The Team House - Delta Force EOD Operator | Taamir Ransome

Episode Date: June 13, 2026

Taamir Ransome joins The Team House to discuss his path from the 82nd Airborne to EOD, the 75th Ranger Regiment, and eventually Delta Force, including deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. He also opens up about getting blown up repeatedly, the toll of the job, writing Mind of a Soldier, and the brutal reality of transitioning out of the military after a career in special operations.Grab Taamir's book "Mind of a Soldier: 34 Laws for the War After the War" here -- https://a.co/06Xoy11whttps://www.linkedin.com/in/taamir-ransome-b8442391Today's Sponsors:GhostBed ⬇️https://www.ghostbed.com/houseFOR 10% off! Quince⬇️go to: https://www.quince.com/housefor free shipping and 365 day returns For ad free video and audio and access to live streams and Eyes On Geopolitics...JOIN OUR PATREON! https://www.patreon.com/c/TheTeamHouseTo help support the show and for all bonus content including:-live shows and asking guest questions -ad free audio and video-early access to shows-Access to ALL bonus segments with our guestsSubscribe to our Patreon! ⬇️https://www.patreon.com/TheTeamHouseSupport the show here:⬇️https://www.patreon.com/TheTeamHouse___________________________________________________PRE ORDER JACK'S NEW BOOK "THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN" ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/803651/the-most-dangerous-man-by-jack-murphy/paperback/Subscribe to the new EYES ON podcast here:⬇️https://www.youtube.com/@EyesOnGeopoliticsPod/featured__________________________________Jack Murphy's new book "We Defy: The Lost Chapters of Special Forces History" ⬇️https://www.amazon.com/We-Defy-Chapters-Special-History-ebook/dp/B0DCGC1N1N/——————————————————————Or make a one time donation at: ⬇️https://ko-fi.com/theteamhouseSocial Media: ⬇️The Team House Instagram:https://instagram.com/the.team.house?utm_medium=copy_linkThe Team House Twitter:https://twitter.com/TheTeamHousePodJack’s Instagram:https://instagram.com/jackmcmurph?utm_medium=copy_linkJack’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackmurphyrgr?s=21Team House Discord: ⬇️https://discord.gg/wHFHYM6"Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio"00:00 — Start 01:08 — Growing up, wanting to be a rapper, and joining the Army03:20 — Radar repair, the 82nd Airborne, and signing up after 9/1106:15 — Deploying to Fallujah and getting attached to the battalion commander’s PSD10:47 — Trying for Special Forces, failing land nav, and finding the EOD path13:15 — EOD school, explosives training, and why it was the hardest school he attended18:04 — An 18-month EOD deployment in Mosul during the height of the IED fight21:15 — Standing up the 28th EOD Company to support the Ranger Regiment25:01 — First deployment with Ranger Battalion and learning SOF EOD on the fly28:51 — Afghanistan, mountain warfare, booby-trapped rooftops, and Ranger casualties31:30 — Getting blown up, warning the commander, and clearing a path for the medevac35:40 — Helicopter shot down in Kandahar and taking fire after the crash39:20 — Selection for Delta Force and the EOD role inside the unit43:18 — In-extremis EOD training, hostage rescue, and going through OTC50:22 — Life inside the unit, combat deployments, Syria, ISIS, and booby-trapped warfare01:15:03 — Writing Mind of a Soldier, leaving the military, and struggling with transition01:20:01 — The VA, veteran mental health, suicide, and being “functionally messed up”01:35:04 — Helping enlisted veterans transition, hiring bias, TBI, and service dogsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-team-house--5960890/support.

Hey guys, I want to tell you tonight about my new novel, The Most Dangerous Man, coming out June 9th. I think, like a lot of you, I read in high school, the short story, the greatest game, which is almost a century old at this point. But it's the classic premise of man-hunting man for sport. This book is based off of that a little bit, but also on stories that I have heard over the years about safari guides that have actually taken. hunting parties, wealthy people, hunting poachers in West Africa. That idea kind of cooked off in my mind when I was asked to write a novel and get back into writing fiction again. And this book is about a Ranger with the Ranger Reconnaissance Company who's on a mission in West Africa and gets kidnapped and hunted for sport by a group of wealthy tech billionaires. I had a lot of fun writing this book

and I think you'll have a good time reading it. It's a quick, fast and furious, fast-paced action novel. And I hope you all check it out. It's up there. You can find it wherever books are sold, the hard copy, the hardback, the soft cover, and also the Kindle e-book edition. We'll have some links down in the description for you. The book comes out June 9th, and I hope you all let me know what you think of it.

Hey, folks, welcome to the Team House. I'm Jack Murphy. here with our guest today, Tamir Ransom, who is the author of Mind of a Soldier, 34 Laws of War After the War. I'm almost done reading this book. I can't recommend it enough. Probably the most important book about transitioning out of the military in a civilian life for veterans to read is probably this one. Tamir has a pretty amazing career, served as a explosive ordinance disposal technician, and the 75th Ranger Regist. and then in Delta Force, many deployments with both of those units, and then retired, you know,

just three years ago and currently working on the book. So Tamir, thank you for joining us on the show. We really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Yeah. Well, let's start at the beginning, man. Tell us a little bit about sort of like your upbringing and like why did you even join the Army in the first place. So this got me slapped in Sears school, but it's a true story. I wanted to be a rapper initially, and I was doing construction in Atlanta. And my promise, me and my cousin made a promise that if our rap careers didn't take off by a time of 18 with John Armour. That's awesome.

Seriously like that. It got slapped. It got me slapped in Sears school, but it's a true story. So what was your kind of teenage rap career like? Oh, it was trash, man. Like it was me working at freaking Burger King and doing other stuff as a pharmacist, if you will, and just kind of getting by trying to pay for studio time. But yeah, like I've always been a writer, but like a rapping just wasn't in the car screen.

I'm glad, though. So we can't find you on like some obscure YouTube video rapping. Nah, this is way before YouTube, man. It's about like 99 to 01. Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay. Damn.

So did your friend follow through on this promise also? No, so my cousin actually, he went to college and got a degree of music production, but like, I always wanted to be a protector, man. I'm no necessarily a kid. I want to be a ninja, right, growing up. So joining the Army was like a no-brainer for me. Yeah. Where do you think that came from? Is that like something that came from your parents?

No, not at all. I only heard, like, horror stories about people in the Army. Like, when I joined the Army, I went to be infantry. And my mom told me, like, that I was going to be a bullet sponge. This is before 9-11. And I was just like, but I want to join the Army. And all she had to go off was her grandfather and her crazy uncle for Vietnam. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Of course they're scared for you. Yep. I remember talking to years ago someone on the show whose father was in Vietnam and was so upset with his son joining the Ranger Regiment until he came to see his son graduate Rip and saw like what the regiment had become, what the Army had become since Vietnam. You know, it's a different animal now. Yeah.

It's the same for me. Like, my mom's like, I'll support it. If you do a technical job, that's how I pick radar repair. Okay. So you came into the Army as a radar repair guy, and you were in the 82nd? Yes, sir. What was that like? This is still pre-9-11, I take it?

No, so I was working construction in Atlanta on 9-11. My recruiter called me. He goes, you still want to join? I guess a bunch of people are backing out. And I was like, we're going to war, right? He's like, yeah, but I think so I was like, you know, sign me up, dude. Like, I've never done war before. So that sounds pretty cool, right?

So when I was in Fort Seale for my first AIT, Drill Sergeant Reed, I'll never forget this dude. He's like the epitome of what a soldier is. And he was always talking about his division at the 82nd. And I was at the time, like, again, I had no clue. I thought like the 80s second was the most elite thing on the planet. And so I was like, I want to go airborne. I want to go to eight second.

And so he hooked me up with a contract. That's awesome. And I mean, how did you like the Army coming in as a young guy? Do you take to it pretty easy? Yeah, so my mom was neat. I love her to death. She's the sweetest woman ever. But like we had to make our bed with hospital folds.

We had, you know, six-inch folds on our stuff. Like if I didn't, like there's been about three or four times that I didn't make my bed before school. When I came home, my entire bed was apart. Like not like she flipped the bed. She took it apart. And I had to rebuild my bunk bed because I should. to bump that with my brother and then meet the bed. Yeah, that's even more extreme than basic training.

So, yeah, I get it. Yeah, basic training was easy for you, man. There's nobody meeting my mother when it comes to clean the house. You're good to go. And what exactly is the job of a radar repair guy at the 80 second? Oh, so it's funny. They send me to 780 second. And so normally you go to the Vardi, Division Artillery,

fixed the back then it was a Q36 Q37 radars those are like the anti-artillery radars but they sent me to a small like special electronics company and so I was fixing like night vision goggles computers a bunch of other stuff tinkering the one radar I supposed to fix was a speed radar for the MPs I never fixed it I refused to help the police at that time So yeah, I appreciate that. I at one point had to go in for like, you ever have to do one of those like remedial training events on a Saturday at Fort Bragg because you got a speeding ticket? And like you go in there and they scold all of you and tell you that, you know, if you drive wearing sunglasses, you're doing something dangerous. Yeah.

That was, that was my instinct to the man. Because I think I did that like two weeks prior. And I was like, I didn't fix this freaking radar. So it's stealing shelter. So I had to see him up until after we got back. So you're a radar repair guy in the 82nd Airborne. America is at war at this point. Are you looking at deployments or is this like purely a stateside job for you?

No, so we deployed and I was already training up. Like once, you know, when you get the brag, they give you these briefs, right? You get a brief from SF guys or Greenbrae's. And you get this other brief from these guys in suits. And they're like, don't go this far down group of road, right? And so again, I had no freaking clue with any of this. I didn't know what a green beret was. I didn't know what a ranger was, really.

And then I didn't know what the hell was down in Rupert Road. So I started asking around. And like in the paraglod, they would always have these, these things are like, hey, we're going to recruit. And so at the time, the story was that if you can get to the commanders, this is at the unit, you can get on the compound and you can get to the commander's deaths, you automatically be accepted as a unit. My young and dumb self was like, that's the plan I came up with.

So I started freaking skydiving. I started fucking doing like, uh, Wing Chung boxing. Like, I was working out. So when I deployed with the 82nd, they put me on my, everybody knew what I was doing. I don't know. They thought I was crazy as hell, but they knew what I was doing.

So they ended up putting me on my battalion commander's PSD. And that's what I did for that whole deployment. And so we just getting the firefighters all over for Luzia. And I was like, yeah, this is what I want to do. But by the way, I mean, just to warn any hapless private on Fort Bragg that tries that, you will be shot as you jump the fence. Please don't do that. Yeah, don't ask me why.

I don't know who the hell I was going to get to fly me over to a freaking compound or over Fort Bragg period. But like, like 19-year-old me was like, I'm going to skydive. I'm learning. I was paying for shooting courses. All my money went into training and get to the commander's desk. Dude, you were going to be like a DB Cooper. Yeah. So you get over to Fallujah.

