Afleveringen
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He gave up two businesses and a comfortable life at 32 years old to become a Green Beret β then spent six months in the Congo hunting one of the world's most wanted warlords, Joseph Kony.
In this episode, Josh Nacey takes us from a small painting company in Rock Springs, Wyoming, through Special Forces selection, the Q Course, and multiple deployments β including a split-team operation in the Congo where his unit fought alongside Congolese forces, dealt with poachers and elephant killings, and lived alongside a warlord's brutal reach. He also opens up about what almost nobody in Special Operations wants to talk about: transitioning home, operator syndrome, divorce, and the suicide statistics that are 30% higher for special operations veterans than the rest of the military.
Josh now runs the CharlieMike Foundation and is launching Mend the Drift, a new initiative using fly fishing to help special operations veterans heal.
β±οΈ TIMESTAMPS
1:27 β Military roots: two grandfathers, two wars
3:14 β Enlisting at 32
10:00 β The recruiter's 8-month test
12:15 β Arriving at basic training
22:26 β The hardest part: Q Course & Small Unit Tactics
41:40 β What is a Green Beret, really?
44:35 β Inside a 12-man ODA
46:13 β Becoming an 18 Charlie (demolitions)
57:16 β Graduation day: earning the Green Beret
1:01:10 β First deployment: the Philippines
1:15:20 β The mission: hunting Joseph Kony
1:16:07 β Deploying to the Congo
1:18:37 β First impressions of the Congo
1:21:31 β Hunting the LRA
1:23:46 β The village and the two men
1:29:25 β Patrolling the jungle with Congolese forces
1:33:52 β Poachers, elephants, and a warzone for wildlife
1:37:36 β The hippo story
1:43:07 β A tragic firefight
1:49:52 β Coming home: "operator syndrome"
1:55:21 β Hitting bottom and asking for help
1:58:50 β Ketamine, SGB, and resetting fight-or-flight
2:04:58 β Founding the CharlieMike Foundation
2:06:52 β Fly fishing and Operation Pay It Forward
2:11:15 β Mend the Drift: his new mission
2:12:48 β The suicide numbers no one talks about
2:16:30 β The real cost of service
π€ SUPPORT THE MISSION
CharlieMike Foundation & Mend The Drift: https://mendthedrift.org/
Operation Pay It Forward: https://opif4ourvets.org/
IF YOU'RE STRUGGLING
This episode includes candid discussion of combat, military transition, and veteran suicide statistics. If you or someone you know is a veteran in crisis, the Veterans Crisis Line is available 24/7: call 988 then press 1, text 838255, or chat at VeteransCrisisLine.net.
#GreenBeret #SpecialForces #Veteran #JosephKony #Congo #MentalHealth #Podcast
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Robert Williams grew up in Colville, Utah, and followed three generations of his family into the military: commissioning through Army ROTC at the University of Utah before serving as an artillery officer in Vietnam. In this episode of Ask A Vet, Robert takes us from basic training at Fort Lewis through his time as a battery commander on a remote firebase in the Vietnamese highlands β the boredom, the terror, the firefights, a helicopter crash, and the split-second decision that came closest to costing a life. He also opens up about the reception he received coming home, the PTSD he didn't recognize until decades later, and what finally started to heal on an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. with his son.
This is Episode 50 of Ask A Vet β thank you for fifty episodes of listening to these stories.
CHAPTERS:
00:28 β Meet Robert: growing up in Colville, Utah, and a family history of service
02:53 β ROTC, a failed physical, and fighting to stay in
04:59 β Basic training at Fort Lewis
07:28 β Fort Sill: learning the guns and the M101 howitzer
09:33 β Night training and a scare on aggressor detail
11:55 β Firepower demonstrations and "time on target"
14:20 β Orders to Vietnam: leaving a pregnant wife behind
16:49 β Landing in-country on New Year's Day
19:13 β Camp Red Horse and life in the rear
21:38 β Taking command on LZ Linda / Hill 270
26:30 β Under fire: flechette rounds and a 20-minute firefight
28:47 β The drug problem on the hill
31:09 β Urinalysis, discipline, and hard calls as a young officer
33:35 β Inside the Fire Direction Center
36:00 β Contaminated water takes down the whole battery
38:26 β Getting sick, and leading men barely out of high school
40:23 β Keeping men sane: cockroach races and homemade games
44:49 β Going down in a helicopter
47:10 β The rocket attack they weren't allowed to stop
49:33 β B-52 strikes and danger-close air support
51:58 β Witnessing a midair collision 53:58 β Reassigned to Quinyon as base defense officer
56:02 β The closest he came to killing someone β and becoming the "whore control officer"
58:30 β Discipline duty during off-base entertainment nights
1:00:41 β A Montagnard farewell dinner: a crossbow, poison, and pigeon heads
1:02:38 β A body on the shore and the final weeks in-country
1:05:05 β Riding with a Korean convoy
1:07:19 β Two of the hardest things he saw in Vietnam
1:09:45 β A close call with incoming mortars
1:11:55 β Notes for the colonel and the province chief
1:13:44 β Learning his daughter was born β and had emergency surgery
1:15:18 β R&R in Hawaii, and the hardest part: going back
1:17:29 β Wheels up for home
1:19:51 β Coming home to a hostile crowd in San Francisco
1:21:49 β Assignments in Germany and Minnesota, finishing a master's degree
1:24:14 β Leaving the Army and his takeaway from Vietnam
1:25:38 β Recognizing PTSD β decades later
1:28:44 β What lingers: sights, sounds, and smells that don't go away
1:30:26 β Agent Orange, burn pits, and the health costs that show up later
1:32:00 β The Honor Flight with his son
1:33:24 β A welcome home, decades overdue
1:34:06 β Final thoughts & Reflections
If you or a Veteran you know has a story that should be heard, we'd love to hear from you at [email protected].
ποΈ Curious Humanography is proud to partner with Utah Honor Flight, helping veterans visit memorials built in their honor. To learn more or support their mission, visit UtahHonorFlight.org and honorflight.org.
