Within weeks of the 9/11 attacks, Air Force Combat Controller Joe O’Keefe was in Afghanistan working with the CIA and other special operations units. Joe and his small team made their way into the mountains of Tora Bora with the help of the Northern Alliance. Armed with the element of surprise, he was able to […]

Ep 114 | Joe O’Keefe – Hunting Osama bin Laden in Tora Bora in 2001

The late Woody Williams will never forget the odor of burning human remains. “There are some things about that 4 hours that have bothered me my whole life… I can’t remember going back and getting the other 5 flamethrowers.  It was so horrific, I didn’t want to remember.” I was introduced to death by flamethrower […]

Ep 113 | Hershel “Woody” Williams – Medal of Honor Recipient from Iwo Jima

Mark Schmitz’s son, LCpl Jared Schmitz, was one of the 13 Americans murdered at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, on 26 August 2021 during the evacuation from Afghanistan. He was just 20 years old. He was there on a humanitarian mission working the infamous Abbey Gate. When Afghans made it past the Taliban checkpoints, […]

Ep 112 | Mark Schmitz – Disaster at Abbey Gate

Don Stevens is one of those rare operators who retrained into the Air Force combat control (CCT) pipeline at the age of 32, after being in security forces. This required uncommon humility since leadership said, “What are we gonna do with a MSgt. who doesn’t know squat (many different strong words could be inserted here)?” […]

Ep 111 | Don Stevens – Security Forces, Combat Control, Burn the Ships, PTSD

On this 13th anniversary of the death of my brother, SrA Mark Forester, I have the opportunity to talk with Kenny Alicea who was the Senior Weapons Sergeant for his Army Special Forces team (ODA 7212) where Mark was attached. Kenny contacted me a few weeks ago and told me he was on that final […]

Ep 110 | Special: Kenny Alicea & Mark Forester – Beautiful Symphony of Death and Destruction

Nic McKinley is an entrepreneur, former Air Force Pararescueman, and ex-CIA operative who founded DeliverFund, the only donor-funded solution to human trafficking that delivers proprietary data and technology to law enforcement, allowing them to take down human traffickers effectively. With 30 combat deployments under his belt in both Special Operations and the CIA, Nic experienced […]

Ep 109 | Nic McKinley - Fighting a War on Human Trafficking

Retired U. S. Marine and former Policeman, bouncer, Corrections Officer and more Rich Brown (@american_warrior_society) is back on the show so I can dig into his new Memoir “On Violence & Varietals“. We cover many areas of his life: fighting as a boy, the Gulf War, sleeping with one eye open, interacting with prisoners as […]

Ep 108 | Rich Brown – Marine, Author, American Warrior Society Co-Founder, Savage Somm

The Mark Forester Foundation’s annual golf tournament will be held Friday August 11, 2023 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Muscle Shoals, AL. In this episode, I chat with Doug Cole and Jay Stubbs who are long time participants and supporters. We talk about the course, the value of the entry fee, prizes, experiences and why they […]

Ep 107 | The Mark Forester Foundation Charity Golf Tournament – Aug 11, 2023

T. C. Fuller joined the FBI after an 11-year career in the Army as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer. Then he joined the FBI and became a Special Agent, serving for 20 years. During his time in the FBI he held many assignments, including: Principal Firearms Instructor, Joint Terrorism Task Force – Domestic and International, […]

Ep 106 | T. C. Fuller – Stories From a 20-yr Odyssey in the FBI

Gary Michael Rose (Mike) joins me in person to share what happened in Laos during Operation Tailwind in 1970. During these 4 days, Sergeant Rose exposed himself to the enemy many times in order to treat the wounded. And then, the helicopter carrying Rose and others crashed further injuring him and the other wounded on […]

Ep 105 | Medal of Honor Recipient Mike Rose – Vietnam

Dan Skidmore (@danskidmore11) is the Director of Specialized Training at GORUCK. He’s back on PTC as to talk initially about the upcoming Mark Forester JAG 28 Memorial Birthday Walk/Ruck. This is our annual event honoring my brother Mark Forester who was KIA 2010, where we walk 28 continuous miles. Dan will be joining us for […]

Ep 104 | Dan Skidmore, aka Cadre DS – Getting Ready for the JAG 28 Birthday Walk

Chris Sprayberry and Troy Bye join me to talk about the upcoming JAG 28 Birthday Walk on May 20, 2023. Chris (@https://www.instagram.com/sprayberry_77/) has done the walk every year since we started in 2011. Troy’s (@https://www.instagram.com/ourtownpodcast/) first time was last year. After learning the hard way, he can’t wait to do it again while being more […]

Ep 103 | Tips and Thoughts on the Mark Forester JAG 28 Birthday Walk/Ruck

MSG Darrell Utt retired from the U.S. Army Special Forces in January of 2017 after 26.5 years in the Army. For this episode, he joins me in person and we have a great time covering the purpose of the National Medal of Honor Museum being constructed in Arlington, TX and why TX was chosen over […]

Ep 102 | Darrell Utt – Army Special Forces (Ret.) and National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation Chief of Bus. Ops

Matthew Reed started his military career in the Marines. After being honorably discharged in 2007, he joined the Army and became an Interrogator and a Military Intelligence NCO, deploying to both Iraq and Afghanistan. Then from 2012 through 2022, Matt worked as an Intelligence Contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense, with roughly six years […]

Ep 101 | Matthew Reed – Military Intelligence, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Russia and China

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 […]

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

On Sept 16, 2010, Yvette’s son, Daniel Ray Sanchez (Danny) was killed in Afghanistan by an insurgent who infiltrated the Afghanistan partner force. Today, Danny’s mom tells us why this “ball of energy” was made for Combat Control and what happened on his first deployment – how was an insurgent able to get on the […]

Ep 099 | Yvette Sierra – Gold Star Mother to SrA Danny Sanchez

On this special Christmas Day episode, we hear from a legend from WWII – Gail (Hal) Halvorsen.  He has many names:  Uncle Wiggly Wings, The Berlin Candy Bomber and The Chocolate Flier.  He became popular for dropping candy from his plane to the children of Berlin, from 1948-49. His efforts gained support from many back […]

Ep 098 | Christmas from Heaven – Gail Halvorsen

Scott’s younger brother, Steven, was killed-in-action in Afghanistan in Aug. 2010 at the same time that Scott was deployed just miles away. Not only did Scott (@scottdeluzio) have to receive the news of Steven’s death while Scott and his unit were outside the wire, his teammates had to engage in combat until he could get […]

Ep 097 | Scott DeLuzio – Surviving Son

Today, September 29, 2022, mark’s 12 years since my little brother, Mark Forester’s death in Afghanistan. Mark’s close friend and roommate, Doug Cole (@dcoleii), spends some time telling us what life was like living with Mark and watching him transform from a narrow-shouldered, pudgy, college student to a solid, chiseled man. No matter how serious […]

Ep 096 | Special: Doug Cole on the Impact of Mark Forester

Brian Jodice is the owner and host of Pick up the Six Productions and Podcast, where he shares stories about the men and women among us who go above-and-beyond to PICK UP THE SIX through SERVICE, PURPOSE and IMPACT. He recalls many impactful interviews he’s done in the last few years, among them was the […]

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