The Vanguard Wall Podcast

By The Vanguard Wall PodcastHistory

The Vanguard Wall Podcast episodes

June 19 The Most Dangerous Flying Job in Vietnam | LTC(r) Hugh Mills
Hugh Mills flew the OH-6 “Loach” as a low-level aeroscout in Vietnam — statistically the most dangerous flying job of the war. Shot down 16 times, three Silver Stars, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Purple Hearts. Author of the classic memoir Low Level Hell.
📖 Low Level Hell: https://a.co/d/0glrcnww

CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction — how Greg Coker connected them + “Low Level Hell”
00:02:59 Growing up across the street from Bill Clinton
00:29:49 Officer Candidate School — marching inside a dumpster
00:49:50 He promoted himself with drugstore mercury
00:52:00 Stepping off the plane — what Vietnam smelled like
01:20:23 His first mission at 20 — adjusting live artillery
01:35:49 The minigun and the grease-pencil gunsight
01:47:48 “That’s not Mr. Jones” — the burned pilot
02:07:59 Thunder Road — “orange basketballs” and getting shot down
02:14:36 The “dead” NVA officer and the map case
02:42:48 Capturing an NVA major — the tax collector (Bronze Star)
02:58:25 The Silver Star mission — an AK-47 between his pedals
03:06:00 “Bad Day for the ARPs” — 28 men vs a regiment
03:19:39 Three Purple Hearts — shot through both cheeks
03:31:43 Losing Jim Amy and Jimmy Slater
03:43:43 He landed his helicopter on a sinking plane’s wing
03:55:42 Margaret — the love he found and lost
04:26:44 The A Shau Valley — “the worst place I’ve ever been”
04:51:32 His own rocket blows off his tail rotor
05:10:31 “Where’s your hat?” — “Somewhere in Laos”
05:16:04 The rescue — the blind PJ, “I’m 701”
05:28:32 Third tour and the general — “check your grid”
05:32:51 He attacked an NVA flag from inside North Vietnam
05:46:03 Pony One Six — the name he hid for 30 years
06:03:17 His wife of 52 years
06:15:31 Why none of his pilots ever took their own life
06:21:24 My Lai — the real hero nobody remembers
06:24:54 The OSS medic who saved Ho Chi Minh
06:40:18 “The way I fought a war is gone”

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7 hr 3 min
June 19 The Most Dangerous Flying Job in Vietnam | Hugh Mills
Hugh Mills flew the OH-6 “Loach” as a low-level aeroscout in Vietnam — statistically the most dangerous flying job of the war. Shot down 16 times, three Silver Stars, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Purple Hearts. Author of the classic memoir Low Level Hell.
📖 Low Level Hell: https://a.co/d/0glrcnww
CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction — how Greg Coker connected them + “Low Level Hell”
00:02:59 Growing up across the street from Bill Clinton
00:29:49 Officer Candidate School — marching inside a dumpster
00:49:50 He promoted himself with drugstore mercury
00:52:00 Stepping off the plane — what Vietnam smelled like
01:20:23 His first mission at 20 — adjusting live artillery
01:35:49 The minigun and the grease-pencil gunsight
01:47:48 “That’s not Mr. Jones” — the burned pilot
02:07:59 Thunder Road — “orange basketballs” and getting shot down
02:14:36 The “dead” NVA officer and the map case
02:42:48 Capturing an NVA major — the tax collector (Bronze Star)
02:58:25 The Silver Star mission — an AK-47 between his pedals
03:06:00 “Bad Day for the ARPs” — 28 men vs a regiment
03:19:39 Three Purple Hearts — shot through both cheeks
03:31:43 Losing Jim Amy and Jimmy Slater
03:43:43 He landed his helicopter on a sinking plane’s wing
03:55:42 Margaret — the love he found and lost
04:26:44 The A Shau Valley — “the worst place I’ve ever been”
04:51:32 His own rocket blows off his tail rotor
05:10:31 “Where’s your hat?” — “Somewhere in Laos”
05:16:04 The rescue — the blind PJ, “I’m 701”
05:28:32 Third tour and the general — “check your grid”
05:32:51 He attacked an NVA flag from inside North Vietnam
05:46:03 Pony One Six — the name he hid for 30 years
06:03:17 His wife of 52 years
06:15:31 Why none of his pilots ever took their own life
06:21:24 My Lai — the real hero nobody remembers
06:24:54 The OSS medic who saved Ho Chi Minh
06:40:18 “The way I fought a war is gone”
Sponsors:
Serious supplements “For Those that Run Towards”
www.hoplitenutrition.com
Use Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off
🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast
🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall
⚔️ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297
📧 Connect/Sponsor: [email protected]
📡 The Weekly SSE intel brief (free): https://intel.thevanguardwall.com

