Transition Drill

Kate Allgood, a former ice hockey player and founder of Quantum Performance, shares her journey from being a promising athlete to transitioning into a career in sports psychology. Kate talks about her early years playing hockey in Canada, competing against boys and eventually becoming a potential candidate for the 2010 Winter Olympics. After graduating college, she came to Southern California to t...

In this engaging episode, Douglas James, a marketing and entrepreneur coach, shares his journey from a troubled upbringing in New Orleans to finding purpose and success after serving in the Navy. Douglas opens up about his childhood escape through art and the challenges he faced growing up in a dysfunctional home. Despite struggling academically and being influenced by his father's negative behavi...

Rich “Bojo” Bojorquez grew up in a section of Los Angeles heavily controlled by gangs. Growing up he had to fight more to stay out of the gangs, but an unlikely assist from a prominent local gang member was a turning point for him. Always interested in the military, after graduating from high school he enlisted in the Navy. He served four years as a Damage Controlmen (fire fighter). His plan was t...

Guy Smith was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. Though gangs were all around him, a strong and influential family kept him out of gang life. Growing up he was into martial arts and wrestling, so after high school he ended up in San Diego coaching and fitness training. Many of the clients he was working with were special operations members and they convinced him to join the Navy. Guy en...

Danny Gonzales spent 18 years in law enforcement, starting as a reserve in 1988 and then 16 years as a full-time cop until 2006. Actions by a fellow officer caused Danny to report this activity to command. Danny fought an uphill battle, administration sided with the other officer, and Danny was then the subject of his own IA investigation. Danny was terminated, but he believed his agency when he w...

Nick Lavery, Army Green Beret and Amputee, in Episode 087 of the Transition Drill Podcast. Nick Lavery didn’t grow up with some polished, pre-written plan. He was a Boston kid who poured his energy into sports, earned a football recruiting path, and treated college like the place he had to be so he could keep playing. Then 9/11 hit during his sophomore year, and the direction snapped into place. H...

Jessica “Jess” Quezada has a love for the arts, more specifically photojournalism which led her to join the Marine Corps as a Combat Correspondent in 2013. Quezada’s first assignment was to Marine Corps Recruiting Command stationed at Quantico, and covering all recruiting events across the U.S. She was then assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, where she served as the current and fu...

Ricky Savage served 25 years in the Marine Corps. He was assigned to aviation crews supporting F/A 18s and Ospreys. He achieved the rank of Chief Warrant Officer and retired as an Aviation Officer in 2015. Ricky had four (4) combat deployments, which, in his words, were scarier with each deployment. In his initial transition he went to college and then worked as a contractor in the aerospace indus...

Dr. Kathryn Hamel retired in 2019 as a lieutenant after serving 25 years as a police officer. During her time as a detective, she investigated cases of domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and rape. About 9 years into her career, she survived a horrific crash during a pursuit and fought her way back to full duty. During her recovery she decided to go back to school and eventually kept going thro...

Graham Little transitioned from the military after serving 10 years with the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force. Graham, graduated from the University of Edinburgh and was selected as a pilot. After a couple years it was determined his skills were better served elsewhere and Graham was re-selected as an Intelligence Officer. Graham had deployments to Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, and Iraq. His last...

Dr. Shante Destiny transitioned from the military in March 2022, retiring after 20 years in the Navy. She retired at the rank of LN1, First Class. Shante has a strong connection to the military with many generational members of her family serving. After graduating high school, she started attending college but the desire to serve was always there. After the attacks of 9/11, Shante left before grad...

Manny Vega has experienced transitions from the military and law enforcement. Unfortunately he has experienced significant trauma in his life from the time he was a child and being abused by a Catholic priest. To get out of the environment he grew up in he enlisted in the Marine Corps when he was 17 years old while he was still in high school. In the Marine Corps he became a scout sniper and had a...

Kyle Wilder has not transitioned yet from his law enforcment career, but through his love of car racing he is giving back to ALS research to honor his best friend and former police officer. As a kid Kyle wanted to go in the Air Force and be a pilot after high school, but a medical condition changed those plans. While still considering joining the Marine Corps, he began working as a Police Cadet in...

