Behind The Shield

LtCol Gregson is the Director for the Marine Corps Center for Learning and Faculty Development at TECOM and Kelsie is the High-Intensity Tactical Training Coordinator for Marine Corps Base Quantico. Chris Hinshaw is the founder of Aerobic Capacity and is widely considered one of the top endurance coaches in the world. In this conversation, we discuss fitness in the military, the recruitment crisis, wellness in the general population, forging elite performance in the Marines, The Fittest Instructor Competition and so much more.LtCol Nic Gregson graduated from Officer Candidate School in 2004. He was designated a Field Artillery Officer in 2006. 1stLt Gregson reported to First Battalion, Tenth Marines in 2006, serving as a Forward Observer and Platoon Commander for his first deployment to Iraq in 2007. Upon return, he was assigned as Officer In Charge of Police Transition Team 6-District Habbaniyah for the deployment in 2009. Captain Gregson was assigned as the Targeting Officer for 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit in 2009 and served as the Fire Support Coordinator for BLT 3/8 in Operations Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan.In 2011 Captain Gregson reported to Expeditionary Warfare School as a student. Upon completion, Captain Gregson reported to back to 1st Battalion, 10th Marines for duty as Battery B Commanding Officer, RCT-2 Fire Support Officer in support of OEF, HQ Btry Commanding Officer and Bn Logistics Officer. Following his tour at Tenth Marines, Major Gregson reported to Marine Detachment Fort Sill to serve as an instructor of Field Artillery Captains Career Course, and Operations Officer. Following that tour, Major Gregson reported to Command and General Staff College as a Student.Major Gregson reported into First Battalion, Eleventh Marines following school to serve as the Bn Logistics officer and Bn Executive Officer. Major Gregson served one year as the Deputy Director of Operations and Training at Expeditionary Training Group-Pacific prior to reporting into Training Command operations section. LtCol Gregson served two years at the Future Operations Officer prior to assuming the duties as the Marine Corps Center For Learning and Faculty Development Director.Lieutenant Colonel Gregson’s personal awards include two Meritorious Service Medals, and four Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medals.Kelsie began her career in strength and conditioning in 2010 at an internship with Mike Boyle. She got her masters while working as a graduate assistant at Boston University, before moving on to work for the University of New Hampshire as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. She's worked with a multitude of teams to include men's crew, men and women's soccer, men's ice hockey, football, men and womens tennis, alpine skiing, and track and field. In 2015 she made her move to the tactical world and has been the strength and conditioning coach for MCB Quantico since 2020.Chris Hinshaw is the founder of aerobiccapacity.com, and is widely considered one of the top endurance coaches in the world. Chris is known internationally for his extensive knowledge and practical experience developing aerobic capacity in athletes of all experience levels using his comprehensive, cutting edge approach to training.Coached 35 Crossfit Games ChampionsCoached 50+ Crossfit Games Podium Athletes10x Ironman Competitor

Dyana Alexander is a Fire Captain and Paramedic. We discuss her journey into the fire service, death notifications, cardiac arrests, moral injury, pickleball and so much more.Dyana is a dedicated professional with nearly 18 years of experience with Orange County Fire Rescue. Currently serving as a field Captain in Battalion 3/A, she covers a vast area including International Drive, Sea World, Hunters Creek, Lake Nona, and Moss Park. Throughout her career, Dyana has demonstrated a strong commitment to excellence and innovation in the field of emergency medical services. Notably, she played a key role in the development and implementation of the sign-off process for Stand-alone Paramedics in Orange County. Dyana's educational background includes Critical Care Paramedicine from the University of Florida and an Undergrad in EMS. As an EMS educator for nearly 15 years, Dyana has shared her expertise and passion for pre-hospital education with countless students. One area of particular interest for Dyana is pediatric pre-hospital medicine, where she excels in providing compassionate, effective patient care and education. Additionally, her expertise in leadership is focused on a deep commitment to the well-being of others with an emphasis on grieving, bereavement, closure, and mental health.

