Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC
Andy Stumpf, a former military pilot and fitness instructor, hosts this podcast where he shares his journey of seeking discomfort and growth. He discusses his experiences in the military, climbing mountains, and speaking to organizations, encouraging listeners to embrace challenges. The show features conversations with guests and personal reflections on leadership and adventure.
Episodes
Choices Have Consequences | Negligent Discharge Friday | 7.3.2026
Most of this one comes down to one thing. Choices have consequences, and you own them. It starts with an email. A listener says the veteran community runs on lies and has an integrity problem, then sends it from an address that bounces. Transmit only. I read the whole thing and my response. A host who platforms a guest isn't endorsing them, and the size of an audience tells you nothing about the t
We're Living in the Gaslit Era | Jennifer Fraser | Ep.456
My guest has a PhD from the University of Toronto. She taught at the university level, then at two prep schools for years. In 2017 she walked away from education after the system covered up the abuse of one of her students. She turned whistleblower, went public, and started digging into the brain science of what had happened. That work became two books, The Bullied Brain and The Gaslit Brain, and
The Devil You Know | Full Auto Friday | 6.26.2026
Four questions this week. Two about relationships. Two that aren't. -A friend wants another shot with an ex after a long marriage. I've watched four couples try this. Two made it. Two didn't. The merry-go-round of unresolved issues, and why you do the work up front or you do it later when everything is breaking. -Dating someone from your BJJ gym. What to weigh before you start it, and what Leah ha
Ten Years in the SAS - What They Don't Teach You | Jay Morton | Ep. 455
Fourteen years in uniform. Four with the Parachute Regiment, a decade in the SAS. Patrol medic and qualified mountain guide. Afghanistan, Iraq, and covert deployments. Jay Morton left in 2018 and went straight up the world's biggest mountains — two Everest summits, one of them solo. Everest comes up, and it isn't pretty. He stood on the summit alone in 2017. Now it's a queue of paying clients sho
What Does The Evidence Show? - Is Epstein Alive? | Nic McKinley & Ryan Dalton | Ep. 454
Nic McKinley went from Air Force pararescue to the CIA, then founded DeliverFund to fight trafficking with intelligence tools. Ryan Dalton was a trafficking attorney and federal agent at the State Department before launching Closed Horizon, a platform that crowdsources rewards to surface hard answers. Different roads, same fight. Skip the spy-novel version of Epstein. The simpler read: a guy who m
One Oh-Shit Unwinds Every Attaboy | Negligent Discharge Friday | 6.19.2026
Michael's in the studio and we're working through the week. We start with two Pasadena officers horsing around with loaded guns. One of them ends up shooting the other through the windshield of the cruiser. We talk about the accountability that comes with carrying a badge. One oh-shit can unwind a career of attaboys. From there we get into the aircraft gifted by Qatar and whether it belongs in ser
He Scheduled His Suicide for Midnight | Matthew Griffin | Ep. 453
Matthew spent six years in the Navy as a Search and Rescue swimmer. Then fifteen years as a cop — Virginia Beach, then undercover narcotics in New Hampshire during the opioid epidemic. He worked under a different name for years. He wrote a book, The Journey to Midnight, about the night he planned to kill himself. Now he talks to cops and veterans about it. This one covers why suicide is so high in
Comparison Is the Thief of Joy | Full Auto Friday | 6.12.2026
Five questions this week. No real through-line, which is usually how these go. -A reader four years sober wants to rebuild the friendships he burned while drinking. -A father of two wants the kind of relationship with his kids he never had with his own dad. -A high school junior writes in about his 13-year-old sister and an eating disorder serious enough to put her in front of doctors. -A guy thre
The Most Dangerous Man in Vermont | Daniel Banyai | Ep. 452
He was called the most dangerous man in Vermont. The governor said it on television. The truth is more boring and more alarming. Daniel Banyai is a former protection contractor and a Seventh-day Adventist who built a firearms training school called Slate Ridge in West Pawlet. He did it by the book. Federal firearms license. Explosives permits. Zoning. A school classification the town had handed ou