And like it sounds like you're really in the shit at this point. Yeah, so the 80 second at Fallujah, and then this was right, this is when we locked it down the first time, right before we handed over some Marines, right before they, right before they capture Saddam. So this is like 2004? Yeah, 2003, 2004 time frame, yep. Yeah, yeah. And what was sort of like the disposition of Fallujah at that time? Oh, Fallujah was wild, man. And it was crazy because, like, I think the 80s did a hell of a job, like, locking.

it down. And I remember, you know, back then you would, all your kit went to Kuwait and then you had to drive from Kuwait to Baghdad and then dispersed. So we did that. And then on the way back, we didn't leave our kit there. We had to drive our own kit back to Kuwait and clean it and get through customs, right? And so while we're in Kuwait waiting in the past, waiting for our customs thing, that's when they hung up those contractors and that's when the Marines got tuned up in Fulusion. I thought we're going to go back and I was pissed, right? Because I was like, I'm ready to go home. So I think we were deployed for Timlin. And as a PSD for the commander, you were just kind of like driving him around as he goes to check on the troops?

Yeah, he was, it was, they were just now starting to talk about, you know, hearts and minds and, like, I think the GWAT became a thing, like the actual phrase GWAT. He's really weren't a thing yet. And until the end of it, because I remember back, they're not hating EOD, you guys, because I didn't know what it was. because like we would be coming back for child and we have been out for three, four days, right? And they're like, we're like, oh, EODs out there. And I'm like, what the hell's EOD? Like, oh, they're taking care of IED.

What the hell's the IED? Like, all the news is EOD made me late for child. And I hate EOD guys. Well, it's, I mean, later on the war was still a pain in the ass when you had to call EOD and wait six hours. Yeah. Not their fault, but it happens.

So anything before we move on, anything particular from Fulgouja, any stories that you'd like to tease out before moving on? No, not really. It was my first deployment. I was super chariot with everything. Turn 21 over there. So that was one of my first of many birthdays, right? Couldn't get any alcohol.

It was cool. My battalion commander made me a freaking, like, printed card. So that's probably the coolest thing that happened to me over there was I got a birthday card from my battalion commander on my 21st birthday. birthday. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Not as cool as a beer, but still. Facts.

So where does the Ranger Regiment start to come into your head as a possibility as opposed to breaking into the Delta compound? Oh, so when I get back from that deployment, I get an email from the unit. And I was an E4 at this time. And they're like, hey, bud, you're a soft skill MOS. you probably better off going to Ranger Regiment and or becoming the Green Bray first, get some skills or reclass imagery. I couldn't reclass because I think my MOS is too short.

So I was like, all right, I'll go to, I wasn't going to throw a Ranger Regiment. I think Black Hawk Down had just like recently came out. And so I watched that. And the only thing I knew about Ranger Regiment was high and tights, dude. And I was like, yeah, no way. I'm not cutting my hair. Right? So this is principle.

So I end up going in selection to become a green beret. and this was like, this would have been September 04. Okay. Again, I'm a city boy. So I grew up in North New Jersey and then I joined the army from Atlanta. Like, I had never been in the woods by myself or like, like back then you couldn't even ask me to read a map. And I felt a star. Like, one of my favorite stories about selection is I walked up on a deer stand and had no freaking clue what it was and it scared the shit out of me and I ran away.

So like, until one of the instructors was like, you good? I'm like, yeah, dude, there's a monster out there. And he's like, what are he talking to him? I was like, yeah, there's a monster by the puppy palace. And he was like, what did it look like? And I explained to him, he's like, it's a deer stand, you idiot. I'm like, why are deer in stands? He's like, no, that's what a hunter sit to shoot that deer.

Like, why? Like, I just, I didn't understand. Yeah. So I ended up fell in the star and not making it. And then the 82nd back then I hope this is not the way anymore. They kept putting me on these jumps and I got hurt. I thrashed my angle really bad. And I was like, that's it.

I'm done with the Army. And EOD recruiter hit me up and was like, you should reclass the EOD. And like, again, I was like, but then he said the magic words. He was like, EOD is one of the fastest way to get into soft. And then he probably got my attention. And I went to EOD school. Didn't look back. That's awesome.

So, I mean, going to EOD school, I mean, and this is also, as you point out, the time where IEDs are starting to become a really big thing. What was sort of that environment like and that, you know, you're going to be a part of a group of guys that are like really at the forefront of this, this threat that the troops are facing. So, you know, these schools are the hardest school ever been to. Every other, like mentally,

the, everybody in a D school is at least a B student, right? So you either do like a major, a major infraction of 16 points, which is a fail. You need to 85 to pass. Or two minor infractions are eight points each, which is 16 points and you fail. So, you know, D is probably,

it was B fast. hardest school ever been to mentally. Yeah. You want to tell us a little bit about like the curriculum, just so for the civilians or people who are interested in joining the military, what EOD school is, really? Right. So right when I went phase one, so most services have some type of phase one.

The Army's phase one used to be at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. Now it's at Fort Lee in Virginia or whatever they change the name to you. For phase one, it's all like what they call Common Core. So you learn about demo. You learn safety's associated with explosives, bombs, grenades. And then you kind of dabble on some of the things that you will learn in phase two. Once you're done with phase one, you go out of phase two. That's where all the services meet up together.

So you know, these was actually really cool because it is like I was an Army guy on an Air Force base going into a Navy school. So you train that like there's Marines there. And you have Air Force Marines and Navy. folks in your class. And basically they just kind of go on order. So you do ground first, which is rockets, projectiles, landmines, and grenades. And then that's one whole division. And each subdivision is a certain part. So you learn about all types of grenades. And then from there when you test, you can get any grenade in the inventory from any country. You call your safeties. You do whatever your render safe procedure is. You know how to search the books.

and then you just continue on and then the second division is the air division which is guided missiles bombs and then payloads so like subunitions oh and then injector seats is another one that's an EOD thing too really so yeah because they it's almost like airbags right

they use essentially they small charge those things explode yeah it's a small charge that throws the pilots out of the freaking aircraft right and then from there you have the bio and chem division. So you're learning about bio, biological and chemical weapons.

ID has its own division. And then depending on what service you're in, you'll go to a nuclear division where you learn about nukes. And then you graduate. So like literally it's the, probably one of the most professional

like hardest fastest pace course as I've been to. How many weeks? It's nine months total. Okay. Okay. So 30, 36, 30 or 40 weeks or like that. Yeah, you're covering a lot of ground.

Yep. And so this is joint service, this Navy Air Force Army. Yep, Marine Corps. Cool, cool. And then I imagine you guys go on to more specialized training, like the Navy EOD divers go and do their thing and so on and so forth. Yeah, so with the Navy, so they usually have two classes. You have either Sierra class or surface class.

So that's Air Force Army Marine Corps, and you have a November class, which is Navy or underwater. You guys go through all your training. So we had a big Navy class, like, fails and tests and roll back. And I think we had, like, six or seven Navy folks rolled back into our class. They stayed with us all the way until the IED division. Once we graduated, they graduated with us, but then they went on for another couple weeks to underwater. Right, right.

And what was the path for you after you graduated from, you know, your basic course? Oh, so after I came back to Fort Bragg. I did my damn near my entire career at Fort Bragg. So I was in the 82nd. I did on the job training with the 18th EOD, and then went to EOD school, graduated, came right back to the 18th EOD for my first EOD deployment. Okay.

And how did the Ranger Regiment kind of come up on your radar as a possibility? So with EOD, after my first EOD deployment, which was damn there 18 months, I tried out for the unit because I had the skills wherever, and I felt the 18-mile. And so, like, two days later, one of my buddies is like, hey, I'm standing up at the EOD unit for range regiment. And this shit, I was like, no, I ain't doing it, dude. And I was like, I'm not getting a high and tight.

Again, I'm still stuck on freaking Black Hawk down. And he's like, dude, the regiments totally changed. Just come freaking to selection and you'll be a part of something new. And I was like, all right, cool. So I didn't make it past unit selection. Two days later, I went to the selection for the 28 was the first guy selected and then ran selection three days later for the next group of guys to come through. Hey guys, this is Jack Murphy. I want to tell you about tonight's sponsor, which is Quince.

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And so before you went and did that, you said you deployed for 18 months. Yeah, they forgot us. Where was this? This is M&D North. Oh, my God. I can go into that super quick, right? So one of the other reasons I joined EOD is because they were only supposed to do six-month deployments. We get there on ground and then we get there, as soon as we get there, they extend this to a year.

And I'm like, all right, you know what? I've done this before we get R&R. So I plan my R&R at the six-month mark. As soon as I get home on R&R, my team member calls me and goes, hey, we got extended again. We got sent it to 15 months. At the 15-month mark, there was nobody to come and replace us. So we ended up staying over there for 18 months. That's insane.

I left my sister was pregnant when I got back. And were you guys busy up there that whole time? Oh, big time, because that's when they did the whole surgery in Baghdad. We were up north in Mosul. And so all the bad guys just ran up north. And we had one EOD company covered the entire M&D North. That's totally insane. It was like nine EOD teams.

Yeah. And so you were out there every day, every night, basically. Oh, big time. Yeah, we tried to have a schedule. but it was tiresome. I'm surprised like none of us got killed over there, dude, because like by month nine,

we didn't care anymore. I can honestly tell you, I can honestly tell you, like we're like 30, 40 feet from IED just cracking them off like, please kill me. Nobody cared at that point, dude. Yeah, yeah, the nerve endings are afraid. Yeah. I mean, this is a tremendous amount of like real world experience you're gaining.

I guess that's the only silver lining we can put on an 18-month deployment. What are you learning about IEDs and about your job at this time? So IEDs came in all shapes and sizes. When we first got there, they were telling us about pipe bombs, right? And the only pipe bombs I knew at the time is probably the one you think of, right, a little small. Yeah, yeah. Plummer pipe bombs. And, like, not, dude, these things were, you know, freaking 30 inches long.

This is when they start making the metal, like, the EFPs. I agree. Yeah, well, they had. EFPs, right? Those, those came out. It was crazy because I saw the whole, like, uh, trend, like transition of command, command of death,

us getting ECM and then rhinos and all that stuff. And then them going right back to the original stuff. It was, it was interesting, dude. Yeah, yeah. There's like this sort of game that gets played. Um, a lot, some of it is like in the electronic warfare spectrum also. We do something and then they adapt and then we have to adapt to what they're doing. And it goes back and forth.

Yep. So it was interesting, man. It wasn't back to my fire. Like I said, I went over there. I got out of EOD school as an E5, and by the time I came back, I was a senior team leader in the EOD. Which an EOD team is what for guys?

Three guys. Three guys. Okay. Yeah, so you have an E6 as a team leader. E5 is your senior team member, and usually a E4 is a junior team member. Okay, okay. So now let's jump back forward a little bit here to this EOD unit that you're standing up to support the Ranger Regiment.

Was that specifically for the Ranger Regiment or was it more of like special ops use of Sockwide? So specifically for the Ranger Regiment. So up into that point, the regiment having support from the Navy because those guys are already airborne qualified. They're in great shape, right? At the time, there wasn't a bunch of E of D guys on the Army out around like Briggs shape, minus the unit. And then there was a unit in Fort Jackson that kind of pick up that mission, but they wanted something more solidified.

So they stood up to 28. Okay. And so you're standing, what was the process of standing up that unit down at Bragg? That's always a lot of fun building a unit from scratch. To be honest, man, I have to give all the credit to the first sergeant. that guy was pretty cool and then my buddy

old Scotty Weimer he was up at the Jay Monster everyday fighting for us right for us we end up standing like I said I went through selection I passed and it was me and like three other guys

and they're like all right cool what the hell was wrong with your selection what would you change about it we revamped selection and like literally ran the next one like three four days later and then we did that for like a couple months and but not even a couple months more like a couple weeks because I would say I did my first 28th deployment two months after I got selection or after I got selected.

