Talk Back to Me

The words Tactics, Operations, and Strategy have meanings deeper than mere marketing. Rather, we use the metaphor of Gardening to decipher the differences between them and how they work together like pieces of a puzzle. 

An ambush is a form of tactics. 

Interrupting a supply line represents an operational goal. 

And Economic Dominance is a strategy pursued by governments and nation-states. 

So there you have it. Don't abuse it. 

Comment below. 

Use Code 2025deaddrop10 for 10% off your order at obsidianarms.com

This episode has been sponsored by Obsidian Arms, a manufacturer of tools, parts, and firearms, as well as an OEM shop for those seeking to bring excellence to the market. Their Minnesota-based shop builds and cuts parts out of U.S.-sourced materials. Their gunsmith tools, custom firearms, and capabilities can be found at www.obsidianarms.com

Support the REDACTED Culture Cast at redactedculture.locals.com
SSP and boutique products at redactedllc.com
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Talk Back to Me

Following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a manhunt continues in the minds and perhaps hearts of Americans. A great interest in identifying the killer illustrates the divide between citizens of the United States. As of now, we have a story building. The FBI has its story, its culprit, and not two but three main reactions represent this divide. There are the components of the story, reasons for doubt, and a narrative of who to blame. 

Information regarding the killing of Charlie Kirk spills out across the media, watering conversations about high American politics around the kitchen table. Citizens wait in anticipation for the identity, particularly the political identity of the killer, some to hold it over their political enemies, others to find some resolution in what happened. 

It's a dark world out there, and while the assassination of Charlie Kirk is already called a watershed moment, Americans are yet uncertain about what the ramifications will be. 

Use Code 2025deaddrop10 for 10% off your order at obsidianarms.com

This episode has been sponsored by Obsidian Arms, a manufacturer of tools, parts, and firearms, as well as an OEM shop for those seeking to bring excellence to the market. Their Minnesota-based shop builds and cuts parts out of U.S.-sourced materials. Their gunsmith tools, custom firearms, and capabilities can be found at www.obsidianarms.com

Support the REDACTED Culture Cast at redactedculture.locals.com
SSP and boutique products at redactedllc.com
Follow us on Instagram at @redactedllc

Talk Back to Me

At its core, Ghost Recon Wildlands is a game about Insurgency. You, the player, engage in various forms of Unconventional Warfare, on a mission to take down a Drug Cartel set in a Fictional Bolivia. The Success of Wildlands rushed a sequel: Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Despite being set up for success, Breakpoint bombed, leaving the players that loved Wildlands disappointed and distrusting of the developers. 

This Ghost Recon Wildlands review covers 5 points of comparison between it and its sequel: Narrative, Interactions, Allies, Enemies, and Gameplay. Critics of Breakpoint often focus on predatory microtransactions which do come play. However, the failure of Breakpoint runs deeper. Not only does the mechanism of the game struggle to keep the player engaged, the content departs from the subtle hat tip of Wildlands, replacing the player with a hammer-looking-for-nails pawn of generically forgettable non-playable characters. 

Use Code 2025deaddrop10 for 10% off your order at obsidianarms.com

This episode has been sponsored by Obsidian Arms, a manufacturer of tools, parts and firearms, as well as operating as an OEM shop for those looking to bring excellence to the market. Their Minnesota-based shop builds and cuts parts out of U.S.-sourced materials. Their gunsmith tools, custom firearms, and capabilities can be found at www.obsidianarms.com

Support the REDACTED Culture Cast at redactedculture.locals.com
SSP and boutique products at redactedllc.com
Follow us on Instagram at @redactedllc

Talk Back to Me

On August 27th, 2025, a school shooting took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The transgender shooter identified by authorities followed a pattern of recent mass shootings, paying homage to earlier murderers. 

Churches, facing violence against their congregations by ideologies supported by some state governments, are pressed with a moral question of what to do. Christians are in an asymmetrical conflict. On moral grounds. On Political grounds. And violence. We are held to a higher standard, not by dishonest men, but by God. And worse, our enemy knows about it and intentionally uses it to their advantage. As as result we must be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves. 