Support the show

🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast
🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall
⚔️ Patreon (early access + Discord): https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297
📧 Sponsor Inquiries: [email protected]

💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off
Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com
7 hr 5 min
June 07 Marine to Green Beret to Delta to CIA: The Man Who Hunted bin Laden | Gary Harrington
At Tora Bora in December 2001, Gary Harrington sat on one of the closest American observation posts to Osama bin Laden — close enough, he says, to watch the bombs he was calling in streak past the ridge sideways. Then the war handed him to the CIA, and he spent the next decade hunting the same enemy from the inside.
Harrington is the rare operator who wore the uniform six different ways: Marine Corps infantry officer, Marine Recon, the second officer ever to graduate the Marine Scout Sniper Instructor course, Green Beret 18-Delta Special Forces medic, Delta Force operator (ODA 572 / Task Force Dagger, Bronze Star at Tora Bora), and CIA case officer. Over nearly eight hours, he walks through the entire arc — from a poor childhood in the North Carolina mountains, to the caves of Tora Bora, to the cables of Benghazi — and the night on Black Mountain he says set the course for all of it.
It's a story about war, tradecraft, and the long road home: what the job cost him, the forgiveness it took to come back, and the line he uses for both halves of his life — "I wore wolf's clothing so long, I became the wolf."
In this conversation:
• The 9/11 morning that turned him toward the war — and the climb to the OP above Tora Bora
• Calling in strikes near bin Laden's position, the daisy cutter he says "did nothing," and why he believes the body was hidden
• Nate Chapman, the first American killed in Afghanistan — and the helicopter Harrington was told not to get on
• Standing up firebase Coast: warlords, duffel bags of cash, and the plot to take out Pacha Khan
• Running smugglers in Iraq — and the hidden camera that confirmed Jessica Lynch
• Hugging the Taliban to feel for suicide vests, and a black Toyota he walked away from two minutes before it detonated
• The strike that answered the Camp Chapman bombing
• Reading the Benghazi cables in real time — why he says "that was fire for effect"
• Beirut, 1983: the barracks bombing, and the day he refused a U.S. ambassador's order
• Delta Force selection on a broken compass — forced out on an unjust evaluation, then clawing his way back
• The glowing light on Black Mountain at his lowest moment, and the words he says he heard: "Do not be afraid… I have a purpose for you"
• Faith, forgiveness, meeting his wife Kim, and the mission behind Power Prudence
⏱ CHAPTERS
0:00:00 Welcome & introducing Gary Harrington
0:04:55 The Inner Ring: the drive to belong to the elite
0:07:10 Appalachian poverty, moonshine & a kid written off
0:25:38 The glowing bubble on Black Mountain
0:34:23 "I get paid to work out": becoming a Marine
0:56:59 Into 2nd Recon Battalion
1:09:48 Beirut, 1983: surviving the barracks bombing
1:14:52 Scout sniper instructor & crossing to Army Special Forces
1:36:23 The road to Delta Force selection
1:46:17 Delta selection: the broken compass & "I trained less"
2:02:11 The negligent discharge — the press check he skipped
2:16:00 Kicked out of Delta — & the commander who swore to end him
2:25:21 Clawing his way back into 5th Special Forces Group
2:35:35 Yemen, Ambassador Bodine & the USS Cole report the embassy killed
2:54:43 9/11: the diner, the second plane & turning toward war
3:16:12 Tora Bora: the climb to the OP & bombs flying past sideways
3:28:11 Why Bin Laden's body was hidden — & briefing McChrystal
3:45:03 Coast & Nate Chapman: the first American killed in Afghanistan
4:01:35 Warlords, duffel bags of cash & the plot to kill Pacha Khan
4:24:39 Running smugglers in Iraq: the hidden camera & Jessica Lynch
5:07:56 Hugging the Taliban to feel for vests — disrupting a suicide-bomber cell
5:29:34 A black Toyota, two minutes from death
5:33:19 The strike that answered Camp Chapman: "Predator, party of one"
5:52:07 Reading the Benghazi cables, CIA infighting & betrayal
6:39:39 The reckoning: faith, PTSD & "I became the wolf"
7:18:39 Power Prudence, situational awareness & "we're stained glass"