If this story moved you, please consider liking, commenting, and subscribing β it helps us continue sharing stories that deserve to be heard.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Larry Winters served as a Marine helicopter mechanic and door gunner in Vietnam, stationed at Phu Bai and Marble Mountain outside Da Nang in 1969. He grew up in a house with no electricity or running water in upstate New York, ran away from an abusive father at 16, and joined the Marines at 19 trying to "become a man."
What he found in boot camp and Vietnam set him on a 56-year journey to understand what war actually does to the people who fight it.
In this conversation, Larry talks about the brutal turning points of boot camp at Parris Island, his attempted AWOL into Mexico, the day he refused an order to fire on Vietnamese fishermen, and the concept that's defined his life's work as a therapist: moral injury. His take on why veterans are dying by suicide will challenge everything you've been told about PTSD.
Larry is the author of "The Making and Unmaking of a Marine" and is currently finishing his second book.
β οΈ Content warning: This episode contains discussion of war, combat, violence against civilians, suicide, and moral injury.
If you or a veteran you know is in crisis, call the Veterans Crisis Line at 988 and press 1, or text 838255.
CHAPTERS
00:30 Growing up in Newpaltz, NY
02:30 Signing up for the Marines at 19
05:00 Parris Island β the yellow footprints
09:30 Boot camp turning points: the hot sauce and the rifle bolt
13:30 Coming home, ITR training, and shoe polish in the barracks
22:30 Metalsmith school and shipping out to Vietnam
29:30 Landing at Phu Bai β 126 degrees and Marston matting
32:30 Tet, the move to Marble Mountain, and a sergeant's chilling words
35:30 Locals on the base, peace symbols under shirts
37:00 Becoming a door gunner β and getting in trouble first
39:30 Three months on perimeter guard, the starlight scope
42:30 The sandpan incident: "I'm not firing this"
47:30 Flying missions, napalm, and the bulldozer that wouldn't lift
52:00 The Freedom Bird home and protesters in San Diego
58:30 College, poetry, and the long road to becoming a therapist
1:10:00 Moral injury vs. PTSD β what's really killing veterans
1:16:00 Presence as the best treatment
1:20:00 Creativity, spontaneity, and finding his voice
1:24:00 Final Reflections
π Larry's first book "The Making and Unmaking of a Marine" β https://www.amazon.com/Making-Making-Marine-Larry-Winters/dp/0979229340
π Larry's upcoming book: https://www.koehlerbooks.com/book/the-tug-of-war-a-reckoning-with-moral-injury-and-telling-the-truth/
Larry's Substack: https://larrywinters.substack.com/
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Stephen Davy was drafted out of a Toys R Us toy gun department in 1967, joined the Air Force to avoid the Army, and ended up loading napalm, two-thousand-pound bombs, and 2.75 rockets at the Pleiku Air Base bomb dump in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. But the part of his story you've never heard is what happened on the weekends: Stephen and his buddy Tom Glenn formed a rock band that played Camp Holloway, Engineer Hill, Fifth Special Forces, and just about every Army camp within reach of Pleiku, often going AWOL to do it, and sometimes catching helicopter rides back to base from pilots who wanted to do loops with the band gear in the cargo hold.
In this episode, Stephen shares the close calls (rocket attacks, a tunneled-in VC sapper team, a leopard outside the rehearsal door), the absurdity (a pet macaque named Colonel Spiker who got drunk in the Airmen's Club), and the quieter moments that stayed with him most β visiting the orphanage outside Pleiku with clothes his parents shipped from the States. He also talks honestly about coming home to Andrews Air Force Base, the PTSD no one was naming yet, getting robbed at gunpoint multiple times working nights at a 7-Eleven, and how a Washington Post want ad eventually led him to a 50-year career as a master violin maker in Laguna Beach.
CHAPTERS
00:30 Growing up β Navy dad, Boonville to Florida to DC
07:00 The draft notice
08:30 Basic training at Lackland β getting punched, losing a spleen
12:00 Munitions school in Denver and meeting Tom Glenn
14:00 Learning to load bombs, fuse rockets, and mix napalm
20:00 Arriving in Pleiku β Central Highlands, Fifth Special Forces, MIKE Force
26:00 First rocket attack and the bunker in the tall grass
38:00 Forming the New Generations Band
50:00 Pleiku City, the Montagnards, and the orphanage
58:00 Going AWOL to play Camp Holloway and Engineer Hill
1:08:00 Flat tire on the way back from a gig
1:11:00 The colonel who saved the band from being broken up
1:20:00 Two GIs straight out of the field singing "Hold On, I'm Comin'"
1:25:00 Helicopter loops with the band gear
1:28:00 Leaving Pleiku under ground fire
1:32:00 Coming home β Andrews AFB, security details, and a bank robbery
1:47:00 Apprenticing under violin masters Tom Nerado and Albert Mollier
1:51:00 Vietnam, Agent Orange, and looking back
1:55:00 Colonel Spiker the monkey
Subscribe for more interviews with the men and women who served.
If you or a Veteran you know has a story that should be heard, we'd love to hear from you at [email protected].ποΈ Curious Humanography is proud to partner with Utah Honor Flight, helping veterans visit memorials built in their honor. To learn more or support their mission, visit UtahHonorFlight.org and honorflight.org.
If this story moved you, please consider liking, commenting, and subscribing β it helps us continue sharing stories that deserve to be heard.
#AskAVet #VietnamVeteran #VietnamWar #USAirForce #Pleiku #OralHistory
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Gary Howard grew up in Atlanta and joined the Navy in 1968 to stay one step ahead of the draft. A few months later he landed at Tan Son Nhut on the night of Tet '69 β the whole countryside on fire, Intel telling everyone this year would be worse than last. It wasn't. What followed was a year as a Naval advisor with the Vietnamese Marines in the Mekong Delta: helicopter landings, MEDCAPs in remote villages, climbing telephone poles to lay phone lines, sleeping topside under a mosquito net with his M16 next to his head, and yes, waterskiing on the Mekong behind a mail-order Johnson 75 outboard.
