The Strategic Veteran

Justin Williams spent 20 years and 26 days in the United States Air Force as a Security Forces Master Sergeant, including a decade as a K-9 handler. He retired in August 2024 and now runs Bombshell Suds Co. — a family-operated, small-batch cold-process soap company — alongside his wife Alice (the mad scientist behind every formula) and his 13-year-old daughter. He also still works his day job as t...

Some people talk about helping veterans. Others dedicate their lives to it. In this episode of The Strategic Veteran, Adam Peters sits down with Lyubim Kogan, the founder of WingsForHeroes.org. Lyubim’s life reads like something out of a movie. He immigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1992 on a ski scholarship. He went on to build a career on Wall Street working in the World Tra...

What happens when the life you worked so hard to build suddenly stops making sense? In this episode of The Strategic Veteran, Adam Peters sits down with Rachel Speckman to talk about the moment many high performers quietly experience. The realization that the ladder they’ve been climbing might not actually lead where they want to go. For Rachel, that moment came during her family planning journey....

What does it mean to become a Gold Star family? In this episode of The Strategic Veteran, Adam Peters sits down with Susan Aimes, a Gold Star mother whose son gave his life in service to this country. For families of the fallen, the cost of war does not end when the mission ends. It becomes a lifelong journey of grief, remembrance, and honoring the legacy of those who never came home. Susan shares...

What actually makes someone a leader? In this episode of The Strategic Veteran, Adam Peters sits down with Army veteran JJ Hardy to talk about the leadership lessons that only show up when everything is on the line. JJ grew up believing that trusting people was a mistake. Looking out for yourself was the only way to survive. But when he stepped into his first leadership role in the Army, everythin...

What happens when the Army sends you home before you're ready? In this episode of The Strategic Veteran, Adam Peters sits down with Army veteran Anthony Potter to talk about the reality of being med-boarded out of the military and the identity crisis that can follow. Anthony spent eight years serving as an Army medic. For him, the Army wasn't just a job. It was the structure and brotherhood that h...

Athena Ives' journey is one of incredible resilience, transformation, and a fierce dedication to making a difference. From a childhood in a cult to serving as a Marine Corps lioness in Iraq, she has navigated immense challenges, including homelessness and the profound impact of combat. Now a respected peace and security advisor with a PhD in forensic psychology, Athena shares her story of overcomi...

In this empowering conversation on The Strategic Veteran, host Adam Peters welcomes William Holston, a leading expert in Business Mistake Prevention. William draws upon his extensive background in innovation for a corporate giant and his personal journey building a family business to offer crucial guidance on avoiding preventable entrepreneurial failures. This episode is packed with wisdom for any...

In this episode, Peter Pollock, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, shares what really happens after a senior officer retires and the structure disappears. After 24 years of service, command roles, deployments, and Pentagon work, Peter expected the transition to be manageable. It wasn’t. We talk about identity loss at the officer level, leadership myths in corporate America, why rank means nothing o...

In this episode, Joshua Palassis shares what it feels like when your entire plan collapses overnight. After failing aircrew selection, Joshua lost his military path, his income, and his independence and was forced to move back home and repay the Army. No backup plan. No safety net. Just failure staring him in the face. Instead of staying stuck, Joshua rebuilt from the ground up. Through self-educa...

In this episode, Rand Timmerman, a Vietnam War Marine, former mustang officer, JAG attorney, and lifelong alcoholic in recovery, shares one of the most honest stories ever told on this show. From rural poverty and combat in Vietnam to decades of buried trauma, night terrors, and alcohol-fueled survival, Rand walks us through what happens when the past finally demands to be faced. At nearly seventy...

In this episode, Kenneth Webb shares what happens when a 33-year Army career, a second career at American Airlines, and every familiar identity finally fall away. After retiring as a lieutenant colonel and realizing no one cared who he used to be, Ken walked away from the U.S., moved to Miraflores, Peru, and began rebuilding life on his own terms. We talk about long-term service in the Army Reserv...