Church security is nothing new. And despite political backlash by dishonest actors, such men have a grave task ahead of them. One that requires discernment. 

In this episode we cover what is known about the Minneapolis shooter. His methods, goals, and ideology as displayed in his own manifesto. The consequences and warnings we face from scripture do not permit us to act in vengeance, but still we grieve the loss of life, not because it is ultimately an offense to ourselves, but an affront to God, as man is created in His image.

Use Code 2025deaddrop10 for 10% off your order at obsidianarms.com

This episode has been sponsored by Obsidian Arms, a manufacturer of tools, parts and firearms, as well as operating as an OEM shop for those looking to bring excellence to the market. Their Minnesota-based shop builds and cuts parts out of U.S.-sourced materials. Their gunsmith tools, custom firearms, and capabilities can be found at www.obsidianarms.com

Support the REDACTED Culture Cast at redactedculture.locals.com
SSP and boutique products at redactedllc.com
Follow us on Instagram at @redactedllc

Talk Back to Me

From the Gun Culture to Americans, the West, or Mankind as a whole, we are not a serious peoples. We approach the world around us, following people more than truths. The questions flow:

If we took Gun Control seriously, would be debate it? 

If we believed in the Deep State, would we talk about it?

We watch the news, listen to people talk about grave realities, threats to our wellbeing, and carry on without a change. Maybe this is bad for us. 

Use Code 2025deaddrop10 for 10% off your order at obsidianarms.com

This episode has been sponsored by Obsidian Arms, a manufacturer of tools, parts and firearms, as well as operating as an OEM shop for those looking to bring excellence to the market. Their Minnesota-based shop builds and cuts parts out of U.S.-sourced materials. Their gunsmith tools, custom firearms, and capabilities can be found at www.obsidianarms.com

Support the REDACTED Culture Cast at redactedculture.locals.com
SSP and boutique products at redactedllc.com
Follow us on Instagram at @redactedllc

Talk Back to Me

While the Antihero Podcast has gone through great journalistic lengths to investigate the claims made by Tim Kennedy in his book, this episode is to probe the question of how someone could have gotten so far without someone noticing. The Special Operations community is small, and everyone knows each other or at least has a pretty short chain of connection. When someone claims to have an award or to have graduated some prestigious course, it's relatively easy to verify if you know the right channels. 

With this being the case, one might wonder how Tim Kennedy got away with publishing a record in the form of a book of his exploits, which are easily verifiable, and no one noticed for years. 

But there's another side to this dark story, one where resentment is concealed as holding others accountable. And it begs the question of what to do with those who break the trust of their community. The Bible contains warnings against gloating over your enemy's downfall, and this lesson as well as others from the same book can be applied to this situation.  

Use Code 2025deaddrop10 for 10% off your order at obsidianarms.com

This episode has been sponsored by Obsidian Arms, a manufacturer of tools, parts and firearms, as well as operating as an OEM shop for those looking to bring excellence to the market. Their Minnesota-based shop builds and cuts parts out of U.S.-sourced materials. Their gunsmith tools, custom firearms, and capabilities can be found at www.obsidianarms.com

Support the REDACTED Culture Cast at redactedculture.locals.com
SSP and boutique products at redactedllc.com
Follow us on Instagram at @redactedllc

Talk Back to Me

After some time away from the desk, the REDACTED Culture Cast returns with a review of the Brave Castle Chest Rig. Having an opportunity to attend a course at DARC that required a chest rig, this one was selected for its inherent "features." While others tend to silo into either the sewn together or modular categories, Brave Castle did something a little different with theirs. 

In the episode, we cover:

A brief history of Chest Rigs

Why this one was chosen

Testing Criteria

Loadout for DARC

Performance Review

Brave Castle can be found on instagram: @brave_castle

By fitting between different categories of Chest Rig, this one made a lasting impression as both capable out of the box and a good foundation for expansion to meet the end user's needs. 