BUD/S Was Hard, But It Wasn't Real | Full Auto Friday with JP Dinnell | 6.05.2026
Usually Full Auto Friday is just me and the questions. Not this one. JP Dinnell is in the seat — former SEAL, came up through Ramadi, now chief training officer at Echelon Front — and Michael is running the stories. We start where it counts. Whether anything in BUD/S ever matched the field. It didn't. BUD/S is hard. It's also a controlled environment with a safety net. The real cost came later, wi
The CIA Tried to Bury It | Rachel Cuda | Ep. 451
Rachel Cuda grew up the daughter of a Navy SEAL, raised on Coronado around the teams. She speaks Russian, Ukrainian, and German. She studied at the University of Tennessee, earned a master's from Georgetown, and wrote software at a startup before moving into defense contracting. At the Pentagon she led the data modeling and analytics line for the military's COVID task force. She married a SEAL off
Don't Live in the Rabbit Hole | Full Auto Friday | 5.29.2026
Two questions this week, plus a video I've been asked about more than anything in recent memory. I break down the paraglider that got hit by a plane and why this stuff almost always lands on pilot error. I answer a man rehabbing from a spinal tumor who can't run, swim, or ruck anymore and is staring down a third surgery. I tell him about my own injuries, the rabbit holes I went down, and what actu
Are Police Academies Failing Cops? | Dennis Benigno | Ep. 450
Dennis Benigno started in 2001 as a New Jersey corrections officer at nineteen. He moved to the U.S. Park Police in D.C., then to patrol in one of Jersey's largest municipalities. Over fourteen years he made more than 1,500 arrests and ran over 10,000 car stops. He had to self-train to survive the road. When he realized the academies weren't teaching cops what they needed, he started teaching it h
Rewiring the Brain After War | Jonathan Dickinson | Ep. 449
Jonathan Dickinson is the co-founder and CEO of Ambio Life Sciences, one of the world's leading ibogaine clinics. He's spent more than fifteen years on this — apprenticing in Tijuana clinics, running the Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance, and writing the field's first clinical safety guidelines. He's a Mexico-licensed psychologist. He holds the only active export license for iboga root and led the
Foreign Money, Dead Jets, and Criminal Monkeys | Negligent Discharge Friday | 5.22.2026
Thomas Massie just got primaried out, and it cost the most money ever spent on a primary. $32.6 million in ad buys. A guy hand-picked by Trump comes out of nowhere and takes the seat. Massie voted with the administration 77% of the time. His sin was the Epstein files. So we get into it. We talk about getting that kind of money out of elections, and why the people who could fix it never will. We ta
From Ranger Battalion to the OR | Dr. Mike Simpson | Ep. 448
"Crike him." That's the call a tactical medic makes when a guy can't breathe and the clock is at zero. Mike Simpson is the doctor on the other end of that radio. He's a former 1st Ranger Battalion anti-tank section leader, a Special Forces engineer turned 18 Delta medic with 7th Group, and a board-certified ER physician who spent his last six years on active duty attached to JMAU providing trauma
Don't Let Your Past Be Your Prison | Full Auto Friday | 5.15.026
A soon-to-be 40-year-old wants to face his fear of skydiving and use it to teach his anxious five-year-old that fear is normal but it doesn't get to run your life. I break down the difference between gambling and accepting calculated risk, what to actually look for in a drop zone, and why pushing yourself smartly and incrementally beats trying to be a badass for an audience that isn't watching. A
The Night Stalker They Couldn't Shoot Down | Alan Mack | Ep. 447
Alan Mack flew Chinooks for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment for seventeen years. Chief Warrant Officer 5. Senior MH-47 pilot. Flight lead. Instructor. He was the pilot in command of Razor 03 on Takur Ghar — the aircraft shot up trying to insert a SEAL element on top of the mountain that became Roberts Ridge. He has logged over 6,700 flight hours, took rounds through his cockpit on A
Cruise Ships, Cover-Ups, and Cow Killers | Negligent Discharge Friday | 5.8.2026
Michael and I get into it on this one. Hantavirus headlines, the Doomsday Clock, wind turbines, the Epstein note, and a guy on YouTube paying his bills by getting stung by bugs. I open by confidently passing along bad medical advice from two articles I read. Michael fact-checks me in real time. We agree it's a good exercise in why you should slow down before you repeat anything. From there we get
