silver star Archives -

Ep 100 | Michael Blout – Combat Controller, Silver Star Recipient

February 6, 2023 By Thad Forester

Michael Blout joins me to talk about the battle from 2012 where he was awarded the Silver Star. As a former Flight Superintendent, Combat Dive Course Superintendent, and Superintendent over the Department of Training, Special Warfare Preparatory Course and more, we talk much about preparation, mindset, leading, integrating into a team and never quitting. During the CCT pipeline, Blout was smoked many times by one of his instructors, Mark Lauren (aka Klinganator or Cyborg). Mark is also a former guest on this show.

He also shared how to keep the sharks away while scuba training and threw in some surprises about dolphins.

Mike is another Air Force Combat Controller who is a silent professional. He’s sacrificed his body and family to fight evil and to serve in other various ways throughout the world. “Take care of your people and they will take care of you.”

One of Blout’s SF teammates, “Big Mike” Duskin, was killed in this battle on Oct 23, 2012. Please take time to read about him at this link: https://www.duskinandstephens.org/duskin

I hope you enjoy the intro music and full song at the end of this interview. It was written by former Air Force CCT, and 2-time PTC guest, Dan Schilling. You can learn the history of this song here. Dan’s goal is for it to be something that urges people to turn up the volume when they play the track!

“My hope was that this song rocks enough that guys I wrote it for will enjoy it and powerful enough to leave an indelible emotional impact crater,” Schilling said, “one you want to revisit over and over again.”

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Ep 094 | Ish Villegas – 2-time Silver Star Recipient

September 19, 2022 By Thad Forester

Ish Villegas is one of three people who have received the Silver Star twice, since 9/11.

Today he walks us thru the battle in 2009 where he got his first Silver Star. It was a 16 hour fight that resulted in at least 32 enemy insurgents killed. During this fight, Ish ran 200 feet across an open, uncleared IED minefield to more effective position and returned fire with his M-4 and then directed aircraft (rotary and fixed wing) onto the enemy locations in a surgical and lethal manner. It’s an incredible story; one that he completed with two broken arms.

He also trained my brother, Mark Forester, at FOB Cobra/Tinsley and we are forever grateful for his friendship to Mark and for showing him the ropes in one of the most active areas in all of Afghanistan.

Ish is a great American and we’re lucky to have men like him on our side. You can listen to details of his 2nd Silver Star here on Black Rifle Coffee.

*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. 060 – SPECIAL: MAJ Wes Wilson – The Aftermath of Mark’s death in Shah Mashad

September 29, 2018 By Thad Forester

Today is 8 years since Mark was killed in Afghanistan. Although we were notified in person by his teammates and leadership, there were still many unanswered questions–details no one who wasn’t there could personally share.

Major Wes Wilson was the ODA Detachment Commander when Mark was killed. Their team had split up and Wes was about 200 meters away with the mounted element, which included George, who’s been on the podcast two times before.

Hear Wes give us more details of that intense short period on Sept 29, 2010 in Uruzgan Province, where two Americans and others were killed.

You can read more specifics of Mark’s final stand from his Silver Star citation here.

Purchase his book in paperback, hardback or Kindle here.

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Ep 057 – “I’ve Got a Man Down!” | Memorial Day 2018

May 27, 2018 By Thad Forester

“As a senior AH-64D Longbow Apache aviator rated as Pilot in Command and qualified as Air Mission Commander, I have never witnessed such an act of heroism in my three years of fighting in combat…. My only regret is that I was unable to prevent Jag 28’s death. I will carry that burden indefinitely. Jag 28 continued to advance on the enemy while taking intense enemy fire, and continuously fired his weapon in an attempt to get to his fallen teammate and destroy the enemy. I can only hope to live up to such an example.”

In today’s Memorial Day episode, I describe some of my brother Mark’s final moments on 29 Sept 2010 as he and his team fought terrorists in a remote village in Afghanistan. The particulars I cover are from the book “My Brother in Arms” and testimony provided by one of the Apache pilots who watched it all go down with his naked eye.

I also report on last weekend’s “Jag 28 Birthday Walk” in Haleyville. Man, it was a great time.

To learn more about Mark Forester, here are a few links:

National Geographic Eyewitness War on Mark Forester or official site here

Lifetime Channel Coming Home

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Ep 054 – Doug Sterner | Military Times Hall of Valor

April 9, 2018 By Thad Forester

Ever wondered if your deceased father received any awards for valor while serving in the military? Ever been told a relative received a medal, but you’ve never seen it? Or, do you feel someone is flat-out lying to you about their service accomplishments? My guest today is helping answer all those questions. Doug Sterner has created a searchable database of valor award citations. Sterner, a Vietnam veteran and Military Times contributing editor has consumed himself with verifying this data by source material such as official award citations, narratives and/or synopses from individuals or records from the National Archives.

The Hall of Valor is an ongoing project. It is a monumental effort to identify the half-million men and women who received the highest U.S. military awards, in addition to the millions of others who received other awards.

The Hall of Valor database currently includes all recipients of the Medal of Honor and all of the second-tier valor awards: Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross and Air Force Cross. They are also in the midst of a multi-year effort to identify recipients of Silver Star and below.

Doug and his wife Pam also created the Stolen Valor Act (SVA) that was signed into law by George W. Bush in 2006.

Additionally, Sterner warns us of calling out stolen valor; because, what if you’re wrong? Is it worth it?

I had a great time talking with this Patriot today. He even surprised me by the amount of info he had on my brother Mark.

Doug Sterner’s Amazon Author Page with his numerous books.

*My podcast is on Patreon. Please check out how you can help the cause and get insider access!

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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