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📲 Follow Gary Harrington (The Power of Prudence): YouTube @thepowerofprudence · IG @therealgaryh · X @GHarringtonCo · FB TheRealGaryHarrington · LinkedIn gary-harrington
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🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast
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📧 Connect/Sponsor: [email protected]

Support the show

🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast
🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall
⚔️ Patreon (early access + Discord): https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297
📧 Sponsor Inquiries: [email protected]

💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off
Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com
7 hr 48 min
May 22 Air Force PJ: He Was Told to Stand Down. Cole Condiff Was Never Found. | Aaron Love
Senior Master Sergeant Aaron Love — Air Force Pararescueman, 22 years, five combat deployments — is the first PJ ever on The Vanguard Wall. Fewer than 500 people have earned the maroon beret. The pipeline carries a 91% attrition rate — the longest special operations selection pipeline in the DoD.

In 2002, Aaron quit on a pool deck at Indoc. He'd made it through Hell Night. He said three words to an instructor and walked out. What followed was five years in aerospace physiology, waiting for a cross-training window. At a poker game with PJs, his friend looked him dead in the eye: "What the hell are you doing at this table?" He went home. His wife was feeding their four-week-old daughter. She said: "Put the packet in. But don't come home unless you graduate." He graduated.

In 2019, Aaron was standing four feet from the open door of a C-130 over the Gulf of Mexico when Staff Sergeant Cole Condiff was ripped from the aircraft. He ran dive operations for two days. Side-scan sonar returned two shapes that looked like parachute canopies with a body mass behind them. Divers went down. They were two boulders. Cole Condiff has never been found.

⚔️ THIS EPISODE'S SPONSORS (#sponsored #ad):

💼 Ridge — One thing to pack, five ways to power. Get 10% off @Ridge with code VANGUARD at https://ridge.com/VANGUARD #Ridgepod

💪 Hoplite Nutrition — Supplements built for veterans and operators. Code VANGUARD15 → 15% off Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com

🎟️ Patreon (24-hr early access + Discord): https://patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall

CHAPTERS:
(0:00) Cold Open: Aaron Love & The Cole Condiff Story
(6:04) Aaron Joins the Show
(8:34) What Is a Pararescueman? (91% Attrition Rate)
(9:51) Growing Up in Barberton, Ohio
(19:01) Ohio State, Factories & Hitting Rock Bottom
(27:57) 9/11: "This Is My Generation's Moment"
(29:05) Discovering Pararescue: The Air Force Recruiter
(35:04) Air Force Basic Training: Lackland AFB
(41:49) PJ Indoc 2002: Day One
(49:22) Hell Night — Extended Training Day
(53:32) "F*** You, I Quit." — The Decision That Cost Five Years
(1:00:43) Reclassified: Aerospace Physiology & HALO Support
(1:06:58) The Poker Game With PJs
(1:09:33) "Pass or Don't Come Home" — His Wife's Ultimatum
(1:13:00) Going Back: The Second Run at Indoc
(1:40:48) Dive School & Earning the Beret
(2:28:42) "The Only Spec Op You Need One Of" — PJ Identity
(3:19:24) Pedro 66: Knowing the Men Who Died
(3:32:45) "I Made the Decision to End My Own Life."
(3:53:30) Konduz: Mike Cathcart & Dignified Transfer
(4:09:00) "We Wrapped Him in the Flag Before His Brothers Walked In"
(4:20:48) Are You Gonna Kill Yourself? I'll Be Awkward.
(5:50:59) The Cole Condiff Stand-Down: Four Feet from the Door
(6:05:30) "Get Me the F*** Out of This Aircraft"
(6:21:42) Two Boulders. Cole Condiff Has Never Been Found.
(6:31:55) Calling the Air Force Out in Front of 200 People
(6:38:12) "I Was Hammered on the Plane Home. I Was Done."
(7:16:00) Sobriety, DMT & Becoming Someone New
(7:56:25) "The Black Pill Is a Lie. Have Hope."