In this episode Gary walks us through OCS at Newport, gunnery school, the bus ride into Saigon, the rocket that missed because his hat fell off, the mortar attack that interrupted a winning poker hand on his birthday, the overturned boat that gave him lifelong claustrophobia, and the moment a young woman spit on him at SFO when he finally made it home. After Vietnam he ran a nuclear weapons rework plant in Yorktown, went to law school in Texas, and tried jury cases in Arizona for forty years.
CHAPTERS
00:48 β Drafted, so I joined the Navy
02:06 β OCS at Newport (and getting caught asleep)
03:30 β Gunnery school in Virginia Beach
07:09 β Amphibious and small arms training
08:25 β Landing in Vietnam on Tet '69
13:16 β Bus ride into Saigon 16:25 β Aboard the USS Mercer
19:36 β A 40-foot boat and 13 crew
22:51 β MEDCAPs, DENTCAPs, and winning hearts and minds
23:57 β Waterskiing on the Mekong
26:36 β The rocket that missed
27:58 β The telephone pole story
30:24 β Mortars on my birthday
35:42 β Food, heat, and the mosquitoes
36:12 β R&R in Hawaii
36:46 β Emergency leave home
40:11 β The girl at SFO who spit on me
43:22 β Two and a half years at a nuclear weapons plant
45:43 β Law school and forty years of trials
49:46 β What Vietnam taught me
51:05 β The overturned boat and lifelong claustrophobia
57:23 β Adjusting to "thank you for your service"
Subscribe for more interviews with the men and women who served.
π If youβre a Veteran struggling with VA benefits, click this link to schedule a free consultation: https://ameconsultation.com/ref/AVPP1211J20A26YXO
Disclosure: This is a referral partnership with American Medical Experts. We may receive compensation if you book through our link.
If you or a Veteran you know has a story that should be heard, we'd love to hear from you at [email protected].
ποΈ Curious Humanography is proud to partner with Utah Honor Flight, helping veterans visit memorials built in their honor. To learn more or support their mission, visit UtahHonorFlight.org and honorflight.org.
If this story moved you, please consider liking, commenting, and subscribing β it helps us continue sharing stories that deserve to be heard.
#VietnamWar #VietnamVeteran #USNavy #AskAVet #BrownWaterNavy #MekongDelta #Tet69 #OralHistory
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In 1963, a kid from Las Vegas with no money and a father enlisted in the Air Force earned appointments to all three service academies. A retired Army colonel teaching high school math gave him one piece of advice: "if you want choices, go to Annapolis" and it set Tim Martin on a path into the most secretive community in the U.S. military: the Silent Service.
In Episode 46 of Ask A Vet, Tim takes us deep inside the Cold War nuclear Navy. Hand-picked for Admiral Rickover's legendary nuclear power program, Tim served aboard the USS John Adams (SSBN-620), a Polaris missile boat carrying 160 nuclear warheads β more destructive power than every bomb dropped in World War II β and later aboard the fast attack USS Permit (SSN-594), the "Steely-Eyed Killer of the Deep."
He tells the stories submariners rarely tell: trailing a brand-new Soviet missile submarine for 38 straight days without being detected. Surviving the exact same casualty that sank the USS Thresher, a seawater flange blowout at 1,300 feet. Snagging a fishing net with his periscope at 2:30 in the morning. Watching Apollo 13 launch through the periscope. A swim call in the middle of the Panama Canal. And the day his captain made him the boat's official Shark Control Officer.
Tim went on to a career in nuclear power and today serves on the USS Utah (SSN-801) Commissioning Committee β and he's the first submariner ever featured on this show.
If you enjoy these stories, subscribing is free and it genuinely helps us preserve more of them.
CHAPTERS
00:30 β A Las Vegas Kid Gets Appointments to All Three Academies
07:15 β Plebe Year, the Chronometer Answer & Falling for Submarines
12:45 β Rickover's Nuclear Program: Sawed-Off Chairs, Nuke School & the Idaho Prototype
19:00 β USS John Adams (SSBN-620): 16 Polaris Missiles, 160 Atom Bombs
22:30 β Earning His Dolphins: Thrown Over the Side in Guam
28:43 β THE DRAGNET STORY: 2:30 AM, Periscope Up Under Two Spotlights
35:45 β Life at 300 Feet: Six On, Twelve Off, Movie Night & Fixing Everything
40:30 β USS Permit, "Steely-Eyed Killer of the Deep": Trailing a Soviet Sub for 38 Days
49:00 β Nuclear Torpedoes & the 1974 Anti-Nuclear Protest in Japan
59:00 β The Thresher, the Scorpion & Surviving a Flange Blowout at 1,300 Feet
1:06:49 β Creaking Hulls, Angles & Dangles, and How You Evade a Torpedo
1:19:40 β Ice Cream Over Sonar, the Army-Navy Game Heist & Apollo 13 Through the Periscope
1:30:30 β THE SHARK STORY: "You're the Shark Control Officer"
1:35:30 β Rickover's Legacy, the USS Utah & Life After the Silent Service
π If youβre a Veteran struggling with VA benefits, click this link to schedule a free consultation: https://ameconsultation.com/ref/AVPP1211J20A26YXO
Disclosure: This is a referral partnership with American Medical Experts. We may receive compensation if you book through our link.
If you or a Veteran you know has a story that should be heard, we'd love to hear from you at [email protected].
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In Episode 45 of Ask A Vet, we sit down with Aaron Hinds, a Georgia kid who turned down a Navy SEAL contract and a nuclear program to do the one thing he'd wanted since he was fourteen: be an infantryman.
Aaron takes us from Sand Hill at Fort Benning to the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, through brutal pre-deployment "tryouts" where only two dozen men made the cut, and into Afghanistan's fighting season at FOB Shank, better known as Rocket City. He shares what it's really like the first time rounds snap over your head, the frustrating reality of rules of engagement, the 45-minute firefight that made it into Ricky Schroder's docuseries "The Fighting Season," and the unforgettable Special Forces soldier in a Captain America t-shirt.