In this episode, Cory Brown opens up about losing a brother-in-arms to suicide and how that loss forced him to confront everything the uniform never prepared him for. After 16 years in the Army and National Guard, Cory experienced the familiar spiral of identity loss, broken tribe, and silence that follows so many veterans after service. That pain became fuel for Eat Your Feelings, a project built...

In this episode, Ron Beckner shares how a career spanning the Navy, Coast Guard, Naval Reserves, and union pipe trades shaped his understanding of discipline, leadership, and money. After 24 years of service and decades in the working class, Ron now teaches veterans and blue-collar Americans how money actually works. We break down why most veterans are never taught financial fundamentals, how bad...

In this episode, Tommy Kilpatrick shares how he deliberately burned his life to the ground. After decades of marriage, running medical clinics, and building financial stability, Tommy chose homelessness, took a vow of poverty, and walked away from everything he owned. What followed was a radical experiment in faith, healing, fasting, alternative health, and service. From working with Marines suffe...

In this episode, Russ Torgerson shares how a 31-year Coast Guard career as a rescue swimmer and pilot shaped his identity, and how losing that identity nearly destroyed him after retirement. From pulling bodies out of the water to flying missions in some of the harshest conditions on earth, Russ opens up about PTSD, depression, alcohol, and the long road back to purpose. We talk about the veteran...

In this episode, Robert Novotny shares how he went from a Marine navigating loss, NJP, and suicide inside the ranks to building a life of purpose through financial planning and veteran advocacy. We dig into the reality of the veteran transition from military to civilian life, including grief, identity loss, money mistakes, and what actually creates stability after service. This conversation covers...

After 30 years in the Army, Kenny Dupar learned the hard way that transition isn’t about resumes or programs. It’s about identity. In this episode, Kenny breaks down combat, counterinsurgency, leadership failures, why TAP and SkillBridge fall short, and what actually helps veterans rebuild after service. From Iraq in 2003 to writing novels in East Tennessee, this conversation is honest, funny, and...

After eighteen years in Air Force intelligence, Rex Enriquez faced the hardest mission of his life — rebuilding after the military. From divorce to a near-death heart attack, his story isn’t about struggle; it’s about resurrection. In this conversation with Adam Peters, Rex breaks down what real self-mastery looks like, how to overcome destructive patterns, and why most so-called “coaches” don’t k...

Navy EOD officer turned addiction-treatment founder, Tom Sauer has seen both sides of the fight. After losing his father to addiction, he spent years defusing bombs overseas before realizing the real war was happening back home. In this episode he breaks down the crisis inside veteran mental health, the failures inside the VA, and why he built Miramar Health to give veterans a real shot at survivi...

COL-select David Zallo spent 27 years serving across Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, and JRTC before stepping into one of the hardest missions he’s ever faced: rebuilding his identity outside the uniform. In this episode, he breaks down what the Army gave him, what it took from him, and why financial wellness became his new way of serving veterans. We cover deployments, leadership, burnout, the collapse...

Rich Spalla joined the Army at thirty five, walked into Afghanistan with men ten years younger than him, and carried the weight of July 7th long after he came home. This episode goes deep into identity, guilt, transition failure, VA pills, the struggle to feel human again, and the long road back through faith, discipline, jiu jitsu, and fatherhood. If you’ve ever felt like the world kept spinning...

What do you do when the one job that made you feel useful gets wiped out overnight? Marsha Cleff spent seven and a half years as a TAP counselor, helping high-ranking military folks find their footing in civilian life. Then one day, she was told it was over. No backup plan. No warning. Just “reallocation of funds.” Instead of folding, she built Six Star Resume Strategy from the ground up, channeli...

What if the very identity that made you successful is the same one keeping you stuck? How do you rewrite your life when the script you’ve followed since birth suddenly stops working? David Richards grew up steeped in the Marine Corps—it was the family business. He led troops in combat during Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, then spent 17 years climbing the corporate ranks at Cisco. But the real...

What happens when the moment that broke you becomes the reason you lead? How do you rebuild when the war follows you home? Rich Brown was a Marine infantry assaultman. His story started with a teenage-triggered explosion in Haditha — and it could’ve ended there. But instead, he turned trauma into a mission: building men, community, and purpose after the uniform. Rich co-founded Honor Bound Fit, ru...