CONNECT WITH AARON LOVE:
Ones Ready Podcast → onesreadypodcast.com
Instagram → @aaronlovesamerica or @onesready

Support the show

🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast
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💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off
Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com
8 hr 17 min
May 08 From Selling Plasma to 8 Figures: Marine Vet Johnny Raushi's American Comeback
Marine vet Johnny Raushi joined the Corps at 17 for a free skateboard sticker. Four years later he came home broke, picked up change in a gas station parking lot, and sold his plasma twice a week to fund the first batches of a pomade he was perfecting on his stovetop. That pomade became Johnny Slicks — an 8-figure American manufacturing company employing 30+ people out of a North Carolina facility, fully U.S.-sourced.
Asher and Raushi cover boot camp, the in-unit suicide that happened seconds after he walked away from his armory window, the Accutane spiral that nearly killed him, the six-day phone call with Marine Raider Nick Koumalatsos that turned a kitchen-table pomade into a brand, and his first book "23 Virtues in 23 Days" (Aug 2025).
⚔️ THIS EPISODE'S SPONSORS (#sponsored #ad):

→ https://ridge.com/VANGUARD #Ridgepod
💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built, made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off → https://hoplitenutrition.com
🛒 TVW Merch — Built for the mission. https://thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)
🎟️ Patreon (24-hr early access + Discord): https://patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall
CHAPTERS:
(00:00) Welcome
(03:30) Growing Up in NJ and the Poconos
(11:00) Faith, Questions, and the Church
(22:30) The Recruiter and a Sticker
(27:00) Bootcamp and Brotherhood
(37:00) Marrying Rebecca and Camp Lejeune
(41:00) The M9 Pistol Eureka Moment
(51:30) Deploying With BSRF-14 to Romania
(1:02:00) Losing His MOS and Earning It Back
(1:17:00) Suicide in the Ranks
(1:22:30) Knee Injury and Leaving the Corps
(1:41:00) Hair Loss and the First Pomade
(2:00:00) Selling Plasma and Picking Up Change
(2:14:00) Six Days With Nick Koumalatsos
(2:35:00) Hurricane Florence and Moving In With Nick
(2:55:00) Scaling Johnny Slicks
(3:15:00) The Accutane Spiral
(4:00:00) Building an 8-Figure Business
(4:30:00) Leadership and EOS
(5:00:00) Plant Medicine and Healing
(5:45:00) Marriage and Trust
(6:15:00) 23 Virtues in 23 Days
(6:30:00) Closing Thoughts
CONNECT WITH JOHNNY: johnnyslicks.com | IG: @johnnyslicks | @johnnyraushi

Support the show

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💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off
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7 hr 8 min
April 27 The Last Plane Out of Kabul: Air Mission Commander Reveals What Really Happened | Col(r) Alex Pelbath
The last C-17 lifted off Kabul's runway at 11:59 PM on August 30, 2021. The man who gave the order — and made the radio call "Math Safe" that officially ended America's longest war — tells the full story for the first time.

Colonel Alex Pelbath (USAF, Ret.) commanded SOUL-2, the only C-17 Special Operations unit in the world, and served as Air Mission Commander for the final flight out of Afghanistan. In this episode, he reveals the moment the Abbey Gate bomb went off, the suspected suicide bomber on his own aircraft, the Taliban press conference that Biden then agreed to, General Milley's coin he handed right back, and the bureaucratic fight that nearly grounded the last flight before it ever left the ground.

