Echoes Unfiltered

My guest for this episode is my friend Tony Yocco, a second-generation firefighter with 20 years of service to the City of Racine. Tony and I talk about firefighter life, traumatic calls, fatherhood, and how first responders handle the things most people never have to see. We also get into the difference between what you do and who you are. Tony shares how bodybuilding and maintaining a certain im...

Josh joins me to talk about two deployments to Iraq, convoy security, route clearance, and the moments that followed him home. Five minutes before one mission, Josh and another soldier switched places. That soldier, Casey, was killed. During his second deployment, Josh survived a powerful roadside bomb that tore the mine roller from his vehicle. We talk about those days, the guilt and anger Josh c...

Twenty-five years after September 11, 2001, the echoes of that morning are still being felt. I remember waking to the news on my radio alarm clock, hearing about the second plane while driving to work, and telling my coworkers, “We need to pray for our country.” I was already serving in the Army Reserve. Soon, conversations about deployments began. Years later, I would find myself in Ramadi, Iraq....

We were taught to work hard, carry our weight, provide for our families, and finish the job. Those are good lessons. But somewhere along the way, many of us started believing our value came from what we could produce. What happens when the uniform comes off, the career ends, the body slows down, or people don’t depend on us like they once did? This Labor Day message is for the veterans, first resp...

Chuck Lovelace and I served together in the Army Reserve before our careers took us in different directions. In this episode, Chuck talks about his deployment to Afghanistan, caring for injured children, honoring fallen soldiers, and the moment he stayed beside a dying boy because he refused to let him die alone. We also get into the difficult return home, PTSD, marriage, parenting, finding purpos...

Tom Herbers entered law enforcement while hiding a serious drinking problem. As the pressures of the job increased, alcohol tightened its grip until suspensions, dangerous decisions, and fear became part of his everyday life. Tom shares the unfiltered truth about policing while intoxicated, finding help through a twelve-step program, battling depression after years of sobriety, and recognizing how...

In Season 2, Episode 7 of Echoes Unfiltered, veteran Andy Sterling joins me for a raw conversation about combat, PTSD, and what happens when the war follows you home. We discuss the warning signs that only make sense afterward, including a crooked telephone pole discovered while reviewing pictures after an IED attack. Andy shares his thoughts on the Afghanistan withdrawal, veterans being used as p...

At 19 years old, Steve Sentel deployed to Iraq and entered a world of dangerous convoy missions, firefights, destroyed vehicles, and decisions where survival was never guaranteed. Steve shares what happened during his first deployment, including the lead-up to Fallujah and an improvised escape through a city without communications or armor. He also speaks honestly about the battles that followed h...

Tony shares stories from undercover vice and narcotics investigations, but the biggest fight came from inside his own department. After refusing to alter financial records connected to a corrupt sheriff, Tony was removed from his position and nearly lost his career. Years later, another agency used his PTSD diagnosis to question whether he could still carry a badge. We talk honestly about integrit...

Marine combat veteran and former Staff Sergeant Tony Storey takes us from Desert Storm and the first wave into Mogadishu to training Iraqi security forces during the 2007 Fallujah Awakening. Tony speaks honestly about combat, survivor’s guilt, PTSD, moral injury, faith, forgiveness, and what happens when the warrior you needed overseas follows you home. We also discuss why saying the names of thos...

Greg Janney, professional photographer and author of The Magnificent Bastards in Ramadi and A Father’s Journey There , joins Echoes Unfiltered to tell the story of taking Gold Star dad John Wroblewski back to Ramadi, Iraq. John’s son, 2nd Lt. J.T. Wroblewski, was killed during the 2004 Battle of Ramadi while serving with 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines. Greg first tried to get John to the site in 2007,...

Season 2 Episode 2 of Echoes Unfiltered takes us back to the cabin with Dille, Nguyen, and Riley for the kind of conversation that does not need a script. No big production. No fake drama. Just veterans sitting around, talking like brothers, laughing, remembering, and showing what real connection still looks like years after the uniform comes off. This episode is about brotherhood, old stories, ha...

