Not Special: A Liberty Speaks Show

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Aaron Todd has been a Marine, Army Green Beret, smokejumper, rodeo cowboy, and Montana outfitter. He's spent his life pursuing adventure, from combat deployments overseas to parachuting into remote wilderness to fight wildfires.

But the experiences he values most aren't necessarily the ones you'd expect.

In this episode of *Not Special*, Aaron joins Herb and Corrie Thompson to share his journey through Special Forces, wildland firefighting, and life in Montana. He recounts the remarkable story of smuggling a dog home from Syria, the challenges of becoming a smokejumper after serving as a Green Beret, and why rodeoing with his children may be the greatest adventure of all.

It's a conversation about courage, family, identity, and discovering what matters most after a lifetime of chasing extraordinary experiences.

Part of *Americana Series: Montana*, produced by Liberty Speaks.

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What does a former CIA operative know about human trafficking that most Americans don't?

Nic McKinley went from growing up in foster care to becoming an Air Force Pararescueman, serving with the CIA, and founding DeliverFund, an organization dedicated to fighting human trafficking through intelligence, data, and technology.

During an operation in Afghanistan, Nic encountered information about children being trafficked and exploited. That experience helped change the direction of his life.

In this episode of Not Special, Nic joins Herb and Corrie Thompson for the fourth conversation in their Americana Series: Montana.

Together, they discuss the realities of CIA operations, the misconceptions surrounding human trafficking in America, why traditional approaches often fall short, and how DeliverFund helps law enforcement identify and stop traffickers.

But Nic's story goes beyond his military and intelligence career. He also shares what growing up in foster care taught him, how he approaches failure, the importance of family, and why success means something different to him today.

It's a conversation about purpose, leadership, service, and choosing what matters most.

Learn more about DeliverFund: https://deliverfund.org

Not Special is produced by Liberty Speaks. Follow the show for more conversations from the Americana Series: Montana.

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Green Beret Dave Kenney survived more than two decades in U.S. Army Special Forces, including deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. But the fight that nearly killed him came after the uniform.

After years of combat, traumatic brain injuries, PTSD, and struggling with alcohol, Dave found himself drinking two fifths of vodka a day. His marriage ended, his relationship with his children suffered, and his health deteriorated to the point that doctors told him there was little more they could do.

He was sent home to die.

He didn't.

In this episode of Not Special's Americana Series: Montana, Dave joins Herb and Corrie Thompson for a deeply personal conversation about combat, addiction, suicide, fatherhood, faith, military transition, and rebuilding a life after hitting rock bottom.

Dave shares what finally changed, how he found his way back to his children, and why he now helps other veterans facing their darkest moments.

They also discuss the loss of identity after military service, the courage it takes to ask for help, and why sometimes the heaviest thing in the world is a cell phone.

This isn't a story about a broken veteran. It's a story about a man who found a reason to keep living.

About the Americana Series: Montana

Herb and Corrie traveled to Montana for five conversations about service, family, failure, purpose, and the experiences that shape who we become.

Follow Not Special on Apple Podcasts for more conversations about the extraordinary stories found in ordinary people.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, call or text 988. Veterans can call 988 and press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line.

Series Partners: GOVX, loanDepot, Alliance Nationwide Exposition, and Bellator Recruiting Academy.

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The Army botched Cameron Cushman’s surgery. What followed changed nearly every part of his life.

Cameron Cushman is an Army veteran, Afghanistan veteran, filmmaker, and documentary producer whose life changed after a surgery at Fort Hood led to years of serious medical complications. Cameron shares his experience with military medical care, gastroparesis, chronic illness, anxiety, veteran mental health, and being told he might never work again.

But that isn’t where his story ends.

In this episode of The Not Special Show’s Americana Series – Montana, Cameron sits down with Herb and Corrie Thompson to talk about serving in the U.S. Army, deploying to Afghanistan, his medical journey after Fort Hood, leadership, resilience, personal growth, becoming a filmmaker, fatherhood, mental health, and refusing to let his circumstances define him.

