Hazard Ground

Samir Patel is a West Point Graduate who served as an Army officer with combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He is currently a Major in the U.S. Army Reserve. Sami Patel is also the owner of various real estate assets including hotels, multifamily, and SFR. He bought his first hotel at the age of 19 years old. Samir is a Managing Partner of Trophy Point Investment Group LLC as he leads a te...

Mark Franklin is a retired U.S. Army Colonel with 30 years of service that included multiple stations and deployments overseas, including Pakistan. After service, Mark became a Veteran advocate for ZERO - The End of Prostate Cancer as he was diagnosed with cancer shortly before he retired from the Army. He speaks about his experiences with prostate cancer and helps raise awareness among the Vetera...

Jake Harriman graduated with distinction from the United States Naval Academy and served seven and a half years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a Platoon Commander in both the Infantry and Force Recon. During his military service, Jake led four operational deployments, including two combat tours in Iraq. Following his service, Jake enrolled at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, founded Nuru Int...

Dario DiBattista served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve from 2001 to 2007 with a couple of deployments overseas. Dario would later become a distinguished graduate of the John Hopkins University M.A. in Writing Program. He is the editor of the anthology 'Retire the Colors: Veterans & Civilians on Iraq & Afghanistan'. His work has appeared in the Washingtonian, the New York Times, the Wash...

Lucy Del Gaudio served in the US Army from 1990 to 1998, including service in support of Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield. Lucy is currently the Chief Operations Officer for the Pink Berets, an organization that specializes in bringing counseling, treatment, and resources to female veterans suffering from PTSD and military sexual trauma. Lucy is one of the grassroots individuals that opened up...

Noel Huerta served in the United States Marine Corps from 2007 to 2011. Noel was deployed twice during Operation Freedom and was awarded the Purple Heart and Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Award after being wounded in combat. After his military service, Noel attended a private education institution and earned both his Bachelors in Computer Science and Masters in Business Administration. Noel w...

Denton Knapp is a Wyoming native with pioneer roots dating back four-generations in Campbell County. He grew up in Gillette, graduated from Campbell County High School in 1983, and received an appointment to the United States Military Academy, West Point. He graduated in 1987 and was commissioned as an Army Infantry Officer. He deployed to combat 3 times for Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq 2002-3 an...

Brynt Parmeter served nearly 25 years as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army rising to the rank of colonel. During his time in uniform, he served in a wide variety of operational positions to include 39 months in Iraq between 2004 and 2009 where he earned the Combat Infantry Badge and three bronze star medals. After leaving the Army, Brynt co-founded Call Sign Coffee with his wife Lisa, an e-comm...

At 17 Wendell Affield joined the U.S. Navy and was sent to Vietnam. A lot happened in a 3 year time span, but that the end of that period, he was injured during an ambush while driving a river patrol boat. He was medevaced home and ventured into other projects. He detailed his military experience in a memoir, "Muddy Jungle Rivers." As an author, researcher, and memoirist, Wendell writes historical...

Larry was an Army combat veteran who had the unique experience of serving with the Ranger Regiment. He was involved in an operation in Somalia which has been documented in print and film as, "Black Hawk Down".  Since transitioning out of the Army, he has taken on more projects working with Ranger heroes and also enjoys his time at Three Rangers Whiskey. https://threerangers.com Support the podcast...

Will Huff served for over 23 years in the U.S. Army as an Army Officer. He achieved the rank of Colonel and served fifty-four months deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition to his military accolades, Will is a graduate of Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island and the National War College in Washington, D.C. Following his Army career, Will worked in the...

Phyllis Wilson served 37 years in the U.S. Army as Military Intelligence traveling the globe. She served with Operation Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition to her military accolades, Wilson is also a Registered Nurse and holds two Masters degrees. After retiring from the military, she has continued to be a pillar of strength for women, both in and out...

Andi Ward joined the military after a year in college in an effort to turn her life around and escape a troubled childhood. She became a construction electrician with the US Navy Seabees. Less than a month after completing 'A' school, Andi was deployed to join her battalion NMCB 3 in Ramadi, Iraq. In 2009 Andi deployed to Djibouti, Africa, to assist with humanitarian missions in the region. She wa...