But the heart of this episode is what came after. Aaron opens up about losing more friends at home than he did overseas, finding a therapist through the nonprofit HickStrong, getting his service dog Ace through Healing for Heroes, and learning that the same mind that survived a war can be pointed at helping people. As Aaron puts it: "I can do great things and I can do terrible thingsβ¦and I have to decide which one I'm gonna let control my actions."
If you're a veteran who's struggling, you are not alone. Reach out to the resources below or dial 988 and press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line.
ποΈ Resources mentioned in this episode:
β’ HickStrong (free therapy for veterans & first responders): https://www.hicksstrong.org/
β’ Healing for Heroes (service dogs for veterans): https://www.healing4heroes.org/
β’ Veterans Crisis Line: Dial 988, then press 1
βThe Fighting Seasonβ (2015): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4006826
πΊ Subscribe for a new veteran's story every episode.
π§ Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere you listen.
CHAPTERS
00:33 β Growing up in Stapleton, Georgia
03:11 β Turning down a SEAL contract to join the infantry
06:05 β Fort Benning: Drill sergeants, weather machines & "Chuck Norris"
15:10 β Fort Drum & the 10th Mountain Division
19:18 β Training to fight: glass houses & complex simplicity
21:30 β Tryouts: competing for a slot to deploy
27:03 β Shipping out: Ireland, Romania & landing at Bagram
29:23 β FOB Shank, a.k.a. Rocket City
36:46 β Rules of Engagement
39:22 β Fighting Season
51:00 β The 45-minute firefight & the B-1 show of force
1:02:04 β The A-10 pilot with the angelic voice
1:04:37 β Pitch Perfect, surf & turf Fridays and badminton diplomacy
1:12:01 β The frustration of ROE
1:14:34 β Coming home
1:31:51 β Therapy, HickStrong & a service dog named Ace
1:43:17 β Final Thoughts & Reflections
#AskAVet #Veterans #Afghanistan #10thMountain #Infantry #VeteranStories #MilitaryPodcast
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Stephan Wolfert enlisted as a medic in 1986, became an infantry officer, trained for elite special operations, and was on a fast track to a full military careerβ¦until two devastating losses in the same year broke something in him. A chance encounter with Shakespeare's Richard III in a small Montana theater changed the course of his life forever.
Today, Stephan is a licensed psychotherapist, Shakespeare actor, and founder of De-Cruit, a groundbreaking program using Shakespeare's verse to help military veterans heal from PTSD and trauma. With over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles backing his work, what started as one veteran's personal catharsis has helped thousands find language for the unspeakable.In this episode, Stephan talks candidly about growing up on the rough north side of La Crosse, Wisconsin, fleeing to the Army as his only way out, the rapid rise through elite military training, the grief that broke him, and why he believes we recruit soldiers but never truly "decruit" them β and what that costs all of us.
π Learn more about De-Cruit: www.decruit.org
CHAPTERS:
3:02 β Why He Joined the Army
5:45 β Becoming a Combat Medic
7:06 β Basic Training & What Surprised Him
12:40 β Advanced Training & Becoming an Officer
18:05 β Iran-Contra, Central America & Shifting Beliefs
22:55 β Getting His History Degree & Turning Down Regular Army
28:47 β JRTC & National Training Center: Elite Field Training
34:33 β Ranger School & What Almost Ended It
37:42 β The Arctic Training Story (A Favorite Army Memory)
42:53 β The Losses That Broke Him: Deaths in Training & a Soldier's Suicide
49:49 β Going AWOL: A PTSD Episode on an Amtrak Train
54:14 β Whitefish, Montana & a Shakespeare Play That Changed Everything
58:31 β Turning Down the Military for Good
1:02:12 β Ranger School: The Concussion That Cost Him the Tab
1:13:19 β Graduate School & the Birth of Cry Havoc
1:16:36 β Creating DeCruit: Shakespeare as Medicine for Veterans
1:29:02 β The Research: What the Data Actually Shows
1:37:43 β Veterans, Childhood Trauma & ACE Scores
1:46:44 β How to Find DeCruit & What's Coming Next
1:48:35 β The Real Cost of War & What We Choose Not to Fix
1:55:34 β Final Thoughts & Reflections
If you or a Veteran you know has a story that should be heard, we'd love to hear from you at [email protected].
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In EP 43 of Ask a Vet, Ron Holdaway shares a remarkable journey from growing up in Wyoming to serving as a senior Army lawyer involved in historic cases during Vietnam and beyond. Discover his perspectives on military justice, the Vietnam War, and the lessons learned from a lifetime of service.
CHAPTERS:
01:00 - Growing up in Wyoming & becoming a lawyer
02:37 - ROTC, JAG Corps & early military career
07:21 - First assignments & court-martial work
12:04 - Postings in Hawaii, Germany & Vietnam
14:39 - First war crime case & combat refusals
16:10 - Deployment to Vietnam
21:36 - Arrival & life in Vietnam
27:15 - Living under fire & shrapnel injuries
31:00 - Soldier shoots fellow soldier on drugs
33:01 - The 1st Cavalry Division
36:20 - War crimes, mutilation & drug enforcement
43:53 - The Mealy incident
45:07 - Lieutenant Calley's court-martial & media fallout
48:18 - Leaving Vietnam & anti-war sentiment back home
51:33 - Pentagon, Europe & promotion to Colonel
59:38 - Chief Judge & career reflections
63:43 - Final thoughts on Vietnam & life lessons
ποΈ Ask A Vet is dedicated to documenting and preserving veterans' stories in their own words, on their own terms, before their stories are gone forever. If you believe these stories matter, please subscribe, like, comment, and share. Your support helps us preserve the voices of those who served.
βοΈ Ask A Vet is proud to partner with Utah Honor Flight β giving veterans a free trip to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials built in their honor. Every flight is free to veterans and made possible by generous donors. Learn more or support the mission at utahonorflight.org or find your local hub at honorflight.org.