Cameron also takes us behind the scenes of *Break In Case of War*, his upcoming military documentary, and explains why he believes filmmaking and veteran storytelling can make a real difference.

This is a conversation about military service, adversity, family, filmmaking, and what happens when the life you expected disappears and you have to build something new.

The Americana Series - Montana was made possible with the support of our partners: GOVX https://www.govx.com/ , loanDepot https://www.loandepot.com/home-loans/va-loan , Alliance Nationwide Exposition https://alliance-exposition.com/ , and Bellator Recruiting Academy https://www.bellatorrecruiting.org/ .

We’re grateful to each of them for believing in what we’re building and helping us bring these stories to life.

Follow Not Special as Herb and Corrie Thompson travel to Montana to share five very different American stories.

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Andy Stumpf spent more than 17 years as a Navy SEAL, served with SEAL Team Six, became a record-setting wingsuit pilot, entrepreneur, author and host of the Cleared Hot podcast.

But those are things he’s done. They aren’t who he is.

For the first episode of The Americana Series: Montana, we traveled to sit down with Andy for a conversation about identity, failure, leadership, marriage, fatherhood and what happens when the life you built your identity around begins to disappear.

Andy talks about nearly losing his Trident early in his career, leaving the SEAL Teams after being injured, the difference between good and bad leadership, and why tying your identity too closely to your occupation can make moving on so difficult.

He also opens up about divorce, raising children, building businesses, finding happiness, moving his family to Montana and why he tries not to measure his life by accomplishments.

When we ask Andy what he values most in life, his answer is immediate: truth.

That leads to a candid discussion about Roberts Ridge, John Chapman, the Medal of Honor, the Rangers who fought on Takur Ghar, and Andy’s years-long effort to understand what happened on that mountain.

This is Andy Stumpf beyond the résumé.

The Americana Series: Montana - Episode One.

Follow Not Special as Herb and Corrie Thompson travel across Montana sharing five very different American stories.

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They called her the “Angel of Death.”

Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Allison Black spent more than 32 years serving her country, but her path to becoming a special operations aviator was anything but planned.

She began her career as an enlisted SERE specialist before becoming an officer and eventually flying AC-130 gunships with Air Force Special Operations Command.

After September 11, 2001, Allison deployed to Central Asia and flew combat missions over Afghanistan. Working alongside U.S. Special Forces and Afghan forces, her voice over the radio and the firepower of the AC-130 helped create a story that would follow her for decades: the “Angel of Death.”

But this conversation is about much more than a nickname.

Allison joins Herb and Corrie Thompson to talk about earning credibility in the special operations community, failure, leadership, command, marriage and raising a family while serving, and the responsibility of bringing people home.

She also talks about why she spent years uncomfortable with the “Angel of Death” story—and what it was like to retire after more than three decades in uniform and figure out who Allison Black was without it.

This is a conversation about service, identity, leadership, family, and learning to let your actions speak for you.

Learn more about Allison Black and booking her to speak at LibertySpeaks.com.

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We came to Montana to share five great stories. We ended up getting a lot more.

The Americana Series: Montana takes Not Special on the road for five conversations with Andy Stumpf, Cameron Cushman, Dave Kenney, Nic McKinley, and Aaron Todd.

These are stories about service, identity, family, adversity, purpose, and what happens when life doesn’t go according to plan.

Five people. Five very different journeys. One place that gave us the space to slow down and hear their stories.

The Americana Series: Montana begins October 1, with a new episode every Thursday on Not Special.

Made possible with support from LoanDepot, GOVX, Alliance Nationwide Exposition, and Bellator Recruiting Academy.

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Harrison Bernstein left a path in the NFL to build Soldiers To Sidelines, a nonprofit helping veterans, service members, military spouses, and Gold Star families find purpose and community through coaching.

But Harrison's story didn't start with the military.

Long before founding Soldiers To Sidelines, Harrison was a college football player whose identity was wrapped up in the game. When the clock ran out on his final college football game, he wasn't ready for it to end. Years later, after working in the NFL with the Washington Redskins and receiving another opportunity with the New York Jets, Harrison faced a different decision: keep chasing the NFL or build something that could impact thousands of lives.

