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We are joined today by retired Marine Colonel Anthony (Tony) Wood. In 1975, as a captain, Col. Wood was one of two military officers (the other a Green Beret captain) tasked with planning and executing the evacuation of Saigon as North Vietnamese forces shelled the city and closed in. They not only had to identify the thousands of allies (and Americans) in the region, but also identify potential landing/extraction zones, as well as develop a transportation plan to the sites, meanwhile keeping their extraction plans hidden from the ambassador/state department due to political pressures. Col. Wood and his team successfully extracted over 7,000 people in the largest helicopter evacuation in history without firing a single shot. This is a harrowing story and one of courage, bravery, desperation, creativity at the highest level, and decisiveness. We discuss the context of Vietnam in 1975, and the disagreement/disconnect between the military (posted offshore and not permitted on Vietnamese ground) and the state department/embassy. We continue to learn from these first-hand accounts of what it was like on the ground in Vietnam, especially during a chaotic, and highly politicized time. As we know, those on the ground doing the job oftentimes tell a different story than what the news delivers. We hope you enjoy.

In this episode we are joined by Mike Croissant. Mike is a retired CIA officer with more than 20 years of experience in counter-terrorism and security risk assessment. Mike has extensive professional and academic experience across the Middle East and Central and South Asia and was intimately involved with the Global War on Terror in Afghanistan, having spent his career with the agency as an analyst and targeting officer. We discuss with Mike what it was like to be at Langley during 9/11, only being two years with the agency at that time, and what it was like having to brief high level government officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney weeks after 9/11. It was a pleasure for us to connect with Mike who from the last two decades, has had a front seat during some of the most pivotal moments in American history. Support the show and become a War Stories patron: https://www.patreon.com/warstoriespodcast

We are joined today with Hampton Sides. Sides is the author of our favorite book on the Korean War: On Desperate Ground which tells the story of one of the most harrowing clashes in American history, the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, during which Mao’s numerically superior armies surrounded and tried to destroy the First Marine Division in the frozen mountain wilds of North Korea. Sides is best-known for his gripping non-fiction adventure stories set in war or depicting epic expeditions of discovery and exploration. He is the author of the bestselling histories Ghost Soldiers, Blood and Thunder, Hellhound On His Trail, and, most recently, In the Kingdom of Ice, which recounts the heroic polar voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette during the Gilded Age. We really enjoyed this conversation as Hampton is a wonderful author of American adventure and exploration, always centered around the human stories which arise. We hope you enjoy, we sure did. Become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/warstoriespodcast

Today we are joined with Jeff Brodeur. Jeff retired from the U.S. Army as a Colonel and served as the Assistant Commandant for the Chemical-Biological-Radiological-Nuclear (CBRN) Schoolhouse and Regiment. Following retirement, he entered the private industry as a senior CBRN technical advisor providing direct support to the Departments of Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, and State. In 2018 Jeff led a CBRN team in Iraq providing toxic chemical surveys in facilities recently displaced by ISIS to allow industry and families to repopulate. Mr. Brodeur is an internationally recognized CBRN expert with conference keynote speaker and panel member experience in Brazil, USA, Canada, and Iraq. We discuss Jeff's expertise with weapons of mass destruction, and how each one is uniquely different. We also discuss Jeff's long spanning career in this highly technical field, and how the technologies have changed over the years. We hope you enjoy. 

Today, we are joined with Doug Mater.  From 1971-1973, Doug served on two Westpac cruises to South East Asia (Vietnam) as a naval ammo bearer on the USS Sample. Doug is Preston's father-in-law and we discuss many of his personal stories rarely shared. We talk about what it was like to be a young man in an era of the draft during a turbulent time in American history. We also discuss the experiences of being an ammo bearer on a Navy gunship, and the amount of firepower the Americans unleashed from the sea. Since returning home from Vietnam, Doug earned his B.S. in Social Work by using his G.I. Bill and served as a juvenile probation officer for 22 years. He then heard the call to ministry and attended Asbury Theological Seminary, earning a Master's of Divinity degree and has served as an Elder in the United Methodist Church for 16 years.

In this episode, I'm joined by Jacob Ivey, Bryson Shipman and Kyle Snook to talk about their friend, Todd Weaver.  Jacob, Kyle, Bryson and Todd were all platoon leaders together in D/2-502IN before splitting off to different companies just ahead of a deployment to Afghanistan in 2010.  They share some awesome parts of Todd's story from his writing letters to the families of his Soldiers to the deep conversations had right when they arrived in country. Early in the deployment, Todd and Jacob were sent to support 1-320FA in the Arghandab River Valley just outside Kandahar.  They talk about Todd taking on the new mission and how much he enjoyed being able to mentor and lead a new group of Soldiers in this challenging environment. Todd was killed in action on September 9th, 2010, but it's clear in talking with his friends that he left quite the legacy and is still making an impact today. Jacob Ivey was a Ranger-qualified Infantry Officer and served as a platoon leader in the Arghandab River Valley with B/1/320 during the 2010-2011 deployment to Afghanistan by 2IBCT, 101st Airborne Division. Jacob ultimately served for 10 years before moving on to the civilian sector where he lives in Gainesville, FL with his wife and children. Bryson Shipman was an Company Executive Officer in Zhari District, Kandahar Province with D/2-502 Parachute Infantry Regiment during the 2010-2011 deployment to Afghanistan in support of OEF X-XI. Bryson is still serving in the United States Army. Kyle Snook served 5 years as an Infantry officer with a deployment as a platoon leader to Zhari District, Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division’s 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment in 2010. He now works in healthcare entrepreneurship and lives in Denver, CO with his wife, dog and 1-year-old daughter.