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In Episode 42 of Ask a Vet, we sit down with Navy veteran Tom Hopkins: a man who spent 20 years chasing submarines across the Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean, surviving fire control lock-ons off the coast of China, harrowing carrier landings, cold catapult shots, and engine failures that nearly put him in the water. And somehow, he never stopped loving every minute of it.
Tom grew up in Salida, Kansas, the son of an Air Force bomber pilot who flew unarmed DC-3s over the Himalayas in WWII β and who died in a B-47 crash when Tom was just 12. That loss shaped everything that came after: the draft, the Navy, the jets, the submarines, and the psychological reckoning in his final year of service that taught him PTSD is very, very real.
From the flight line at Kingsville, Texas to carrier operations on the USS Ticonderoga and USS Kennedy, from S-2 Trackers to computerized S-3 Vikings, from a night aboard the USS Sabalo diesel submarine to Civil Air Patrol missions near Hill Air Force Base β this is a story of service, sacrifice, and a lifelong love of flight.
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In Episode 41 of Ask a Vet, we sit down with Walter Cox, Vietnam-era Army warrant officer, helicopter pilot, and Price, Utah native.
Walter flew both Cobra gunships and Huey slicks with the 7th/17th Air Cavalry and Alpha 2/27 at Camp Holloway in Pleiku, South Vietnam. He walks us through what it was like to learn to fly in the tiny TH-55 trainer, transition to the sleek and lethal AH-1 Cobra, and ultimately find his calling in the Huey β hauling troops, supplies, and ARVN advisors across the Central Highlands. He recalls his first time being fired upon, the B-40 rockets that barely missed his crew, a bullet hole discovered in his rotor head days after a mission, and the devastating loss of fellow pilots that still stays with him.
Walter is also open about the silence he kept for decades after coming home β the airport with no welcome, the PTSD he still navigates, and the memories he's had to push down just to get through. This episode is a remarkable window into the everyday heroism of a generation of veterans who served quietly and came home to even quieter streets.
ποΈ Ask a Vet is a podcast dedicated to honoring and preserving the stories of veterans.
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What does it take to fly the Army's heaviest helicopter, a 72-foot rotor-span Skycrane, into one of the most dangerous combat missions of the Vietnam War? Jim Oliphant knows firsthand.
Jim grew up in San Diego, got drafted four times while studying architecture, and ended up becoming one of the Army's elite CH-54 Flying Crane pilots. In this episode, he takes us from boot camp at Fort Bliss to flight school in Texas, all the way to a classified mission on a mountain pinnacle overlooking the Ho Chi Minh Trail- a mission they never even told him the real purpose of until it was over.
Jim shares the near-disasters, the ingenuity under pressure, and the surprising moments of humor and humanity that made his year in Vietnam unforgettable, including a hamburger stand on a Vietnamese island, barbecue with steak and lobster, and what it felt like to command the Joint Chiefs of Staff during a NATO exercise on his last day in the Army.
ποΈ Ask A Vet is a podcast dedicated to honoring the stories of Veterans β told in their own words.
π Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Like and share if this story moved you.
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She was 21 years old, a Johns Hopkins-trained nurse, and she had no idea what was about to walk off that plane. In Episode 39 of Ask A Vet, we sit down with Deanna Halterman Savage β Air Force flight nurse, Vietnam-era veteran, and one of the most remarkable women you'll ever hear from. Deanna flew medevac missions out of Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, transporting wounded soldiers from the battlefields of Vietnam back to the United States. Two nurses. Two corpsmen. No doctors. Dozens of critically wounded men, many of them teenagers.
She talks about the moment 35 young amputees stepped off a plane and changed everything she thought she knew about nursing. About flying through the night with burn patients whose dressings dried at altitude. About bringing boys home to a country that didn't want to acknowledge them. And about carrying all of it quietly for decadesβ¦until she couldn't anymore.
This is a story about service, sacrifice, and what it really costs to care.
ποΈ Subscribe so you never miss an episode of Ask A Vet.
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Richard Colborn was 18 years old when the Air Force made him a shift supervisor in a classified military communications center in the middle of the Korean War.
Born in 1933 in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, Richard joined the Air Force in 1951 with no expectation of ending up in a war zone. He ended up at Kimpo Air Base, just 20 miles outside a bombed-out Seoul, running teletype operations that sent classified messages across the globe, six hours on and twelve hours off, seven days a week. In this episode, he opens up about what Korea actually looked, sounded, and felt like from the inside β the distant flash of artillery visible from the base, the North Korean planes dropping grenades from above like a nuisance rather than a threat, hitchhiking through a live war zone on his time off to visit a cousin, and the Korean houseboy named Lee whose family living in a lean-to against a bombed-out factory wall quietly showed Richard what the war was really doing to an entire people.
After Korea, Richard's story keeps going: Andrews Air Force Base, a transfer to French Morocco that his base doctor essentially prescribed, R&R in Rome and Madrid, and a post-military career with Westinghouse Electric that took him to Istanbul, Cairo, Chicago, and beyond.
CHAPTERS
01:45 Growing Up in Rural Pennsylvania and the Decision to Enlist
03:30 Joining the Air Force in 1951
04:45 Boot Camp & Leadership
06:00 Shipping Out: California to Seattle to Yokohama by Boat
08:30 Landing in Korea β A Bombed-Out Seoul at Night
10:00 Life at Kimpo Air Base: Huts, Pot-Bellied Stoves, and F-86s
11:30 Running a Classified Comm Center at 18 Years Old
13:30 The "Bombing" That Wasn't β North Korean Piper Cubs and Grenade Runs
15:00 The Korean Houseboy Named Lee β The Human Side of the War
17:30 Hitchhiking Through a War Zone to Visit His Cousin
19:30 R&R in Tokyo: Elevated Trains and Chicken
21:00 Watching the Armistice Negotiations from the Base
22:30 Coming Home Under the Bay Bridge Into San Francisco
24:00 Andrews Air Force Base and Two Promotions
26:00 A Doctor's Prescription: "You Need a Change of Venue"
27:30 French Morocco: Bombers, Tangier, and R&R in Rome and Madrid
30:30 Discharge in New York and Back to Civilian Life
31:30 Indiana Tech, Electrical Engineering, and Westinghouse Electric
34:00 A Career That Took Him to Turkey, Cairo, Chicago, and Beyond
38:00 Cairo, His Wife, and the Telegram That Changed Everything
39:30 What Korea Taught Him βββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
ποΈ Ask A Vet is dedicated to documenting and preserving veterans' stories in their own words, on their own terms, before their stories are gone forever. If you believe these stories matter, please subscribe, like, comment, and share. Your support helps us preserve the voices of those who served.
