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Episodes

Feb. 11, 2024

SEAL Team Seven Canine Handler Chris Cappa Part Two | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 174

Training an animal to move, obey, and communicate effectively is no easy feat - especially when you're serving at the Tip of the Spear. That's where SEAL Team Seven Canine Handler Chris Cappa met Mickey anyway - a scrappy pup...

Feb. 4, 2024

SEAL Team Seven Canine Handler Chris Cappa Part One | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 173

Every warrior has a different reason for going over the wire. For Chris Cappa, it was almost destiny; a chance encounter at a local gym turned into a series of relationships that were suddenly severed in a 2011 Afghanistan Bo...

Jan. 28, 2024

Marjah Marine Infantry Squad Leader Ryan Rogers Part Two | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 172

There's more to being a Marine Squad Infantry Leader than simply telling other Marines what to do. You're not only responsible for your squad's successes, but you also feel the weight of the most devastating of failures. But ...

Jan. 21, 2024

Marjah Marine Infantry Squad Leader Ryan Rogers Part One | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 171

The Battle of Marjah. A knock-down, drag-out, world class brawl. Featuring over 15,000 soldiers from all over the world, it was the largest joint operation in Afghanistan up to that point. And Ryan Rogers knows it better than...

Jan. 14, 2024

Ret. CIA Security Officer Ryan Fugit Part Two | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 170

After 7 years of flying as an Apache Helicopter Pilot for the Army, Ryan Fugit knew it was time to settle down. So naturally, he moved back to the States, settled in with his family, and immediately joined the CIA as a Collec...

Jan. 7, 2024

Army Apache Helicopter Pilot Ryan Fugit Part One | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 169

Ryan Fugit is pretty good at seeing the bigger picture. Nowadays, he's a podcast host - hosting 'Combat Stories,' a weekly interview series dedicated to sharing war stories from some truly incredible veteran warriors - but be...

Dec. 31, 2023

Top Gun Fighter Pilot Instructor Jack Stewart Part Two | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 166

Wait a minute, TOPGUN only trains students to become instructors? Turns out, there's quite a few details the Tom Cruise movies missed when it comes to the most elite flying academy in the world - but when it comes to real wor...

Dec. 29, 2023

Dog Training Q&A with Navy SEAL Teamdog Founder Mike Ritland | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 167

Why's my dog so aggressive? How can I start to train them more effectively? And what's the secret to getting any dog to truly obey your commands? There may be a million ways to skin a cat, but dog training doesn't have to be ...

Dec. 24, 2023

Top Gun Fighter Pilot Instructor Jack Stewart Part One | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 166

Jack Stewart always wanted to fly. Following in his pilot father's footsteps, he pursued a career in aviation at the U.S. Naval Academy before serving 23 years as a fighter pilot, flying combat missions from three different a...

Dec. 16, 2023

French Foreign Legion Navy SEAL Taylor Cavanaugh | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 165

The French Foreign Legion - a unique corps of the French Army that, unlike nearly any other army in the world, allows foregin nationals to enlist at will. It's a diverse fighting force, deploying all over the world into any c...

Nov. 26, 2023

Knife-Forging SEAL Nomad Shane Hiatt Part Two | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 164

Mike Ritland and Shane Hiatt have been friends for a long time. Which is a surprisingly rare thing in the veteran community - the odds that two SEAL Team guys would run into each other again and again aren't quite as high as ...

Nov. 19, 2023

Knife-Forging SEAL Nomad Shane Hiatt Part One | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 163

It takes all sorts to make the world, but only a select few are chosen to lead. Just ask Shane Hiatt - he's a former Point Man for SEAL Team 3, where he met and served together with our very own Mike Ritland. Since then they'...

Nov. 12, 2023

Navy SEAL Immigrant Drago Dzieran Part Two | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 162

Retired Navy SEAL Drago Dzieran has a complicated past. Before serving twenty years at the Tip of the Spear, he was a political prisoner in his home country of Poland after they assumed Communist rule. After immigrating to Am...

Nov. 5, 2023

Navy SEAL Immigrant Drago Dzieran Part One | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 161

Drago Dzieran was born in Poland while under Communist rule. After spending time in a Communist prison (also known as a Gulag) as a political prisoner for his activism against against censorship, he immigrated to the United S...

Oct. 30, 2023

Ranger BORSTAR Actor Vince 'Rocco' Vargas Part Two | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 160

Nobody understands the border crisis quite like Vince 'Rocco' Vargas. Though most know him now as the actor behind Gilly Lopez on FX's 'Mayans M.C.', Vince is also a retired specialized law enforcement BORSTAR agent, where he...

Oct. 22, 2023

Ranger BORSTAR Actor Vince 'Rocco' Vargas Part One | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 159

'Going Hollywood'. It's a phrase that's all too familiar to Vince 'Rocco' Vargas - a veteran turned actor, Vinny's appeared in FX's Mayans M.C. along with a handful of features that have had a surprisingly large impact online...

Oct. 15, 2023

Retired CIA Operative Instructor Jason Hanson | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 158

Jason Hanson knows how to keep a secret. It's part of his job, actually - he's a former officer of the CIA, or 'The Agency' as insiders call it - along with an instructor in escape and evasion via his his tactical spy school,...

Oct. 8, 2023

Recon Marine Fox Special Forces Host Rudy Reyes Part Two | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 157

Retired Recon Marine Rudy Reyes has got quite the resumé. He's a wildly popular Call of Duty character, he played himself on HBO's Generation Kill, he hosts Special Forces: The World's Toughest Test on FOX - and that's just t...

Oct. 1, 2023

Recon Marine Fox Special Forces Host Rudy Reyes Part One | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 156

Call of Duty. Generation Kill. Special Forces: The World's Toughest Test. For Rudy Reyes, it's all in a days work, but Hollywood's far from his only priority. It's change that matters most to Rudy - you can see it at Force Bl...

Sept. 24, 2023

Navy SEAL Crossfit King Dave Castro | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 155

Every year, CrossFit's toughest athletes enroll to compete in The CrossFit Games, a three-week global competition designed to find the Fittest Man and Fittest Woman on Earth. It's a grueling endeavor, filled with agonizing ev...

Sept. 17, 2023

Functional Medicine Nutritionist Rachel Scheer | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 154

Chronic pain. Adrenal Fatigue. Veteran Care. When it comes to meeting the needs of the average American, western medicine has a lot to answer for. Doctors today are quick to prescribe an all-in-one solution, but does that rea...

Sept. 10, 2023

Black Hawk Down Delta Force Operator Tom Satterly | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 153

As a senior non-commissioned officer of Delta Force, the most elite and secretive special operations unit in the U.S. military, Command Sergeant Major Tom Satterly fought some of this country's most fearsome enemies. Over the...

Sept. 3, 2023

MARSOC Raider Government Hacker Michael Bloch | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 152

MARSOC. Intelligence Hacking. Dagger Ops. For Staff Sergeant Michael Bloch, doing rad stuff is all in a days work. And after 12 years of service to our country as a Marine Corps. Raider, Bloch's been busy - he's served as a combat instructor, deployed...

Aug. 27, 2023

Army Ranger K9 Police Officer Jon Lindsey Part Two | Mike Ritland Podcast Episode 151

After only 18 months at Savannah PD, Officer Jon Lindsey made the jump to SWAT - partly due to his Army experiencing serving on The 75th Ranger Regiment, but mostly due to his outstanding work ethic and a natural knack for the job. Paired with K-9...