The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446
John Kiriakou spent 14 years at the CIA. He started as an analyst, went operational, and eventually ran counterterrorism work in Pakistan that led to the capture of Abu Zubaydah. He was the first U.S. government official to publicly confirm that the agency was waterboarding prisoners. For that, the Obama administration prosecuted him under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act and sent him to
Learning To Suffer Well | Full Auto Friday | 5.01.2026
Four questions this week. The kind that don't have clean answers. A guy whose father murdered his mother is asking how to get back to who he was before. He's not. A 28-year-old still living at home is watching his mom's cancer come back and trying to figure out how to spend the time he has left. A man in his sixties wants to know how to bring up suicide with three friends he's had for 40 years bef
Bonus Episode - Drownproof Chapter 1 - Be the Author of your Life, not the Victim of it
Today's "episode" is the audiobook first chapter of my book: Drownproof. Thank you to everyone who helped make the launch such a tremendous success. Hitting all of the "Best Seller" lists, to include the NYT, was quite frankly, incredibly humbling. You all made that happen, not me. For those of you who have read or listened to it already, well, clearly today's episode is not going to be exciting f
Working for Kanye, Building "Items" for Delta Force | Justin Klahn | Ep. 445
Justin Klahn is hard to put in a box. Twenty years inside Nike Innovation. Years embedded with JSOC units building gear that had to actually work. Time consulting with three-letter agencies, DARPA, and the Harvard Learning Innovations Laboratory. A run working directly for Kanye West. He calls himself a problem solver, and the resume backs it up. His new book is Innovator's Handbook. We open on th
Bladder Control and Geopolitics | Negligent Discharge Friday | 4.24.2026
Michael, my dad, and me. Three generations arguing in one room. That's the format today. My dad watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon live at twenty-two years old. He remembers the Iranian hostage crisis when it was happening, not when it was a movie. That perspective matters when we get into where we are now — the rhetoric coming out of the White House, the ceasefire that may or may not hold, a
How Fast and Furious Buried an FBI Agent | John Shipley | Ep. 444
John Shipley spent fourteen years carrying an FBI badge. Army aviator first — commissioned by his own father, a retired Vietnam-era lieutenant colonel — until a spinal cord injury at Walter Reed ended his flying career. He walked into Quantico in 1996, drew El Paso, and spent the next decade working narcotics and surveillance on the Mexican border. SWAT. Sniper. Bodyguard details for the FBI Direc
Windshield, Not the Rearview Mirror | Full Auto Friday | 4.17.2026
Week one of the book being out in the world, and I still don't have the vocabulary for the support. Thank you. Genuinely. If you read it, an honest Amazon review costs nothing and helps more than you'd think. Then we get into the questions. A 25-year-old lawyer writes in about imposter syndrome and getting put on a pedestal for a job he doesn't feel qualified for yet. My take: keep the imposter sy
Giving It All Back Before the Clock Runs Out | John Dudley | Ep. 443
John Dudley is a decorated professional archer, two-time IBO National Champion, World Field Championship medalist, and the founder of Nock On Archery. He's spent close to 30 years inside the archery industry — competing at the highest levels across multiple continents, working with elite manufacturers, coaching everyone from beginners to national team athletes, and building one of the most compreh
350 Ops, 200 Bites, and the Future of Healing | Bill Clark & Dr. Bob Harmon | Ep. 442
Bill Clark is a former DEVGRU military working dog handler — one of the first brought into the program when it launched around 2002. He grew up in chaos. His father was a Vietnam-era Marine door gunner. His mother married five times. His stepfathers were abusive. He played Division I football, joined the Marines, switched to the Navy for a dog handler slot, and ended up spending 13 years at the co
Fake ManBoobs, Foreign Policy, and the Dildo of Consequence | Negligent Discharge Friday | 4.10.2026