Born to a first-generation American family — his grandparents fled communist Hungary through a minefield in 1956, survived a Russian soldier's mercy, and spent a year in an Austrian refugee camp before an airlift brought them to America — Pelbath's story is a 65-year generational arc that ends with him commanding the largest airlift evacuation in modern history.

Over nearly 7 hours, he covers his entire career: growing up with a blind mother on a construction worker's wages, earning a last-minute wrestling scholarship to the Air Force Academy, flying 22 years of C-17 combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, a near-fatal black hole effect landing on NVGs that almost killed his crew, being hand-selected to brief the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, shaping two national defense budgets inside the Pentagon — and the full firsthand account of Kabul: the chaos, the failures of leadership, and the men and women who held it together when the generals couldn't.

Now running for Congress in South Carolina's 1st District, Pelbath explains why the same broken thinking that produced Kabul is still inside the building — and what he intends to do about it.

Follow Alex Pelbath

📸 Instagram: www.Instagram.com/ap_alexpelbath
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pelbathforsc/
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0utyp0-5TzeLBWoRTTgtHw
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Alex-Pelbath-for-Congress/61579768019800/
🌐 Website: https://pelbathforcongress.com

Serious supplements “For Those that Run Towards”
www.hoplitenutrition.com
Use Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off

🔗Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast
🏪Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall
⚔️Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall
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📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297
📧 Connect/Sponsor: [email protected]

Support the show

🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast
🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall
⚔️ Patreon (early access + Discord): https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall
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💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off
Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com
6 hr 46 min
April 08 They Said "We've Been Fine Without You." He Proved Them Wrong. | Dr. Nick Barringer
If this episode brought you value, drop a comment below — we'd love to know what you're implementing.

What does it take to fuel the most elite light infantry unit in the U.S. Army — and earn their respect doing it? Dr. Nick Barringer didn't just study performance nutrition, he built the standard for it inside the 75th Ranger Regiment.

Dr. Nick Barringer is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, Bronze Star and Legion of Merit recipient, Ranger-tabbed, airborne-qualified combat veteran, and one of the foremost authorities on tactical performance nutrition in the United States. He holds a PhD in Kinesiology from Texas A&M, co-authored the International Society of Sports Nutrition's position stand on Tactical Athlete Nutrition, and spent years embedded with the 75th Ranger Regiment as part of the Ranger Athlete Warrior (RAW) Program — one of the first human performance programs in all of Special Operations. He later served as Program Director for the Army Baylor Graduate Program in Nutrition and as an Assistant Professor at West Point. Most recently, he founded Salvo Gum, a precision-dosed performance caffeinated gum engineered for controlled alertness under pressure.
In this conversation, you'll hear:

Whether you're a tactical athlete, a serious lifter, a first responder, or someone who simply wants to perform at a higher level — this episode will change how you think about fueling your body and protecting your mind.

Follow Nick Barringer:

📸 Instagram: www.instagram.com/nickbarringer.PhD.rdn
📸 Instagram: www.instagram.com/SALVOgum use code VANGUARD15 for 15% off

Websites:
🌐 www.DrNickBarringer.com
🌐 www.SALVOgum.com use code VANGUARD15 for 15% off