He chose the latter.

In this episode of Not Special with Herb & Corrie Thompson, Harrison talks about football, coaching, identity, purpose, mental health, leadership, and why great coaches can change the trajectory of someone's life.

We talk about:

• The emotional final play of Harrison's college football career

• How losing the identity of "football player" affected him

• Getting hired by Joe Gibbs and working in the NFL

• The day Sean Taylor challenged him to a race

• Why Harrison ultimately walked away from an opportunity with the New York Jets

• How Soldiers To Sidelines started with six people at Walter Reed

• Helping veterans and military families become character-based sports coaches

• Depression, isolation, community, and finding purpose

• Why Harrison believes coaching can be an upstream solution

• NIL, college athletics, and tying identity to money and performance

• The role Harrison's wife, Laura, played in building Soldiers To Sidelines

• What makes a great coach on the field and in life

Today, Soldiers To Sidelines has trained thousands of coaches and continues creating pathways into youth, high school, college, and professional sports.

Harrison's story isn't really about football.

It's about what happens when something you've built your identity around ends and how finding a new way to contribute can change everything.

Not Special is a Liberty Speaks show hosted by Herb & Corrie Thompson.

Real people. Real stories. Real growth.

Checkout www.govx.com for great discounts and they give back to the community every month, the September GOVX Give Back supports the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund https://nleomf.org/ and Concerns of Police Survivors https://www.concernsofpolicesurvivors... Both are doing incredible work to honor those we lost and support those left behind.

#SoldiersToSidelines #Veterans #NFL #Coaching

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Vic Minella was a Navy intelligence officer assigned to the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. His office, the Navy Command Center, was directly hit in the 9/11 terrorist attack. Vic wasn't there that morning. Several of his shipmates were.

That day changed the course of his life and launched decades of work in Navy intelligence, counterterrorism, clandestine and covert operations support, and eventually senior leadership inside the Pentagon.

In this episode of Not Special, Vic Minella takes us from growing up in a tiny Mississippi town to enlisting in the U.S. Navy, becoming a Navy corpsman, earning his commission, and entering Naval Intelligence.

Vic shares what it was like watching the 9/11 attacks unfold from home, learning that his Pentagon office had been hit, losing friends and colleagues, and carrying survivor's guilt in the years that followed.

He also takes us inside the largely unseen world of national security and counterterrorism—work that ultimately contributed to preventing hundreds of terrorist attacks and protecting American service members around the world.

We talk about:
• Growing up in rural Mississippi
• Enlisting in the Navy and becoming a corpsman
• Becoming a Naval Intelligence officer
• Where Vic was on September 11, 2001
• Losing his shipmates in the Pentagon attack
• Survivor's guilt and the aftermath of 9/11
• Returning to work as America prepared for war
• Supporting counterterrorism and special operations missions
• The team credited with helping stop 600+ terrorist attacks
• Rising from enlisted sailor to Senior Executive Service
• The critical role of civilians in national security
• Leadership, family, sacrifice and the cost of high-tempo work
• Finding purpose after decades of government service

Vic's story is also a reminder of how many people serve this country without ever wearing a uniform and how much of America's national security work happens far from public view.

From a town of roughly 300 people in Mississippi to some of the highest levels of the Pentagon, this is a story about service, loss, opportunity, leadership and what happens when an ordinary person is given an extraordinary opportunity.

#September11 #911 #Pentagon #NotSpecial 

Checkout www.govx.com for great discounts and they give back to the community every month, the September GOVX Give Back supports the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund https://nleomf.org/ and Concerns of Police Survivors https://www.concernsofpolicesurvivors.org/ Both are doing incredible work to honor those we lost and support those left behind.

Connect with Liberty Speaks: 
🌐 Website: www.libertyspeaks.com 
🔗 Follow on Instagram: www.instagram.com/_ownyourjourney_

👉 Don’t forget to follow, like, and share if you found this conversation valuable. Your support helps us bring more stories of resilience, leadership, and freedom to light.

