Podcast

The Devil’s Playground was the name given to the Arghandab Valley of Afghanistan by the US troops who fought there. It is also the title of a book written by Andrew Bragg about his fellow paratroopers of Charlie Company’s 2nd Platoon and their 2009-2010 deployment to the valley. His unit experienced fifty percent casualties and six KIA during that deployment. Andrew says “I thought about the guys in my platoon every single day for 12 years, but I never reached [...]

“Grit to Glory” by Green Beret Veteran Darrell Utt recounts his journey from the woods of West Virginia to his role as team Sergeant for ODA 043 in the streets of Baghdad during some of the most vicious fighting. Darell grew up “dirt poor” and he says a trip to Burger King was “fine dining” for his family. He spent a great deal of time in the woods hunting, fishing and trapping with his father, which he says would later [...]

Stand-Up comedian and Marine Corps Veteran Erik Knowles got an early start with a set of Nickelodeon jokes at 4th grade summer camp.  He joined the Marine Corps because he was looking for a father figure. In fact, a Marine Corps Drill Instructor taught him to shave. Erik soon learned that being a comedian does not always fly in the military. He got busted down in rank a couple of times. His Sergeant liked him but realized he couldn’t bust [...]

Havok Journal writer Dave Chamberlain joins us to discuss some of his recently published articles. Chamberlain served 38 years in the Air Force and Air National Guard as an aircraft crew chief. He retired at the rank of Chief Master Sergeant. Dave is one of the more prolific contributors to the Havok Journal. We discuss a rather unusual situation early on in Dave’s military career. (Outlined in his article “How to go from Basic Training to Instructor in One Step”.) [...]

TAC-P (Tactical Air Control Party) personnel are the Air Force’s premiere close air support and joint fires integration specialists. JTAC (Joint Terminal Air Controller) is a certification that allows an individual to say “cleared hot” on the radio. Ethan Brown spent 11 years serving as an Air Force TAC-P and had six deployments to multiple combat zones. His book “Visual Friendlies, Tally Target” uses the stories of multiple Forward Air Controllers to show how close air support in the war [...]