When Authentically American Founder & CEO Dean Wegner graduated from West Point over 50 percent of the apparel worn in America was made in the US. That figure is now 3 percent. Authentically American was founded to help reverse that trend. He asks every American – “Where is YOURS made?” He chose aviation upon graduation and became a helicopter pilot. Dean is unique in that he is an aviator authorized to wear the Ranger tab. He says the incredible [...]
Don Bentley read his first Tom Clancy novel when he was 13 years old. This Army Veteran is now writing for the “Tom Clancy universe” with his first novel achieving best seller status. Both Don’s grandfather and father served in the military. He was awarded an Army ROTC scholarship to Ohio State University and went on to fly Apache gunships. Don flew as part of the Quick Reaction Force on Operation Red Wings. Following his Army career, Don briefly tried [...]
Veteran’s Day is a very important day for American Warrior Radio. Three Veterans joins us to share their thoughts. Frank Antenori served as a Green Beret. He trained Mujahedeen fighters to fight the Soviets, served in Desert Storm and returned to Afghanistan in 2002, participating in Operation Anaconda among other actions. His book Rough Neck 91 describes his A-Team’s battle against a numerically superior force in Iraq. Frank’s uncle Gino Merli was awarded the Medal of Honor in World War [...]
COMCAST/NBC Universal Senior Vice President of Military and Veteran Affairs Carol Eggert says that when she was recruited by the company she “..wasn’t looking for a job but found a purpose.” She had already compiled an impressive military career rising from the enlisted ranks to Brigadier General. When Carol first joined the Army, the service was still gender segregated; not all positions were open to women. The irony was not lost upon her while leading Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Iraq [...]
Mended Wings: The Vietnam War Experience through the Eyes of Ten American Purple Heart Pilots is a compelling collection of stories of heroism. Author Colin P. Cahoon served as an Army helicopter pilot himself and the book is his homage to the generation that came before. Colin didn’t set out to be a helicopter pilot, but started in Air Assault School. After being dropped off in the woods and having to trudge back to base, he realized that the helicopter [...]
Apex Gear Company co-founders Nick Wyatt (Marine Corps) and Drew Everett (Army) have been friends since childhood. They first partnered on an e-commerce site for Nick’s family owned company Foot Medic Insoles. One day they had a great idea – a one stop marketplace for Veteran owned retailers and Veteran brands. They assumed someone else had already filled that market gap but extensive research showed they were wrong. Apex Gear Company debuted to the public on September 11th. There are [...]
The Office of Special Investigations is an Air Force unit whose mission includes investigating felony level crimes and conducting counter intelligence operations. They are highly trained and this show discusses a rather unique training exercise implemented by the Commander of OSI Detachment 217. While assigned duties at Davis-Monthan Air Force base, Lt. Colonel John J. Hoffman and his wife visited Tombstone, Arizona and took in a gunfight re-enactment. It struck him that it would be interesting to do crime scene [...]
The Battle of Castle Itter was one of the most bizarre actions of World War II and just one of the interesting events we discuss with noted historian and author Professor John C. McManus. John is often called upon as a subject matter expert for numerous television programs and has authored 14 books on military history. Battle of Castle Itter began on May 5, 1945 during the last days of war in the European theatre and five days after Hitler [...]
September 11 survivors Matt Rosenberg and James Gagliano share their thoughts 20 years after the attacks. Matt was an Army Medic at the Pentagon and Jimmy was an FBI agent in lower Manhattan. Matt was assigned the position of Mass Casualty NCO at the Pentagon about two weeks before September 11. His primary duty was as a medic in the minor surgery clinic and emergency response teams. Because the plane that hit the Pentagon impacted a section recently been renovated [...]
“Eagle Down; The Last Special Forces Fighting the Forever War” is a powerful book by Jessica Donati that is receiving high praise from many including Sebastian Junger. Jessica currently covers foreign affairs for the Wall Street Journal. She was the bureau chief in Kabul in 2015 and lived four years in Afghanistan. Eagle Down tells the personal stories of several Green Berets posted to Afghanistan conducting “training operations” following the official declaration that the “longest war in American history was [...]