Another week where nothing happened and everything was totally fine. Kristi Noem's husband Byron has been living a secret life involving cross-dressing, fake breasts, webcam models, and a pseudonym — and the whole thing may have been leaked by an immigrant retaliating against DHS. Trump posts that an entire civilization will die tonight, issues an 8 p.m. deadline nobody can explain, then adds God
A Mushroom Cloud Over Small Town America | Adam B. | Ep. 441
Adam B. is an active-duty police officer in Ohio, a 17-year military veteran, and a former M1 Abrams tanker who deployed to Iraq and Korea. He grew up in the foster care system after being removed from a violent home in Cleveland at age four, was adopted into a rural family that changed his trajectory, and went on to serve in the Army, the National Guard as an MP, work corrections at the Cuyahoga
The Biggest Lie Women Were Told | Casey Stumpf | Ep. 440
Casey Stumpf is a nurse practitioner with 18 years of clinical experience spanning emergency medicine, military family health at Camp Pendleton, hospice care, and hormonal optimization. She holds a Menopause Society Certified Provider credential and a bachelor's in dietetics from UC Davis. She now runs a practice in California focused exclusively on perimenopause, menopause, and hormonal health fo
42-Year-Old Privates in the Army and the Purpose of Struggle | Full Auto Friday | 4.3.2026
The Army just raised their max enlistment age to 42. I don't know exactly why, but I'd like to. I'm hearing from a lot of people who were considering joining and are now hesitating — and when the rest of the world's allies are saying they don't want to get involved, that tells you something about the moment we're in. This isn't post-9/11. The lines around the block at recruiting stations aren't th
Ride it Until the Wheels Fall Off | Travis Pastrana | Ep. 439
Travis Pastrana is a 17-time X Games gold medalist, multi-discipline motorsport champion, and the founder of Nitro Circus. He grew up in a Maryland construction family steeped in military service and contact sports, won his first outdoor national championship at 16, bought a house the same year, and has spent the decades since competing in everything from supercross to rally to NASCAR to base jump
Jack Reacher, Blow Darts, a Quadruple Amputee Murder Case | Negligent Discharge Friday | 3.27.2026
Negligent Discharge Friday. Michael and I run through the week's headlines and somehow end up exactly where you'd expect. We kick it off with a full arsenal update — throwing stars, a blow dart gun, and the nunchucks still need names. Then we get into the Alan Ritchson body cam footage. His neighbor jumped in front of his bike, pushed him, and found out what happens when you put hands on a guy bui
Schools, Cover-Ups, and the Epstein Files | Rich Hy | Ep. 438
Rich Hy is a police detective in the Special Victims Unit in Buffalo, New York, an Army Reserve drill sergeant, and the creator behind Angry Cops, a YouTube channel with over 1.5 million subscribers built over a decade of consistent work. He's a combat veteran with a civil affairs background, multiple deployments, and 21 years of combined service. He's also expecting his first kid. We pick up wher
The Monster Might Be a Sock Puppet | Full Auto Friday | 3.20.2026
Full Auto Friday to round out the week! A listener flew from San Diego to Kalispell to tell a woman she was his person. He laid it all out on a couch in my coffee shop. I walk through the two things that I think matter most going into a marriage — communication and patience. A 30-year-old writes in paralyzed by fear. Lifting weights, jiu-jitsu, new restaurants, driving in cities — his brain goes s
Government Overreach, Lying About Your Service, and Rowing to Hawaii | Greg Anderson | Ep. 437
Greg Anderson is a former Army Ranger and deputy U.S. Marshal with two decades in law enforcement and combat, a 3rd-degree black belt, and the owner of one of the most thriving Jiu-Jitsu academies in the Pacific Northwest. His first book, Courage Through Adversity, just dropped. He's also about to row to Hawaii. The Row West Pacific expedition is a four-man team rowing a Ronic 45 from the U.S. coa
Iran, The Draft, and Smuggled Ants | Negligent Discharge Friday | 3.13.2026
Negligent Discharge Friday. Michael now has nunchucks. We're accepting name suggestions. Two names. Because there are two of them. We got into Iran. The strike on the elementary school. Outdated intelligence. The difference between owning a mistake and talking around it. The authorized use of military force and how every administration since 9/11 has abused it. The draft being floated by a preside
Wellness and Resiliency Are Not the Same Thing | Erica Gaines | Ep. 436