Jason Vale aka "The Juice Master" is an author, filmmaker and creator of the Juicy Retreats. We discuss childhood trauma, owning your history, how he reclaimed his health, disease reversal, addiction, forging resilience and much more.Jason Vale – also known as “the Juice Master” – is a man on a mission to “juice the world!” He is the best-selling author of over a dozen books on health, addiction and juicing; eleven number 1 iOS and Android apps; and the groundbreaking, feature-length documentary SuperJuiceMe! “If you don’t look after your body you’ll have nowhere to live!” Jason’s aim is to really ‘juice’ the world – in every sense of the world – and to make a juicer and a blender as common on every kitchen work-surface as a toaster and a kettle.Jason wasn’t always slim and healthy. In the past he suffered from psoriasis and eczema so extreme that it would cause his skin would crack; he had asthma so severe that on one occasion he was told that he was minutes away from death; and he experienced extreme allergies and hay fever. He was also obese, consuming large amounts of junk food as a self-confessed “burger boy”, frequently drinking up to 14 pints of lager and smoking as many as 60 cigarettes in a day. “If you can’t eat them... Can you drink them?” Looking for a cure for his skin, Jason tried many things. But after reading about juicing, and giving it a try, he found the results were amazing.To his surprise everything started getting better! His asthma disappeared within weeks; his skin cleared; and the weight dropped rapidly! Realizing that this could help other people too, Jason set out on a mission to Juice The World – to encourage as many people as possible to turn their health around using nature where possible.In 2002 Jason joined forces with Moulinex and their juicers rapidly became the best-selling in the UK. Three years later he was headhunted by Philips to be the face of their range of juicers and blenders in the UK, Europe and a number of countries around the world. Philips soon became, and remained, the best-selling juicer during his endorsement. In 2013 Tristar products approached Jason to be the new Jack LaLanne in the USA. And most recently, in 2015, Jason became a brand ambassador for the cool Retro range of juicers and blenders!https://www.jasonvaleofficial.com/

Daniel Higuera is an Associate Professor of Kinesiology at Santa Ana College Department of Fire Technology. Currently, he provides health and wellness services to over 20 fire and police departments in southern California. In this conversation, we take a deep dive into the impact of shift work on firefighter health and performance.Previously, Higuera worked with athletes in both collegiate and private sectors. Higuera is a PhD graduate of Health Science with an emphasis in Human and Sport Performance at Rocky Mountain University. His research focuses on investigating the applicability of wearable technology for firefighters health and wellness.He earned his undergraduate and graduate degree in Kinesiology at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He is certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Associated (NSCA) as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) as a Certified Personal Trainer (ACSM-CPT).https://www.instagram.com/dr.danielhiguera/

Brian Sanders is a recently retired homicide lieutenant, gang expert, and presenter. During his career, he served on various proactive units, to include Gang Suppression Unit, homicide unit as a detective and later as a sergeant, intel sergeant, and other units. He is known for developing sources, actionable gang intelligence, motivating others to learn and work gangs, and pushing disruption initiatives to reduce violence. Additionally, he served two years on a special assignment attached to the Career Criminal Unit conducting a joint R.I.C.O. investigation with the F.B.I. which yielded the dismantling of a Blood set and earned an award from the director of the FBI. He has a B.A. degree in Psychology and graduated magna cum laude. While obtaining his degree, he earned his membership in Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology. He is also a former sergeant of the United States Army (Infantry) .

Eric Stevens is a collegiate and NFL football player turned firefighter. Eric was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) earlier this year. We discuss their athletic careers, how they met, being given a terminal diagnosis, how a potential cure is being withheld, how you the listener can help and much more.“The average life expectancy of ALS diagnosed patients is 2-5 years. Currently, the most promising treatment called NurOwn is going through a phase 3 trial, meaning that people who have been diagnosed and are potentially a good match for this treatment don’t have access to it unless they accepted into a trial. The trial is a double blind study, so even if you get accepted you only have 50/50 chance of actually receiving the treatment. Once your time in the trial ends, all participants are taken off the treatment even if it is greatly improving their lives.We respect the FDA, as well as the drug companies working hard to bring new treatments on the market. However, even with this respect for these agencies, it’s hard to understand why terminally ill patients have no possibility to access treatments already proven to be safe and affective.This system is not working for currently diagnosed patients who have been given a year or two to live and their families who are losing hope. My hope is to shed light on this underfunded disease, start a debate and motivate people in power to make changes that allow terminally ill patients to access treatments still in trials but proven to be safe. We need currently diagnosed patients who don’t have a year or two to wait for treatment to have access to treatment since it can drastically reduce their suffering.”– Eric StevensStevens Nation Website:https://stevensnation.com/

