episode I have Nick Betts the owner of Krupto Strategic back on the show. Nick is an 8-year Army Sniper/Reconnaissance veteran with multiple deployments. We discuss the fact that the media mislabeled the Dallas shooter a sniper. We feel that the media fan’s the flames of this race issue, by not reporting honestly and giving a full picture of what’s going on. Nick shares a war story from a deployment to Ramadi, Iraq when he was working with US Navy SEALs. Below is an excerpt.

Nick Betts: Ramadi, 2006. We were working with the SEAL teams. My team was staying at this little outpost in the middle of the city called “Eagles Nest”. The SEALs called up our TOC (Tactical Operations Center), and let us know that they were running operations in our A0 (Area of Operations). The SEALs inserted at 4AM they get up on the roof, and once the sun came up because they were in this specific sector anybody with a gun was getting shot. They were pretty much up there for terrorist elimination.

As soon as the sun would come up any American, or Iraqi unit’s were getting into heavy firefights in this area. I was at the guard post, and I start hearing rapid gunfire. I call it in on the radio. I ended up rotating off the shift, and went down to the TOC. The SEALs radioed in telling us to stand by because they were getting hammered. I was in a mechanized infantry unit, so we had Bradley fighting vehicles which had 25 mic mic Bushmaster cannons on top. The SEALS called us up telling us they took severe causalities and they needed us to come exil them.

My team SGT grabbed a bunch of us up and we rolled out. The SEALs were on top of this roof in a gun fight. A terrorist came up right under the base of the roof, and threw up a hand grenade. The explosion took out a massive chunk of two SEALs. The Team guys up there applied tourniquets, and stopped the bleeding. So we drop the ramp on the Bradley. The 25 mic mic started laying down heavy fire. All of those guys jumped in, and we get back to Eagles Nest. Called in the Medevac. I was cleaning out blood from the back of the Bradley’s. My platoon SGT told me we might be going back in.

The rest of the team we extracted was out there. Their commander didn’t have his shirt on, but he had a plate carrier on. He had a through and through wound in his chest that was patched up. One of the guys asked him if he’s good, and he says “I’ll be fine”.

Send any questions, or comments to [email protected]

GRP 34-On this episode I conducted two interviews. The first is with T a Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman (SARC) in the Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC). T spent a number of years in the US Navy attached to MARSOC, and we were able to discuss some aspects of trauma medicine. T is apart of a company called Cro Medical Gear which is owned and operated by SARC’s. They are working on developing a product line of medical gear for the advanced care provider initially, and then will release products for civilians as well.

The Second interview was with 3 former Army Rangers from the 3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment who run a podcast called The Choke Point. Chance Davis SSG Former Ranger Medic, James Webb SGT Ranger Retired, and Paul Martinez SSG Ranger Retired. These guys are awesome indivus who’ve overcome many obstacles, and who stay busying farming, and working with other veterans. They’ve got books in the works, and are forming an organization to help veterans in need. Below is an excerpt from the podcast.

Paul Martinez: I remember that. We’re having like a Turkey dinner in the middle of Afghanistan in this giant castle compound. It was weird man. I felt like Genghis Khan. You’re looking at these giant Himalayan mountains covered in snow, but its hot where you are. Doc’s got a turkey on the stick. Your extremely well fed. Its one of those things where your sitting in this house, your eating turkey dinner with your best buddies, you’re in arguably one of the worst places on the planet. I couldn’t have been happier. As soon as the sun goes down were back out fighting through ambushes. It was some pretty gnarly fighting.

Send an email to [email protected] with questions, or comments.

GRP 33-On this episode we have Jay Paisley back on the show. Jay served for 20 years in the US Army with 15 of those years in Special Forces. He was an 18 Delta Special Forces Medic with the 5th Special Forces Group, and went on to serve as a medic in a Special Missions Unit. We discuss the responses to mass shootings on the first responders side of the house.

In some detail that most people aren’t discussing, and bring to light some ideas that are certainly worth exploring as a nation when it comes to trauma medicine. Wouldn’t it make sense for High Schools to teach students over the course of 4 years how to deal with basic trauma using tourniquets, and other devices? Below is an excerpt from our conversation:

John Hendricks: The military in the last 15 years of constant deployments either to Iraq, Afghanistan, or elsewhere have dealt with mass casualty events. Guys are wounded from gunfights, stepping on mines and IED’s, and things like that. From what I understand, and I’m not 100 percent sure on the exact numbers, but the number of Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, and Sailors who survive wounds from the battlefield have increased. There’s obviously a reason for that. Can you explain why that is?