Erica Gaines came into law enforcement as the Knife Girl — selling switchblades at police conferences, making small talk with cops, building relationships she didn't fully understand. She had opinions. She thought shooting someone in the leg was a reasonable ask. Then she stepped into a use-of-force simulator. One domestic violence scenario, a shock pack on her lower back, and two minutes of chaos
Pack Light, Fight Hard, Say What Needs to Be Said | Full Auto Friday | 3.6.2026
Listener Q and A to close out the week. Topics are heavier than usual, but that's how it goes sometimes. -What's in the EDC fanny pack and why -A guy who keeps getting knocked down asks if he should keep pushing toward becoming a Marine -Family drama with the sister-in-law is bleeding into everything, how do you protect what matters without making it worse -A man's mom just got a terminal cancer
Inside Cartel Conflict and the Reality At The Border | Oscar Hagelsieb | Ep. 435
Oscar Hagelsieb is a Mexican-American law enforcement professional known for his lengthy career in U.S. federal service focused on border security, organized crime and cartel infiltration. He grew up in a tough neighborhood on the outskirts of El Paso, Texas, the son of undocumented immigrant parents. His upbringing gave him firsthand insight into both sides of the border and influenced his decisi
The Lie Of "Stranger Danger" | Full Auto Friday | 2/27.26
Four questions for today's Q and A that all center on responsibility and perspective. We start with a man in a movie theater watching someone try to enter through an emergency exit, his mind flashing back to the Aurora theater shooting and wondering ever since if he should have acted or done more. From there, a husband blindsided by his wife saying she's leaving and facing the reality of telling h
The Real Generation Kill | Brad Colbert | Ep. 434
Brad Colbert is a retired Marine Master Sergeant with 30 years of military and government service. He served with 1st Reconnaissance Battalion in Afghanistan in 2001 and during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, where he led Marines in combat and was later depicted in Generation Kill. After retiring from active duty, he continued working in support of the Intelligence Community before shifting his focus t
Negligent Discharge Friday | 2/20/2026
Young Michael dove deep on his internet research for this Friday. We spent an hour discussing a variety of topics, and as usual, he did not disappoint: -Black Belts Freaking Out and Punching Purple Belts -Do Weapons Fire By Themselves? -The Reality of Steven Seagal Movies -Social Media Comments and Arrests in Europe -Helicopter Crashes into the Snow -The Epstein File debacle And much more...... En
Built to Kill: Writing the Gray Man | Mark Greaney | Ep. 433
Mark Greaney is one of the most successful thriller authors working today — a #1 New York Times bestselling writer who built an entire spy fiction universe with his Gray Man series and helped carry forward Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan legacy. His novels have become global hits, translated into dozens of languages, and turned into major motion pictures on Netflix starring high-profile talent. We dive dee
The Cost of "No Quit" | Full Auto Friday | 2/13/2026
This week's Q&A tackles a mindset I respect—but one that can turn on you if you're not careful. Two listeners ask different versions of the same question: can a "no quit" attitude become destructive? One is staying in a marriage he knows is unhealthy because he fears being labeled a quitter. The other can grind himself into the ground at work but doesn't know how to recognize the point of diminish
When War is The Easy Part | Mike Glover | Ep. 432
After two years of legal battles and business upheaval, Mike Glover returns to the podcast with a clarity and perspective few men ever earn. Mike spent nearly two decades as a U.S. Army Green Beret and Special Forces sergeant major, deploying to combat theaters, leading reconnaissance, sniper, and operations elements, and later serving as a contractor for the CIA in high-risk security environments
Tough or Stupid? | Full Auto Friday Q&A | 2/6/2026
This week's Full Auto Friday is a return to listener questions and some uncomfortable but necessary conversations. We talk about the fine line between being tough and being stupid, how to deal with shame and guilt after a DUI, what it actually looks like to keep moving forward when you can't see any progress, and how to reconcile regret over military service in today's political climate. This isn'
