Combat Story

Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more!  Tom Satterly is a Command Sergeant Major (retired) who spent 20 years in the Army’s elite Delta Force (aka “The Unit”). His 25 year Army career took him from the storied Battle of Mogadishu (Operation Gothic Serpent aka “Black Hawk Down”) and the capture of Saddam Hussein in Operation Red Dawn. He rose up through the ranks in Delta to leading troops through multiple OIF deployments executing multiple hits per night for months at a time.  The brutal fighting and optempo took a toll on Tom as he lived and survived with Post Traumatic Stress (PTS) for years. After retiring, Tom and his wife Jen created the All Secure Foundation (allsecurefoundation.org), which assists special operations active duty and combat veterans, and their families, in recovery of PTS through education, awareness, resources for healing, workshop retreats, and PTS resiliency training.  His book All Secure: A Special Operations Soldier's Fight to Survive on the Battlefield and the Homefront chronicles his trials and experiences from combat to treatment and provides some insight into the secretive world of Delta Force.  He and Jen and their work can be found at: Website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn. Show Notes 5:07 - The decision to join the Army on the way to a John Cougar Mellancamp concert. 15:59 - Influence of a Hungarian Platoon Sergeant and exposure to unique training with the French, Germans, and Swiss. 18:31 - The decision to become a Green Beret with an unusual twist of stolen valor (17:54). 22:56 - Finding the way to Delta Force. 27:15 - The psychologists at Delta noticed the desire to keep climbing the next mountain. 30:26 - Handling missing Panama and the Gulf War and wanting to test your mettle. 33:10 - Surviving “The Long Walk” and Delta selection. 44:01 - First combat experience was in Mogadishu felt like the movies, until October 3rd (Black Hawk Down). 49:48 - Description of Battle of Mogadishu aka Black Hawk Down. 56:31 - Thinking “this is it” and coming to peace with the idea that you might not make it out alive. 57:31 - Running the Mogadishu Mile with no cover and no ammo. 1:02:04 - A description of the physiological aspects of PTS and the tipping point. How to stop being angry all the time (1:02:48). 1:06:51 - Resiliency training to help pre-combat SF recruits prepare for what’s coming in combat. 1:10:48 - Becoming a leader responsible for other’s souls. 1:14:20 - Still judge myself everyday. Making mistakes is even worse.  1:16:41 - Starting to slow down and have the younger operators take a weight off. 1:18:32 - The reality of near death experiences and how luck plays into your life. 1:20:14 - “War is disgusting.” 1:21:41 - The future of the All Secure Foundation and moving to online content and virtual therapy. 1:24:03 - Would you do it again? 1:25:04 - Jen Satterly’s book Arsenal of Hope will be coming out in February 2021.

Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more!  This is the Combat Story of Elliot Ackerman, a former Marine who served five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as an infantry and special operations officer, for which he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart.  As a Marine, he led a platoon in Fallujah II during some of the most brutal fighting in the post-9/11 era.  His story will resonate to anyone who fought in urban combat and, in particular, the leadership challenges small unit leaders face, especially newly minted officers. His platoon’s experience in Fallujah II is exactly what you think about when you hear stories of this operation and included losing half his Marines in less than 24 hours. After his time in the Marine Corps, Elliot also served as a paramilitary officer in the CIA. After his time in uniform, Elliot became a novelist and journalist. He has published five books and his fiction and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Ecotone and others. He is also a contributor to The Daily Beast.  His books include: Green on Blue: A Novel, Dark at the Crossing, Waiting for Eden, Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and Returning, Red Dress in Black & White.   Show Notes: 9:39 - Never understood war until I had kids. 14:22 - Why the Marines? 20:57 - The best advice I never took. 23:47 - Discussion with Doug Zembiec, who was later killed in Iraq, for advice. 31:35 - SGT Bonatie pushing back on a young PL. 37:10 - Description of Dean Long and the GPWD (Great Patriotic War in the Desert). 42:53 - Phase Line Fran in Fallujah (battlefield map ; Marine Corps' battle).  48:35 - Sunny Risler led his mobile platoon through the battle to help MEDEVAC some of Elliot’s wounded out. 49:22 - Pushing back with leadership when your unit is exposed. 51:21 - Nearly hit by a PKM. “It’s suicide if we go out there.” 55:50 - Combat leadership sucker punch. 56:05 - Going from 46 to 21 combat effective Marines. 1:04:29 - The bravest thing I ever saw in Fallujah. 1:08:17 - One of the most challenging things: talking to a Marine who couldn’t go anymore.

Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more!  This is the Combat Story of JT Snow, a long time and quintessential AH-64 Apache gun pilot.  JT is a Chief Warrant Officer 4 (Retired) who flew over 5,000 flight hours, including 2,000 hours in combat across four deployments: two to Iraq and two to Afghanistan.  From the cockpit, he supported conventional and U.S. and coalition special operations forces during intense engagements, often pioneering new tactics and technologies to lethal effect. He finished his career as a Task Force (Battalion) Standardizations Pilot (SP) during two year-long combat deployments, where he was the Task Force's senior Pilot responsible for the standardization and execution of combat operations for all assigned to the Task Force, which included OH58D, CH47F, UH60L and AH64D aircraft.  JT's children followed in his footsteps, including fighting from inside the cockpit as the next generation of aviator. Show Notes: 3:13 - Flight school and wanted guns and got Cobras and then went into A Model Apaches the very next day. 4:16 - Why JT chose gun ships? 6:43 - Gun choice between JT and Mark Beechum. 11:17 - What was the Apache mission from the beginning? 18:28 - When JT felt he was a part of the brotherhood. 26:05 - A description of what garrison life life is like in a flight unit. 28:23 - JT’s experience on 9/11 and the fear of missing the war. 32:28 - Stanley Pebsworth and Not a Good Day to Die. 33:13 - How officers (commissioned and warrant) homestead in Aviation units. 34:07 - JT describes his deployment cycles: Iraq Oct 2003. 36:56 - JT describes being the BN SP when the unit received MTADS and advanced FLIR. 38:38 - Aviation as an inherently dangerous job. When did JT first realize that. 41:44 - JT being three steps ahead. How did you develop your ability to get ahead of the aircraft. 44:03 - By the 3rd deployment, JT was at the top of his game. 47:03 - Description of JT’s first flight in combat. Took place in Samara as JT was the Company SP. 55:35 - JT describes what’s going on in his mind after his first engagement. 56:47 - What was the toughest deployment and engagement. 58:37 - JT describes his experience in the cockpit during the worst engagement of his career. 59:43 - JT and co-pilot Adam Marik discussing what to do in the cockpit. 61:13 - “Adam, are you okay getting in between where the bad guys are and the Chinooks...” 1:01:58 - “Only time I’ve ever been scared in the cockpit.” 1:04:06 - Ground forces took an RPG to the face. 1:06:20 - F-15 popping flares without coordination at 700’. 1:09:39 - Recollection of a vehicle hit by an IED and what happened. 1:10:21 - The second deployment for JT to Afghanistan was with the Australian SAS doing a lot of deliberate operations. 1:16:52 - Any gear I had to have with me. Two good luck charms: a half broken Budweiser bottle opener; the other was a St. Michael card given to him by a Chaplain that JT’s son took to Mosul. JT also carried a folded American flag on all four deployments that his son took with him. 1:18:24 - The next chapter of JT’s life where JT steps out of the cockpit and then his son goes to the same war zone that JT fought in. 1:24 - Conversations between JT and his son before he deployed to get him prepared. 1:24:38 - Would you do it all again? 1:26:34 - JT critiquing himself over a mission in which JT and I responded to our base being under attack. 1:27:49 - Near mid-air collision. He almost lost me for a minute.

Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more!  Chris Baity is a former Marine K-9 handler who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.  During his career in the Marine Corps, he helped pioneer and shape dog handling tactics and training, not just for the Marines, but also joint efforts across the military. As a military working dog handler, he supported ground units throughout combat theaters, including trojan horse operations with sniper teams and door-to-door house clearings. In one instance, Chris and his dog uncovered a weapons cache in a scene eerily similar to one depicted in the book and movie, American Sniper. Chris and his wife Amanda went on to found the hugely successful Semper K-9, a non-profit that rescues dogs from shelters and trains them to be service dogs at no cost for disabled service members. This special initiative has been featured in multiple outlets like People Magazine and the Washington Post. For his work, Chris was named one of the Washingtonians of the Year. Find out more at semperk9.org. Show Notes: 3:57 - In Okinawa during 9/11. 5:00 - Assigned to Henderson Hall, Marine Corps HQS. Helped create the dog program at HQS Marine Corps. 12:10 - Helped create the first joint kennel between Henderson Hall and Fort Myer. 13:15 - Offered slot in first mass K-9 deployments to Iraq. 15:41 - Signed up for Iraq after two cigarettes and a red bull (and without checking with his wife). 16:40 - Trust your dog, watch your dog, train your dog. Make sure your dog knows what he’s doing and you guide him. The dog’s nose was the spear. 17:40 - The dog’s paycheck. 20:10 - The role of the “spotter” in a dog team. 21:06 - “How do I pay my dog without setting of a bomb.” 23:40 - Chris’ first mission with Adam Cann, who was the first Marine military working dog handler to die since Vietnam. 25:20 - Chris’ first combat experience. 27:38 - First female dog handlers in combat. 28:54 - Dropped off in Korean Village in western Iraq with 2nd Marines, 2nd Battalion, Fox Company. 41:32 - Pushing hard core missions in Ar-Rutbah. 42:33 - First experience on “missions” using interpreters. 44:05 - Attached to sniper teams and trojan horse missions going into enemy territory with snipers. 53:00 - Chris’ first real find. 53:56 - First “oh shit” moment. 59:40 - Mentality of you’re probably going to die but you’re going to save the whole platoon. 1:02:54 - This dog is a gun and K-9 handlers had bounties on their heads. 1:09:38 - I was there for the paycheck and the fun. 1:20:10 - Description of the work at Semper K-9.

Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more!  This is the Combat Story of Jordan Becker, US Army Lieutenant Colonel serving as a Foreign Area Officer (FAO) in Paris, France, as a liaison officer to the French Joint Staff.  Jordan began his career in the 173rd Airborne Brigade where he led an infantry platoon in a parachute assault that opened the Northern Front in the Iraq war in March of 2003, followed by an 11-month deployment in and around Kirkuk. While in the 173rd, Jordan led a rifle platoon, a support platoon, and served as an executive officer. Jordan completed the Special Forces Assessment and Selection and the Special Forces Qualification Course, after which he was assigned to 10th Special Forces Group. He served in and around Baghdad as the targeting and current operations officer for Special Operations Task Force – Center, and then commanded a detachment assigned to advise Iraq’s national-level Special Operations Force’s Reconnaissance Troop. In 2008, Jordan’s team operated in Mali in support of Operation Enduring Freedom Trans-Sahel. As a FAO, Jordan served as a military assistant and speechwriter to NATO’s Chairman of the Military Committee, General Petr Pavel, and a Defense Policy Advisor to the US Permanent Representative to NATO, Ambassador Douglas Lute. Jordan has written extensively on NATO and transatlantic cooperation and his works can be found on Google Scholar. Jordan's next assignment will take him back to West Point to teach the next generation of Army officers. Show Notes: 3:45 - Watching an Air Force Colonel getting ready to jump into Iraq without a weapon or a ruck sack. 4:32 - Description of then-Major Mike Davis and his ODA team securing the 173rd DZ as an SF Team Leader in 2003. 5:28 - Where were you on 9/11? 5:38 - Mark Brzozowski bitten by a brown recluse spider in a ‘sensitive’ area during IOBC. 6:39 - Evan Kohlman was a fellow student at Georgetown on Jordan’s program who wrote a thesis pre-9/11 about the Arab threat. Evan went on to be a news analyst on terrorism and co-founder of Flashpoint. 9:20 - Description of Jordan’s “First time I’d ever bucked the system” 12:10 - Why did you sign up  for the Army? 15:50 - First combat experience at 173rd that Jordan saw was on the DZ after static line jumping into Iraq in March 2003. Front end of OIF. 19:45 - Jordan’s work on Team Repo in Kirkuk was referenced in a short blurb in Assassin’s Gate, a book by George Packer about the war in Iraq at that time. 22:00 - 23:45 - Jordan describes the best moment of his career: being invited to pin E-9 on his former Platoon Sergeant, Mike Barlett, who went on to become a Brigade CSM and recently retired. 32:20 - How do you determine which SF Group you’re assigned to? 49:15 - Jordan takes an SF team to Mali. 53:45 - Closest call or most dangerous experience. 1:00:50 - Jordan describes two moments when he felt like he was “in flow” and really doing what he was supposed to be doing. 1:08:08 - If you could only take one person with you into combat, who would it be? 1:12:46 - Jordan on writing, teaching and Google Scholar page.

Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more!  Wes Bryant is a U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant (retired) who served eight combat deployments in the post 9/11 era as a Special Operations Forces Tactical Air Control Party (TAC-P) and Joint Tactical Air Controller (JTAC). He co-authored the book “Hunting the Caliphate: America’s War on ISIS and the Dawn of the Strike Cell,” a first-person account of the war on ISIS written alongside the former commanding general of Iraq, Major General (retired) Dana Pittard. Embedded with Special Forces teams under a Navy SEAL task force, Wes was the tactical lead for a contingent of special operations JTACs to first set foot in Iraq to stop ISIS. He’s been a lifelong writer, amateur philosopher, and avid student of the martial arts. Today, he pursues writing and editing, and teaches Chinese Kung Fu and Tai Chi in his community in North Carolina, where he lives with his wife and their two daughters. (Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn: @WesJBryant). Notes 2:05 Difference between TAC-P and JTACs. 13:50 Moving between PJ, JTAC, and TACP work finding what was right. 14:25 Pararescue Indoctrination Course. 15:55 Combat Divers Qualification Course. 20:00 Learning about TACPs when at Medina Annex. 22:40 Fought to get back to the CDQC to pass. 28:15 First foray into combat calling in an airstrike in combat. 32:13 First fight in Iraq with 1st CAV in 2004 after Fallujah calling in F-15s with 500 and 2Klbs bombs. 39:40 Being the odd man out from the Air Force dropped into new Army units. 45:20 Description of one of the most formative experiences as a controller in his first control in Afghanistan while getting shot at with 173rd. 58:13 The "most chaos on the battlefield" was early in the fight against ISIS in Iraq in 2014. 1:03:33 Part of the reason for writing the book was to show how deliberate each engagement was. 1:08:38 A tour to Korea in 2007 and finding a way to handle his PTSD. Went kicking and screaming to Camp Casey and was one of the best moves of his career. 1:19:42 Wes describes an experience at a shopping mall in Bahrain that changed his perspective on "the enemy." 1:31:20 Carrying the dog tags of his friend John Brown, a PJ who died in the shootdown of Extortion 17 in August 2011. 1:32:50 Appreciation for Army Special Forces (ODA) teams. 1:33:55 Favorite aircraft: A-10s for fixed wing and Apaches (AH-64s) for helos. 1:34:40 Would you do it all again? "Absolutely...would have done it all again."

Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more!  Dr. Clyde Horn is a former Army infantryman, Purple Heart recipient, and Vietnam Veteran. He served in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade near Saigon fighting in the Iron Triangle from 1967-1968 and supported US forces during the Tet Offensive. After the military, he helped children suffering from trauma as a psychotherapist. Despite this work and his attention to other people’s trauma, he didn’t recognize his own PTSD until 2009. His compelling story of combat, helping others, getting help himself, and eventually returning to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, will ring true for many veterans. He has since written two books PTSD in Pictures and Words and Veteran Guilt in Pictures and Words and uses art as part of his own treatment (ArtLifting). 4:20 - Signed up for the Army without telling anyone in the family. 5:30 - Advanced training in Fort Polk, LA, in “Tiger Land.” 6:11 - The basics for any soldier: Don’t volunteer for anything. 6:33 - Drill Instructors, existentialism, and pornography. 16:51 - The “Iron Triangle” bounded by the Saigon River (W), Tinh River (E), Phu Cuong (S) just north of Saigon. 19:15 - Assigned to 199th Light Infantry Brigade near Saigon in 1967. 199th Facebook Groups (link, link). 21:31 - Description of first combat patrol in Vietnam. 26:15 - Field rotation cycle. Hot chow, shower, bed with a roof over your head, 27:59 - Moved to Cam Ranh Bay to watch President Lyndon Johnson speak. Footage from the time. 29:46 - First experience in the jungle in a movement to contact was an “out of body experience.” ‘The beginning of anxiety sets in that stayed with me for the rest of my life.’ 34:00 - First time in contact walking into an ambush. 41:21 - “I will survive” mantra. PTSD starts early during a traumatic incident. Rather than let my acute senses and reactions hurt me, how can they help me? 44:50 - Never saw a ‘stone cold killer.’ Go to Hollywood for that. 48:00 - “Hell on Earth” description of one of the hardest engagements when the 199th had two to three companies ambushed by an enemy regiment. 48:45 - Fire starts coming at us…. 54:24 - Description of engagement in which Clyde earned the Purple Heart. 57:34 - Observing a Platoon Leader being overly cocky and the perils of that mindset. 1:01:06 - Using night vision in Vietnam with an amazing observation made thanks to the new tech. 1:06:07 - Good luck charm: a gold cross. 1:09:50 - Supporting defenses during the Tet Offensive. 1:14:00 - Returning from Vietnam to - of all places - Berkeley. 1:20:55 - After retiring from psychology, Clyde has a ‘full blown’ attack of PTSD. 1:29:07 - Finally visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial aka ‘The Wall.’

Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more!  Eric Brethen is a former US Army Chief Warrant Officer and OH-6 “Cayuse” aka “Loach” reconnaissance and AH-1 “Cobra” attack helicopter pilot. At just 19 years old, Eric found himself flying missions out of Cu Chi, just northwest of Saigon, in hunter killer teams in scenes reminiscent of Apocalypse Now. During his 19 months in Vietnam from 1969-1970, Eric flew 3,600 hours and was awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Bronze Stars, Air Medals with Valor, Army Commendation Medals with Valor, and the South Vietnamese Gallantry Cross. 4:10 - The Army recruiter asks, ‘Have you ever thought of being a pilot? 5:35 - Ending up in 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry (3/4 Cav) flying to Vietnam in first class with Field Grades landing in Ben Oui. 8:13 - Getting picked up by the nephew of then SecDef Melvin Laird. 9:40 - Hunter Killer teams (Loach and Cobra).  12:24 - ‘Nobody volunteers for the Loach.’  14:33 - Watching a tail boom skid down the runway in front of the aircraft. 16:35 - The reality of an autorotation (video of MD-500 auto today). 24:50 - First flight outside the wire with a Pig (Loach) and a Snake (Cobra).  30:59 - Based in Cu Chi and farmed out to support missions in Ta Ninh and Katoom (1st Air Cav). 34:04 - Shooting a control tower with a mini-gun. Eric’s crew chief and close friend Kenneth Taylor had the idea to mount a mini-gun on the OH-6 for the first time. 40:34 - First combat engagement at Boi Loi Woods near Godaha village. 46:46 - How to steal a helicopter (twice) for a night out to the President Hotel. 50:06 - Fighting Cobras at night lining up on a ground strobe light. 56:15 - Only time being afraid. 1:01:28 - Being shot down a couple times with a real autorotation. 1:04:58 - Picked up a Cobra crew (sitting on the skids) that was shot down. 1:09:25 - Close up view to a Cao Dai temple (example). 1:17:04 - Transition from OH-6 to AH-1 and a testament to control touch. 1:20:49 - The decision to get out. 1:23:57 - Always carried a St. Christopher’s medal (the protector of travelers). Got one blessed by the Pope at one point.

Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more!  Hubert Yoshida is a Vietnam Veteran who served as a U.S. Marine Corps Platoon Commander from 1965-1966 near Chu Lai in the central part of Vietnam with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines. He and his platoon fought in the bloody Operation Utah, a significant battle from March 4-7, 1966, which saw over 700 KIA between the North and South Vietnamese forces and Marines. Hubert has a fascinating story that begins as a child in a Japanese prison camp in the U.S., to leading Marines on the front lines, and then transitioning to an exceptionally successful career in senior executive roles in the private sector. Today, he’s writing a book about Operation Utah to tell the story of the hundreds of Marines who fought there and is looking for anyone who may have served in that battle. 2:20 - Growing up in a prison camp for US citizens of Japanese ancestry. 7:17 - Family history in both the Japanese and US military. 8:41 - Had to enlist to serve in Vietnam to then earn a commission. 9:15 - Gets put in a data processing unit. 10:56 - Parents were disappointed he joined the Marine Corps after a degree in physics and math from Berkely and not going to grad school. 15:17 - First sighting in Vietnam was an Army Sergeant in underwear drinking a beer on the beach. 18:06 - Gets permission from the CO to go on a mission to a nearby village in first contact. 18:34 - The unit is ambushed on their first mission. 33:17 - Lead up to Operation Utah. Intel on the 21st NVA Regiment moving into Chu Lai. 36:17 - Initial flights into the battle were shot down, including an A-4 Skyhawk and H-34 by fifty caliber machine guns. 39:26 - Call from Battalion Commander to support another company to close a gap in the flank and recover a separated platoon. 41:14 - A suicide mission. 49:57 - Guilt in leaving the dead behind to make sure the wounded were carried out. 50:55 - Secures perimeter one of his men gets killed they call in air strikes. 58:23 - Recognizing the importance of the battle in your life and something you think about almost every night. 58:59 - The story of believing he lost a radio man haunts him to this day and only later found out the radio man lived through the event. 1:05:41 - Returning home from Vietnam and assigned to Camp Pendleton. 1:06:19 - Having to notify a young widow of her husband’s passing in Vietnam. 1:07:52 - Leaves the Marine Corps after the death notification and joins IBM. 1:08:45 - Returning to Vietnam in 2016 to revisit his steps. 1:15:34 - Never provided direction to children in terms of joining the military. 1:17:45 - Would have done it again. 1:18:21 - Really proud to have been in the Marine Corps. 1:20:33 - Carrying a pocket bible through the deployment (one in English, one in Korean).

Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more!  Jimmy Settle is a retired Air Force Pararescueman (“PJ”) credited with saving 38 lives and assisting in saving 28 others in combat, in addition to saves in the Alaskan wilderness. He racked up over 270 combat search and rescue hours in Afghanistan, where he earned an Air Medal with Valor for his life saving heroics and a Purple Heart after being shot in the head (and returning to combat 24 hours later). Jimmy catalogues these and other near death experiences in his book, “Never Quit: From Alaska Wilderness Rescues to Afghanistan Firefights as an Elite Special Ops PJ,” where he shares the friendships, hardships, pranks, and events that changed his life, from being an elite athlete competing at the Naval Academy to completing the daunting PJ pipeline to live saving ops in the most austere environments. 5:47 - What is a PJ and the military’s pararescue. 13:33 - Introduced to PJ by Chris Robertson. 19:43 - “Cardiac Event” aka the first (of many) near death experience. 27:56 - “19 year old decision” to leave the Naval Academy after invasive surgery on the heart. 30:46 - The PJ “Pipeline” of elite training, INDOC (80%+ attrition rate), Combat Divers Course, Airborne, Free Fall, SERE, Pararescue EMT and Apprenticeship. 48:05 - “Cones” aka unfortunate trainees going through the pipeline (better than a Toad, not yet a Maroon Beret). 50:17 - Covertly free climbing Fort Benning’s 250’ Jump Towers for a prank. 52:48 - The “Green Feet” image used by PJs, an homage to Vietnam helos. 58:13 - The first time working on a live patient (intubation) in Philadelphia in a paramedic apprentice program. 1:05:51 - The first rescue from an aircraft as a PJ in Alaska at night in the wilderness to help a woman who had an accident with an ATV, chainsaw, and a scalping. 1:09:51 - Another near death experience while training in Alaska’s Cook Inlet at night. 1:27:29 - Supporting Operation Bulldog Bite in Kunar province, Afghanistan in November 2010. 1:29:21 - Another near death experience getting shot in the head. 1:36:29 - Going back into combat 24 hours after being shot in the head to rescue dozens of people. 1:48:48 - Saving two soldiers on a chopper and thinking, “This is my purpose in life.” 1:49:17 - Losing memory after getting shot in the head and how it creeped in “insidiously.” 1:53:12 - Describing the difficulty in transitioning from the service to the civilian world and the loss of identity. 1:56:36 - Living in a car in the Commissary parking lot until a senior enlisted airmen intervened. 2:02:06 - “Without hesitation” would do it again.