Use Code 2025deaddrop10 for 10% off your order at obsidianarms.com

This episode has been sponsored by Obsidian Arms, a manufacturer of tools, parts and firearms, as well as operating as an OEM shop for those looking to bring excellence to the market. Their Minnesota-based shop builds and cuts parts out of U.S.-sourced materials. Their gunsmith tools, custom firearms, and capabilities can be found at www.obsidianarms.com

Support the REDACTED Culture Cast at redactedculture.locals.com
SSP and boutique products at redactedllc.com
Follow us on Instagram at @redactedllc

Talk Back to Me

The first six months of 2025 have displayed a roller coaster of events, many of which presented as catastrophes, or great victories depending on political affiliation. At the same time, the Gun Culture has witnessed the end of an era, where names that once led companies and held the attention of millions slip away in disgrace. Not all kingdoms are built to last. 

Whether it's Military action in Iran, or Riots in LA, or Parliamentarians getting in the way of a long awaited curbing of the NFA, it's easy to look at what we're up against and throw up one's hands in lament. But that is not the path. Did we expect it to be so easy as an election? Did we expect that, with every step forward we would face less and less opposition? 

This isn't a problem that can be solved in the mind alone. Having the right answers is just the first step, one that must be followed with Courage. 

Use Code 2025deaddrop10 for 10% off your order at obsidianarms.com

This episode has been sponsored by Obsidian Arms, a manufacturer of tools, parts and firearms, as well as operating as an OEM shop for those looking to bring excellence to the market. Their Minnesota-based shop builds and cuts parts out of U.S.-sourced materials. Their gunsmith tools, custom firearms, and capabilities can be found at www.obsidianarms.com

Support the REDACTED Culture Cast at redactedculture.locals.com
SSP and boutique products at redactedllc.com
Follow us on Instagram at @redactedllc

Talk Back to Me

This weekend, a so-called Peacekeeper opened fire, shooting and killing a bystander at a No Kings protest this weekend. The presence of these armed individuals at left-wing protests has increased since the summer of love in 2020. Generally identifiable by loose, barely used gear, they present a specific type of danger to themselves and those present, similar to conscripted soldiers.

In this episode we cover how to identify low-skill, low-intelligence threats in both a military and non-military setting, some of the history of these self-proclaimed peacekeepers, and the moral behind training that has caught the ire of tyrants. 

Use Code 2025deaddrop10 for 10% off your order at obsidianarms.com

This episode has been sponsored by Obsidian Arms, a manufacturer of tools, parts and firearms, as well as operating as an OEM shop for those looking to bring excellence to the market. Their Minnesota-based shop builds and cuts parts out of U.S.-sourced materials. Their gunsmith tools, custom firearms, and capabilities can be found at www.obsidianarms.com

Support the REDACTED Culture Cast at redactedculture.locals.com
SSP and boutique products at redactedllc.com
Follow us on Instagram at @redactedllc

Talk Back to Me

Adventure, what a marketing term. We grew up on Lord of the Rings and watched as beloved characters embarked on a great journey. Ivan Loomis of Kit Badger joins the show to talk about spending a whole year shooting left handed, and balancing risk in thrill seeking. Join us in this episode as we talk about discerning good training, challenging the status quo on advanced skill, and turning to the mountains for a sense of adventure. 

Ivan Loomis can be found on Youtube at @kitbadger

Instagram: @kit_badger

Website: kitbadger.com

Use Code 2025deaddrop10 for 10% off your order at obsidianarms.com

This episode has been sponsored by Obsidian Arms, a manufacturer of tools, parts and firearms, as well as operating as an OEM shop for those looking to bring excellence to the market. Their Minnesota-based shop builds and cuts parts out of U.S.-sourced materials. Their gunsmith tools, custom firearms, and capabilities can be found at www.obsidianarms.com

Support the REDACTED Culture Cast at redactedculture.locals.com
SSP and boutique products at redactedllc.com
Follow us on Instagram at @redactedllc