This week we're diving into the topic of combatives, and it would be hard to find a more qualified guest to discuss the topic than the one we have today. From bare-knuckle boxing the ROK Marines' Taekwondo champion to establish the US Army Combatives School, he has done it all.

Matt Larsen is a former United States Army Ranger and combatives instructor. He is known as "The Father of Modern Combatives," credited with the creation of the United States Army's modern combatives doctrine and the establishment of the U.S. Army Combatives School.

Larsen enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as an infantryman in 1984. He was stationed overseas in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan with the Marine detachment at Naval Air Facility Atsugi. During this time Larsen began training in judo, Shotokan karate, and traditional boxing.

During his time in Japan Larsen fought in the Japan Karate Association's All Japan Karate Championships, Muay Thai bouts in Thailand, and a bare-knuckle fight against the ROK Marines Taekwondo champion. He was also a member of the 3rd Marine Division's boxing team.

Matt then transitioned from the Marine Corps to the Army and made his way to Ranger Regiment. Initially assigned to 1st Ranger Battalion at Hunter Army Airfield, Larsen parachuted into Panama with the Rangers during Operation Just Cause and was also involved in Ranger operations during the Gulf War.

After moving to 2nd Ranger Battalion he found himself as the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of combatives and Close Quarters Battle (CQB) and started developing a more formal curriculum. This led him to taking over the combatives program for the entire regiment.

During an assignment to 11th Infantry Regiment he establish a combatives schoolhouse in a warehouse. Within a short time, the school became so successful that units from throughout the Army began sending their soldiers. Several new courses had to be developed in order to continue teaching beyond the initial course, with the idea of building programs within these units. Eventually the school was recognized by the Army as the "United States Army Combatives School". In 2002, the training manual which he had been working on since his time with the Ranger Training Brigade was published by the Army as Field Manual 3-25.150 (Combatives).

After more than a decade leading combatives for the Army he now works at West Point's Department of Physical Education as the director of their combatives program.

You can find Matt on Instagram at the extremely appropriate handle @combatives

This week's podcast is special because we have a chance to provide a platform for someone who is really making a difference in improving quality of life got service members. Rob Evans is the creator of Hots & Cots, an app built to be the "yelp for enlisted life" that is simultaneously increasing transparency and accountability for dining facilities and barracks.

If you're unfamiliar with the phrase "three hots and a cot" it refers to that, whether you're joining the military or going to prison, at least you can (theoretically) count on three square meals a day and a cot to sleep on. If you've been following the news, you've almost certainly seen that there are issues with both the "hots" (meals) and the "cots" (barracks) lately, and Rob is on a mission to fix both.

Rob is a former Army sergeant with 12 years of service, concluded his military career as a 92F. Leveraging over a decade of IT experience, he transitioned into the role of a software developer. Combining both his Army experience and his software skills he recently created an app called Hots & Cots that is essentially Yelp for military installations, which we'll be diving into here. Rob lives outside of Charlotte, NC, with his wife and two boys and outside of work he loves running, weightlifting, and the outdoors. Oh and coffee, he also loves coffee.

As you listen to the work Rob is doing, if you're in the military please encourage anyone you work with to download the app and help give Rob the tools to hold leaders accountable on these issues.

We discussed the notorious clip of the IMCOM commander saying he doesn't have a mold problem, he has a discipline problem. If you missed that incident, here's some of the coverage including the video clip.

Hots & Cots Website

People have asked us many times what we think of CrossFit, so it's about time we just laid it all out. In this episode we work our way through CrossFit's various philosophies, protocols, and teachings and highlight where we agree and where we don't. In general, the first half of the conversation is more critical while the second half is more positive.

If you want to dive in on your own, we framed this conversation around the CrossFit Level 1 Training Guide, which you can download for free. They describe it as "the most comprehensive CrossFit training resource available" and "foundational to the CrossFit methodology" so it's arguably the best primary source for understanding the CrossFit system.