Send us Fan Mail

JoAnne Bass, the 19th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force and the first woman to serve as the U.S. Air Force’s highest-ranking enlisted leader, never planned on making the military a career. She joined for the GI Bill, expected to serve four years, and jokes that she reenlisted because she still had a Honda Civic to pay for.

Thirty-one years later, she retired after reaching the highest enlisted position in the United States Air Force.

In this episode of Not Special, JoAnne Bass sits down with Herb and Corrie Thompson for a candid conversation about her unlikely journey from a young Airman to Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, leadership at the highest levels, marriage and family, military service, social media and misinformation, and what happens when the title you've carried for decades suddenly disappears.

Bass shares the story of getting the call that she had been selected as the 19th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, becoming the first woman to hold the position, and suddenly finding herself at the center of national attention.

She also opens up about the side of leadership most people never see: criticism, online attacks, the pressure of leading during a rapidly changing information environment, and why leaders can no longer confuse the chain of command with the chain of communication.

But this conversation isn't just about rank or military leadership.

JoAnne talks about growing up as an Army brat, meeting her Army husband Ron at Smoke Bomb Hill, raising two daughters while both parents served demanding military careers, navigating deployments, and learning how to intentionally reconnect after retirement.

She also explains why some people struggle when they leave the military or any major career and their identity has become inseparable from their title.

Throughout the conversation, JoAnne returns to a simple philosophy she learned from her mother: Do your job and do it well.

From a four-year enlistment to 31 years of service, JoAnne Bass's story is ultimately about service, leadership, family, resilience, identity, and using whatever position you have to make a difference.

In this episode:
• Why JoAnne Bass originally joined the U.S. Air Force
• The Honda Civic that helped convince her to reenlist
• When military service became something bigger than a GI Bill
• Becoming the 19th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force
• What it meant to become the first woman in the position
• Leading through COVID and an evolving information environment
• Social media, misinformation, trolls, and deepfakes
• Why leaders need to rethink communication
• Leading five generations in today's workforce
• Marriage, children, deployments, and dual-military life
• Why retirement and identity can be such a difficult transition
• Finding purpose after taking off the uniform
• The leadership philosophy JoAnne still carries today

⏱️ CLICKABLE CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Why JoAnne Is Special 
01:19 Growing Up an Army Brat 
03:36 Why Jo Joined the Air Force 
04:58 The Honda Civic That Kept Her in the Military 
07:03 She Once Said She’d Become the First Female CMSAF 
10:39 GOVX
11:44 Meeting Her Husband at Fort Bragg
14:18 Marriage, Kids & Five Deployments 
17:46 Learning to “Get Along on Purpose” 
19:20 Becoming Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force 
21:42 “You Made the Right Damn Decision” 
22:13 The Gut Punch of Online Hate 
25:14 Trolls, Misinformation & the Information War 
30:48 Deepfakes & the $15,000 JoAnne Bass Scam 
33:40 The Pentagon Assignment She Didn’t Want 
37:12 “Do Your Job and Do It Well” 
41:54 Chain of Command vs. Chain of Communication 
46:12 What Retirement Really Felt Like 
52:04 When Your Identity Is Tied to Your Title 
55:20 Finding a New Way to Serve 
56:01 Operation Military Move https://a.co/d/0fbKz29T
59:50 Jo’s Three Rules for Life After Service 
1:02:57 The Audience Jo Most Wants to Reach 
1:04:25 From “I Never Want to Speak Again” to the National Archives 
1:08:40 What Jo Values Most in Life

Connect with Liberty Speaks: 
🌐 Website: www.libertyspeaks.com 
🔗 Follow on Instagram: www.instagram.com/_ownyourjourney_

Checkout www.govx.com for great discounts and they give back to the community every month, the September GOVX Give Back supports the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund https://nleomf.org/ and Concerns of Police Survivors https://www.concernsofpolicesurvivors.org/ Both are doing incredible work to honor those we lost and support those left behind.

👉 Don’t forget to follow, like, and share if you found this conversation valuable. Your support helps us bring more stories of resilience, leadership, and freedom to light.