Transition Drill

A Marine Corps Veteran who transitioned to the corporate world and today is a COO Ryan Borders served 12 years in the Marine Corps in the Field Artillery division and achieved the rank of Gunnery Sergeant. Since leaving the military in 2001, Ryan has had several different professional iterations, along with completing his Bachelors degree in Business Management. Today he is the Chief Operating Off...

Odie Gallop served 4 years in the Navy. He then became a cop with the San Diego Police Department and served 28 years, retiring in 2018. During his time with San Diego PD he was a detective, a member of their SWAT team, and a member of their dignitary protection team. Today he is the technical advisor and occasional actor on the TV series SWAT.   DIRECT LINK FOR PODCAST EPISODE 66: https://transit...

Long before it became a TV series, the Lioness Program was real—and USMC Chief Warrant Officer Halima Blanton lived it. Escaping a war-torn country as a child, Halima found refuge and purpose in the United States Marine Corps. She served 22 years, deployed multiple times to Kuwait and Afghanistan, and became part of the real-life Lioness Program Female Engagement Team (FET)—one of the earliest eff...

Marlon Marrache is a Navy veteran. When he discharged from the Navy, he joined LAPD. He retired in 2022 after serving 24 years and achieving the rank of Sergeant. Today, Marlon is a law school graduate, owns BLU Consulting where he provides training on and representation regarding internal affairs investigations, and he is developing his own public information podcast D-Tails The Breakdown. PODCAS...

Christopher Cendana served 4 years in the Marine Corps from 2004 to 2008, with two deployments to Iraq. After getting out of the military, he went to back to college but that did not work out for him. Following his heart, he decided to become an actor and has since had roles in the TV shows Lucifer, How to Get Away With Murder, and Criminal Minds to name a few. In addition to acting Chris also doe...

Andrew Gonzalez served 8 years in the Marine Corps with two deployments. He received the Naval Achievement Medal and achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant. Andrew was then hired as a police officer by the LAPD and retired in 2020 after 21 years. During his time as a police officer he was the 2008 Officer of the Year and the 2009 Gang Officer of the Year. Today he is the director of asset protection...

Melani Harding joined the Navy after graduating from nursing school in 2005. She has deployments to Italy, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay and is currently in the reserves working towards 20 years. Today she is also the owner and winemaker of Bon Niche Cellars in San Miguel, California. Melani’s love of wine started during her first duty station in Italy. but she kept studying wine and winemaking....

Roger Owen knew he wanted to be a police officer, so after high school he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served 4 years as an MP. When he discharged from the Marine Corps he chose to stay in Southern California and in 1995 he started his law enforcement career with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. After 10 years in L.A., Roger transferred to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department,...

Michael Brown was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He knew as a young man he wanted to serve in the military, so he joined the United States Navy while still in high school. Mike served 14 years with Special Operations as an Intelligence Analyst. He had five combat deployments, including Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). After discharging from the milit...

John Domingo grew up in Huntington Beach, CA. He began his law enforcement career with LAPD in 1989. In 1992 he lateraled to Huntington Beach PD where he retired in 2019 as a Lieutenant. Through his time as a cop, he served on CRASH and SWAT and was a member of the crisis negotiation team. John was also an Arrest & Control Instructor for over 20 years. He is recognized as an expert on Use of Force...

Jordan Ohara went to the University of Oregon, initially thinking he wanted to work in finance, but at the same time he also held a desire to serve in the military. So, after graduating from college he enlisted in the Navy. A training injury sustained between schools brought an abrupt end to his military career in 2017. After medically discharging, Jordan battled depression, significant physical p...

Jose Rodriguez grew up knowing he was going to be a cop. He graduated high school early and began working as a volunteer with the local fire department. At that time the police officers were also firefighters and Jose saw this as a way to get his foot in the door. After almost 2 years as a volunteer and eventually a reserve officer, he was hired as a full-time police officer in 1998 – he was 19 ye...

Noah Oliver comes from a lineage of Navy Sailors (both his father and grandfather served). While he was in high school, he decided he wanted to join the military. He planned to join the Naval Reserves after high school while he went to college. Noah then learned of the ROTC program and was accepted to the program at Florida State University. After a couple years he was not happy with the ROTC prog...