We talk about all the classics in here:

- Defining "fitness" and CrossFit's "fitness in 100 words"
- What "functional fitness" means
- Kipping
- Nutrition (including Paleo and Zone)
- Olympic Lifting
- Uncle Rhabdo and Pukey the Clown

And so much more...

In one section we mentioned a series of articles on hydration. The Hyponatremia of Exercise is a 12 part series by Tim Noakes. Here's a link to part one which links to all the subsequent parts. Skip to part 4 if you want to see where the Army (and specifically USARIEM) got involved, but it comes back up throughout the series.

This week we're diving into what it takes to build strong communities, and how many organizations (including the military) go about it completely wrong. Our guest cuts right to the heart of the issue and provides both intense criticism and practical guidelines for improving. From the crucial role of breaking bread together (yes, this ties into a DFAC conversation) to the "campfire principle" this conversation is chock full of powerful ideas for bringing groups together.

Charles Vogl’s work is used to advise and develop leadership and programs worldwide within organizations including Google, Airbnb, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitch, and Amazon. He has instructed and presented at organizations including Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and the US Army.

He works with Google in several capacities, including as a trusted thought leader for the Google School for Leaders which develops 20,000 Google managers. He is also a
founding member of the Google Vitality Lab which works toward innovating healing strategies.
He is the author of three books: His first book, the international bestseller The Art of Community shares how both community and belonging can be built through time-tested principles and rituals. It won a Nautilus Book Award for Business and Leadership writing. His second book, Storytelling for Leadership, draws on his own experience as a PBS documentary filmmaker to distill principles that help those in leadership confidently share authentic stories and inspire emotional resonance. His latest book, Building Brand Communities, speaks to organization leaders connecting the people important for success. It won an Axiom Business Book Gold Medal.

In his 20s, Charles served in the U.S. Peace Corps in northern Zambia. There, he witnessed inspirational community inside his rural village. After the Peace Corps, Charles founded a social impact documentary film company in New York City. His PBS film projects won many awards including the Amnesty International prestigious “Movies That Matter” award.

He holds an M.Div. from Yale, where he studied spiritual traditions, ethics, and business.

You can find more information on Charles including his books, resources for leaders, and much more on his website.

In this week's episode we're focusing on breathing in some pretty extreme circumstances. Our guest is Lt Col Justin "Astro" Elliott (depending on when you're listening to this, possibly Colonel already). It's hard to find someone more qualified to talk about breathing for extreme physiological demands - Astro has flown 30+ different airframes, commanded the Thunderbirds demonstration squadron, and led the Air Force's efforts to address breathing problems among fighter pilots.

Astro went to Yale where he was a D1 collegiate swimmer and a Mechanical Engineering engineering major, so he embraced the high performer life early. He graduated and commissioned in the Air Force in 2005, and went on to fly the F-15E in Afghanistan, including participating in the Battle of Kamdesh, which is featured in both Red Platoon and The Outpost. He went on to get Masters Degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Flight Test Engineering, and is a graduate of both the USAF Weapons School and the USAF Test Pilot School. He commanded the 59th Test and Eval Squadron (which includes All 6 fighter/attack jets in one squadron), and then most recently served as Thunderbird 1, the commander of the USAF Thunderbirds. He just wrapped up that command and is now at the NATO Defense College in Rome.

Bonus facts about Astro:

He is the first person in history to complete all 3 Air Force elite flying programs (Weapons School, Test Pilot School, and Thunderbirds).

He combined fighter breathing knowledge from 9 communities into 1 unifying brief to explain fighter physiological performance across disparate communities.

He is a founding member of COPE Fighter, (characterizing/optimizing the physiological environment in fighters).

He founded "Crowd Sourced Flight Test" - pulling fighter test data from fielded forces to avoid test environment stovepipes and accelerate iterative learning.

He was a finalist in the NASA Astronaut 2017 board. He also participated in the 2021 board, but withdrew to accept the Thunderbird 1 assignment.

On this week's episode we're handing over the reins to our guest Brendon Huttmann. Brendon was our guest on episode 3 almost two years ago, where we learned about his transition from Major League Baseball to the Army's H2F program. This time, though, the tables are turned and Brendon is asking the questions.