So like standing it up was just getting bodies in there. Yeah, dude. I mean, it sounds like your feet barely touched the ground. I mean, you went and did unit selection. Well, you did, you went and did SFAS and then unit selection and then went right into this EOD selection. Yeah. Don't quit. Yeah, no kidding, man.

And so how well? long is it before the unit is operational? We were operational immediately two months. No shit. So like literally, yeah, so it was, I went to, because I got promoted the staff sergeant, but I hadn't gone to, I don't know what they call it now, there's PODC back in the day. I think when I went through was WC. I had to go through WC as a, excuse me, as a staff sergeant, and I deployed, I didn't even go to my own graduation, so I ended up deploying. So I did the 18 month deployment, came back home, went to selection, stood up that unit.

And it's funny, I didn't get any training either because we didn't have any, we didn't know what the training was. It was funny. The first hard room was like, hey, I got surprised for you boys. Like, you're about to go out of the door. He's like, I'm going to take you to some unit members, right? He's like, they're going to train you up with some stuff. Like, to their defense, now I know what I know, right? They literally like opened up their bag and was like, hey, bud, this is the stuff I carry.

Don't get yourself dead. And I was like, okay. deployed two days later. Holy shit. So which battalion did you deploy with first? First bat. Okay, cool. And I should mention you got to deploy with all three battalions.

So you got to see the different cultures and different personalities between the battalions. Yeah. Yeah, it was interesting, man. Like, in the, I went into all those deployments with. different stereotypes, but like all the companies that are depleted, the strike forces are at deployment, like totally broke all those, like some really good dudes in time, man. Yeah, I think the platoons and the companies are like very consistent

and consistently high standards. It's just the personalities maybe are a little different times. Yeah, yeah. So, well, tell us about the first pump with Ranger Battalion. So I had no freaking clue, man. Like, like I said, all my training was conventional EOD training. And then I go from having the truck with a robot and a bunch of other stuff to having to carry everything on my back. So like the first couple of ops out, we're in Salerno up in the mountains, man.

And the first couple of ops out was, or actually the first deployment, the first deployment was still in Iraq. We're in Baghdad. So a little bit easier because we're doing everything with strikers. But like I was carrying certain stuff. But like right away, I was like, yeah, I can't do this for anything offset. First time I have been on a bunch of like been on helicopters. I didn't know what a helicopter been filled with. you know, half or any of that stuff.

You got to be infills on boats and everything. So I was like, we had no training whatsoever. It was just like the guys that we would rip out one of the guys. And they're like, hey, this is what we do. This is what we carry. Like, good luck, dude. Don't get yourself dead. Now, that was kind of like our motto for like probably the first two or three deployments

since the 28th. I mean, I'll say this sounds like it was also like during some of the hottest years of the war, frankly. Yep. Yep. What was it like rolling out on strikers every day with first bat? One, like, I knew how to shoot just from the Army stuff. So, like, getting the firefights in Baghdad, like, not knowing what CQB is, really. Like, again, I was a soft skill guy, right? And you guys don't get that type of training.

So it was interesting. But, like I said, like, my regiment was really good about it, man. Like, one of the things I loved about regiment was, like, right away as they're doing their rip deploying, They're, like, re-blowing, like, their privates and stuff. And, like, they had no issues with any of us, no matter where our rank was jumping on any of that, like, beginner-level training, if you will. So they set us up for success from a tactical standpoint.

Like, it was really good. And you fit in. I open their, like... You fit in with your high and tight? Oh, so, again, I forgot who the Sergeant Major was, but he came from the unit. So Regiment had multi-cam. They changed their hairstyle and all this stuff.

Like, I was good, man. Yeah, yeah. It was, it was Sergeant Major Birch. That happened while I was there. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, dude. So I rocked the Mohawk down there a whole time, dude.

I am surprised they let you get away with that. Yeah. Well, because we didn't belong to anybody. Like I said, that's the best secret. It's when you didn't belong to anybody, they were just like, these are cool EOD guys. We had better attitudes than the Navy, and we were Army guys. So the regiment loved us, dude.

Right, right. Yeah, it's sort of like you're a child that had their parents abandon them at the county fair. And you're just hoping that like a platoon sergeant takes you in. It's like, oh, it's okay. You're one of my boys. Yeah. That's exactly what you guys are freaking weird, but we like you.

And how is being an EOD guy supporting Ranger Bat different than what you had done previously, if there was a difference? There was a different level of respect in regiment, man. So you have to think when I first, my first appointment with first bat, I was a staff sergeant. So I was treated on equal grounding with. all their squat leaders. And so, like, that felt really, really different. So if I was like, hey, we can't go here, they're like, bro, you're the guy.

Like, we're not going there. So it was really good. Or once I actually started, like, shooting with them more and doing CQB, I was like, number two. Like, I would check the breach for booby traps and be like number two men in the door. It was fucking amazing. Fucking. Hey. You got me.

I was living a dream, dude. Any stories about finding those kinds of booby traps having to disarm them? no not not at that time not like uh as we were wrapping up by iraq no uh once we started getting to afghanistan it started getting a little more sketch yeah you want to talk about that yeah yeah so um we get back we start we figure out like after that first deployment that was like the first true 20th appointment now we got guys going back but our job was so i did that deployment with first bat and then i stayed behind for with second bat um because again we just have up guys But once I got back, when third bat was over, it was my job to now figure out, take

my two deployments and revamp all our training to get us ready for Afghanistan. Because initially, they weren't going to send us to Afghanistan because they were like, hey, 20 who stood up to support Baghdad, blah, blah, the regiment didn't know what they were doing. But I was like, nah, dude, we're about to go to the mountains. So we started training in Utah places in Arizona and started getting our skills together for mountain warfare. And then looking at what the Taliban was doing different than what they were doing in our Iraq, which for at the time, the Taliban, it was more, it was interesting.

It was more conventional ordinance that was being used in unconventional ways. So they had IEDs, but like going to like Salerno up in the mountains was more so running into landmines and like ginormous caches, right? And like first time I learned how to call for fire because I just didn't have enough freaking, you know, demo on my back. So like I'm working real close to the J-TAC now. running with the dog guys and learning certain things. So we had a bunch of, we took our first casualties in the 20th in Afghanistan.

Wow. So per example, Congressman Brian Mass out in Florida, he was one of my soldiers in the 28th. That's how he lost both his legs in Afghanistan climbing on a rooftop. They started booby trapping the roofs. And so this is kind of like you're having to contend with these booby traps as the Rangers are assaulting a target. Yeah. So it was, it was, fast and furious you. So you're fighting Taliban, you're fighting the Haqqani network.

They're taking lessons to learn from Yemen, freaking Iraq, and then they're applying that to the mountains. And then you got all the freaking tribal stuff going on. So it was, it was interesting, dude. Like, it was definitely still trial by fire. And as the EOD guy now, like, again, my last deployment with regiment, I was now a starting first class. So I am being looked to as a, you know, down there platoon sergeant, right? Not the tactical platoon sergeant, but like,

I'm going in with the squad leaders. And so it has been, like, I've dropped the L bomb a thousand thousand and so times where it's like, I look around and I'm like, ain't nobody here. And I see something in the corners like, get the fuck out of here, dude, and that house blows up, you know, soon as you jump out. Yeah, I mean, any stories like that where you did have to diffuse something or blow something in place? Yeah. So, uh, that happened all the time. Uh, But I will say my last deployment or the,

because I've been blown up like 40 plus times, right? But this is like the last time I got like really, really rocked. We were looking at Target X or whatever. I can't remember who we're going after it. But this guy just magically pops, right? And I'm like, this dude is way more savvy. Like there's no way to they're there. So we're looking at them.

We see this meeting of people. And then they're like, we're going after. I'm like, hey, I'll tell the battalion commander at a time. and the first, I'm a battalion commander, battalion sarumidia, hey, we're getting baited. And they're like, what? I'm like, hey, man, I've been tracking this guy for, like, I've been, I've been personally following this dude because he's an IED maker for like four years now.

And like, this dude is not this stupid, right? I was like, we're getting baited. Like, something bad's going to happen. So we, we go there. It's a dry hole. Nobody's there. And they're like, the jock calls back and it's like, oh, yeah, why are you guys running air on infill?

They left like five, ten minutes ago. They walked west or something. And I'm like, all right, cool. So the platoon sergeant's like, all right, hey, I'm going to take a squad over there. We're going to go secure this house. We'll wait for you guys to finish SSC before we hit it. No problem. And I'm like, hey, let me go with you because there's only one path that gets to that other house.

And sure enough, we go there, fucking kid didn't even go to range school yet, McGuire. He goes, it's McGuire, platoon sergeant, squad leader myself. I'm four behind him. And McGuire comes out the compound, making. the left starts heading west and then explosion right so i get knocked down pinned to the wall like i feel my face burning because i got all this dirt and stuff or whatever i hear mcguire screaming medic medic i crawl over to mcguire and then luckily for him i say luckily he lost his leg but um it was those uh white pocket you know those yellow containers those things hold about 40 pounds of

explosive only half of it went off so he only got hit with 20 pounds but still knocked the rest of squad down to include me down so then i like look at that and look at that I freaking cut the rest of the debt cord. I call up, they start calling it for a medevac. And so now I'm like, days of shit. My ankle's hurting because, like I said, I got pins on the wall. My face is hurting because I got freaking dirt and gravel all in my face. And I'll tell the dog guy, I'm like, hey, we got to get this guy to Xville.

I don't have time to pull out a metal detector. I'm just going to run. Like, have your dog run behind me like he's chasing me. If I get blown up, you know the deal. So we would train our guys that one of the GOD guys would get blown up. have your dog bite us and pull us back with the dogs so nobody else comes up there. So I run and clear up to the HLZ and then we're zigzagging. I'm like, hey, just make sure the guys, as they're pulling out McGuire for Exville,

make sure they follow my path and I cleared the path. There's no more. I didn't step on anything. Nobody else stepped on anything, but we were able to get McGuire out of there. But that was like my last regiment. That was my last mission with Registry. Did, do you think McGuire stepped on a pressure plate? Is that what they were doing at the time?

Oh, all day long. Yeah, it was a pressure plate. Any word on the IED maker? Did you guys roll him up? Hell of them. He might still be allowed to his day. It was just, it was a, I won't say his name, but I know when we went to go see McGuire, the battalion commander at the time,

came in there and was like, oh, you know, razor blah, blah. He was like, man, you know, McGuire priest was like, he said we shouldn't go there, man. Fuck you, dude. Like, like I said, the kid couldn't even make it the Ranger school now. Like his whole career was done. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's an.

unfortunate. Yeah, I fought with that BC for about a good, a good 45 minutes. I was like, bro, we should not go on this one. Like we are being baited. And he's just like, lost force. Yeah. Were you there? It was maybe around that time frame.

I can't remember which it may have been First Battalion hit a target. And there are daisy-chained IEDs around it. And they ended up having like a big Mascal event. That was second bat. Yeah, that was my buddy, Sidesco. And that's, again, that's when we started, right after that, that's when we started taking a bunch of casualties. Yeah. The 28th years.

