Hazard Ground

Each time Peter van Agtmael has been to war, he's gone without a weapon. No pistol, no knife, no rifle. The only thing he's carried into combat is a camera. And through that camera he has captured the human toll of war, both mental and physical. Since 2006 he has covered the Global War on Terror, working primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has since produced three books of images from these wars...

There's probably no greater act of patriotism or selflessness than signing up for military service right after your country has been attacked. That's exactly what Joel Carpenter did after September 11, 2001. Prior to 9/11 he had gone to Hollywood to pursue a career in film and television, but the coordinated terrorist attacks compelled him to fulfill a higher sense of purpose, even though Joel was...

For Dan Futrell, joining the military was at first just a means to pay for college.  After initially shunning the idea of joining ROTC, he started taking some of the classes and found he enjoyed working with the people in the program. He eventually earned a four-year ROTC scholarship, and from there the Army became more than just a way to pay for college. Following graduation and commissioning, he...

Staff Sergeant John Diem knows what it means to serve one's country. That phrase gets thrown around a lot, but John Diem embodies the spirit of patriotism in every sense of the word. He has served multiple combat tours as an infantryman, spending most of that time on the line as part of an infantry squad. He survived a year-long deployment to Iraq's "Triangle of Death", where he and his unit suffe...

Even if you've seen the movie "Black Hawk Down," and know everything about the book by the same title, you'll want to listen to this very special episode with Mike Durant, the pilot who was shot down over Mogadishu, Somalia during Operation Gothic Serpent in 1993. The level of courage and bravery displayed by him and the other soldiers who fought that long day on October 3rd, 1993, is unmatched. I...

If you've ever wondered what it's like to be shot down in a helicopter in the middle of a war zone, then you definitely want to listen to this week's episode. Even if you haven't, then you'll want to listen to how this week's guest, Robin Brown reacted cool and calmly under pressure, and crash landed her Kiowa Warrior helicopter after literally being blown out of the sky by enemy fire in 2003, whe...

From as early as he can remember, Stacy Bare wanted to be in the military. To him it was adventure, coolness, and selfless service, all in one. When Stacy finally got to be the soldier he always dreamed of, he went to war, and served with honor during Operation Iraqi Freedom. But when he came home, his life began to unravel. War had never left him. After battling addictions and a downward spiral t...

On the show today, we go back over 70 years and cover the most significant attack on American soil prior to 9/11. Our guest on this episode is retired Navy Lt. Jim Downing. At 104 years old, Jim is the 2nd oldest known American survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Jim's memory of that day is still as sharp and clear as it was the day it all unfolded, so we are incredibly lucky to get this first...

Early in the morning on September 20, 2004, and during some of the bloodiest days of the war in Iraq, Jacob Schick and his fellow Marines received a quick reaction call. With no sleep following the previous night's mission, Schick rounded up his Marines and jumped in a Humvee. Even though he had a bad feeling about the situation, Schick demanded he drive the lead vehicle. Shortly after moving out,...

Part II of our episode with Nate Self, and the incredible Battle of Takur Ghar. Thanks for listening! www.nateself.com | "Two Wars" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nate Self's story is the reason "Hazard Ground" was born. Early on the morning of March 4, 2002, Self, a young officer and elite Army Ranger, found himself fighting for his life on top of a remote mountain in Afghanistan, markedly outgunned by al Qaeda fighters. Self was tasked with leading the Ranger Quick Reaction Force that was sent to rescue Navy SEAL Neil Roberts and Air Force Technical Serge...

Mike Erwin is an amazing human. After surviving three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as an Intelligence Officer, much of that time directly supporting Special Operations, he started one of the premier veterans support organizations in America: Team Red, White & Blue, or "Team RWB" as it's commonly known. For several years now, Team RWB has been connecting and helping veterans heal through ph...

General (Ret) Ann Dunwoody holds the distinction of being the first woman in the US Military to achieve the rank of four-star general. But when you listen to her speak and understand a little bit of who she is as a person, you get the sense that there is no military rank high enough to quantify who she is as a leader. Her 37 plus years of military service have helped transform the US military for...

