Podcast Archives - American Warrior Radio

Mon 9/15/2025

Building Good Leaders – James R. Lyda

Ben Buehler-Garcia2025-09-15T11:56:24-07:00September 15th, 2025|

Guidon Leadership founder James R. Lyda had a 30 year career in the U.S. Air Force. He served as Wing Command Chief twice. During those three decades he had the opportunity to advise and interact with some of our military’s senior leadership – while also taking care of and mentoring younger airmen. During his last position before retirement, he was responsible for 55,000 personnel – that would be a good size town or a major corporation. Guidon Leadership is a [...]

Mon 9/8/2025

“Taking Chance” – Lt. Col Michael Strobl (Ret)

Ben Buehler-Garcia2025-09-08T15:56:02-07:00September 8th, 2025|

Taking Chance is an HBO original film that chronicles the experiences of Lt. Col. Michael Strobl while escorting the remains of fallen Marine Pvt. Chance Phelps to his hometown for burial. The film was HBO’s most watched original in five years and starred Kevin Bacon in the lead role as Mike Strobl. Pvt Phelps’s unit was providing convoy escort duty April 9, 2004 near Ar-Ramadi Iraq. The convoy came under heavy fire. Despite being wounded, Phelps continued to man his [...]

Mon 9/1/2025

Horse Soldier Bourbon – Scott Neil

Ben Buehler-Garcia2025-09-01T16:41:32-07:00September 1st, 2025|

Horse Soldier bourbon was created by Scott Neil and a couple of friends to honor the men who rode horseback into combat in Afghanistan. Scott was a member of one of the seven Special Forces teams inserted into Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks. Scott admits he didn’t spend much time on horseback. He was part of a “Commander’s In-Extremis” force with a special mission to penetrate even further behind enemy lines to kill and capture Al-Qaeda leaders in order to [...]

Mon 8/25/2025

“Atomic Echoes” – Victoria Kelly and Karin Tanabe

Ben Buehler-Garcia2025-08-25T09:38:47-07:00August 25th, 2025|

“Atomic Echoes; Untold Stories from World War II” is an insightful documentary co-produced by Victoria Kelly and Karin Tanabe. The film exposes the stories of two communities; the “Hibakusha”, the name given to the estimated 650,000 Japanese survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and the “Atomic Veterans”, the soldiers who landed in the immediate aftermath of the bombings. Victoria and Kelly have been friends since 2017. They are both authors and share an editor. During a random conversation about the [...]

Fri 8/22/2025

Quang Pham – Veteran Entrepreneur

Ben Buehler-Garcia2025-08-22T09:08:19-07:00August 22nd, 2025|

Quang Pham’s father loaded up his family in the middle of the night and took them to the airbase. Little did Quang know this would be a one-way trip. It was April of 1975, and the Republic of South Vietnam would cease to exist within the month. His father, a pilot in the South Vietnam Air Force, would stay behind. Quang would not see him for 17 years. Although they had family in France, Quang’s mother specifically chose to stay [...]

Sun 8/10/2025

Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps – Carlos A. Ruiz

Ben Buehler-Garcia2025-08-10T12:38:14-07:00August 10th, 2025|

The Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps is the highest-ranking enlisted member of the Marine Corps. The role of the SMMC is to advise the Commandant on matters affecting enlisted Marines, represent the enlisted force in discussions with Senior Leadership and oversee the implementation of policies and programs that impact enlisted personnel. Carlos A. Ruiz assumed the post as the 20th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps on August 10, 2023. Carlos and his family immigrated to the United States [...]

Mon 8/4/2025

Peter Singer – “Useful Fiction”

Ben Buehler-Garcia2025-08-04T11:45:49-07:00August 4th, 2025|

Peter Singer is not only a best-selling author, but he has also been described by the Wall Street Journal as the “premiere futurist in the national-security environment”. No author has more books on the professional military reading lists. I was inspired to reach out to Peter after reading his 2015 book “Ghost Fleet”. Ghost Fleet is a fictional novel that describes World War III. He shares that several Admirals at the Pentagon read “Ghost Fleet” and began to ask questions [...]

Mon 7/28/2025

Ayman Kafel – Transforming How We Train Law Enforcement

Ben Buehler-Garcia2025-07-28T08:24:59-07:00July 28th, 2025|

Ayman Kafel served our national honorably in the US Army and was a translator in Iraq during the height of the war against Al-Qaeda. Following a medical retirement from the Army, Ayman still had a heart of service and became a police officer. In law enforcement, he served in a diverse roles including SWAT, DEA Task Force Officer, undercover interdiction and patrol. When we last spoke with Ayman in 2022, he had just founded Project Sapient. He did so to [...]

Mon 7/21/2025

HER Campaign – Britney Higgs & Stacy Zinn

Ben Buehler-Garcia2025-07-21T14:32:42-07:00July 21st, 2025|

The HER Campaign was founded by Britney Higgs and her husband Sammy in 2016 after Britney returned from filming a documentary in Iraq. The mission of the HER Foundation is to help survivors of human trafficking heal, grow and find purpose. They operate shelter/recovery facilities in Billings, Montana and Denver, Colorado. Britney and Sammy were hired by a Non-Governmental Organization to produce a documentary regarding the victims of human trafficking in war torn regions. They went to Iraq right after [...]

Mon 7/14/2025

Fuji Fire – Chas Henry

Ben Buehler-Garcia2025-07-14T15:54:24-07:00July 14th, 2025|

The Fuji Fire is considered by many to be one of the most serious peacetime disasters suffered by our United States Marine Corps. Among the 54 Marines badly burned, thirteen Marines lost their lives. Yet, many people have never heard of it. Marine Corps Veteran Chas Henry has written a book to try and remedy that situation. It is called “Fuji Fire; Sifting Ashes of a Forgotten U.S. Marine Corps Tragedy”. Chas is a combat decorated Marine Corps Veteran himself [...]