Tami Sharp grew up in very small town in Washington State and her dad was the town's only Deputy Sheriff. Her dad operated from their house, so she grew up listening to the radio, having people coming to her house, and going on ride-a-longs as early as she can remember. From her father’s experiences and the stories he shared with her confirmed she did want to be a cop, but she was drawn to help po...

Riyadh Al Ahmady is better known by his nickname “Johnny Walker.” Having served in the Iraqi Army during the Gulf War, in 2003 with his country in turmoil and struggling to find work to provide for his family he began working as an interpreter with the U.S. Army. After showing himself to be someone who got after it, he was recommended to work with the Navy SEALs. Going out on hundreds, if not thou...

Butch Hildebrand transitioned from the Marine Corps but took the skills he learned to further his entrepreneurship. After graduating college, Butch enlisted and served almost 10 years in the Marine Corps. When he got out he did not have clear plans for his future. He followed job opportunities that came along, which lead him to being his own boss. Today he is self employed broker of services and a...

Eric Barrera did not have the best transition from the military. Eric served in the Marine Corps for 4 years after high school. Addiction issues lead to him being homeless. He eventually went to rehab, where he not only turned his life around, he was offered the ability to help others better their lives. Today he is a lead peer navigator with Healthcare in Action, a team of medical professionals o...

Wallace “Wally” Fanene made the transition from active military to living with disabilities. Wally served 8 years in the Army with 2nd Battalion 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant. He had two combat deployments; Afghanistan 2003 to 2004 and Iraq from 2006 to 2007. During his deployment in Iraq, Wally knelt on an IED which detonated taking large po...

Mark Garrett made a transition from a law enforcement career to the private sector. Mark spent 30 years with the California Highway Patrol and retired as a Chief in 2020. During his career he worked various patrol duties, investigative and administrative assignments throughout the CHP’s Southern Division Today he is the director of security for a large financial institution. Prior to and during hi...

Jason Tuschen enlisted in the Navy in 1990. In 1992, he successfully completed Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL (BUD/S) training and was assigned to SEAL Team THREE. After multiple deployments, he was selected for assignment to Naval Special Warfare Development Group, where he served as an operator and later a leader of an assault force. In December of 2001, he took an assignment as an instructo...

Chris Zamora was a gang member and lived on the streets growing up, but oddly enough he knew he wanted to be a police officer. After a significant struggle he was hired as a police officer by the city of Gilbert, AZ. Chris retired in 2021 after serving 23 years. In his time as a police officer he worked narcotics, robbery, and homicide. Chris was also a SWAT Team Crisis and Hostage Negotiator. Thr...

Mario Amaral served 4 years in the Coast Guard as a fireman aboard a drug interdiction ship out of Florida. While still active in the Coast Guard he met a professional chef in 2005, which made him realize he wanted to be a chef himself. He got out of the military and attended Le Cordon Bleu Culinary College in Las Vegas. Since graduating from culinary school, he has helped open restaurants across...

Jeff McGreevy served 4 years in the Marine Corps served assigned to a helicopter unit and deployed during Operation Desert Storm. After leaving the military, Jeff, became a police officer and retired as a Sergeant in 2020 after 29 years. During his time as a police officer he was assigned as a K9 handler, a SWAT Team member, and a detective investigating gang and robbery cases. As a sergeant he su...

Rob Sweetman served 8 years as Navy SEAL with multiple deployments as a member of Team 7. A back injury forced his medical separation in 2018. In addition to his own sleep related issues and his mental health, the suicide of Ryan Larkin, a friend and fellow SEAL, caused Rob to immerse himself in the science of sleep and the effects of sleep deprivation on mental health. Rob has since founded the n...

A police officer who transitioned to owning her own business doing RBS training. Stephanie Kiesow went from being a woman in law enforcment to being a woman in business. Stephanie worked in law enforcement for 16 years in various assignments, including being a Cadet, a Dispatcher, and a Police Officer. A tragic event during her time in law enforcement pushed her towards peer counseling and officer...