I mean, obviously, regiment took a bunch of casualties, but that was our first, like, EOD casualties. Fuck, man. Oh, you want to tell us this story about your helicopter getting shot down? Oh, yeah. So, me in true fashion, like, not knowing things, right? So this is Third Battalion, I'm in Kandahart, and I'm with BECO. So second season, so two Bravo. Now, two Bravo has a bunch of legends in it, right?

One of them being at the time, B-Co's first sergeant was first-hearted fifths, right? Like, Blackhawk down legend, right? But probably one of the best first stars ever worker, right? And a bunch of other really, really good dudes. So I forgot where we're going, but our helicopter gets shot down. And I remember, like, hurting my wrist. And we basically, and you know the 160th, man, they're freaking awesome, right? But they slam this freaking thing down.

and the back the back gate is like essentially like kind of closed up so everybody's kind of low crawling out of the fucking thing out of the back of the Chinook and that's where a low crawling out like we're getting shot from the woods from the east we're facing we're facing we're facing north we're getting shot from the east and we're getting shot from the village from the west right and so I'm like everybody's hurt we like the cough of fire a 10's come in with their beautiful freaking rock sound like and I'm happy right so like they're like they're we go and secure a bunch of places. They're like, hey, we're stuck here, right? Because it's daytime. Sun had already came up, and nobody's coming to get us in a daytime, right? I just thought, like, I think at the time, regiment wasn't allowed to fly in a daytime with 160. And so no big deal, right?

Yeah. So we're doing our normal thing where, you know, guys are trying to get some rest. We're getting into little ticks here and there. And there was nothing too crazy, right? Nobody really got, like, hurt her other than, like, from the crash. So one of the guys on the squad I was with, so I was always hanging out with one of the squads in, Josh Brunay was a squad leader. I said he plays soccer for the U.S. Paralympic team. And there's a kid on a team name on his squad named Gordo.

And I thought Gordo was like a nickname that means fat in Spanish, right? But he's a skinny kid. And I just thought that that's what they're called. They call him fat because he's skinny, right? Like just unbeknownst to me. So the whole deployment I've been talking shit to Gordo, right? He's a little bit older, and I realized that. And I was like, hey, why are you here?

He's like, I was a firefighter. I got DUI. My mom made some phone calls. And I still nothing registered in my head that, like, how the hell is this kid get a DUI and his mom makes a phone call? He used to a regiment, right? But whatever, he didn't have his ranger type yet. So I'm like, I was lucky, right?

So we're sharing a first strike, MRI. And I asked Gordo, I had already made into selection to the EOD troop in the unit. And so I was like, hey, man, what you're doing after this? Like, you know, at the ranger school, you're going to go to the unit. And he was like, you know, basically got real quiet. kind of weird and was like, no, I want to do something different from my dad. Still never registers, right? And so then Josh goes, you know who his dad is?

I'm like, you know, fuck who his father is. Like, just being, like just being an a-hole, right? Like, not being mean, but just joking. And he's like, dad's Gary Gorton. And I'm like, and then it finally clicks and I look at his face. I'm like, holy shit, man. Why do you tell me? He's like, people treat me different.

I'm like, I didn't treat you different. I don't give a shit who your dad is. Like, you're still gordon or me, right? But we've been best friends ever since, man. That's one of my, like, good friends. he ended up becoming a platoon sergeant for Rekke and was like still doing good to this day. That's awesome, man. Yeah, dude.

But yeah, that's me putting my foot in my mouth as always, like, not knowing whose people. Again, the way I grew up, like, I don't think about, like, legacy like that because I didn't have anybody who's like some metal heart, you know, or metal bono recipient. Like in my family, right? Yeah, yeah, you never know who you're going to run into. do. So I know we're going a little bit at a chronological order, but tell us about like how the unit comes up in your mind as like, this is the next step for me in going to selection. So the unit was always my final step. So it took me three times to get to the unit, right? So I said the first time was when I was in an 80 second, I got a email and was like, go do something

cooler, right? Like get some, get some grid about you or whatever, right? And that was like number one. second time was right after my first EOD deployment. I didn't make the 18-miler. So I was like, okay, work out harder, right? And then the third time I actually made it. So as I, that deployment was really cool because I was aligned with the squadron and troop that I would go to support after OTC. Oh, cool.

So I had a unit EOD guy there that was showing me to ropes and stuff during that deployment to Canada. It was really good, man. So it was like, it was almost like on the job. training with your big brother. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What was the selection course like for EOD dude? Was that tough? Yeah, so it was, it was interesting. Like, you would do the PT test and you would do the 18 mile around like Longstreet. They would do this crazy, you know, they would do the PICIVile. And then the EOD guys would tell you like, hey, we're going to come pick you up at this time where you live.

And I'm like, I live here. You're like, when are you picking me up? They're like, don't worry about it. we'll just be ready. And so where was I at? I was living in an apartment off of Raleigh Road out here in Fayette, though. And I think they came in my house like 2 o'clock in the morning and do you in a van and like, put it in me and everything and like snatched me up. My girlfriend's like, what the hell's going on?

I'm like, it's okay. They're supposed to do this? I think. I think these are right guys, right? And they wish you off to the compound. And then they basically run you for like 72 hours straight. And you do all these eOD tasks. They do more Landnav, which this time, like,

I'm good at Lanab, right? Like, I didn't fail at. But, and then it's really, they just, it's really hard for them to test, like, pure EOD skills. So they're really trying to see how you think without all these tools. So they give you a set of tools that really make no freaking sense, like rope and, like, a Gerber.

And they're like, all right, make it happen, dude. And so, like, you, um, they also, uh, they do a really, really cool, uh, scenario. And I won't, like, give it away too much. but basically they throw everything that possibly could happen in, like a real, like, unit mission. And you'd be surprised, man. Some guys get blue screen in death when all those, like,

when stuff starts going off and, like, you got a hostage to do stuff on. You got a bunch of IEDs in there. So it's really interesting. It was like one of my favorite scenarios to run because, like, some guys just shut down. And those guys get selected. Yeah.

Like, completely overwhelmed. Is it one of those, I imagine, like, a very dangerous and technical job like this? You just got to take it like one task at a time, I would think. It's a complete opposite. You got to take everything in. Really? So like for the unit, the EOD guy is usually like the eyes and ears for the Troops Army, man, depending on like what squadron.

So like it's really cool because you have to worry about your job, right? But when your job is not happening, which you hope your job is not like your goal is to be the latest EUD guy on the planet, right? You are also like the eyes and ears for the Troops are major. So because you're usually with the Troopsar major, as he's directing traffic for all the assault. So like he might be talking to the commander or direct, you know, working in JTAC and a team might call in. So you have to actually take it all in when you're not working to, to help be his like, you know, secondhand, if you will. Right, right. That's pretty cool. Yeah. So it's,

it's sort of like you were with the platoon sergeant before in Ranger Regiment. Now you're with the troop sergeant major. Yeah. Yep. And so you get to the unit, is there any like additional schools or training you have to go to after selection? Yeah. So, uh, you go through as a EOD guy, you go through what's called an extremist course and they teach you how they take you from being a conventional army EOD guy and they turn you into a, you know, a Delta EOD guy. Um, basically the whole premise is, uh, you get taught how to think, not what to think. And so we teach you, you know, our way of doing demo, our way of cutting time fuse, our way of solving stuff. And then because of the unit's mission, it is now not just defeat IEDs.

Everything's about that hostage. Like, so you learn psychology. You learn just how to deal with the hostage, how to like what not to talk about, right? Don't tell the hostage that they're going to die. Don't even talk about their family. Like just really cool stuff, right? Like, but it's funny because a lot of guys like who don't know that. So you go through all these different courses on like hostage behavior.

And you're doing all this before you can go to OTC. Once you're done with that, that's usually anywhere from nine to 12 weeks. long. Some guys aren't airborne qualified. So in between OTC and that, you have to go to airborne school. And then you go to OTC, which is no different than anybody else. Oh, really? So they put the EOD guys through OTC like the assaulters. Yep. So there's a, like I said, if you look at the history of the unit, you have the, what I call the top three MLSs, you have EOD, medics and commo guys. Those guys are all direct support. And then you can kind of throw dog guys in there now too but like if you look at the history of the organization even with the

the beach right um the the the the od guys the medics and the common guys all go through as a team so that's your that's your uh your your your your ccb team oh okay i got you um so what was o tc like for you it was a marathon at a sprint pace seriously man like and they will like to meet OTC is the real selection, dude, because they will literally, um, they will literally find what you're afraid of. Like anything you're afraid of, like, OTC is going to pull it out. Like, I'm afraid I was afraid of heights, right? But like, it's crazy because you find yourself, I was in OTC walking across the top of church steeples, right? Uh, rappelling off the buildings, like stuff that, like, that made no freaking sense. Run it up the side of a wall and all you're holding on us to the

freaking, you know, paracorder, uh, tubular nylon. Right I mean? Like, so, anything you're afraid of, OTC will find it and they will pull it out. And then they will freaking hit on that. So either you quit or like you refuse to do anything, right? Or you man up. So, yeah, OTC was the most like challenging thing I've done mentally. OTCC was the most physical thing I've ever done mentally. Yeah.

Or most physical thing, most challenging thing I've ever done physically. I did it, was it also, you know, kind of the thing you had been looking for in the Army that, you know, now you're shooting and clearing rooms and doing so much cool shit. Yeah, yeah. And it's crazy because I was never one of those guys where things came easy, right? So, but like, I was always the guy

that I could train for something, and then once I matched it, it became easy. I don't feel like I ever mastered anything in OTC. It was like, I think one of my instructors said it the best, like, OTC, you're a lion being traced by faster 100 of your lines. Right, right. It's great. It's like the basic training.

It was great, man. The basic training to be on. I'm going to do it again. Yeah. Yeah, I wouldn't want to do it again. But I have a great time. Around this time, did you also have to go through the accelerated free fall course? Yeah, so you go through OTC.

They run that twice a year. And so we graduated OTC around May timeframe. You get like a week or so off, if you will, if you can even consider that. And then you go to the free fall course. So that's a week of ground week. And that starts usually in June. You graduate right for summer in class. right before 4 July. So you do a week here in Fort Bragg on ground and then the wind tunnel.

And then you go out to Arizona. And then it's, I think now they're up to like in three weeks. When I went through, we did something like 50 jumps in three weeks to include like the final, hey-ho over to Grand Canyon, which is the most beautiful thing ever, like fucking four o'clock in the morning is great. That's amazing. But now I think these cats are doing up to like they're getting their class C. and they're up to like 80, 90 jumps in that three weeks. That's crazy. I didn't even know that was possible.

Yeah, well, so one of the things that we said was like, if you really want us to train jumping, you already tested us on packing arms shoots. So we had to pack around shoots the whole time. Yeah, yeah. They hired Packers now. So like everybody gets like three shoots now. And so it's literally you jump, you get to hit the ground, you go right back up, dude. You don't have to pack your own.

I think you pack your last shoot or something like that. It's good, though. I can see why they want you guys doing that, though, to get that proficient under the canopy and getting down to the drop zones and everything. Yep. It's one thing to be like kind of like I would consider myself like a basic freefall guy, which is, you know, okay, you know, you do it. But what, you know, on the J-Sox side, what they were doing and with the,

I think they called it the advanced tactical infiltration course. Like it was all just totally different. Yeah, yeah. So that was another cool thing was being able to, take typical stuff and not necessarily break the rules, but like obviously, you know, you have like a tandem course, right? Well, what if you didn't need to jump a bundle or what if you didn't jump a person, but you need to jump something a little bit like heavier than, you know, a rucksack, right, or whatever you're using? And so we had a whole course that was just for, it was almost like the tandem course, but it was just for like 150, 100, 300 pounds. So you couldn't jump a person, you couldn't jump a bundle, but you can jump some extra kit.