Brian Carrington was born in Reykjavik Iceland in a military family, his father did a career in the Air Force. Growing up he was forced to move repeatedly, but he always knew he also wanted to go in the military. In 1998, after graduating from high school he enlisted in the Army. His plan was to be a Ranger and do a career like his father. Brian was accepted into the Ranger Indoc Program, but a me...

Julia Ling’s parents escaped Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia and came to the United States. Julia grew up in a very strict household. From a young age Julia knew she wanted to serve in the military but knew there was no way her parents would support it. After graduating high school, she enrolled in college to be an engineer. With no interest, at that time, in acting she accompanied a frie...

Chris Tomaino spent 26 years with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department; retired in 2020 at the rank of Captain. Chris was the SWAT Commander when the Route 91 Harvest Festival Concert mass shooting occurred in October 2017. His previous command level assignments include the Special Weapons and Tactics Bureau, Convention Center Area Command, the Homicide & Sex Crimes Bureau, and the Northwe...

Toshiro “Tosh” Carrington is a disabled veteran (left hand amputee) with 25 years of Naval Special Warfare (NSW) SEAL Team experience; he retired in 2015. Tosh began his military career as a Marine, but a chance encounter with a Frogman caused him to transfer to the Navy. In his time in the SEAL Teams he was a point man, lead sniper, a corpsman, and a Platoon Chief. He has 5 combat deployments, an...

In this episode I’m welcoming back a guest from Episode 8. After an 8-year enlistment in the Marine Corps with 3 deployments to Iraq, John was a Deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department from 2007 to 2019. He spent the last nine years as assistant team leader on their SWAT team but was medically retired after two neck injuries. Today he is a director of security for a private company (a c...

From Machine Gun to Sewing Machine…Trinidad Garcia was already an accomplished clothing business entrepreneur, but he had always wanted to be a U.S. Marine. In 2008, at age 31 he enlisted in the Marine Corps. He deployed twice with 2/7, serving aboard Marine Expeditionary Units in the Pacific. Through two enlistments his dream of becoming a denim designer started burning inside of him again. While...

Ashton Packe served 23 years with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, retiring in 2021 as a Detective Sergeant. He was a team leader during the Route 91 Concert mass shooting on October 1, 2017. During his tenure, he worked and supervised assignments including uniformed patrol, field training, criminal investigations, undercover operations, dignitary protection and counter-terrorism oper...

Please forgive the sound quality in the first half of this eposide - there were techinical difficulties. Raul Ramos grew up in South Central Los Angeles and was immersed in the gang culture right outside his door. By the fourth grade Raul was dressing and acting like a gang member. He was jumped in and started getting gang tattoos at the age of 11. By 20 he had a few instances that could have land...

Chuck Rylant was a cop for 15 years. In that time, he was a detective, a member of SWAT, and firearms and arrest and control trainer. An on-duty injury forced his retirement in 2012. Today he has earned a doctorate degree, he is a court-recognized expert in use-of-force and self-defense, he is a bestselling author of 5 books, including Shots Fired: The Psychology Behind Officer-Involved Shootings...

Guy Smith, former Navy SWCC, in Episode 45 of the Transition Drill Podcast, shares what it really looks like for transition and identity shift for veterans and first responders navigating the cliff-edge moment when the uniform comes off, and the wheels don’t stop spinning. You’ll hear Guy on what it feels like to hit that wall, and what it takes to rebuild discipline, purpose, and trust in yoursel...

Marshall Spring joined the Marine Corps after the attacks on 9/11. He served 4 years as an explosive detection dog handler. After returning from Iraq, Marshall continued working with dogs as a contractor for the National Nuclear Security Administration. In 2010 Marshall became a police officer in Colorado but gave up the profession a year later after the suicide of his training officer, who he was...

Angel Cortes grew up in Orange County, California. He struggled in school and eventually found his way into gang life. Not what you would assume of someone in the gang life, Angel chose to enlist in the Army but didn’t stop there and succeeded in becoming a Ranger. He went on to serve 8 years and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Angel is motivated to give back, especially to his family. It was be...