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Ep 076 – Special: Brig. Gen. Gwyn Armfield | Behind the scenes of our Next-of-Kin notifications

September 29, 2020 By Thad Forester

Sept 29, 2020 is the 10th anniversary of Mark Forester’s death in Afghanistan. The picture in this post is Mark’s body being taken from the C-17 at Dover AFB for the Dignified Transfer.

My guest is General Robert Armfield who was Mark’s group commander in 2010. Armfield was also at Dover when Mark’s body arrived, he visited our home to provide additional details of his death, and was in the background helping lead the notification activities.

We discuss how they arranged simultaneously notifying our family, how they watched Mom and Dad’s home until Dad got home from work. Why they called the sheriff before they delivered the news and how they prepare to bring this news that rocks someone’s world instantly.

He also shares the purpose of that last big mission Mark and his team were on. It was great to have this experienced, American warfighter on the show and we appreciate him reflecting on Mark’s death from Gwyn’s unique perspective.

“I cannot think of another Air Force general who has more combat time than Brig. Gen. Armfield,” said retired Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel, former commander of Air Force Special Operations Command and officiant of Armfield’s retirement ceremony.

Learn more about Brig. Gen. Armfield here

Mentioned in this show:

HBO original movie: Taking Chance

*PTC is on Patreon. If you like what you’re hearing please check out how you can help the cause so I can provide quality content and keep on keeping on!

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Ep 075 – Dan Skidmore | Former CCT, GORUCK Dir. of Training

August 24, 2020 By Thad Forester

Dan Skidmore spent nine years as an Air Force combat controller. As a member of this elite group, he deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other locations across the globe.

He is a member of Force Blue , which unites the community of Special Operations veterans with the world of marine conservation for the betterment of both.

Dan is also the Director of Training for GORUCK – a gear, apparel, footwear, and events company that I’m a big fan of.

In this episode we cover three main topics: CCT, GORUCK and one of his businesses, Ruck Wrap, which promotes recovery and injury prevention by compression and teaches how to “maintain your machine.”

At the end, I got his opinion on professional athletes kneeling for the National Anthem.

I hope you enjoy this hard-charging, health and fitness advocate that I enjoy following on Instagram.

Follow Dan on Facebook below:

https://www.facebook.com/daniel.skidmore.5

*PTC is on Patreon. If you like what you’re hearing please check out how you can help the cause so I can provide quality content and keep on keeping on!

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Ep 072 – Mark Lauren | Bodyweight Master & Best-selling Fitness Author

March 30, 2020 By Thad Forester

I know I’m not the only one who is getting an increased amount of target marketing on alternatives to gyms. Our current situation that has caused gyms to close didn’t change my routine at all b/c I don’t rely on one. The reason; my exercise strategy changed when I began following Mark Lauren’s programs in January of 2018.

His quote to me in this episode, which originally aired July 2018, has proven to be ahead of it’s time: “A critical and essential piece to long term fitness is being independent.” Here we discuss how to be independent of a gym membership, unnecessary equipment and much more.

Back on the show is former Air Force combat controller (CCT) Mark Lauren. In episode 40, we discussed his early life, time in military and how he implemented his workouts in the CCT pipeline. Now, we’re talking a little more about how he observed that the fitness industry at large was backward, ineffective, and unsustainable in it’s approach. So, he created fitness programming that improves performance outside of the gym.

Lauren’s understanding of athletic fundamentals allows him to create exercise programs for all ability groups that improve performance and physical condition in record time, injury free, by mastering the fundamentals.

Bodyweight training is Mark’s calling in life. And I’m a big believer in his philosophy and movements.

Today we talk about those programs and the success of his app at MarkLauren.com.

Sign up for Mark’s community and get 20% by using coupon code PATRIOT, by going here: https://bodyweight.marklauren.com

Follow Mark on Instagram

*Originally aired July 9, 2018*

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Ep 064 – Dan Schilling | Alone at Dawn

January 28, 2019 By Thad Forester

In the predawn hours of March 4, 2002, just below the 10,000-foot peak of a mountain in Afghanistan, a fierce battle raged. Outnumbered by Al Qaeda fighters, Air Force Combat Controller John Chapman and a handful of SEALs struggled to take the summit in a desperate bid to find a lost teammate. Chapman, leading the charge, was gravely wounded in the initial assault. Believing he was dead, his SEAL leader ordered a retreat. Chapman regained consciousness, finding himself alone with the enemy who was closing in on three sides. Thus began the most difficult and exceptional fight of his life.

For the U.S., the battle proved the deadliest entanglement of Operation Anaconda. We lost 7 men there at Takur Ghar, including Jason Cunningham and Neil Roberts.

On August 22, 2018, Pres Trump posthumously awarded the medal of honor to John Chapman. My guest today, Dan Schilling, has written a book, Alone at Dawn, to capture the life and legacy of this American Hero.

Although the book doesn’t come out until June, I loved getting an inside scoop on Chapman’s life leading up to his final mission and how Dan became involved.

We also talk about his extreme sports and why he set a Guinness World Record for 201 BASE jumps in 24 hours.

Pre-order Alone at Dawn here plus check out Dan’s other books.

Watch drone footage of Chapman’s incredibly heroic final stand here.

Rock Tune by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Artist: http://audionautix.com/

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Ep 059 – Inside the Thai Soccer Team Rescue w/ Maj Charles Hodges

August 20, 2018 By Thad Forester

“If we don’t try to rescue the boys, we’ll be giving them a death sentence.”

On June 23, 2018, a team of 12 boys — who were all between the ages of 11 and 16 — had just finished a weekly soccer practice and went to explore a cave with their coach.

But after they’d entered the cave, heavy rain started falling and the rising water trapped them inside.

1 day later their belongings were found. Then, on July 2 a rescue diver discovered them when he ran out of line and popped up out of the water inside the cave.

While most of the world was captivated by this story, my guest today was in the thick of the action. Major Charles Hodges was the US Mission Commander. He and his team from the 353rd Special Operations Group along with a team from the 31st Rescue Squadron, were brought in to advise and assist the Royal Thai government.

He gives us great detail on their initial thought processes, how he and his team assisted the multinational effort and why they were willing to take risks and be bold b/c they had no choice but to get the Wild Boars out of there, accepting that 3-5 of the boys could die in the process.

Maj Hodges, an Air Force Special Tactics Officer, concluded with: “This is what we train for – going into a crisis and solving problems.”

Rock Tune by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

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