And that was really, really cool it did. You might be the first person in history to say that was really cool to do. I don't, I remember. I hate jumping. Don't get me wrong. But what I was saying is that the fact that somebody came up with that in-between course, I know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. I get it. Yeah. I remember going to, uh, they gave us the pitchment to go to the regimental reconnaissance detachment at one point. And they really, at that time, I think they botched the pitch to us because you got a bunch of Ranger Regiment E-4s in the room.

And they're like, if you come to RRD, you can jump with this. 600 pound bundle. And we're all looking at it like, oh, hell no. Yeah, exactly. Did you ever have to jump that thing? Not the bundle. Like I said, I went through the whatever the hell they called the course. Yeah.

I hate it jumping, dude. Like, I'm the most, like, I'm great in the tunnel. But like, I'm not doing tricks. I don't want to go back flips off the ramp. I don't do that shit. Like, let me out. Let me get, there. There's too many people doing stuff up there.

I just want to get out, hit the ground, and go shoot or do EOD B work. I was never a big fan of jumping dude. So tell us to about, you know, getting to the unit now and you're getting attached to a troop, I would imagine. So you belong to that troop, right? So, like, that was another misconception. Like, that was another thing that misconception I had is that, like, the EOD troop at the

unit was like an attachment thing. It wasn't. Like, again, like, you are, you are, like, I was part of A squadron, right? So I was a squadron. But that was really cool. Like you are part of the squadron and then you're your troop. And it's a little bit different than a regiment because usually what happens is and it's really cool because it's almost like every couple months one of the teams will like take you under their wing.

And so like you belong to your troops army. And you're part of his like fire team, if you will. But one of the assault teams will take you under their wing and you get to train with them and do stuff with them. The only issue from an EOD standpoint was we were on duty twice. So we were on duty for the unit's mission to do, you know, rescuing people. But then we had our own mission when it came to like things that go boom. Yeah. Right.

And produce mushroom clouds. So like that that was another, again, from an EOD guy perspective, we still got two moms, right? Like or two dads or however you want to put it. Right. So you guys get the shit work out of them, like, no matter where you're at, soft. So I guess you guys had to like work or help with the FBI. I think they call it the render safe team. Yeah, they changed their name like every two years, dude.

It was render safe unit, RSU. I think that's the current name. But at one point, it was HDRU. So I don't know what their name is now. But that changed. the early 2000s. But that only applies to

the NCR. So you still have guys on the hook for the rest of the world. Right. The rest of the U.S. Right. So,

and I don't want to get in trouble for Sands, but you probably want either the boys at Fort Bragg or the boys at Virginia Beach to go if some shit pops out of them. Yeah, yeah. I don't think we want that to have it.

Yeah. I mean, if somebody put something like that in this country, I mean, there would probably be a security element around it too. Yeah, yeah. But thank God we've never had to deal with that. Okay, so what's the first deployment with the squadron? So my team leader, they were trying to do something different. They wanted me to get on my WMD training.

So I leave, give rid of OTC or get out of the squadron. OTC, get out of fear of school, and they're like, hey, you're going to go to Maryland, you're going to go to, like, I started traveling all over. You're going to go to New Mexico. You're going to get all this, you know, WMD training. I'm like, all right, cool. My squadron deploys. And they're like, hey, don't worry.

You're going to go back with your, put all your kit on the freaking, on the bird, and you'll meet your squadron in, like, a month and a half. Like, you'll only be, you'll miss a month of deployment. I'm like, all right, cool. As long as everybody else is good with it, no problem. Again, this is me as a conventional guy who also came from regiment. Like, you never put your gun anywhere. you don't have eyes on.

So what ends up happening is, uh, uh, I, uh, I sent on my kit. I didn't send my guns though. My guns stayed in the freaking team, right? Like, because I'm not sending my guns anywhere. Like, but nobody explains to me like the unit's different, right? You can send your guns over there. It's going to go straight from, you know, Fort Bragg, straight to where it is. Somebody's going to pick your guns up there.

Like, nobody explains to me. Like, again, because the unit is just kind of a, it's grown man business as well, I like to call it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some you just got to figure it out, right? So some stuff pops off. The guy who went in my place was an older guy, and he's like, I'm in Baltimore at the time doing WMD training. And my Troopsar Major calls me, he's like, hey, get home right now. And I'm like, holy shit, like somebody got killed, right?

He calls you back five minutes later. He's like, I realized what I just did see you. Nobody's dead. Get home right now. So I'm like, okay, nobody deployed is dead. Damn it. At the time, my girlfriend was pregnant. I'm like, shit, my girlfriend lost the baby.

He calls me back two minutes later. He goes, the baby's okay. Just get your ass home now. And I'm like, fuck, somebody from my family died, right? He's fine. He's like, look, dude, nobody's dead. I'm sorry I keep doing this to you. Just get on the first flight.

So I, you know, go to the airport, fucking swipe a credit card. And I'm in Fort Bragg a couple hours later. Some other stuff went down in a different country. The guy who was in our Afghanistan, well, my troop had to leave. So I had to go and deploy my troop. I don't have a gun, though. So I call my team leader and I'm like, how do I get my gun over there? He's like, what are you talking about?

Because I have to fly commercial to Afghanistan, which is fucking weird. Yes. So he was like, what do you mean how do you get your gun over here? I was like, my gun's in the team room. How do I deploy? And he's like, that's what you put out of your shit on the kit? And I'm like, yeah, but not my gun. Who does that?

Yeah, yeah. He's like, we do, right? I'm like, so I get in trouble for that. So he's like, give it to so-and-so. It'll be there two weeks later. He's like, don't worry. Use Jason's gun. So Jason's the guy I replaced and I'm I get finally gets to Afghanistan.

I'm like, hey dude, how's things been going? He's like, oh, it's quiet, man. You know, I just, he dusted his gun off. He hasn't deployed in a couple years. Like, he's an older guy, right? And he's like, you probably won't see any action. And sure enough, Jason leaves the next day. And this is a, I was on the infamous VI, right?

So this is the first time, like, in Regiment, I've heard about vehicle introductions, right? I had never done one, right? Because it's for the unit, right? So now I'm like, oh, shit, like we're doing VI. And sure not, freaking, the next day, Jason's on the bird, like, we get the call. And I, like, do so much damage with this guy's gun. I felt, I felt dirty about it. Right.

And so I sent him an email right away on Messenger. And I'm like, guess what, dude? I was like, you know, I'm freaking, I molested your gun, man. And he's like, what? He's like, what did you guys? He's like, been here for three weeks. He's like, we didn't do anything. I'm like, he's like, you lucky son of a bitch.

He's like, I don't even want a back keeper. right so that was my first deployment and we did that for four months straight dude it was just the that's ball me greatest yeah dude it was wake up work out sleep sun comes up pages go off and it was like out the door dude you going in on little birds yeah yeah yeah yeah little birds and blackhawks man yeah yeah it was it was dope dude i thought those days over because like i'm like we're in afghanistan and we're like, no, dude, it wasn't cars, it was motorcycles. So it was really cool. Yep, yep, yep.

Yeah, I mean, so you're, yeah, going out and policing up the HVIs, as opposed to drone striking them. Yeah, yeah, it was a good time, man. So now you're off to the races, man. Like, this is the real deal. Yeah. So I do another, I call it conventional deployment at the unit. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I do another assault style of

employment like that. And then they realized I'm from New Jersey, right? And that I'm actually really, really good on the streets because I grew up on the streets. And so the unit wanted to take advantage of that and, you know, put me through some more courses. And that was pretty much where I did the rest of the time I was there. Oh, really? That's pretty cool. Yeah, dude, like clandescent word, Recky style stuff, whatever. Like, yeah, I did that the rest of the unit. So I left. Wow. So you, so you, reclassed without reclassing. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and again, it was something I was good at, man.

Like, I was able to get, I was able to stand up other programs in like four or five other countries and help them out. And then I got language school. So I was the first EOD guy in the unit to get French. That opened up some doors when Syria kicked off because a lot of, you know, ISIS fighters had French passports and shit. So, yeah, dude, it was really, really good, man. Like, there's some real, real cool stuff.

I know you're probably limited on what you're allowed to say about that, but can you talk about the ISIS stuff and sort of how that went down, 20, what, 15? Yeah. I'll tell you a funny story because this is quite hilarious to me. So we started seeing on this news and we all knew we're going back to Iraq, right? We all, everybody knew. Everybody called it, right?

Anybody ever talks like, it will be back. I thought it was going to be a hell of a lot longer. Like, I think it was going to go back soon. But I remember when we got the word, and whenever the unit commander wants to like put out a like a mass message like he does it in person which like every unit commander has done this at least the whole time i was there and i love it they usually do it in our child hall right and so i remember uh the commander goes all right guys you know the president's authorized 300 you know people to go on ground and i remember like asking like wait a minute man like the last time anybody sent 300 of anybody to fight a mass of force that shouldn't turn out too good for them right so we're all right making it right um it ended up being a hell a lot more than 300 i just think the politics or whatever uh but uh with isis it was uh that was interesting dude i think um you you you probably keep up with it now where it's uh it's talking about near period

competition and blah blah blah and all this other stuff and like dude like when in syria i watched every form of warfare i've ever read about right so you had trench warfare in some parts you had a freaking flat you know with like tainting warfare almost you would go and hit a building and they got ton of warfare and it was like Vietnam it's like literally everywhere we have fought and they're like this is a new age of warfare I'm like no dude we're fighting that shit in Syria right now like on on multiple different fronts it was it was like it was the craziest thing to me because like you would go from trench warfare and calling for fire and then you would have a fly and you move forward and then you would go right

to like you know freaking tactical style CQB and it was just weird man it was it was super interesting. Like, um, and ISIS wasn't stupid. Yeah. Well, I was going to ask, I mean, as a, I know you weren't really working in an EOD capacity anymore with the assault squadrons, but, um, ISIS was booby trapping the hell out of everything. They booby trap everything, dude. Everything. Like, um, yeah, the ISIS is the reason why the, the UNISUD troop took one of his first, like, major casualties is from the booby traps. And then their booby traps are like super intelligent, man. like movie traps that or like get tricked a bunch of different times you never knew when it was there the whole time like dudes walking in and out five six you know seven like hundreds of

times through a doorway and then finally like number 101 it blows up so those guys those guys were those guys were smart man yeah um and from your point of view like how was the battle unfolding I mean, we were there for, or you guys were there for what, five, six years? Yeah, I believe so. I think it was really interesting because I think we were, we were hamstrung for a little bit. And then there was this weird thing with the purse murga and like what they were allowed to do, what they weren't allowed to do. How do we use them? But then they have their own agenda, rightfully so, right?

So, but then I think once the gloves came off and they just started like, smash. And that went away. Like once we stop being told what to do and they were like, just go win the goddamn war. Like that's when shit got like, real. Like, and every time you tell like any of the J monster units, like go win the goddamn war. Like we'll be done in like two months.