Violence Is Escalating | Caleb Gilbert | Ep. 431
Violence against public figures, politicians, and high-profile individuals is no longer rare or isolated — it's increasing, accelerating, and becoming more unpredictable. Threat reporting, attempted attacks, and successful assaults on protectees have risen sharply over the last several years, driven by political polarization, online radicalization, and the ease with which individuals can move from
Brand Warfare, Bad Movies, and the Wet Boys | Jarred Taylor | Ep. 430
Jarred Taylor from Black Rifle Coffee is the second guest to sit down in the new studio, and we kicked this one off by talking about branding—what it actually takes to build something real, why most brands fail, and how hard it is to grow without losing the core of what made it work in the first place. From there, things went where they usually do. We broke down movies and TV through a tactical le
The Raid, The Record, and The Lawsuit | Rob O'Neill | EP 429
Rob O'Neill is a retired Navy SEAL with more than 400 combat missions, deployments with SEAL Team Two and SEAL Team Six, and participation in some of the most high-profile special operations of the last two decades. He served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and has spent years navigating the complicated transition from service to public life. In this conversation, Rob joins me for an unfilt
How Veterans Rebuild Purpose After Service | Montana Vet Program | EP 428
In this episode, I sit down with Luke Urick, the Executive Director, and Bryon Gustafson, the Deputy Director of the Montana Veterans Project, a Great Falls–based nonprofit that helps veterans rediscover purpose, camaraderie, and resilience through veteran-led therapeutic adventure trips in the Montana backcountry. We explore how challenging wilderness experiences can help veterans reconnect with
Why Intimacy Breaks Down in Modern Relationships | Caitlin V | Ep. 427
In this episode, I sit down with Caitlin V, a sex educator and author whose work focuses on intimacy, communication, and long-term relationship dynamics. Caitlin has spent years helping individuals and couples better understand desire, connection, and the often-unspoken issues that quietly erode relationships over time. We discussed how communication breaks down, why people struggle to ask for wha
Law vs Chaos | Full Auto Friday | 1.16.26
In this episode I answer two listener-submitted questions that couldn't be more different. The first is a deep dive into immigration enforcement and the recent ICE-involved shooting in Minneapolis. I break down what authorities ICE agents actually have (and don't have), what likely happened tactically, and why this issue continues to expose just how divided the country is. No hot takes—just contex
He Reported Election Fraud — Then Lost Everything | Erik Holt | Ep. 425
In this episode, I sit down with former federal employee and rural Colorado Fire Chief Erik Holt, who says his career ended after he reported what he believed to be clear evidence of election misconduct. After nearly two decades in federal service, he accepted a Fire Chief position in a small rural district, rebuilding the department from the ground up. Within a year, it grew from five personnel t
Negligent Discharge Friday : 1/2/2026
Young Michael dove deep on his internet research for this Friday. We spent an hour discussing a variety of topics, and as usual, he did not disappoint: -Venezuela -How lethal are JSOC elements? -Will the US take Greenland? -The unstoppable rise of Ai photos -Grok undressing everyone And much more...... Enjoy- Today's Sponsors: Hollow Socks: For a limited time, Hollow Socks is having a Buy 2, Get
Episode 424 | The Mind Behind Jack Reacher | Andrew Child
Andrew Child is the co-author of the Jack Reacher series, one of the most successful and recognizable modern thriller franchises in the world. Working alongside his brother Lee Child, Andrew became responsible for continuing and evolving a character known for discipline, restraint, moral clarity, and decisive action. Before joining the Reacher universe, Andrew spent years developing his own voice
Episode 423 -Dan Crenshaw - Insider trading, Public Threats, Silencing Speech, and Questioning Faith
This Episode was recorded 29 Dec 2025. I did not know, nor had no way of knowing that the upcoming Shawn Ryan interview was going to be cancelled the night before this episode aired. We talked policy for nearly an hour before digging in to headline topics. If you are here just for the title topics, skip to around 1 hour and 15 minutes. Dan Crenshaw is the Republican Congressman from the 2nd Distri