Jay Paisley: The biggest breakthrough to come out of these battlefields in terms of medicine, and the military trauma model isn’t necessarily a scientific breakthrough but rather an academic breakthrough where we have pushed down and de-centralized to the lowest common dominator possible data driven, proven life saving techniques. What your seeing coming out of the Global War on Terror in success is: it’s the infantrymen, it’s the clerk, it’s the truck driver. They’re the ones who are intervening early on, and putting into place these medical treatments that are saving lives. It’s the medic that are within close proximity that are coming in to finish that initial treatment that was put on place. It’s the de-centralization that’s saving lives. We’re putting tourniquets in the hands of everybody. Not just the hands of the select few. Send questions to [email protected]

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GRP 32- On this episode we have Chuck Ritter back on the show. Chuck is the First Sergeant at the Special Forces Senior Leader Course at Fort Bragg. On for the first time are Atomic Athlete Owner’s Jake Saenz - Former Ranger Regiment Team Leader, Founder of Atomic Athlete, and Jordan Smothermon - former naval nuclear operator who’s been professionally coaching for 4 years.

Ronin Tactics is coming to NYC!!! (6-7 AUG 2016) Classes are open to everyone.

Two Days Ronin Tactics “Ring Blade” Seminar that will build on each session. We will be hosting a two 3 hrs seminar per day for two days. First session- Body movement, empty hands, centerline and off-center line blade and saber blade attacks. Second session- Trapping, Foot Movement, Control over Opponent, Pick and reinforce pick attacks. The links to purchase your slot, and for full details will be listed at the bottom of this page. Here is an excerpt from the episode.

John Hendricks: That’s an interesting point you’ve made about having the right mindset with training vs working out. If your climbing a mountain instead taking it one step at a time a lot of people will look up, and get turned off by the size of the task. What will set companies, and trainers apart will be the ability to teach that mindset, as well as teaching the physical side.

Jake Saenz: I heard a great quote by a former Special Operations guy “Selection is a never ending process” the bottom line is so is fitness. Look at Chuck who’s 18 years in. It’s not about what’s going to happen today, or the next few days. When your training for a career in Special Operations you need to have a long term vision, and a long term purpose behind your training. Someone like Chuck has to be capable for upwards of 20 years. Having that long term perspective thinking about that like hey its not just about today, its about a year from now, 3 years from now, 5 years from now. Accepting the fact that its going to be a slow steady climb up hill, but as long as you continue to train and when I say train, as Jordan mentioned not working out, but training. Following a program based on your ability, and your goals. As long as you train you’ll continue to see improvement.

Send questions, or comments to [email protected]

GRP 31- On this episode myself, and Major Rusty Bradley (ret) discuss the attack in Orlando, as well as some solutions for dealing with this threat of Global Terrorism. On the show for the first time are my friends from Agilite Tactical a company comprised of former Israeli commando’s who create innovative new gear used by the IDF, and Special Op’s units around the globe. Special Coupon Code for Global Recon followers: GlobalRecon10  

This gets followers 10% off their whole purchase through June 21st. So be sure to check out www.agilitegear.com and use the coupon GlobalRecon10 for a 10 percent discount off your entire purchase. Below is an excerpt from the episode.

John Hendricks: Ellie you served during the second Intifada what exactly was that for people who won’t know?

Ellie Isaacson: The second Intifada was a period between the end of 2000 to 2003. It started off with a series of terrorist attacks, and had gotten to a stage where it was literally daily suicide bombings, daily shootings. I joined up in November 2000, and I remember everything just kicked off in a big way. One of the major incidents was two Israeli reserve soldiers took a wrong turn into an Arab village. They were beaten to death by a mob, and thrown out of a window for the world to see.

I remember being back in the UK about a month before my service, and just watching this happen and seeing everyone going nuts. Within two years we were given a mission to capture one of those guys who performed the lynching and killed those Israeli soldiers, so it really came full circle.

Any questions , or comments send an email to [email protected]

GRP 30- On the 30th episode of the Global Recon Podcast, I’ve had the honor of having on Retired Special Forces Major Rusty Bradley. MAJ Rusty Bradley served 21 years in the US Army and US Special Forces. He was recently medically retirement for wounds received in combat. He is the author of the bestselling book “Lions of Kandahar” and has been published in Time magazine, Soldier of Fortune, Veritas, War on the Rocks and numerous other publications and blogs. He has earned 4 Valor awards from 3 different countries. Major Bradley is one of only 40 US service members in the history of the US military to receive the Medal of Valor from the Canadian Prime Minister.

Myself, and John Lovell discuss the Invasion of Normandy, and of the Army Rangers who scaled the 100ft cliffs at Pointe Du Hoc, under withering enemy gunfire, and were able to complete their objective of clearing out enemy fighting positions along the top of the cliff. Below is an excerpt from the interview with Major Bradley.

John Hendricks: You go to Special Forces selection, and you pass. For the next 15 years or so you have multiple rotations all to Afghanistan, and for kind of a unique reason which is pretty interesting. Can you talk about that at all?

Major Bradley: I was the second of the first two languages that was selected by the Special Forces command in order to build long term continuity for it’s forces, and its leaders in Afghanistan. You’ve got these leaders, Non Commissioned Officers, and Officers who are so smart that they can look in their invisible globe and see what’s going to happen in 10, or 20 years. This program was sending guys into a language and area study of Southern Afghanistan, so that we came out we would constantly rotate through, and maintain access and placement in Southern Afghanistan. All 8 of my rotations were in Southern Afghanistan.