So it's just how it works, man. Yeah. And thankfully, yeah, you guys had good partner forces also. Yeah. Yeah. We're, uh, you able to use the, I mean, I don't know, if you were doing like a proxy type stuff but were you able to use the Kurds for intelligence gathering as well some guys were we were doing like the team that was on at the time um our whole

deal was like confirmed that I like when you start talking about uh some of the barrels that are being dropped on to Syrian people so I was on one of those teams oh interesting yeah so I'm so yeah so like uh and WMDs is my jams So they had you oriented, your real mission, oriented against the regime rather than ISIS. Yeah. And because, again, you got to think, man, like, if the regime had fell, right? And then you got ISIS in charge of the country. What's next?

Everybody's worst nightmare. You got a terrorist organization with a bunch of shit. With mustard gas. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you ever, you know, gather any evidence on the ground of, you know, a chemical weapon to point? let me see how to answer that uh let's say that if i have like part a and part b if i put these two

together it's illegal but if i keep them separate it's still fuck people up but it's not illegal anymore kind of right yeah okay that's what it was yeah you found the components yeah and like it's again like there's this some of these rules don't make these freaking sense but like it still has the same effect, right? Just because it's not those two parts together and it's not illegal. You can technically say I didn't drop chemical warfare agents, right? And I mean, but we know now for a fact that they did drop chemical weapons on civilian populations.

Yep. You took a page right out of the Dom's handbook. Yeah. Yeah. And there were some limited cases, as I recalled, where ISIS used like some chlorine gas or something. Not often, though. Yeah.

So that's a Yeah, and it was It was a I think those were targets The opportunity man Like again, but it's You can say that that's CWA Like and I would back anybody who says that

Any day or the week Because you got to think like When you start looking at like Gen 1 weapons Chlorine is a part of the Gen 1 weapons Right like chlorine was using World War I So it's just again history is just repeating itself Yeah Was there a moment where you felt like

The Tide in that campaign was turning and that, you know, there's going to be some sort of victory or end state for, you know, what you were trying to accomplish over there? No, man. I haven't felt that way about any war at a long time. I'm sorry. Like, it's like, it's, it's, uh, I try to make light of it. So I don't drive myself crazy.

It's like, all right, it's job security. But, like, I haven't felt that way by any, like, even Iraq. Like, once, like, we took down a regime, I was just like, well, we got the, you know, we got the whole deck of cards and then like that. And at some point, I was like, yeah, we should leave. And I think we can call it Victory, but I'm not sure we've caught Victory anywhere in a long time. Yeah. Yeah, there's never any real closure on it.

Yeah. Before we move on, you said there are some stories that you wanted to tell about, like, landing on the highway. Oh, yeah. So if anybody's thinking about joining the unit, right, that would be my moment to, like, be a recruiter, right? you should because like there's this what I call like Delta Force moments I think these these moments can only happen in like these like top tier organizations and so one of the things we were doing we're training for we're training on like how do we get these samples or whatever right

like out of the country without breaking any freaking laws right like international laws right because like again that plane goes down blah like what does the pilot need to wear like we're like trying to figure all this shit out right because nobody had done it before like or at least nobody's done it since like World War II. And a lot of shit has changed on like what was legal, what wasn't legal, right? And so we're training in Texas and they're like, okay, your team is going to go do some cool stuff, go break into this place, we're going to get a sample and then we need to get it out of country, right?

Quote unquote. And so they're like, all right, well, let's pick a spot. We talked to the pilots and I'm like, hey, we're going to land here. And I'm like, we're on the highway. They're like, yeah, we know, but that's the only place we can land. I'm like, all right, cool dude. like we'll do it right and so we're like what do you need to land they're like we need a runway and I'm like well you already have the like what do you else you need like we need runway lights

and I'm like shit so being my team leader we run the Walmart and like so we got a bunch of cash on us we buy a bunch of like buckets or whatever um the the rectangle 10 or rectangle plastic bins and then he's like uh he's asked me he's like how are you going to like light the runway up so I'm like I got an idea. So I ran and bought a bunch of aluminum tape and then the camping lanterns. And, like, I lined a hole inside of these bins with the aluminum tape. And we put the camera lanterns in there. And now they're bright.

So the aluminum tape is, you know, reflecting. And they're bright as shit, right? And I think we ended up buying eight of those total and put a four on each side. And, like, we're talking to the pilots through cell phones, but they're in the sky, which is, again, a whole other, like, just look it up. It's dope fucking technology. Like, this whole time, I'm like, the world. we're not about to do this, right?

Like, but we're sure enough talking to these pilots, man. And they're like, yeah, dude, we see their runway clear as fucking day. It's like 2 o'clock in the morning. And sure enough, they land this fucking bird right on the highway. Like, we're parked probably 200 feet from they landed. We go and give them a cooler full of whatever the hell we're supposed to give them. They get in their bird. They take off.

And I'm like, look at my team leader at this time. I'm like, bro, did we just land a fucking bird on the highway with shit we bought from Walmart? And he was like, we sure did. And I was like, yeah, man, that was like one of my mini where I like the call a Delta Force moments because that happened quite often. It doesn't happen every day, but like, I would say three times a year, you get those moments and you're like, man, I'm in the right spot right now because this one never happening. Like, I mean, I don't believe the story myself when I tell it. So it's just like, you know what I mean? Like, but that happened a lot, man.

We were you able to do cool stuff and you just solved whatever problem that came up and nobody stopped you. Any other examples you want to give? Let me see. Oh, My first Delta Force moment ever was an OTC, right? And I'm hoping that if that guy remembers this, that he's cleaned up his life and stopped drinking. So we are doing culmination. And we're in downtown Fayetteville. This is like Thursday, Thursday on like two in the morning.

And we've hit like four or five bars. Like legit bars in Fayetteville downtown. And, you know, we're training. We're looking for whoever the hell we're looking for. So when you say hit the bar that has like a different connotation, what what we're drinking right we're looking for bad guys

in the training scenario but this is downtown Fayette though I can't remember yeah so we assault these bars right in a bunch of different stores downtown looking for these

looking for these bad guys and I remember the I think we had dry hole we did SSC or something and I remember the they're like hanging about the X-Fill and so I'm thinking myself like there's no way they're going to land this fucking Chinook like by right where

where they landed the Chinook was where uh you know the parking lot by the baseball stadium yeah that's where X-Phil was at yeah so the parking lot about a baseball stadium was where ex-field was at and the baseball stadium wasn't even there at this time right this was like years ago right but I remember walking through this park and we're you know all this have multi-cam the uh the panels that just came out so I know for a fact that like in the dark like two in the morning we probably all do like green-eyed freaking dine this and right and this bum was like laying on a bench and he's like passed out he got a bottle of something in his hand right and he looks up at us and we're all walking the exfield quiet as shit and i just

remember like putting my hand up like shh he looks at his bottle he throws it and then goes back to sleep i'm assuming that guy quit drinking because you watch this fucking troop of belt of worse dudes walk through his apartment to it in the morning um after we then just tore up some bar and uh We exfieled, right? Like, I'm not sure of the bird work him up, but like, I don't know what the hell is going through that guy's head, but I'm like, nowhere else would that have happened other than the freaking union. I mean, like, literally in doubt, like, I went to that bar.

Like, I was at that bar three nights ago, though. We're in something there. This is the parking lot behind Husk and hardware. That's the bar we hit. We hit Huskin hardware. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's our last tire, dude. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I know exactly where that is. So, I mean, you have had some, like, insane experiences, highly trained being, you know, trained as really an operator, but also an EOD guy, but also as a reckey guy. And what's it getting to be like as you're becoming a senior guy, you're becoming, you bet you went up to Sergeant Major at the unit as EOD guy, didn't you? Yeah, yep. Yep. Yep, I left the unit as a start major and went to Fort Lee for a year, where I was in charge of all things, EOD for training and, like, doctrine for the Army.

And then they end up standing up another, they stood up the CWMD start major position at Eustach. And so they were like, hey, there's only one person to work and do this. Like, you want to come back to Fort Bragg? I'm like, yep, sure I do. Because, again, I have been here in my whole career. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And what was like that, like, smaller transition, like coming out of the unit and, going to back to conventional.

And now you've got to shave and get a haircut and everything else. Yeah, so that was crazy, dude. But I figured out the cheat code, right? So all these sergeant majors at Fort Lee, I'm the youngest guy there, right? Obviously, I got all this stuff on my chest, right? I got scrolls on this side. So, like, nobody really mess with me. But then they started saying stuff like, hey, we got this meeting and this meeting.

I'm like, the good news at the time of the CASCOM start major was a former unit member two. he was a mechanic in anything. And so he took one look at me. He was like, where'd you come from? And I was like, you know where I came from. Like,

and I was like, hey, here's the deal with you. I'm not going to anybody's meeting. I was like, I'm a sorry major. I was like, I'm supposed to be taking care of troops.

So I end up spending most of my time finding things that fell up back of a truck to go help out ALC. Yeah. So they can have better. Yeah. And so they respected that.

I was like, I'm not, I don't care about people walking on the grass. I don't give two shits about haircuts. I'm not going to have a meeting to talk about how cool, when we're a cool start major is when we're all supposed to be helping our troops. So that was my attitude.

And nobody messing me the whole time with that Fort League. Yeah, that's awesome. And then you went back to Usa Sok. And what was that position like? Different. It was like trial by fire. So now I'm looking at all the stuff that I'm in charge of all the money that I bitched about as a team guy. So like, and I'm looking at the budget.

and like I have the you know help out regiment and write stuff for for their training the unit has training like uh all these other folks have training now I'm trying to figure out how to get um green berets eOD guys now and come up with that training pipeline so um it made me appreciate the guy I was cursing out that I never met when I was at the lower level talking about who should give me what money because I became that guy and so I'm getting all these emails like oh T you suck like we want this training I'm like yeah bro like we don't have it Yeah, you see how the machine works. Yeah, it was, it was, it was fun, dude.

Like, it was really, really fun. Was that your last assignment before retirement? Yeah, so I ended up medically retiring. So all those helicopter crashes being blown up or whatever caught up to me. And so it was getting hard to even stand for, like, longer than 10 minutes without like just my feet hurting. So they had to rebuild my left foot. So I end up like, you've seen the x-ray on my left foot. It looks like a freaking Wolverine.

with all the metal in there? Yeah, dude. I don't know how. The doctor's something, I got like a seven and one special. So like, but yeah, they got,

they put all kinds of crazy stuff in there, man. And I metically retired with 22 years. Wow. And so your book, mind of a soldier, it's all about the transition from being a soldier to civilian life. And I mean,

it's written in such a direct non-pretentious way. I mean, you wrote it like a sergeant major rights or talks, I should say. It's straight to the point, no BS at all in it. I really appreciated that. But, I mean, the fact that you

wrote this book tells me you must have gone through a pretty difficult journey yourself transitioning out of the military. I did. And it caught me up guard. Big time. I didn't realize how much I needed the boys. And then I didn't realize

how it's like behaving towards my family right like it just it's certain things like drinking more and like not understanding like um uh what's what and how much i actually miss it like and it's hard to explain that to people when you're like you in the war and i'm like yeah but i miss it like but i can't explain like it was hard for me to explain what i missed and why i missed it right and then um and i talk about this in the book right i didn't realize how important um how important the team's role and the team's job is protecting you from yourself. Right? Like nobody calls me out.

