Lessons Learned

91 year old Max Sarazin was born in 1933 during the height of the Great Depression. He decided to join the Marine Corps in 1951 while the United States was heavily involved in the Korean War. Max deployed to Korea in 1951 and served with 1st Battalion 5th Marines as a forward observer, calling in artillery fire missions on North Korean and Chinese enemy troops. Max shares his experiences in the wa...

John Deaton was born in Highland Park Michigan, a subsection of Detroit and one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods in the country in 1967. Against all odds John worked his way out of poverty to attend Boston’s New England School of Law in 1992. In 1994 he commissioned as an officer in the United States Marine Corps where he served as a defense attorney and prosecutor. John then went o...

Col. Chris Conner joined the Marine Corps in 1992 as an enlisted reservist and in 2000 he was accepted to Officer Candidate School then commissioned as a 2nd LT assigned to 1st Battalion 8th Marines as an infantry platoon commander. His time with 1/8 brought him to Iraq in 2003 to the city of Mosul in the early stages of the war and again in 2004 as part of the legendary battle of Fallujah, where...

LtGen. Lawrence Nicholson served 39 years with the United States Marine Corps and retired in 2018. Over the course of his career he served in numerous leadership roles as he ascended the officer ranks. In 2009 he was selected to command the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade for operation Khanjar in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. During that time he commanded over 10,000 Marines, Sailors, Army...

Sgt. Dan Spaulding deployed with 2nd Battalion 8th Marines to the city of Garmsir in May 2009 as part of a major offensive in the Helmand Province.  Dan was there the day Our friend Nick Xiarhos was killed in action by an improvised explosive device on July 23rd 2009. This was a very personal conversation that neither of us had ever had, despite knowing each other for nearly 15 years. Dan and I di...

Jeff Bodell served as a member of a police mentor team during the battle of Marjah Afghanistan in 2010. He conducted hundreds of patrols along side the Afghan Police forces during his 7 month deployment and on July 27th 2010 his team was in a fight for their lives against the Taliban after being ambushed by a significantly larger force. Jeff's friend and teammate, LCPL Abram Howard, was kille...

On January 17, 2008 Denise Amber Lee was at her Florida home with her 2 year old and 6 month old son's when a complete stranger broke into her house and abducted her in broad daylight while her Husband Nathan was at work. Two days later on January 19th Denise's body was found after being murdered and buried in a shallow grave. During Denise's abduction and the massive search that fo...

Retired USMC Col. Tim Grattan had a 25 year long career in the Marine Corps spanning from 1990-2015. During that time he commanded Marines on combat deployments to Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. In 2009 he was my battalion commander for 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion during a major offensive operation in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Tim shares his lessons and insights about hi...

Matthew Butler joined the Utah National Guard in 1993 and went active duty in the Army by becoming a Green Beret Special Forces Operator in 1998. He deployed six times during the Global War on Terrorism between 2003-2014 and retired in 2017 as a Lieutenant Colonel. After his retirement he realized the toll the wars had taken on him and decided to seek help through means that many may find unconven...