Episode 422 - Nic McKinley - From the CIA to Hunting Human Traffickers
This episode focuses heavily on the massive risk facing children on many of the most popular games targeted and marketed towards their age group, and parents. Specifically, Roblox, Minecraft, and the communication platform Discord. Nic McKinley is a former military special operator and ex-CIA operative who founded and led two multimillion-dollar tech companies. A pioneer in building technical solu
Full Auto Friday - 12/26/2025
Our Final Full Auto Friday for 2025! I'd like to say I went out with a bang, but instead I just tried to be consistent. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions in 2025, I hope that my answers have helped someone out there. Don't forget, I'm an idiot, and my answers are only representative of my own experiences. See you all out there in 2026. Today's questions: -How do you deal with being hur
Episode 421 - Chadd Wright - A Navy SEAL's Amazing journey to salvation and resilience
Born and raised in the mountains of rural northwest Georgia, Chadd grew up obsessed with becoming a SEAL, but when the Navy discovered a rare but asymptomatic cyst on his heart, he was disqualified from entering BUD/s. Chadd refused to give up, ultimately tracking down a surgeon willing to perform a procedure deemed too risky by every cardiologist he previously petitioned. Cyst successfully remove
Full Auto Friday - 12/19/2025
Traditional and straightforward today, a simple Q and A to round out the week. Of course, I only picked controversial and divisive topics, oh wait, not even close. I did actually cover: - A law enforcement officer developing hate for those he interacts with - Why are so many Special Operations Vets talking smack online? - What was the point of the 20-year GWOT wars? - Do I deserve to seek treatmen
Episode 420 - Brent Tucker - From Delta Force to being sued for 25 Million Dollars
Brent Tucker is a retired US Army Delta Force operator and Purple Heart recipient with a 20-year career in Special Ops. He served as both a Green Beret and a Delta Force operator, completing 13 combat deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and other undisclosed locations. He is the host of the Tier 1 Podcast and the owner and founder of First Responder's Coffee, Cigar, & Cask Company. Brent was
Full Auto Friday - 12/12/2025
Today is a traditional Q & A episode, answering listerner-submitted questions. For those wondering how to submit a question, just shoot me an email: andystumpf212@gmail.com Here is what I covered: -Sexuality and Military Service -Advocating for your parents' medical health/treatment -Advice for battling burnout as a Law Enforcement Officer -Imposter Syndrome and creative ways to practice tactical
Episode 419 - Jeremy Slate - Is America Doomed To Fail Just Like Rome
Jeremy Ryan Slate is an authority strategist, bestselling author, and global speaker. He studied literature at Oxford University and earned both his BA and MA at Seton Hall University, where he focused his graduate research on Early Roman Empire propaganda. He is also the founder of Command Your Brand – the PR agency trusted by top founders worldwide. He is the host of The Jeremy Ryan Slate Show,
Negligent Discharge Friday - 12/5/2025
Young Michael has returned from his worldly travels. Is he more knowledgeable, sophisticated, educated, and cultured...Probably not. We spent an hour discussing a variety of topics, and as usual, he did not disappoint: -Crime and Punishment, or lack thereof -Travis Pastrana X-Ray and how insane he is -UPS Airplane Crash -The Best Christmas Present Ideas for Friends And much more...... Enjoy- Today
Episode 418 - Aaron Croft - Combat SAR Pilot Running for Congress
Aaron is an independent political candidate running for the US House seat in the WA-05 congressional district. Aaron has dedicated nearly 22 years of service to the United States, including combat leadership, foreign affairs, and diplomatic work at a U.S. Embassy. His military career taught him the value of service, teamwork, and accountability — principles he now brings home to Eastern Washington
Full Family Friday - 11/28/2025
As requested, a family get-together for this Friday's episode, with my wife, Leah, and my father, Vaughn. We solicited for questions and answered as many as we could: -Family holiday traditions -Why Andy is sane, and why Vaughn is crazy -Children -Experiences growing up -Jiu-Jitsu in Costa Rica Enjoy! Hero BJJ Seminar: https://herobjj.com/retreats/leah/ Today's Sponsors: AG1: Go to https://www.