I can sleep for three days right now. Nobody will say your goddamn word. Yeah. Right. You know what I mean? Like, couldn't do that in a unit, couldn't do that regiment,

couldn't do that. Even in the 80 second, you couldn't do that, right? You were always accountable to somebody. Yeah, yeah. There's always a squad leader that's telling you like, hey, you need drink water. Okay?

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, but when you're out, you don't have that anymore and it's just go. Yeah. Yeah, so like even if you go out party with the boys, right? Like if you drink just a little too much or you suck in the gym that day or like somebody

notices that, right? Because like you guys are all calibrated to each other, right? Like it is I don't think anybody, like I don't think you can have that type of calibration with anybody else without going to war or being like any high stress like environments with with these people, right? Like, um, so yeah, like I have. had a fairly rough transition. The thing that pulled me out was my buddy was like, how are you doing, man? I'm like, I'm good. He's like bullshit, dude, come get a coffee with

me. And then, like, he caught me out on it. Like, the first time anybody had did that, and I have been out. Again, like, I feel like on paper, I had a great transition, right? Like, I left the military with two master's degrees, uh, freaking, um, post-grat certificate in the AI, right? Like, I was writing coat. I had a job, right? Like, I just, but something was off, dude, and I couldn't call it. Yeah. One of the points that I think was really good that you make in this book is that there is a system that veterans go through. And the system does not dislike you, but it's not built for you either. Right.

And, you know, from the Veterans Affairs system to how corporations hire people, all of it, it's because of like this whole civil military divide that people talk about nowadays, that there's such a, most civilians have no experience. with the military. It just accentuates that issue. What was kind of your experience? I mean, if you want to talk about it or talk about what's in the book as far as like going to VA and trying to go through the system to get the help that you need? So I'll tell you, because I'm medically retired and then I did all the VA stuff prior to, like, I've only been through the VA for like a couple of things, right? But then, like, as I realized that, like, other people need help, like, I just talked to one of my friends, she was a female operator. And she got hurt really bad.

And now the VA's telling her she has to redo all her stuff. I mean, like, when I said she got hurt bad, she was coming down on a jump and broke her pelvis, both her hips. Like, she just tore up, right? And, but the VA just emailed her other day and they're like, you got to redo all her shit, right? And I'm like, why? Right. Or, you know, they came out and they tried to. to sneak that on the table because you know they did because they released it at like 7 o'clock

at night or when they're like oh we're gonna freaking um if medicine is made this like two three months ago uh right before i released the book dude and i was like these sons of bitches um they put that if you were taking medication and it was making any of your elements better they were to lower your percentage like now granted the vfW the dab like they like those boys did their damn thing man because they were pretty up in arms yeah but i'm only like for for me personally my fight has been to help other veterans because again i'm I'm a sergeant major, so I can pick up the phone and be like, hey, look at my fucking rank and like get some stuff done. That E4 can't do that.

Right. Right. Like, you know what I mean? Like that, that E5 can't do that. Right. So like, I am now working with nonprofits and working with other better, like any better can call me any dead at a week and I would help them out, right? Especially if it's just going out there. And again, I'm not blaming the VA, the people at the VA.

Just the system's jacked up, man. It's not built for. They didn't build it. the same way he built us to actually be a part of that system. Yeah. Yeah, the VA, I think, I mean, it's come a long way, I must say. It's much better than it was 10, 20 years ago. But I think the VA is more geared, generally speaking,

towards helping, like, really destitute veterans more than guys like us that, you know, at one point in our lives, I've heard it described as being functionally fucked up. That you go to, you go to work. You're a high performer. As far as on the outside looking in, you look like you're doing great. You know, making money, all that stuff. But inside your internal world is just a mess. Yeah.

The other thing, too, is like you'll see, and I see this, I get the emails all the time about, like, how good the VA is doing. But this is what I would say. The VA was really doing good. So there's 18 million. And this is a guesstimation, right? But you'll see a couple other than this. 18 million veterans in the United States. You know, the VA's only tracking half of those.

So you can't be doing that great if 9 million people don't even want to fucking talk to you. True. Like, that's my, that's my, like, it's definitely a lot better. But there's still, there's still 50% of us don't know, like the VA's not even tracking. No benefits, no nothing. No, no health care, no, nothing. I think the other thing this book does very well is explain, you know,

what it's like to be a soldier and then, come into the civilian world and your frame of reference has changed. But the way you write it, you talk about how you have an operating system, you know, like a computer operating system that has been programmed into you as a soldier. And that, the OS is still running in the background somewhere. It's not just going to go away. Yeah. Yeah. I hate this is, but I think like creating a soldier or Marine or Airman or Sailor or whatever, it's the greatest like brainwashing tool in history, right? Like, you look, like, think about who you were before you joined the military, who you were after you joined, like, literally in nine weeks, you're a whole different person.

Like, they, like, they have, like, rebooted your freaking bios, dude. Like, you have a whole new, and then you go to a range regiment, right? And then, like, you go to Rip, you go to all these things, right? Put on that freaking beret, dude, like, you were not that same kid who freaking join the Army, you know, however many months ago. Um, and then you start doing deployments and, like, your operating system is getting better. You know what I mean? Like, because when you're successful, like you learn from mistakes, you get better. It's like, then you get out and they're like, here's taps, right?

Here's an SFL tap or whatever. And they give you two weeks ago, yeah, cut all that shit out. Yeah, man, I mean, I've complained about it before. And again, I think it's probably better today. But when I went through taps, you talk about this actually in your book, about how they have you type in your MOS to the computer. And it tells you what jobs you're qualified for. So I type in 18 Bravo, hit,

enter one job comes up i'm qualified to be a security guard that's it yeah that's the only and and you know like you know you have you know somewhere with all you were a retired sergeant major i at least had some some something in the back of my brain that was like oh fuck that i can do other stuff you know but what does that do to like a e4 or an e3 who thinks like this is the only thing i can do in life this is my potential is here on this computer screen yeah yeah And so that's where it stops getting funny, right? Yeah. You lose your identity and then you think you're this one person,

and you type in that job and it's like you could be a security guard. Like, you know exactly what it does those guys. They start over-medicating, right? Like, and they don't get help. Nobody's checking their back. They don't have a team anymore. They're by themselves, right? Like, the VA's not checking on anybody.

The VA doesn't care. Right? Once you leave, like, you're farting away. You know how it is, man. Like, you might still have a couple buddies that checking on you. But, like, we know what the way. what the worst happens right like that that e4 because it's like that's the the number say it like even now the highest risk for for uh post military service suicide right now are like 20 something

euros with no deployments so you can't say it was war yeah right so what is it it's that that thing right there as you're talking about yeah um you know and it again leading into you know uh it's a little darker, but we should talk about it. In your book, you talk about suicidal ideation and how a lot of veterans don't actually want to die. They really just want to be able

to turn the off switch on their brain for a few hours and get some sleep. Yeah. I think a lot of people don't get that. Yeah. It's we I don't have no problem talking about this, right? Like I was that guy where to freaking piss on in his mouth, right? And again, it wasn't a thing that

that freaking, like, I didn't want to die. Like, I love life. I just didn't love how my life was at the time. And I didn't have any other, any other, at least I didn't think I had any other option, right? And it was like, I'm in pain all the time. I'm having headaches, like, you know,

friggin, married, divorce three, four times, right? Like most guys, right? Like, you don't get, you don't know what hell your kids are. Your kids don't know you. And like, you're straight, you're ghosting the show. Right? And it's like, you can't even say stuff like that, right, without one,

at destroying your career when you're still in. And then two, somebody wanting to freaking take your goddamn shoelaces. When you're like, hey man, like, I just need something. Like, the answer right now is SSRIs, right? And like, that makes you fucking, you know, that makes you freaking fat. You start gaining weight.

Your junk doesn't work as a man. Like, it just, it sets you up to have this cyclic, like, I don't know, like, noise thing in your head. And I'm like, um, start, again, you start self-medicating. start drinking it's just it's a it's a it's a horrible cycle but um we don't talk about that enough like there's they're getting better right i'm glad that uh especially recently right with the

psychedelics thing but like just that right now the conversation we're having right now i don't think that conversation has had enough that it doesn't happen uh until recently yeah so like it's it's like nobody it's a thing of where they are trying the whole point of the book It's not any one thing. It's all those things that I talk about, right? That's what the reason why the book started, somebody asked me the question of why are veterans committing suicide? And I think they were looking for one answer.

It's not one answer. It's all those things, man. And it's like once people start paying attention and looking at it holistically and looking at the veteran as a whole and not like, oh, this guy got PTSD or this guy did this guy? Like, no, it's or this female did this. Look at the whole freaking system right now and have this conversation me you're having right now, allow people to have that conversation without any taboo or any type of

stipulations and less people will kill themselves, guaranteed. Yeah. No, absolutely, man. What was, I mean, you talk in the book about how, you know, it is important, and I agree to go to VA and make the system work, make it work for you, figure out how it works. What did, what was kind of your way forward? What did you find was helpful? Um, I can't remember the exact, like chapter but it was uh you know the whole thing man you probably said it right like what's good in life right and and you would give the quote what is best in life yeah right it's like that used to be my answer and i would have told you that that crap like years ago but now it's like you need adrenaline right so you need to scare to yourself every day whatever that means to you um you need a purpose

and you need a tribe dude or you need your work you need your pack right so um that was a changing for me right. So like getting out there and doing stuff, um, hell, this podcast, right? I'm not like, even as a certain major dude, like I was always a worker, right? Like, so public speaking and slowing down and getting my thoughts together, right? And, and try not to occur so much. Like, so, like that's scary me, right? Like, not, like, I'm not afraid of anything, but you understand, right? Like, that's a, that's a form of adrenaline, right? Getting out my comfort zone. Um, I'm ride with a bunch of really, really good dudes. That's my pack, right? And then my purpose is helping other veterans and telling our story like the proper way where without a bunch of like medical stuff

that it really doesn't apply to us yeah yeah i that's again what i liked about the book it's not a pity party that's not what it's about it's not about like feeling sorry for guys that's really not the point it's just about getting help and getting the steps that you need to take to get where you need to go yep and i figure like and that's other things like like writing a book and publishing that scared the hell out of me, dude. Because I'm like, hey, there's parts in that book where I'm vulnerable to help. Yeah. Right.

But I would rather be that one guy that saves 20 other dudes, right? Like, oh, shit, this, you know, default. Sorry, Major can say it. Like, all right, I'm going to go talk to somebody. Yeah, absolutely. There's even a chapter in here about why telling a veteran, thank you for your service is kind of awkward. I mean, every chapter in this book, I felt like, yeah,

I know exactly what this guy's talking about. Yeah. No, I appreciate that. I get that one. It's, it ends the conversation before it starts, right? Right. I mean, I get it. Again, I'm a data guy, right?

So, like, I've researched to figure out why the hell is anybody like, but I don't know what to say to that, right? Thank you for your service. I usually say thank you or okay. Like, I never really say you're welcome. It's just so awkward, dude. Like, it's overcorrection for how bad they treat it Vietnam vets. Yeah. And, I mean, I understand the intent behind it.

you know, and we'll say thank you. But I feel like, you know, most veterans learn quite quickly that they kind of like want to hear something positive come away with a good feeling from that interaction. But they really don't want to hear you telling the kinds of stories that we talk about on this podcast. Yeah. Yeah. That makes, that gets awkward for them, I think.