Thaer Ahmad, MD is a board-certified emergency medicine physician working at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Ahmad is the assistant program director for the emergency medicine residency program. He serves as both the global health director and medical ethics director for the emergency department at Advocate Christ. Dr. Ahmad is also a clinical assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a board member of PAMA. The Palestinian American medical association.He has served in Gaza at Nasser and Al-Aqsa Hospital, as well as in Lebanon during the ongoing conflict. Prior, Dr. Ahmad has spent time in Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Kenya, and Greece working on local healthcare capacity building projects.In this third conversation, we discuss the US healthcare crisis, how lobbyists are profiting from American illness, the deliberate blocking of aid in Gaza, the murder of 15 Palestinian firefighter/paramedics, Israeli protests, finding a stem cell match for a terminally ill girl and so much more.

Joseph Bonanno is a 21 year veteran of the FDNY, fitness trainer and award winning chef. We discuss his journey into the fire service, firefighter fitness, his powerful 9/11 story, the community of 9/12, how nutrition led him to host a cooking show and so much more. FDNY VETERAN FIREFIGHTERGraduate Award Winning ChefFitness Trainer/NutritionistAuthor of “The Healthy Firehouse Cookbook”The Firehouse Grilling CookbookThe 20 year Commemorative “American Firehouse Cuisine”https://americanfirehousecuisine.com/

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman is an internationally recognized scholar, author, soldier, and speaker who is one of the world’s foremost experts in the field of human aggression and the roots of violence and violent crime. Col. Grossman is a former West Point psychology professor, Professor of Military Science, and an Army Ranger who has combined his experiences to become the founder of a new field of scientific endeavor, which has been termed “killology.” In this new field Col. Grossman has made revolutionary new contributions to our understanding of killing in war, the psychological costs of war, the root causes of the current "virus" of violent crime that is raging around the world, and the process of healing the victims of violence, in war and peace. Lt. Col. David Grossman is the author or co-author of five non-fiction and four fiction books. He has co-authored a New York Times bestselling book with Glenn Beck. His book On Killing has sold over a half million copies world-wide, has been translated into five languages, is on the US Marine Corps Commandant’s Required Reading List, and is required reading at the FBI academy and numerous other academies and colleges. Col. Grossman co-authored Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence, which has been translated into Norwegian and German, and has received international acclaim. Col. Grossman’s next book was On Combat, which has also placed on the US Marine Corps Commandant’s Required Reading List and is translated into Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. His book Warrior Mindset, applies sport psychology and performance psychology to military and law enforcement, and his most recent book is Assassination Generation.Col. Grossman has written 23 book chapters, and 35 book forwards. He has been called upon to write the entry on “Aggression and Violence” in the Oxford Companion to American Military History, three entries in the Academic Press Encyclopedia of Violence, and he has authored or co-authored 43 articles in journals and Periodicals, to include the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and Pediatric Annals.He has presented papers before the national conventions of the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He has presented to over 100 different colleges and universities world wide, and he has trained educators and law enforcement professionals, at the federal, state and regional level, in all 50 states and over a dozen foreign nations.He helped train mental health professionals after the Jonesboro school massacre, and he was also involved in counseling or court cases in the aftermath of the Paducah, Springfield, Littleton, Virginia Tech, and Nickel Mines, PA Amish school massacre. In February, 2018, after the Parkland, FL school massacre, Col. Grossman was called to the White House to serve on President Trump’s Round Table on Violent Video Games.https://www.grossmanacademy.com/

Erik Paulson is a former Shooto world champion and renowned catch wrestling coach. We discuss his journey into the martial arts, Jeet Kune Do, weapons, training the tactical professions, his time in the stunt industry, coaching the older martial artist and so much more.Sensei Erik Paulson has trained fighters such as Josh Barnett, Ken Shamrock, Renato Sobral, Cub Swanson, Ben Jones, Craig Wilkerson, James Wilks, Sean Sherk, and Former UFC champion Brock Lesnar. If you are looking to train at the highest levels in MMA, Kickboxing, and Grappling/BJJ, look no further than training with Sensei Erik Paulson. Known as an encyclopedia of moves, Pro Fighters have come all over the country and world to train with Erik to gain an edge for their upcoming fights.