Any questions, or comments can be sent to [email protected]

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GRP 29- This nation has lost a piece of history in the quiet of the night. Master Chief (ret.) Tom Eagles was one of the most highly decorated Corpsman of the Vietnam War with service spanning three decades. Doc Eagles is responsible for a lot of changes in combat medicine over the past 50 years. He spent a number of years working with North American Rescue helping develop life saving equipment, and then having it integrated into the US Military. Here is an excerpt from the episode with DJ Struntz from North American Rescue telling a story from the Master Chief.

DJ Struntz: They were on a Long Range Reconnaissance deep inside enemy territory at night. They didn’t have all the night vision that we have now. They were hunkered in and a Tiger came in and grabbed one of the guys from his patrol. They sat there in the dark surrounded by Viet Cong listening to this guy scream until the Tiger killed him. They listened to him crunching away all night while the Tiger ate the poor guy, and they couldn’t do anything because they were surrounded by enemy troops.

If you have any questions, or suggestions send an email to [email protected]

GRP 28- Today’s episode is a special Memorial Day tribute to our fallen countrymen from all wars past till present. There will be multiple post highlighting this episode, but the first will be an excerpt from former Army EOD Technician Justin Howard.

John Hendricks: Justin, what does Memorial day mean to you?

Justin Howard: Memorial day to me is me thinking about the veterans who served in wars past, but also the brothers that served with me. The one’s who I’ve lost. When you hear about one of your brothers being a triple amputee makes me wonder what he was thinking when it was going down.

My buddy Donald Vincent Stacy he was a good friend of mine he was with the 1 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment working with Special forces in Kandahar, Afghanistan. I was in EOD school at the time when he was deployed. I got a call from one of his buddies and he told me that Donald was killed in Afghanistan by a detonation. They had seen some Military Aged Males on some motorcycles, and they were told to go check it out. Donald took the detector from his junior guy, and went to sweep a path. As he was going down the alley a detonation occurred.

Donald was thrown against the wall, and the medic came running down. He said “SGT Stacy, SGT Stacy if you can hear me squeeze my hand, and he squeezed his hand. One of his arms was missing and both of his legs were gone. He called for assistance, and they came down and applied the tourniquets, and on the helicopter ride back to Kandahar Donald died. He was a good friend of mine from when I was 16 years old. We were in Iraq together, I was aviation, and he was infantry, but we hung out together. We were at Bragg together. That was a tough phone call for me.

Rest in Peace SGT Donald Vincent Stacy. Blue skies brother.

GRP 27-On this episode of the I interviewed Derek Pleimen who is an Army veteran, and a part of the Warfighter Foundation. We discussed Derek’s career in the Army, the mission of the Warfighter Foundation, and his recent deployment to Afghanistan as a security contractor.

Tu Lam from Ronin Tactics will be in NYC early August to teach a blade seminar. We haven’t locked in the dates yet, but will do so in the next few days. So far the locations we have are in Williamsburg Brooklyn, and Edge Water New Jersey. If you’re interested in hosting a class, or attending send an email to [email protected]. Below is an excerpt from the episode:

John Hendricks: So you were in close proximity to Camp Integrity during the attack when Andrew McKenna was killed?

Derek Pleimen: Yeah our base was actually right beside Camp Integrity where Sergeant McKenna was at. It was around 10 o clock at night and we were just watching TV, and the explosion went off. It was a VBIED that started it off. They went right into the gate. After that they had actual suicide bombers run in. It sucks being a security contractor sometimes because our main job is to make sure our clients are safe. When that happened we were standing on HESCOS watching the entire fight unfold. We really couldn’t do anything about it unfortunately.

We wanted to help, but our bosses wouldn’t let us go, plus we had no comms with the base. We were expecting to be attacked next but it never came. It was a pretty rough night. It was an intense firefight that lasted a few hours unfortunately a great man was killed in Master Sgt. Andrew McKenna.

GRP 26-On this episode I interviewed Jay the CEO of the Crisis Applications Group. We’re excited to announce that Global Recon is now on LinkedIn! Just search Global Recon as we being to build our professional network online. I’m also recruiting experts in the book, and media publishing fields. If you’re interested send an email to [email protected]

The Crisis Application Group, is a private group that consists of professionals and law abiding citizens committed to self defense and self reliance. Our mission is to foster a mature network of proactive, training oriented adults and sponsor dialog across our national and international network.

Below is an excerpt from the episode:

John Hendricks: I know you were a Special Forces Medic which is the 18 Delta, were you working as a medic in your other unit?

Jay: I was. As an 18 Delta in a regular Special Forces Group if that makes any sense your primary hat is an operator. You’re a Green Beret first, and a medic second. You’re a shooter, and then should the occasion arise you become a medic. It’s not much different on the Special Missions side of the house. The emphasis is placed on your specialty. You go through the same training as an operator, but when you go to your maneuver element you are the subject matter expert in tactical medicine. You’re expected to pursue that specialty, and operationally speaking your sort of set aside to be the medic.

Send any questions to [email protected]