Operation CREST from The 9:57 Project

Join Liz and Julia as they sit down with LTC (Ret.) Jason Sama. With a distinguished career spanning 23 years, Jason brings a wealth of experience and leadership expertise to the table. Hailing from Holbrook, Long Island, Jason embarked on his journey with a commission from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1999, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Law and Administrat...

Join Liz and Riley as they sit down with retired Marine Captain Randy Dominick. Mr. Dominick graduated from Old Dominion University in 1991, and after graduation, he proudly served 5 years as an Infantry Officer in the United States Marine Corps. He served as a Rifle Platoon Commander and Anti-Armor Platoon Commander with 3rd Battalion 5th Marines, and Company Executive Officer in the Marine Comba...

Join Julia and Ava as they sit down with Colonel (Ret.) Craig Osborne. Col. Osborne was commissioned as an infantry officer by the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program at Illinois State University in 1989. He served on active duty for 30 years in a variety of command and staff positions in peace, peace enforcement, humanitarian, and combat operations. He first deployed to Saudi Arabia in...

Join Eli and Rohan as they sit down with Senior Intelligence Officer 4 Alan Platt. Mr. Platt is a former Naval Aviator and retired senior CIA officer from the Directorate of Operations with a distinguished career in the Clandestine Service and proven record of integrity, achievement and excellence. During his twenty-five years of service with the CIA, he served in six field assignments, four as Ch...

Join Liz and Julia as they sit down with Lieutenant Colonel Steve Henderson (Ret.). Mr. Henderson is a Senior Data Engineer for the Defense Counterintelligence Systems Agency, where he leads the DCSA Big Data Platform team and advises on large-scale data initiatives. Steve has served as a senior data scientist and systems engineer in the commercial and military cyber operations communities, where...

Join Julia and Ava as they talk with Lieutenant Colonel Aaron C. Teller. LTC Teller serves as the Force Protection Branch Chief within the Full Dimension Protection Division (FDB), Headquarters Department of the Army (HQDA) G-8. He most recently served as a National Security Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is a native of Hillsville, Virginia, and a graduate of North Carolina...

Join Riley and Luke as they sit down with Chief Warrant Officer 4 Mike Cooper. CW4 Cooper is a native of Hickory, North Carolina. He is the son of Deborah and Clifford Cooper. He followed in his father and grandfather's footsteps enlisting in the Army on August 13, 1997, as an aircraft electrician. CW4 Cooper's initial entry training included basic training, the aircraft electrician course, and Ai...

Join Eli and Rohan as they sit down with Lieutenant Colonel Kate Clarke. LTC Clarke was born and raised in the small town of Macon, Missouri. In 2000, she graduated from Austin Peay State University and Army ROTC where she was commissioned as a second lieutenant. To date, LTC Clarke has completed twenty years of service to the United States Army, Missouri National Guard, and the United States Army...

Join Jacob and Evan as they sit down with SFC (Ret.) Jason McNutt. Mr. McNutt currently serves with the Defense Contract Management Agency as a Program Integrator in Huntsville, Alabama, where he is currently supporting the Missile Defense Agency with the nation’s homeland defense mission. He has previously served in several capacities within DCMA at locations spanning across the country to includ...

Join Luke as he sits down with Chief Warrant Officer John Hamilton. Mr. Hamilton retired with 24 years of service in the U.S. Army, 22 of those years on active duty. On September 11, 2001, Mr. Hamilton was an AH-64 Apache Pilot in the 101st Airborne Division, and months later, he deployed to Afghanistan. John has also served on the Army Staff in Washington, D.C., and has flown Army airplanes on fi...

Join Julia and Matthew as they sit down with Colonel Wendy E. Odden (Ret.), who served in the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1989 to 2019 as a Bioenvironmental Engineer. Her last assignment was as the Department Chair for the Occupational and Environmental Health Department at the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio. She was responsible f...

Join Dakota and Autumn as they sit down with retired Lieutenant Colonel Cayton Johnson as he shares lessons and memories from his 22 years of service in the U.S. Army. Cayton is from Isle of Palms, South Carolina, and is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He served as an Apache attack helicopter pilot with the 101st Airborne Division, 3rd Infantry Division, and 1st Cav...

Join Zack and Evan as they talk with retired Lt. Col. Lee Olyniec. Mr. Olyniec retired from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel with over 22 years of active duty service. He started his career as an engineer supporting flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base. In 2000, he graduated from the Air Force Test Pilot School as a flight test engineer and supported initial testing of the F-22 fighter airc...

Join Luke and Ava as they talk with Lieutenant General DeAnna M. Burt. Lt. Gen. Burt is the Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Operations, Cyber, and Nuclear, United States Space Force, the Pentagon, Washington, DC. As the Chief Operations Officer, Lt Gen Burt has overall responsibility for Operations, Sustainment, Cyber, and Nuclear Operations of the United States Space Force. Lt Gen Burt enter...

Listen in as Mallory and Jaslyn sit down with Sergeant First Class (Ret.) Tim Huggins. Mr. Huggins was born in 1981 in the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and has two kids aged 19 (Anthony) and 11 (Kennedy). He joined the Army in January of 2000 and was sent to the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks in Hawai'i. Tim served as an Infantryman and Aviation Operations Special...

Join Shaw and Rohan as they sit down with Technical Sergeant Tina Laing, who served 15 years of active duty service in the Air Force and two years in the California Air National Guard before she received a medical discharge from the Air National Guard in 2006. After retiring, Sergeant Laing served as a government-contracted financial analyst in Air Force Space Command managing the Air Force’s Cybe...

Join Matthew and Riley as they sit down with United States Army Major Rudy Salcido. Mr. Salcido is a veteran with a combined 10 1⁄2 years of active-duty service, and 19 years of Federal Service with the Army National Guard. Born in El Paso, Texas, he was raised in a small town just outside El Paso named Socorro. He graduated from Socorro High School in 2000 while attending the Health Occupations S...

Join students Miguel & Rohan as they sit down with Marine Corps Infantry Sergeant Richard Machamer. Richard completed three combat deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. During that time he participated in combat operations to expel insurgent forces from Fallujah, Ramadi, Ar Rutbah, and Mosul. During Operation Koa Canyon in Hit, Iraq, Richard's unit was awarded the Navy Unit Commen...

Join Shaw and Luke as they sit down with United States Army Lieutenant Colonel Rogers “Roge” Stinson. Roge is a veteran with over 20 years of active-duty Service. During his career, he served as a CH-47D “Chinook” heavy lift helicopter pilot and maintenance test pilot. He has served both in combat and in support of peacetime operations around the world. Roge served in Iraq with the 3rd Combat Avia...

Join Ava and Riley as they sit down with Captain Jason Smith. Jason is a 25-year military veteran serving as a pilot and leader in both the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army. He has served on the National Security Council; as Senior Policy Advisor on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; and as strategic advisor and communications director for the Commandant of the Coast Guard....