βοΈ Ask A Vet is proud to partner with Utah Honor Flight β giving veterans a free trip to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials built in their honor. Every flight is free to veterans and made possible by generous donors. Learn more or support the mission at utahonorflight.org or find your local hub at honorflight.org.
πΌ If you or someone you know isn't getting the VA benefits you've earned, click the link in our description. We've teamed up with a group of experts that help veterans build stronger VA claims and get the benefits they deserve. Click the link for a free consultation: https://crm.zoho.com/bookings/YourFreeConsultationwithAskaVetMedGroup?rid=e9b38e78cb91065c1fe320a7ded78fbd8bba8f49d0461551777fc2994529c25a57fa5b8c5b5a0967c3c2b0d295b2b223gid8b25e599eed0bfe92c1438b980632c02b6ed9488ec5e11f8c6677be7ffc43cec
Disclosure: This is a referral partnership with American Medical Experts. We may receive compensation if you book through our link.
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Paul Huber grew up in Mesa, Arizona, the son of an Army Air Corps officer, and went on to fly 220 combat missions in an F-4 Phantom during the Vietnam War. In this episode of Ask A Vet, Paul takes us inside the cockpit β from jungle survival school in the Philippines, to night bombing runs over the DMZ, to the morning in March 1968 when his aircraft was hit over Laos and he had to eject into the jungle.
Paul shares what it was really like to fly one of the most iconic aircraft of the Vietnam era, what he was thinking as he floated down through the jungle canopy, and how he called his wife from a command post phone just hours after being shot down. He also reflects on his post-Vietnam career as an instructor pilot, his time flying F-111s in England during the Cold War, and what 23 years of service ultimately taught him about America.Subscribe so you never miss an episode.
β±οΈ EPISODE CHAPTERS
1:30 β Growing up in Arizona & deciding to fly
4:00 β ROTC, Arizona State & getting commissioned
6:30 β F-4 Phantom training
11:00 β Jungle survival school in the Philippines
14:00 β Arriving at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam
17:30 β Night bombing missions over the DMZ
22:00 β What it was like to drop napalm and fly close air support
27:00 β Getting shot down over Laos
33:00 β The ejection, the jungle, and the rescue
39:00 β Calling his wife hours after being shot down
42:00 β R&R in Hawaii with his family
46:00 β Returning to fly after being shot down
48:30 β Distinguished Flying Cross & 220 combat missions
52:00 β Life as an instructor pilot in Texas
58:00 β Flying F-111s in England during the Cold War
1:13:00 β The meaconing incident: nearly lured into East Germany
1:16:00 β Final years, ROTC command at Utah State & retirement
1:26:00 β Reflections on Vietnam and what service meant
If you or a Veteran you know has a story that should be heard, we'd love to hear from you at [email protected].
ποΈ Curious Humanography is proud to partner with Utah Honor Flight, helping veterans visit memorials built in their honor. To learn more or support their mission, visit UtahHonorFlight.org and honorflight.org.If this story moved you, please consider liking, commenting, and subscribing β it helps us continue sharing stories that deserve to be heard.
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Dick Van Allen dreamed of flying from the moment a B-24 roared over his small Ohio town when he was seven years old. What followed was a lifetime of aviation: from propeller trainers in Georgia to jet fighters in Alabama, from combat rescue helicopters over Vietnam to a dam disaster in Idaho. In this episode, Dick takes us through it all: the engine failures in training, arriving in Vietnam to discover he was the only pilot on his base, flying 300+ days of combat, nearly being hit by falling flare parachutes while hovering over a crash in the dark, and the civilian rescues that gave him just as much satisfaction as the military ones.
Dick served in the United States Air Force, flying multiple tours in Vietnam with the 20th Special Operations Squadron β the Green Hornets β and later as a combat rescue pilot flying on three-minute alert. He logged over 6,500 hours in the Huey alone and performed roughly 75 civilian rescues after his military career, including responding to the collapse of Teton Dam.
If this episode moved you, please subscribe, leave a comment, and share it with someone who should hear this story.
CHAPTERS:
0:01:30 β Growing Up in Willard, Ohio: A Seven-Year-Old Decides to Fly
0:11:00 β Propeller Training, the T-28, and Engine Failures Over the Okefenokee
0:17:00 β First Jet Flight β Five Minutes of Pure Chaos
0:22:00 β Formation Flying, G-Force Blackouts, and Close Calls
0:29:00 β Choosing Helicopters Over the B-47 Back Seat
0:36:00 β Helicopter School: Igor Sikorsky Said We Were Crazy
0:41:00 β The Huey, SAC, and Moving Seven Times in Seven Years
0:44:00 β Volunteering for Vietnam: The 20th SOS Green Hornets (1966)
0:47:00 β Jungle Survival School and Arriving at Cam Ranh Bay
0:53:00 β General Ryan and the Island Assignment
0:57:00 β First Mission: Finding a Downed F-4 by a Dead Tree
1:03:00 β Arriving at Takhli: The Only Pilot on the Base
1:08:00 β Drying the Softball Field and Other Unusual Missions
1:12:00 β Supporting President Johnson in Bangkok
1:17:00 β Back to Shepherd: Training the F Troop Gunship Crews
1:20:00 β Second Tour: Return to Thailand, Evacuation Planning That Never Started
1:24:00 β The Scariest Night: C-141 Crash, Hovering in Jet Fuel and Falling Flares
1:29:00 β Flying Asleep: Eight Scrambles in One Night
1:35:00 β Combat Rescues, Hot LZs, and Fake Beacons
1:41:00 β MAST Unit at Hill AFB and the Teton Dam Disaster
1:50:00 β 19 Years of Helicopter Flying: What It All Meant
1:53:00 β Closing Thoughts & Reflections
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ποΈ Ask A Vet is dedicated to documenting and preserving veterans' stories in their own words, on their own terms, before their stories are gone forever.