Tom Young served in the Air National Guard for more than 20 years. During that time, he served in Afghanistan and Iraq and also flew in combat missions to Bosnia and Kosovo to name a couple. He flew to almost 40 countries and logged nearly five thousand hours as a flight engineer on the C-5 Galaxy and the C-130 Hercules. Young retired in 2013 and has spent nearly the last ten years continuing his...

When Denver Morris was just in 7th grade, his grandfather expressed his wish that Denver join the Marine and let them make a man out of him. Two months after turning 18, he started the process. Although he knew he would honor his grandfather's wish, Denver's path to the Marines was a bumpy one as he was often getting in trouble in high school. This carried over to his military service. After servi...

Jason Riley enlisted in the U.S. Army right out of high school, going to the 82nd Airborne Division. His first tour to Korea lasted longer than expected due to the Gulf War. When he returned, he only had a limited time left on his contract, so he became a gunner on a UH-60. He left the Army to go to school in Ohio, but in 1993 enlisted in the New Mexico National Guard where he served 20 more years...

John Pray's father was a career Army officer who served during WWII where he survived the Bataan Death March and three and a half years as a POW. John's father later reflected on how hard it must have been on his mother during all of his years of service. His example and sentiment were driving forces in John's future. Pray joined the United States Air Force and retired after serving 27 years in a...

Bradley Walker is a self- suggestion through our website coming on to tell his journey to the military. He grew up in a small town playing football. In his high school years, he realized he was headed in the wrong direction with the wrong crowd and needed to make a change. He turned to the military even though he didn't have any family members in the military or much support in his decision. Altho...

Patrick Dossett is a graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy and SEAL training where he later became an officer. He spent 9 years in service before leaving the military and taking on the Wharton School of Business where he became a Tillman Scholar. Afterwards, Dossett spent some time at Google and also co-founded the Tip of the Spear foundation, a non-profit that serves the special operations communi...

Jason Gardner knew from the early age of 7 that he would enter the military. That journey took him to the U.S. Navy where he spent nearly three decades with the SEAL team with nine deployments across the globe. Gardner brings perspective from all aspects of leadership from the front lines as a SEAL sniper to a SEAL Team Five Command Master Chief and now, in retirement, he serves as a leadership in...

Michael Denehy served in the U.S. Army as a Green Beret and deployed 7 times. The first face he encountered off the plane of his first deployment was none other than Mark Zinno. Denehy retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2017 and went into small business ownership. He owned Chattabrewchee brewery that won several awards. Although Denehy owned the brewery, he doesn't drink alcohol anymore and is ver...

Daniel Kearney grew up as an Army brat but now calls Georgia home. After earning a Marketing degree, Kearney commissioned in 2002 as a Second Lieutenant. In his 19 years of service, he has 13 combat deployments including one in the well-known Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. Colonel Kearney continues his service and, at the time of this recording, serves as the Director of Future Operations an AI-E...

John Wayne Troxell enlisted in the U.S. Army as an armored reconnaissance specialist in 1982 and later served on 5 combat deployments including 2 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Troxell capped off his military career by serving as the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Trump administration. Although his 37 years of service ended in 2020, he's continued...

Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson both served in the U.S. Navy, Andrews on a fast-attack submarine and Wilson as a Combat Surgeon with the U.S. Marines and Navy SEALs through multiple deployments. After serving, both have moved on to writing military thrillers. Their latest endeavor, Sons of Valor, is the first book in their new Tier One series, a Wall Street Journal and Amazon Best-selling series....

Colonel John "Coke" Blocher received his commission from the Air Force Academy in 1999. He is a senior pilot with more than 1500 flying hours in the A/OA-10 "Warthog" and the AT-38 as an instructor pilot. Blocher was on the ground with the U.S. Army on March 20th as they breached the berm into Iraq, fought battles in Tallil, Al Kifl, Karbala and Baghdad. Just one month later for Operation Monty, B...