In the spring of 1966 a 19-year old Bill Reynolds was on top of the world. The young Californian had it all: the killer car (a '65 Chevelle Super Sport to be exact), the gorgeous girlfriend, and a well-paying job in Los Angeles. Then, just before summer hit, his world changed forever - he received a draft notice in the mail, with orders to report to the Los Angeles Induction Station on May 17, 196...

Chris Roessner's attitude and work ethic speak for themselves. In a relatively short period of his life, he's gone from surviving a year in Iraq in the Sunni Triangle performing a wartime mission with one of the lowest survival rates, to being awarded a prestigious academic scholarship through the Pat Tillman Foundation, to writing and executive producing his own film, "Sand Castle," which recentl...

Dale Dye is probably best known for the roles he's played in numerous motion pictures on war and combat...Films like "Platoon," "Casualties of War," and "Saving Private Ryan." But before he landed in Hollywood, he spent a majority of his time fighting and leading Marines on real battlefields - the ones where the slightest mistake or sniff of bad luck meant you weren't coming home. He's a veteran o...

You might be wondering why our guest this week is not affiliated with the military. Every now and then we like to feature a special guest on the show - someone who hasn't necessarily experienced combat, but who works to better the lives of others through podcasts, music, books, and other forms of media. And that's exactly why we have John Brenkus on the podcast. He has an amazing story of how he c...

Most people know Mark Bowden as the best-selling author of the book, Black Hawk Down, the basis for the 2001 film by the same name. But this is only one small part of a collection of books Mark has written that detail some of the most instrumental US military operations in modern history.  In the last several years he has covered the Iran Hostage Crisis, the hunt for Pablo Escobar, and the final c...

Struck by a sense of duty to defend his country after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Will Bardenwerper walked away from a comfortable job in Midtown Manhattan to join the military. Despite some unexpected downtime while waiting to start his initial training, and then more schooling to become an Airborne & Ranger qualified officer, Will was finally dropped into the "hornet's nest," as he describes...

Johnny "Joey" Jones seemed to have it all. He was a young, good looking Marine, who had earned one of the most technically difficult, interesting, coolest, and coveted jobs in the U.S. military - that of Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technician (Think back to Ep. 3 w/ EOD Tech, Brian Castner...). It's also one of the most dangerous jobs in the military, and on August 6, 2010, that danger caugh...

Despite their difference in military rank when they served in the Army's elite 75th Ranger Regiment - one a seasoned enlisted man with a combat deployment already under his belt, and the other, a new lieutenant working to gain experience and the respect of other Rangers - Donald Lee and Matthew Griffin became fast friends.  They went to war together several times, all the while hatching a plan to...

Jason Van Camp, who is today the Founder and Chairman of Mission 6 Zero, is another one of those guys who knows what it means to be a leader, in every sense of the word. He knows what it's like to have passion for something in life and to scratch and claw toward a goal until it's been achieved. He knows what it means to never quit - at least not until there's physically nothing left to give (and e...

Feeling an obligation to do his part for his country, Paul Rieckhoff enlisted in the Army after graduating from college in the years just before 9/11. After the Twin Towers fell, Paul found himself in uniform working tirelessly at Ground Zero. It wouldn't be long after that he would trade the dust and debris of 9/11 for the sands of Iraq, fighting as an infantryman at the beginning of Operation Ir...

Many know Taya Kyle as the wife of American Sniper, Chris Kyle...But for so many others she's an inspiration for overcoming tragedy. For us, she is our first non-military member that we've interviewed, but her story is so compelling. She is raw, honest, and graceful. This is a woman who has shown more strength in her grief, than most do in a lifetime. And like Chris, she is a protector, who contin...

Washington Redskins Special Teams Coordinator, Ben Kotwica is a proven leader through and through. From his time spent grinding it out on the football field at West Point, to flying Apache attack helicopters in combat, and returning home to work his way up to coaching in the National Football League, Ben embodies the importance of preparation, perseverance, and mentorship. It was truly an honor to...