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0:00 Introduction & Welcome
0:03 Salvo Gum First Impression
0:05 Wrestling, Football & His First Nutrition Hack
0:07 The Clemson Strength Coach Who Changed Everything
0:09 9/11 and the Decision to Join the Military
0:19 The Army Dietician Pipeline & Getting Branched Wrong
0:21 The Paperwork Error That Changed His Life
0:28 First Deployment: Baghdad — Managing Media & Interpreters
0:30 How Rangers Recruited Him From a Combat Hospital
0:33 Airborne School to RASP in One Weekend
0:35 The Sergeant Major's Challenge: "We've Been Fine Without You"
0:36 First Days at Ranger Regiment — No Computer, No Desk
0:47 How He Earned Trust Inside the Regiment
0:49 Ranger School — The Graduation Reality Check
0:50 The RAW Program — Origin Story & Vision
1:03 What Supplements He Actually Pushed to Rangers
1:09 First Deployment With the Rangers — Baghdad Round Two
1:28 Texas A&M PhD — How the Creatine Obsession Started
1:32 Omega-3, DHA, and the Suicide Prevention Research
1:37 Vitamin D, Depression, and the Study He Built at A&M
1:53 Afghanistan Food Study — What He Discovered Shocked Him
1:59 Creatine & Sleep Deprivation — The Cognitive Research
2:06 Creatine Timing, Dosing & the Monohydrate vs HCL Debate
2:07 Creatine Myths — Kidneys, Cramping & What Science Says
2:13 Why He Put His 77-Year-Old Mom on Creatine
2:14 His Personal Supplement

Support the show

🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast
🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall
⚔️ Patreon (early access + Discord): https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297
📧 Sponsor Inquiries: [email protected]

💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off
Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com
4 hr 32 min
March 30 MACV-SOG | How One Man Built the Most Dangerous Training Program in Vietnam | Travis Mills
In August of 1968, Travis W. Mills was shot five times in a single engagement at FOB 4 — the deadliest night in the history of U.S. Army Special Forces. He survived. And then he went back to Vietnam.
A Green Beret who served with one of the most classified units in American military history, Travis Mills sat down with The Vanguard Wall Podcast to document a story that couldn't be told for nearly three decades.
Assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group and then to Military Assistance Command, Vietnam — Studies and Observation Group (MACV-SOG), Travis led small recon teams deep into denied territory along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, conducting cross-border operations into Laos and Cambodia during the most dangerous years of the Vietnam War. After surviving the FOB 4 sapper attack that left 16 Special Forces soldiers dead and over 30 wounded in a single night, he recovered aboard the USS Sanctuary — then returned to Vietnam, not as a patient, but as a leader. He was tasked with building the next generation of warriors, founding and commanding the MACV-SOG Recon Leader School, known as the One-Zero School.
MACV-SOG's existence stayed classified for nearly 29 years. Travis carried that history quietly until 2001, when the unit was finally awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.
In this conversation, viewers will hear:

What it was like to serve in a unit whose missions "officially weren't happening"
A first-person account of the FOB 4 sapper attack — 16 SF killed in one night
Why Travis chose to return to Vietnam after being wounded rather than rotate home
The operational structure of MACV-SOG recon teams and the Hatchet Force
What Travis witnessed in Vietnam that still shapes how he thinks about service today
How he and his wife Bobby have stayed married for 62 years
His message to the next generation considering military service

Watch the full episode and subscribe to The Vanguard Wall Podcast to hear more conversations that preserve the history of those who served.

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#MACVSOG #VietnamWar #SpecialForces #GreenBeret #VanguardWallPodcast #VietnamVeteran #MilitaryHistory
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5 hr 46 min
March 11 Kyle Steiner: Korengal Survivor, Green Beret, and the Fight to Be a Good Father
CW2 Kyle Steiner — 173rd Airborne, Korengal Valley combat veteran, and 7th Special Forces Group operator — joins The Vanguard Wall for a full-length documentary-style interview covering combat, resilience, and legacy.

Kyle Steiner was 20 years old when he deployed to Outpost Restrepo in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley, one of the most dangerous places on earth, with Battle Company, 2nd of the 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade. During Operation Rock Avalanche, he was called KIA over the radio after being struck in the head during an enemy ambush — and walked away. He later failed Special Forces selection, rebuilt, and crushed it the second time, spending 15 years with 7th Special Forces Group.

Today, weeks from retirement after 20 years of service, Kyle's mission has shifted — to raising sons who will become better men than him, a daughter who will never settle for less than she deserves, and answering the question that drives him: how do you pass on the values forged in combat without the trauma that came with them?

Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction & Welcome
00:01:00 Kyle Steiner: The Full Story Read
00:04:27 Kyle Reacts to Hearing His Own Story
00:05:51 Military Brat to Small-Town Wisconsin
00:07:02 The SF Pamphlet That Launched His Dream
00:07:25 His Father's Hard Standards (And Why He's Grateful)
00:09:43 Oldest of Five: Family Dynamics & His Parents' Divorce
00:27:51 The 18X-Ray Program Explained
00:30:00 Basic Training: How He Became the Honor Graduate
00:37:50 Airborne School & the Band of Brothers Moment
00:39:55 SFAS First Attempt: Not Selected, Not Ready
00:54:55 Three Dark Months at Bragg Watching Others Leave
01:06:20 Italy: Assigned to the 173rd Airborne at Vicenza
01:07:39 Scout Platoon Struggles & a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
01:12:20 The Command Team "Punishment" That Built Him
01:30:05 Joining Battle Company & the Road to the Korengal
01:45:00 Flying Into the Korengal Valley
01:51:00 Life at Outpost Restrepo: SAW Gunner, 1,600 Rounds, Daily Firefights
01:57:50 111 Firefights in One Month: September in the Korengal
02:19:20 R&R Leave: Going Home & Choosing to Walk Back Into It
02:21:31 "Combat Is Like Crack": The Adrenaline of War
02:31:30 Sebastian Junger, Tim Hetherington & the Restrepo Documentary
02:58:40 Sal Giunta: Before He Won the Medal of Honor
03:08:30 Operation Rock Avalanche & the First Major Casualties
03:22:27 The Headshot: Called KIA Over the Radio, Woke Up, and Ran
03:43:05 Coming Home to Italy, Meeting Julia & Choosing SFAS Again
04:05:00 SFAS Second Attempt: This Time He Was Ready
04:13:51 The Q Course, Earning the Green Beret & 7th Special Forces Group
05:13:18 Combat Dive School, HALO & the Hardest Schools in the Military
06:07:16 The Harder Fight: Fatherhood, Retirement & the Operator Mindset

Follow Kyle Steiner
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Support the show

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7 hr 6 min
March 08 He Survived Fallujah… Then Walked Away From Everything | Eric Shelvy (Part 2)
He fought in Fallujah at 21. He carried a diplomatic passport in Moscow. He investigated explosives for the ATF. And then he walked away from all of it — sold his house, pulled his kids out of school, flew to Panama, and bought a sailboat.

In Part 2 of this conversation, Eric Shlevy picks up where the war ended and takes us through every chapter most people never get to hear: embassy life, the State Department, the ATF fugitive task force, and ultimately the decision to sail the world with his wife and two kids for nearly three and a half years.
This episode goes deep into what it actually looks like to rebuild your identity after combat — not through therapy buzzwords, but through action. Through new missions. Through showing your kids that the world is bigger than anyone told them it was.

Eric talks about sailing logistics, homeschooling at sea, marriage on a boat with nowhere to escape, and the moment his daughter started talking about a life in the foreign service — at 16.

He also reflects on the Time Magazine cover, legacy, and what it means to secure your place in history without letting it own you.
This is a rare story. And Eric is a rare man.

If this conversation moved you — share it with someone who needs it. That's the only way this reaches the people it's meant for.

🎙️ Subscribe for new episodes | Support us on Patreon | Merch available now

Follow Eric Shelvy
📸 Instagram: www.Instagram.com/sailing.altair
🎥 YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UC3B0cJaRDBXbEMYwppOlAjQ

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📧 Connect/Sponsor: [email protected]

Support the show

🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast
🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)
🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall
⚔️ Patreon (early access + Discord): https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297
📧 Sponsor Inquiries: [email protected]

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Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com
4 hr 27 min

About The Vanguard Wall Podcast

From the publisher's feed

Long-form interviews with combat veterans, special operators, and first responders — the people who did the hard things and carry them home. The host, an Army and law-enforcement veteran, goes deep on the moments most podcasts skip: the call made under fire, the teammate lost, and the long quiet work of putting it back together. Guests include Green Berets, Rangers, Delta, MACV-SOG, CIA, pilots, and police — plus founders, filmmakers, and voices in health and resilience. For warriors, and the families who love them. New episodes every other week.