Episode 417 - Dr. Tony Dice - The Journey From Navy SEAL to Meth Addict to World Class Counselor
As a Navy SEAL, therapist, paramedic, and firefighter, he's lived at the extremes of chaos and control—from overseas deployments to firefighting, from decorated service to deep meth addiction. His rock-bottom moment came when the pull of meth nearly prevented him from saving his young son during a public health crisis—a crisis that forced him to confront the war within. Dr. Tony Dice is now the CE
Full Auto Friday - 11/21/2025
Today is a traditional Q & A episode, answering listerner-submitted questions. For those wondering how to submit a question, just shoot me an email: andystumpf212@gmail.com Here is what I covered: -My thoughts on the 25 Million Dollar Rob O'Neill lawsuit -Advice for a Police Officer getting ready to patrol on his own -Parenting suggestions for the jump from childhood to young adulthood -How to dea
Episode 416 - Dan Ellis - The journey to rebuild after losing the brand he spent a lifetime building
Today's episodes are some of my favorites. I hate stories of just wavetops, and I love stories about people who refuse to give up on what they believe and have built. Don't sleep on this episode; there is much to be gained and learned. Dan Ellis has been making performance footwear for 35+ years, starting his shoe-making career at Saucony, where he worked at their factory in Maine, learning each s
Full Auto Friday - 11/14/2025
Originally, this was a traditional Q & A episode, and then at the beginning of the last question, young Michael decided to just walk into the room and crash the show. I suppose it is a mix of Full Auto Friday and a Negligent Discharge Friday. Here is what we covered: -How do I know when it is time to just give up on life? -I need sleep aids at night. How can I still be prepared for a home invasion
Episode 415 - Bear Handlon - A Navy SEAL on a mission to erase 25 Million in Medical Debt
Bear served 7 years as a Naval officer in the Special Operations community as a Navy SEAL. He founded Born Primitive in his garage in 2014, the same year he earned his commission. Bear balanced being active duty while building what would become a global brand with zero outside funding. Prior to his service, Bear played Division I football at Yale University and also competed at the CrossFit Games.
Full Auto Friday - 11/7/2025
Traditional and straightforward today, a simple Q and A to round out the week. Of course, I only picked controversial and divisive topics, oh wait, not even close. I did actually cover: - Does anyone actually use a pistol with a suppressor? - How do I prepare my husband for the reality of kids? - Anxiety from work is crushing me. I need some help finding options - It's falling apart between my wif
Episode 414 - Chad Wittman - What do you do when life falls apart?
In addition to being a global executive and leadership strategist who has led $400M+ businesses at adidas and Reebok, driven global rebrands, and coached leaders from chaos and crisis to clarity and confidence, resulting in major transformation, Chad is a friend of 15 years. We met sitting at the negotiating table between CrossFit and Reebok, and then spent the next few years managing the newly mi
Negligent Discharge Friday - 10/31/2025
Young Michael has returned from his worldly travels. Is he more knowledgeable, sophisticated, educated, and cultured...Probably not. We spent an hour discussing a variety of topics, and as usual, he did not disappoint: -Michael's thoughts on traveling through Japan -Red Bull Plane Swap Pilot Ban -Helicopter Crashes -Elected officials falling down -What to do when you have no toilet paper in the wi
Episode 413 - Walt Disney - The Most Feared Navy SEAL Instructor of All Time
A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Mark returned after serving 13 years as SEAL, Medic, Sniper and Instructor in the US Navy SEALs at SEAL Team 3 in Coronado, California. He attended Friends University- Lenexa campus to earn a Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy. Walt utilizes an attachment theoretical orientation, which is trauma-informed. Additionally, he is certified in EMDR and Ps
Full Auto Friday - 10/24/2025
Traditional and straightforward today, a simple Q and A to round out the week. Of course, I only picked controversial and divisive topics, oh wait, not even close. I did actually cover: - Leadership when you are the newest member of the team - The best practical jokes I have ever seen - I was medically disqualified from service, then lied to get in. Should I be proud? - Why miniature Dachshunds ar
Episode 412 - Dave Berke - From fighter pilot to fighting on the ground in Ramadi
Dave Berke is a retired US Marine Corps Officer, TOPGUN Instructor, and now a leadership instructor and speaker with Echelon Front, where he serves as Chief Development Officer. As a F/A-18 pilot, he deployed twice from the USS John C Stennis in support of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He spent three years as an Instructor Pilot at TOPGUN where he served as the Training Officer, the s
Full Auto Friday - 10/17/2025
Nothing fancy today, just some traditional Q and A to round out the week. Of course, I only picked controversial and divisive topics, oh wait, not even close. I did actually cover: -Tandem Skydiving Fatality in Tennessee -How to have hard conversations about money with your spouse? -Why do I keep going back to the same woman? -How do you manage problems you can't solve on your own? Enjoy Today'