He came much more prepared for hosting duties than we normally do, and he asked some really insightful questions about our origin story, what we're trying to accomplish with this platform, and what we've learned in the process.

Whether you're a new listener who isn't sure what we're all about or a long time fan who wants the full history of where MOPs & MOEs came from, this one should answer a few of your questions.

On this week's episode we're diving into some unique human performance considerations for close air support pilots. Everything from cognitive performance to neck strength to how pilots go to the bathroom in single seat aircraft...

Major Ridge "KELSO" Flick is a military pilot with over 2000 cumulative flight hours in the T-6, T-38, and A-10C. He flew A-10 combat missions in support of Operation Inherent Resolve and Operation Freedom Sentinel in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. He is currently the A-10C Program Element Monitor (PEM) at Air Combat Command. In that role, Maj Flick monitors all A-10C modernization and sustainment programs by working with the A-10 squadrons, the System Program Office, the A-10 test team, Headquarters Air Force and other Major Command staffs to ensure the A-10 remains the greatest Close Air Support aircraft in the world.

He received a Bachelors of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy where he was near the top of his class academically and the captain of the lacrosse team.

We have another research focused episode for you guys this week, and we're diving into the recently published article "Demographic, psychosocial, and physical fitness predictors of successful graduation from U.S. Army Ranger School."

We're joined by the lead author, LTC Timothy Benedict, who has a unique background as both an infantry officer and a physical therapist. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Baylor University – Keller Army Community Hospital Division 1 Sports Physical Therapy Fellowship at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York where he is also the chief of the Physical Therapy Department.

After graduating from the United States Military Academy in 2002, LTC Benedict commissioned as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army. Immediately following graduation from Ranger School, he joined the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vicenza, Italy, and then deployed to Iraq as a rifle platoon leader (2003-2004) and Afghanistan as a company executive officer (2005-2006). He graduated from the Army-Baylor Physical Therapy Program in 2009 and was assigned to the 3rd Brigade, 25th ID in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and deployed to Afghanistan in 2011-2012.

LTC Benedict graduated from the University of Kentucky with a PhD in rehabilitation sciences after completing a randomized controlled trial implementing pain neuroscience education for Service Members with low back pain and post-traumatic stress in 2018. Since obtaining his PhD, Tim has taught and researched about the neuroscience of pain and resilience.

On this episode we each brought five books that have shaped the way we think about human performance and discussed why they had such an impact. And in classic form, we each also brought a few honorable mentions as well.

Drew's books are a little more focused on strength and conditioning, while Alex's books (somewhat unexpectedly) are largely focused on mental health and how exercise affects our brains.

If you're looking for reading suggestions in the human performance space, you have come to the right place. This list spans a lot of different topics, so there's something for everyone.

If you want to get any of them, here is the full list:

Drew's Top 5

Practical Programming for Strength Training (Andy Baker/Mark Rippetoe)

The Science of Running (Steve Magness)

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Thomas Kuhn)

Training Talk (Martin Bingisser)

Endure (Alex Hutchinson)

Alex's Top 5

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (John Ratey)

Man's Search for Meaning (Viktor Frankl)  

How Minds Change (David Mcraney)

Saving Normal (Allen Frances)

Tribe (Sebastian Junger)

Training for the New Alpinism (Scott Johnston/Steve House)

Starting Strength (Mark Rippetoe)

Strongest Shall Survive (Bill Starr)

80/20 Running (Matt Fitzgerald)

Winning (Clive Woodward)

Reactive Training Systems Manual (Mike Tuscherer)

John Kiely Papers: A New Understanding of Stress, Periodization Paradigms in the 21st Century, and Periodization Theory: Confronting an Inconvenient Truth

Michael Pollan books: This is Your Mind on Plants, In Defense of Food, and Omnivore’s Dilemma

Go Wild (John Ratey)

The Nature Fix (Florence Williams)

Why Zebra’s Don’t Get Ulcers (Robert Sapolsky)