π€ Ask A Vet is proud to partner with Utah Honor Flight β part of the National Honor Flight Network β giving veterans a free trip to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials built in their honor. Learn more or donate: utahonorflight.org
π Not getting the VA benefits you've earned? Click the link below β we've partnered with experts who help veterans build stronger claims and get the benefits they deserve. Free consultation: https://crm.zoho.com/bookings/YourFreeConsultationwithAskaVetMedGroup?rid=e9b38e78cb91065c1fe320a7ded78fbd8bba8f49d0461551777fc2994529c25a57fa5b8c5b5a0967c3c2b0d295b2b223gid8b25e599eed0bfe92c1438b980632c02b6ed9488ec5e11f8c6677be7ffc43cec
Disclosure: This is a referral partnership with American Medical Experts. We may receive compensation if you book through our link.
π² Subscribe | Like | Comment | Share β Your support helps us preserve the voices of those who served.
#AskAVet #VietnamVeteran #MilitaryPodcast #CombatRescue #HelicopterPilot #VietnamWar #VeteranStories #HonorFlight #UtahHonorFlight
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From Florida kid to Desert Storm MP, Jesse Clifton's story is one of quiet duty, unshakable instinct, and a lifetime spent protecting others. In this episode of Ask A Vet, Jesse walks us through joining the Army as a Military Policeman, deploying to the Philippines in 1986, keeping the peace after Hurricane Hugo, conducting secretive security operations in Honduras, and finally heading to Saudi Arabia for Desert Shield and Desert Storm β where he manned an M60 from a Humvee turret, managed dozens of Iraqi POWs solo, and came within inches of an international incident at a desert checkpoint.
After coming home, Jesse faced the quieter battles: a son who didn't recognize him, fellow veterans losing businesses and families, and the long shadow of invisible wounds. He eventually channeled every one of those experiences into a career in home health care β now spending his days listening to and advocating for aging veterans who need someone in their corner.
This is an honest, unfiltered conversation about service, sacrifice, and what it really means to "protect and serve."
EPISODE CHAPTERS:
01:45 β Growing Up in a Service Family & Deciding to Enlist
04:30 β Basic Training at Fort McClellan, Alabama
08:00 β MOS School & Becoming a Military Policeman
10:00 β Deployment to the Philippines (1986) | Guard Duty & Special Reactions Team
15:00 β Hurricane Hugo Disaster Relief | Charlotte, NC
17:30 β Border Operations in California | Watching, Not Acting
19:00 β Honduras | Security for Special Operations
20:30 β Desert Shield / Desert Storm | Arriving in Saudi Arabia
25:00 β MREs, Food in the Desert & Keeping Morale Up
28:00 β Crossing Into Combat | Convoy Escort & Manning the M60
30:00 β Managing Iraqi POWs | Compassion Under Pressure
33:00 β The Checkpoint Incident That Almost Became International
35:00 β Sandstorms, Scorpion Wars & Surviving the Monotony
37:30 β The Hardest Part: Coming Home
43:30 β Reflections on Service & Advice for Veterans
If you or a Veteran you know has a story that should be heard, we'd love to hear from you at [email protected].
π If youβre a Veteran struggling with VA benefits, click this link to schedule a free consultation: https://crm.zoho.com/bookings/YourFreeConsultationwithAskaVetMedGroup?rid=e9b38e78cb91065c1fe320a7ded78fbd8bba8f49d0461551777fc2994529c25a57fa5b8c5b5a0967c3c2b0d295b2b223gid8b25e599eed0bfe92c1438b980632c02b6ed9488ec5e11f8c6677be7ffc43cec
Disclosure: This is a referral partnership with American Medical Experts. We may receive compensation if you book through our link.
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What does it really cost to serve? In this episode of Ask A Vet, we sit down with Patrick Dillon β a Hell's Kitchen-born, Irish-immigrant-raised combat medic who volunteered for the U.S. Army the day after his draft number was called. What followed was a lifetime defined by war, service, survival, and an unrelenting drive to help others.
Patrick shares the raw, unfiltered story of serving as a 91B Combat Medic with the 498th Army Air Force: flying surgical C-130 missions to recover the wounded as the Vietnam Peace Treaty was being signed, performing emergency C-sections in the jungle, carrying out acts of mercy no one talks about, and coming home to rejection, shame, and silence. His story doesn't end in Vietnam. It continues through the Irish Troubles, the Peace Corps in Southeast Asia, the crack baby crisis in Harlem, Somalia, Kosovo, Ground Zero on 9/11, Iraq before the bombs fell, Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake, and COVID-19.
Patrick is also an artist, screenwriter, and filmmaker whose work has been shaped, and sometimes defined, by everything he witnessed.
Ask A Vet is dedicated to documenting and preserving veterans' stories β in their own words, on their own terms, before their stories are gone forever.
ποΈ If you believe these stories matter, please subscribe, like, comment, and share. Your support helps us preserve the voices of those who served.
π If youβre a Veteran struggling with VA benefits, click this link to schedule a free consultation: https://crm.zoho.com/bookings/YourFreeConsultationwithAskaVetMedGroup?rid=e9b38e78cb91065c1fe320a7ded78fbd8bba8f49d0461551777fc2994529c25a57fa5b8c5b5a0967c3c2b0d295b2b223gid8b25e599eed0bfe92c1438b980632c02b6ed9488ec5e11f8c6677be7ffc43cec
Disclosure: This is a referral partnership with American Medical Experts. We may receive compensation if you book through our link.
