It is safe to say that I have wandered a bit. I served in the military, flew some jets, jumped out of most, climbed mountains (I jumped off of them too), taught fitness, owned a gym, and have spent the last few years speaking to organizations and leaders. It has been a journey, and in all honesty, I have no idea where it is going. I seek the things that make me uncomfortable. I move towards things that scare me. I think you should too
Latest episodes
-
2 h 37
27 Years Undercover, Zero Dent in the Drug Trade | Britt Elmore | Ep. 478
Britt Elmore spent 27 years with the San Francisco Police Department, 25 of them in narcotics, almost all of it undercover. He dropped out of school at 15, worked as a garbage man…
-
58 min
"Free Money" Is Costing Someone | Full Auto Friday | 10.23.2026
A Marine veteran with no combat time or service injuries asks what I think about his stepsons' VA disability ratings and whether he should file for the same "free money." I break d…
-
2 h 55
Inside the Thunderbirds and the Cost of Getting It Wrong | Ryan Bodenheimer | Ep. 477
Ryan Bodenheimer spent eleven years on active duty flying the F-15E, including 70 combat missions over Afghanistan and a stint building strike packages at the air operations center…
-
1 h 17
He Should Die. Should We Watch It? | Negligent Discharge Friday | 10.16.26
I asked a question this week about whether the Fort Hood shooter's execution should be made public, and the emotional response to it surprised me. One video about my post opened by…
-
3 h 02
The AGI Promise Is a Cover Story | Bill Thompson | Ep. 476
Bill Thompson joined the Army at 17 and spent 22 years there, most of it on the technical and communications side of a special missions unit. He now runs Spartan Forge, an AI-drive…
-
1 h 01
Is Convenience Making Us Weak? | Full Auto Friday | 10.9.26
Traditional Q and A to round out this week: A high school senior sent five questions about American culture for a class assignment, so I answered all of them. The smartphone postur…
-
3 h 05
Robots Will Fight the Next War | Mike LeBlanc | Ep. 475
Mike LeBlanc spent 13 years in the Marine Corps as an infantry officer. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 and went on to 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. After getting out he studied…
-
58 min
Lying Never Holds Up | Negligent Discharge Friday | 10.2.2026
A last-minute Friday episode, because I forgot we didn't have one. Michael worked under pressure. We open with the Roberts Ridge series. The criticism online was valid: I should ha…
-
2 h 17
Immaculate Constellation and the Cost of Blowing the Whistle | Matthew Brown | Ep. 474
Matt Brown spent his career inside the national security world without ever wearing a uniform. He came up through grad school and think tank work in DC, earned a TS/SCI clearance,…
-
2 h 20
From Ranger to Rancher: Picking a Fight With Big Food | Patrick Montgomery | Ep. 473
Patrick Montgomery served in the 75th Ranger Regiment from 2010 to 2014, deploying to Afghanistan the day after the Bin Laden raid. Six weeks into that first deployment, his brothe…
-
2 h 06
The Medal, the Memos, and the Mountain | Mitch Hall & Brian Bloom | Ep. 472
Brian Bloom has spent his career in front of and behind the camera as an actor, voice actor, and screenwriter. Mitch Hall served as a Navy SEAL with the Naval Special Warfare Devel…
-
2 h 19
The Ranger Account of Takur Ghar | Josh Walker & Chris Cunningham | Ep. 471
Josh Walker spent 24 years in uniform. He started as a young team leader in 1st Ranger Battalion, left for Florida State and ROTC, then came back as a signal officer and went on to…
-
4 h 43
Roberts Ridge and the Fog of War vs. the Facts | Mitch Hall & Brian Bloom | Ep. 470
Mitch Hall served in Naval Special Warfare, Brian Bloom came from film and games. Neither of them set out to spend six years on a single morning in March of 2002. They did anyway.…
-
1 h 02
They Don't Need A Warrant Anymore | Negligent Discharge Friday | 9.18.2026
I asked for positive news this week. What I got was surveillance, a global humiliation, and a man duct taped to his seat at thirty thousand feet. We open with reporting that Homela…
-
2 h 06
Air Traffic Control Is Running on Windows 95 | Dan Rickert | Ep. 469
Dan Rickert graduated from West Point and commissioned into the cavalry, running Bradleys and gun trucks through Iraq in 2008 before going to selection and finishing his nine years…
-
1 h 02
25 Years Later - Be Worthy of the Sacrifice | Full Auto Friday | 9.11.2026
This one airs on the 25th anniversary of September 11th. I'm not dedicating the whole episode to it. I don't tell people how to think or how to feel. But I do open with where I lan…
-
2 h 51
460 Days in the Darkness of Somalia | Amanda Lindhout | Ep. 468
Amanda Lindhout grew up in small-town Alberta and waited tables to pay for backpacking trips through Latin America, Asia, and Africa. She taught herself the job along the way and t…
-
1 h 02
Seven Minutes and Nowhere To Run | Negligent Discharge Friday | 9.4.2026
Michael was tasked with finding something uplifting. He failed. This is what a slow week for good news looks like. We open on the flooding in Nepal and what you can realistically d…
-
2 h 42
The Weight of the Navy Cross | Nick Jones | Ep. 467
Nick Jones enlisted in the Marine Corps at 18 out of Olathe, Kansas. Mortarman, then scout sniper platoon, then selection and 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, where he came up through…
-
1 h 01
You Fall to the Level of Your Training | Full Auto Friday | 8.28.2026
Recorded two of these in one week because when this drops I'll be in Maine at the Origin Immersion BJJ camp. So Michael gets another pass. Nobody knows what he does with his time a…