“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.”
Copyright 2018 Thad Forester
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Blayne Smith is the Executive Director of Team RWB (red, white and blue), a nonprofit that has become one the nation’s fastest growing veteran service organizations by “enriching the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity.”
Today we have the privilege to hear from one of the legends in the Combat Control field, Mr. Wayne Norrad. Many listeners probably never heard of Combat Control (CCT) before Patriot to the Core. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you’ll learn from Wayne that they are an integral part in most, if not all, of the major conflicts with which the US is involved.
Early this year, I was contacted by 
Rob is one of those guys who was angered by the attacks on 9/11 and quit his job and joined the military THAT DAY. Unfortunately, he couldn’t pass the swim test for CCT initially, but he kept working and got accepted.