In this episode, Sayre and I are joined by former USA Today journalist Maria Goodavage to talk about service dogs and a Marine dog named Lucca. Maria is considered one of the foremost author experts on working dogs after the publication of her critically-acclaimed New York Times bestselling books, Soldier Dogs, Top Dog, and Secret Service Dogs. Her latest book, Doctor Dogs: How Our Best Friends Are Becoming Our Best Medicine, has won hearts around the world. Maria has appeared on numerous national TV shows, including The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and Today, and has given talks about working dogs at the New York Stock Exchange, National Museum of the United States Air Force, and other notable venues. Read more about Maria and all of her work at her website below! https://www.mariagoodavage.com/

In this episode Preston Stewart and Sayre Payne are joined by a group of Dimitri Del Castillo's classmates, Army rugby teammates and friends.  John Wagner, Jericho Jones, Tommy Sandonato, Andy Brigman, and Mike Fleming.  They talk about their time with Del at West Point, on the rugby pitch, during Ranger School and once everyone scattered their separate ways into the Army. 1LT Dimitri Del Castillo was killed on June 25th, 2011 in Kunar Province, Afghanistan while serving as a platoon leader with 2-35IN, 3rd BCT, 25th ID.

Today, Preston and Sayre are joined with Dave Holland. Dave is a former U.S. Marine who has lived and worked for nearly 3 years on site at Guadalcanal and operates the YouTube page,  Guadalcanal - Walking a Battlefield, documenting the many battle sites of one of the longest and hardest fought campaigns of WW2.   We discuss how Guadalcanal kicked off the American ground offensive post Pearl Harbor, establishing a foothold in the Pacific. We also discuss the brutal fighting and tactics employed by both the Marines and the Japanese, and how the Marines changed the tide of the war by halting the forward progress of the Japanese Empire, who up to that point were the dominating offensive force throughout the Pacific and Asiatic region of the world.  If you're typically a podcast listener, be sure to check our YouTube page which incorporates many of these visuals in tandem with the conversation. We hope you enjoy.   Dave's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSPWS6QYjnWy6_8-m7NvE-Q/featured  Dave's Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/GuadalcanalWalkingabattlefield/

Preston and Sayre are joined today with Doug Stanton. Doug is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, lecturer, screenwriter. His books include The Odyssey of Echo Company, In Harm’s Way, and Horse Soldiers. The Odyssey of Echo Company entails the story of a 101st Airborne Division recon platoon who found themselves thrust into savage combat during the Vietnam War's Tet Offensive. In Harm’s Way is the definitive account of the sinking, rescue, and valor of the USS Indianapolis crew during the end of the Second World War, and became required reading on the U.S. Navy's reading list for officers. Horse Soldiers is the dramatic account of a small band of Green Berets who secretly entered Afghanistan following 9/11 and rode to war on horses against the Taliban. It is required reading by US Army Special Forces at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School and is the inspiration behind the movie 12 Strong. Doug's books were all obtained from first-hand accounts and by personally observing the battlefields. We discuss many of the personal stories, themes, and history he's preserved through his writings. In Harm's Way is being re-released over 20 years later on May 17, 2022, including a new chapter of stories untold. We hope you enjoy.

If we had set goals for the podcast when we first started, this most certainly would have been one: 500k downloads!  Thank you all so much for your support and making this so fun to continue to do.  As a thank you, we pulled five questions that were submitted to talk about today and will send those folks a War Stories mug.  In this episode we tackled: - What's something in the military that civilians could most benefit from? - Is the five star rank still on the books? - A Chaplain's role in the military. - What shocked us most about the war in Ukraine. - What different career paths or choices would we have made in the miltary?

Preston and Sayre are joined today with John Spencer–one of the world’s leading scholars and experts in the field of urban warfare. He has studied, taught, and written about urban warfare for over a decade. John is the creator of The Mini-Manual for the Urban Defender and currently serves as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies with the Madison Policy Forum. He recently served as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, Co-Director of the Urban Warfare Project, and host of the Urban Warfare Project podcast. This was a great conversation coming from a scholar and warrior with first hand experiences on both fronts as Spencer has one of the most infantry resumes possible. Serving over twenty-five years in the active Army as an infantry soldier, Spencer has held ranks from Private to Sergeant First Class and Second Lieutenant to Major. His assignments as an Army officer included two combat deployments to Iraq as both an Infantry Platoon Leader and Company Commander, a Ranger Instructor with the Army’s Ranger School, a Joint Chief of Staff and Army Staff intern, fellow with the Chief of Staff of the Army’s Strategic Studies Group, and Co-Founder, Strategic Planner, and Deputy Director of the Modern War Institute at West Point. We hope you enjoy.