Yeah. So I try to like, obviously in the book, I joke about, you know, you know, hit me with like, going to their style a bibliotech or something, right? Like, just ask me, like, where did I serve, right? Like, you know, what was my job? Like, most veterans want to talk about stuff. Like, they just want to be heard, man. Like, they want people to understand.

Like, we want people to understand them. But, like, when you say thank you for your service, it's just like, all right, I'm out. I'm out. You're crazy. You got to go with that. Yeah, yeah. I do think there's a desire for recognition, not like personal recognition,

but more like a countrywide recognition that these wars took place that they happened. Right. Otherwise, it's, you know, the guys out there who served, it feels sort of like this collective fever dream we all had. And you're sort of like, did that really happen? Yeah. It's like, yeah, we're going to be talking about this five years from now. People are like, this is a Mandela effect, right? Yeah. We didn't include a war. That's funny. What else in the book? So you talk about alternative treatments that guys can take a look at as well. the Stellan Ganglion block. Some of the psychedelics. There's recently on Netflix a documentary about the seals going down to Mexico and doing the, I think it was Ibogaine.

Ayahuasca. Yeah, Ibogaine and Ivoxasca. Yeah. And it's a really good documentary. People should go check it out if they have a chance. But, you know, people think on this, or you could think on the surface of it, like, oh, these seals are going down to Mexico and tripping balls. well, that's not really what's happening there is that they are going down there and doing that

because every other treatment they've received thus far has failed them. And they are looking for some measure of relief that you mentioned in your book, that this operating system is running full tilt until it starts malfunctioning. And it just wants some relief from that. And some guys, you know, have found it in psychedelics. I agree. So I'll So the stuff that the seals are doing

Here's the cool thing about that, right? It's not obviously you know, right? People don't watch the documentary. Basically, they have to go to Mexico because it started in Canada, right? And that treatment facility and that doctor who did that basically were getting people to quit heroin,

one of the most addictive drugs on the planet, right? From one treatment, from one session, right? So it was like however long it lasts. like, you know, three, four days or whatever, right? One person died. One person. And the reason why it dies, he lied on his freaking form and was like, they actually have you done any drugs and blah, blah, blah.

And like the whole platform and the whole thing that they do is probably the most well put together. They have doctors on call. Like, they monitor your heart rate, do all stuff. But the one guy who died from it had done heroin like two days prior. So his heart gave out of him. It wasn't because of the freaking I began. It was because of the freaking heroin, right? But Canada shut them down, so they have to move everything to Mexico.

But you have guys going down there and finding a bunch of relief and becoming, what I would say, become a human again. So I am a huge fan of psychedelics. I'm a huge fan of SGB. I've done all four, like, and the dual. So two on this side, two in that side. slept for the first time in freaking years, man. Like, after they did the first set on that side

and I did the ketamine treatment through a nonprofit for that, like I went back to my hotel room and I would say, I think I slept like 13 hours straight. Wow. And it was like, it wasn't like that weird. You're just laying like I legitimately slept 13 hours straight. Yeah, it's like you blinked in its daylight suddenly.

Yeah, and I was like, I wanted to go for a run. I felt amazing. I haven't felt that good a year. So I'm a huge fan of like alternative options over just putting somebody on freaking Xanax for the rest of their freaking life. Because like that's another thing. Like a lot of these guys are doing these, if you don't know, a lot of these guys are doing these treatments, whether it's like cypicillin or I've a gain or some type of DMT. And they are coming off of all drugs, like to include alcohol and cigarettes. Yeah. Yeah, I know a couple people like that who came back and like they just don't drink anymore.

Yeah, I don't drink anymore. I'm not saying I went down to Mexico, but something similar. But I drink for my birthday, but I used to be the guy who couldn't take one drink. I couldn't just do one drink, but now I can, right? But I don't drink anymore. I drink for my birthday. I drink for New Year's. And like I have no urge to drink. Yeah, yeah. Any other main points from your book that you'd like to talk about? I'll say kind of the two-part civilian thing. I don't know how many civilians watch the show, right?

But like the hiring piece, because you say you're 18 bravo, right? And then the differences that I outlay or layout between officers and enlisted, right? Not knocking officers, but like I think we get the bad rap when it comes to veterans, right? And I back that up with numbers LinkedIn, right? like an officer with the same job, um, will get on LinkedIn, like LinkedIn did the study and they will get offered,

um, I think 40% more likely to get offered the executive position over an list of guy. And so I'll use you if you, you know, if you're 18 Bravo, right? Like a team sergeant or whatever, right? Even if you weren't, but like you look at that, that team, that 18 alpha, right?

He leads a team for what, one and two years? And then that team sergeant might have that team for, multiple rotations, but he's also leading foreigners and speaking in different language, right? Who has more leadership experience? Him or an officer. I don't think a lot of civilians understand that. I think, you know, we can also use you as an example that for you to retire and go into the civilian world and trying to get a job and people ask, well, what did you do in the military?

And you say, I was an EOD sergeant major in Delta Force. everyone who watches this podcast knows that's cool. Like, okay, yeah, that's awesome. But you go into a corporate boardroom and they hear that and they're like, what is a sergeant major? What is EOD? What is Delta? And even after you explain all three of those things to them,

they're still sort of like mystified. Like their brain doesn't know how to process that. Yeah. Yeah. So it's funny. I've told people like, I was like, you know what I'm Chief is right like Halo like yeah okay I was one of those and I was like you see the show it's

team six right like yeah I was an army version of that right like oh it's big dude like this is the only way I get freaking they built the better brand right so like it's funny like I have to use halo and navy rank and maybe units to get my uh my worth across right so it's it's uh yeah that's funny to me man yeah I remember that you're I can't blame surveillance for it right I can't blame them for It's not their fault. Master Chief did so much for enlisted veterans. Yeah. It's the truth, man.

When I tell people I'm a sergeant major, the first thing they say, which it doesn't piss me off anymore, but it used to, like, that's like a sergeant, right? I'm like, no, you, fuck. You know, I mean, like, no, it's not like a sergeant. And so I was like, you know, I was a Master Chief. Like, oh, like, Halo? Like, yes, exactly like that guy.

Yeah, no, I mean, you know, when you tell people you were a ranger and they're like, I didn't know the Army had park ring. Rangers. That's crazy. And you try to explain it to them. And they're like, is that like a Marine? You're just like, yeah, yeah, it's like a Marine. Yeah. Yeah, I've had that like, I hear a Ranger Regiment.

It's like Marine, right? Yeah, but we don't eat crayons. I don't know. I love Marines. Like, yeah, that's funny, man. So again, the book is Mind of a Soldier, 34 laws of war after the war. So as the title suggests, it's 34 chapters in here, each laying out something different that veterans need to know. And also, this is a good book for family members to understand what their loved one is going through and experiencing.

And if it seems like they have a short fuse, why that is, you know, it's not that they don't like you. There's other things going on in the background. Where can people find the book? Amazon. So it's all on Amazon and good reads. but Amazon is number one. So as Kendall,

paperback, hardback, and we'll have links down the description for the viewers or listeners. They want to go and check that out.

Another thing maybe I should mention, at least in passing here, because of your background, what about traumatic brain injury? And what that does

to the soldiers, the veterans, and how that sort of interacts with some of the other ailments that they're kind of dealing with. Yeah, so

there is, when you take a bunch of like hits to like the prefrontal cortex, it starts to like develop like white or gray matter. It depends like who you talk to what they call it. But what that does is eats out,

it eats away at that lining that's like in your brain. And one of the crazy things is that like as that goes away, you lose your, you lose your ability. just to like make good choices essentially right um another uh symptom is like anger um and essentially like the stuff that made us warriors right like down range it those are the symptoms

which is crazy as hell so a lot of people are like oh it's this is why a lot of PTSD symptoms and tbi symptoms they can't tell you have tbi or PTSD because they're they're similar right um and they kind of just like go hand-to-hand and they tell you it's unspecified or whatever um but then you combine that with lack of sleep because you're in pain which puts on more anger and obviously we all know how it is when lose a bunch of sleep and so you're running on fumes you're in pain and you potentially have um a bunch of traumatic very injuries right because it's not just like like I said I've been blown I stopped counting at 40 dude so I don't know how many concussion events I've had right I couldn't tell you um but it's the same

symptoms as PTSD uh and don't let anybody tell you it's just people TSD. If you got your you got rock a couple times, right? And the other thing, I didn't really put this too much in the book, but something else that got to start getting checked out, because it's, is real hot and heavy on Congress right now with the hyperbaric oxygen, you know, chambers now that they're talking about giving this VA treatments. The HAPS chambers? Yeah, yeah. So it's like, basically they're doing these like, with these oxygen chambers now that from my high altitude, like high altitude standpoint and high altitude being anything over 3,000 feet, not like

1800 feet, but obviously if you jumped out of planes and did Halo um, same difference. But that is reversing the effects of like TBI and some of this other stuff. Yeah, dude, it's, uh, if you look it up, dude, like Congress is having this whole thing now where they want to start offering that to soldiers now where it's like you get to go in these. I've done it a couple times. It's actually really, really, you feel really good. Like they're giving you oxygen and like,

doing some other. I don't know all the science behind it because I haven't studied it much, but I've done it and it used to be only nonprofits offered it, but I think that is going through Congress now for the VA to start offering that. So if you look up like, it's called H-Pock or something like that, like just look at oxygen chambers in Congress, and that's going through the whole process now. But that helps a lot with TBI and some of the symptoms for PTSD as well, because again, those symptoms are very similar.

And I guess to wrap up, I'd like to ask sort of like where you've landed in your journey. You said you work in tech now? Yeah. Yeah. I do. I'm like the AI guru for a lot of these nonprofits, man. I mentor veterans who want to get to tech because they are afraid that they can't. But and then as a hobby, I own three service dogs.

I have three service dogs. So I try to pair non-soft members with service dogs who can't get. get them from soft like organizations. Gotcha. Gotcha. That's super cool. Yeah, man. That's my purpose is helping veterans, dude, to try to stop that number from climbing every year. Where can people find you online?

Are you on social media or LinkedIn or anything? Yeah, so I'm on LinkedIn under my name, Samir Ransom. And then on social media, Mind of a Soldier has a bunch of pages. Like, we're not super active, but if they look up Mind of a Soldier, they'll find us. He just hit me up. I usually answer anybody. Awesome, man. Again, I highly recommend people go and take a look at the book, especially transitioning veterans. Better to read this early on rather than wait a few years and have to learn the ropes yourself.

Yeah, I appreciate that, man. Tamir, thank you so much for doing this interview tonight. Really appreciate it. Any final thoughts before we get going? No, I just appreciate the opportunity, man. Thanks for all the feedback on the book, man. Seriously, I'm honored and grateful. Yeah, absolutely.

I loved it. And for everyone else, we'll see you guys next week. Appreciate you joining us tonight. Hey, guys, I want to take a moment to tell you about the Team House podcast newsletter. If you go and subscribe, it's totally free. And what it will do is aggregate all of our data, all of our content that we put out, the things that are on the team house, on our geopolitics podcast eyes on, things that I write journalistically with Sean Naylor on the high side, anything else that we have going on, books we recommend, upcoming guests that we have coming

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