βοΈ Ask A Vet is proud to partner with Utah Honor Flight, part of the National Honor Flight Network β giving veterans a free trip to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials built in their honor. To learn more or donate, visit utahonorflight.org or find your local hub at honorflight.org.
EPISODE CHAPTERS:
00:52 β Growing Up in Hell's Kitchen
09:00 β The Draft Lottery Night
14:00 β Volunteering & Becoming a Combat Medic
19:30 β Arriving in Okinawa: Stump Duty
22:00 β Flying Surgical Missions Over Vietnam
28:00 β Coming Home: San Francisco Airport
35:00 β The Peace Corps & Saigon Falling
43:00 β Somalia, Kosovo & Haiti
01:08:00 β Hitting Rock Bottom & Getting Sober
01:14:00 β The Babies of Harlem Hospital
01:40:00 β PTSD, Art & Finding a Reason to Stay
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Paul Colliton grew up on Long Island in a military family, named after a B-24 bomber pilot who never came home. He was drinking since age six, working on Wall Street at 18, and heading to Harlem for drugs by noon. Then the draft letter arrived.
In this episode of Ask A Vet, Paul shares what it was really like to become a Military Police officer in Vietnam in 1971. From being pulled out of basic training and told he had the highest IQ on base, to patrolling the city of Hue at 19 years old with zero instructions, to coming face to face with 15 enemy soldiers at twilight and choosing not to fire. He talks openly about heroin addiction in-country, racial tension on base, the 15-year-old Vietnamese girl he couldn't save, a gut-wrenching Dear John letter, and hitchhiking home from JFK in his dress greens after being spit on.
But Paul's story doesn't end in Vietnam. It winds through a near-jump from a 31st-floor balcony, 39 years of sobriety, a chance encounter with Muhammad Ali, and the adoption of his autistic son Billy.
EPISODE CHAPTERS:
01:45 Paul's Background & Getting Drafted
09:00 Basic Training, MP School & Heading to Vietnam
19:00 The Flight Over: Engine Falls Off Over Alaska
21:00 Arriving In-Country: Cameron Bay, Da Nang & Hue
27:30 Life on Patrol: Drugs, Racial Tension & the Enemy Up Close
35:00 The Hardest Moment of the War
49:30 Refusing an Order, Getting Busted & Coming Home
1:01:00 The Welcome Home: JFK Airport & a Punch in the Face
1:05:00 Europe & Building a Photography Career
1:29:00 Rehab, AA & Starting Over at 36
1:37:00 Photographing Muhammad Ali & a Moment They Both Cried
1:47:00 Adopting Billy
2:18:30 Final Reflections: What Vietnam Made Him
ποΈ Ask A Vet is dedicated to documenting and preserving veterans' stories β in their own words, on their own terms, before their stories are gone forever.
If you believe these stories matter, please subscribe, like, comment, and share. Your support helps us preserve the voices of those who served.
π If youβre a Veteran struggling with VA benefits, click this link to schedule a free consultation: https://crm.zoho.com/bookings/YourFreeConsultationwithAskaVetMedGroup?rid=e9b38e78cb91065c1fe320a7ded78fbd8bba8f49d0461551777fc2994529c25a57fa5b8c5b5a0967c3c2b0d295b2b223gid8b25e599eed0bfe92c1438b980632c02b6ed9488ec5e11f8c6677be7ffc43cec
Disclosure: This is a referral partnership with American Medical Experts. We may receive compensation if you book through our link.
βοΈ Ask A Vet is proud to partner with Utah Honor Flight, part of the National Honor Flight Network β giving veterans a free trip to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials built in their honor. To learn more or donate, visit utahonorflight.org or find your local hub at honorflight.org.
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In this episode of Ask A Vet, we sit down with Dwight Moss, a Marine veteran who joined at 19, served in Vietnam in 1966, and survived what most men didn't. From watching his buddy get shot in a rice paddy, to nearly drowning on a river crossing, to stepping on a Bouncing Betty landmine that cut him from ankle to chest β Dwight's story is as raw and honest as they come. He also shares a remarkable out-of-body experience during a near-fatal bout of malaria, and what that moment meant for his faith, his life, and how he sees death itself.
Now 80 years old, VFW Chaplain, Ironman-distance athlete, and soon-to-be published author, Dwight reflects on survival, forgiveness, and what he believes he owes to the men who didn't come home.
EPISODE CHAPTERS
2:00 β Dwight's Background: Born in Murphy, NC / Joining the Marines at 19
7:00 β Leaving for Vietnam
9:00 β Arriving in Da Nang, 1966
11:00 β Life on Outpost: Sea Rations, Tony Vargas & Surviving Together
24:00 β Near-Death #1: Almost Drowning in a River
27:00 β The DMZ Mission: Every Man Dead
31:00 β Breaking Down with Malaria (106.2 Fever)
35:00 β Near-Death #2 & #3: Losing Vision + Leaving His Body
39:00 β Stepping on the Bouncing Betty Landmine
43:00 βStaying Calm While Bleeding Out
46:00 β Officers Sent to His Mom's House Before They Knew He'd Survive
48:00 β Helicoptered to Da Nang / The Flight Home Through the Philippines & Alaska
51:00 β Recovery: Botched Skin Grafts, Nerve Damage & Learning to Walk Again
54:00 β Swimming Back to Life: Ironman Distances After a Landmine
59:00 β Heart Issues at 80 / "Do What You Can Do Today"
1:02:00 β Dealing With the Trauma of What He Saw
1:04:00 β Becoming VFW Chaplain / Unconditional Forgiveness
1:07:00 β The Honor Flight to Washington D.C.
1:10:00 β Take Away From VietnamAsk A Vet is dedicated to documenting and preserving veterans' stories β in their own words, on their own terms, before their stories are gone forever.
#AskAVet #VietnamVeteran #MarineCorps #LandmineSurvivor #VeteranStories #PTSD #HonorFlight #MilitaryPodcast #VietnamWar #BountyBetty
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