In this episode of Echoes Unfiltered, I sit down with Andrew Ludwig and Eric Schmieder, two brothers in arms from Second Platoon who served in Ramadi, Iraq. We talk about route clearance, IEDs, Saddam’s Mosque, the Predator, Husky blasts, Route Michigan, the Anbar Awakening, and what it was like going outside the wire day after day. But this one is not just war stories. We also get into what happe...

This Fourth of July, I wanted to take a few minutes to remember what freedom has cost. America has stood for 250 years through war, sacrifice, failure, faith, correction, and perseverance. This country is not perfect, but it is worth remembering, worth defending, worth praying over, and worth living in a way that honors those who gave everything. Freedom was paid for by real people. Soldiers. Fami...

Episode 50 of Echoes Unfiltered features Chappy — Chaplain Robert Kinnune. This conversation is about faith, war, brotherhood, and what it means to carry peace into places built on chaos. Chappy was there with us in Ramadi, praying with the men, walking through the weight, and bringing a steady presence when everything around us was anything but steady. We talk about the role of a chaplain, the co...

In Episode forty-nine of Echoes Unfiltered, airing June twentieth, Sam sits down with David “DJ” Engel, a fellow Ramadi veteran, to bring back one of the earlier conversations from the show. DJ served in Second Platoon while Sam was in First Platoon, and together they look back on Ramadi, Iraq, brotherhood, family, loss, healing, and the weight that comes home after war. This conversation is hones...

This early Echoes Unfiltered conversation with Matt Thornton is being brought back as part of the final stretch of Season One. Matt served in law enforcement with a Northern Illinois police department while I was working nearby in another Northern Illinois agency. In this conversation, he opens up about depression, faith, and the moment God stepped into one of the darkest points of his life. He al...

Today on Echoes Unfiltered, I’m bringing back a powerful conversation with SSG Bell. This was originally one of the early episodes of the show, but the conversation deserved a fresh release. Bell and I talk about Ramadi, healing, the echoes that still linger, and our brother CPL Stephen Shannon, who was serving under Bell’s leadership when he was taken from us. We remember the good times, we talk...

In Episode 46 of Echoes Unfiltered, I sit down with Sparky, a Navy EOD veteran I served with in Ramadi. We talk about route clearance, IEDs, EOD calls, the Husky rescue, leadership under pressure, dark humor, and the things veterans carry long after the mission ends. This episode is more than war stories. It is about survival, brotherhood, memory, and why talking about it matters. For more about m...

Joe deployed to Ramadi, Iraq in 2007 as a young Marine and spent the next year living in survival mode during one of the most volatile periods of the war. In this episode, he talks about working alongside Iraqi locals during the Anbar Awakening, coming home after deployment, losing the military support system overnight, and trying to reconnect with life back home. The conversation also dives into...

Mike joins Echoes Unfiltered for a raw conversation about Afghanistan, military life, brotherhood, dark humor, and the things veterans carry long after they come home. No scripts. No filters. Just real conversation about war, identity, memories, and life after service. Real talk, raw faith, stay unfiltered.

Josh Elarde deployed to Afghanistan with the Dodgeville unit as part of a route clearance team. He shares his experience with IED strikes, the constant threat of ambush, and how that mindset followed him home. We talk about PTSD, adjusting to life after deployment, and the challenge of leaving the military mindset behind when it comes to family and everyday life. You can order my book, now availab...

Episode 41 drops with Roy Wylie — a veteran who served 37 years between the Army and Department of the Army civilian service. From Desert Storm to Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, Roy saw the evolution of war firsthand. Soft-skin convoys, IED threats, convoy security, and the shift from early war chaos to heavily armored operations. But the real story isn’t just the deployments. It’s what came after...

Mac is back for Part 2. We finish what got cut short during the tornado warning and go deeper into the realities behind the uniform. We talk about Billmeyer and the lasting impact of his injuries, the weight of leadership, and what it really looks like to take care of your people. We also get into something most don’t talk about enough. Knowing when it’s time to step away. Mac is retiring at 20, n...

In this episode of Echoes Unfiltered, Sam sits down with Travis “Mac” McCullough, a fellow soldier from the Dodgeville unit, to talk about his deployment to Afghanistan. Mac shares what it was like running route clearance missions, surviving a grenade attack, and working alongside SEAL Team 10. He also reflects on leadership, purpose, and moments where faith became real in the middle of combat. Th...