GRP 64-Africa, Ronin Tactics, Counter Terrorism, RIP SEAL Team 6 Operator Ryan Owens

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GRP 64- First and foremost I want to send out my condolences to the family, friends, and teammates of Chief Special Warfare Operator William “Ryan” Owens, 36, of Peoria, Ill. Owens died after he was wounded during a nighttime raid on an al-Qaeda-held village in southwestern Yemen on Saturday. He was a U.S. Navy SEAL who served with distinction for over 15 years.

This episode was co-hosted by Chantel Taylor. Back on for this episode is my friend Tu Lam from Ronin Tactics.  Because of the experiences of Chantel, and Tu I thought it would be a good idea to discuss Africa. We discuss the difficulties of the natural terrain, of the animals that inhabit Africa. We talked transnational terrorism and groups that rotate between Africa, the Middle East, and South East Asia. Africa is a complex region. Tu spends several years in Africa fighting in Libya, and several other areas that are considered terror hotbeds. Bot he and Chantel share several stories of their time in the service. Below is an excerpt.

John: The Sudan was a safe haven for Osama Bin Laden prior to 2001. There's a whole bunch of training camps with different groups like Boko Haram. Look at the Philippine’s where the terrorist would filter into the country, get some training and filter back into the middle east and conduct operations there. Now with the rise of ISIS, a lot of these groups in Africa are pledging allegiance to them which can cause problems down the line.

Tu Lam: What I see John is the majority of these future terrorists they don't have an out, man. You have to put yourself in their shoes. I could be the guy who goes in and hates the enemy and drops a 500 lb JDAM(bomb) or goes out and do direct action missions but I see the bigger picture. These are the guys that when they're 8 years old these rebel forces go into their villages hand you an AK, and say gun down your mom and dad then hack your sister up with a machete, or we'll hack you up with a machete. Just like the Philippine’s, Abu Sayyaf. They don't have an out, man.

Chantel Taylor:

https://www.amazon.com/Battleworn-Memoir-Combat-Medic-Afghanistan/dp/1491725281

Facebook: Battleworn

Instagram: Mission_Critical

Tu Lam:

www.Ronintactics.com

Social Media: RoninTactics

Introduction words by Bruce Lee

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net

Atomic Athlete, Special Operations Fitness, Programs to Pass Selection

GRP 32- On this episode we have Chuck Ritter back on the show. Chuck is the First Sergeant at the Special Forces Senior Leader Course at Fort Bragg. On for the first time are Atomic Athlete Owner’s Jake Saenz - Former Ranger Regiment Team Leader, Founder of Atomic Athlete, and Jordan Smothermon - former naval nuclear operator who’s been professionally coaching for 4 years.

Ronin Tactics is coming to NYC!!! (6-7 AUG 2016) Classes are open to everyone.

Two Days Ronin Tactics “Ring Blade” Seminar that will build on each session. We will be hosting a two 3 hrs seminar per day for two days. First session- Body movement, empty hands, centerline and off-center line blade and saber blade attacks. Second session- Trapping, Foot Movement, Control over Opponent, Pick and reinforce pick attacks. The links to purchase your slot, and for full details will be listed at the bottom of this page. Here is an excerpt from the episode.

John Hendricks: That’s an interesting point you’ve made about having the right mindset with training vs working out. If your climbing a mountain instead taking it one step at a time a lot of people will look up, and get turned off by the size of the task. What will set companies, and trainers apart will be the ability to teach that mindset, as well as teaching the physical side.

Jake Saenz: I heard a great quote by a former Special Operations guy “Selection is a never ending process” the bottom line is so is fitness. Look at Chuck who’s 18 years in. It’s not about what’s going to happen today, or the next few days. When your training for a career in Special Operations you need to have a long term vision, and a long term purpose behind your training. Someone like Chuck has to be capable for upwards of 20 years. Having that long term perspective thinking about that like hey its not just about today, its about a year from now, 3 years from now, 5 years from now. Accepting the fact that its going to be a slow steady climb up hill, but as long as you continue to train and when I say train, as Jordan mentioned not working out, but training. Following a program based on your ability, and your goals. As long as you train you’ll continue to see improvement.

Send questions, or comments to Podcast@globalrecon.net

Atomic Athlete’s: Go to this link for a special Global Recon discount with Atomic Athlete! 

https://atomic-athlete.com/globalrecon/

Website: www.atomic-athlete.com

Facebook: Atomic Athlete

Instagram: Atomic Athlete

Here are the links to sign up for the Ronin Tactics ringed blade seminar taking place in NYC August 6th, and 7th:

6 AUG 2016 (SESSION ONE) http://www.ronintactics.com/store/p128/Ronin_%22Ring_Blade%22_SESSION_ONE-_NYC_%286_AUG_2016%29.html

6 AUG 2016 (SESSION TWO) http://www.ronintactics.com/store/p127/Ronin_%22Ring_Blade%22_SESSION_TWO-_NYC_%286_AUG_2016%29.html

7 AUG 2016 (SESSION ONE) http://www.ronintactics.com/store/p129/Ronin_%22Ring_Blade%22_SESSION_ONE-_NYC_%287_AUG_2016%29.html

7 AUG 2016 (SESSION TWO) http://www.ronintactics.com/store/p130/Ronin_%22Ring_Blade%22_SESSION_TWO-_NYC_%287_AUG_2016%29.html

John’s website: www.globalrecon.net

John’s Facebook: FB Recon

John’s Instagram: IgRecon, GlobalRecon_Inc

John’s Twitter: IgRecon

LinkedIn: Global Recon

Music provided by Caspian: www.caspianmusic.net

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GRP 27-The Warfighter Foundation, Security Contractor, RIP MSG Andrew McKenna

GRP 27-On this episode of the I interviewed Derek Pleimen who is an Army veteran, and a part of the Warfighter Foundation. We discussed Derek’s career in the Army, the mission of the Warfighter Foundation, and his recent deployment to Afghanistan as a security contractor.

Tu Lam from Ronin Tactics will be in NYC early August to teach a blade seminar. We haven’t locked in the dates yet, but will do so in the next few days. So far the locations we have are in Williamsburg Brooklyn, and Edge Water New Jersey. If you’re interested in hosting a class, or attending send an email to john@globalrecon.net. Below is an excerpt from the episode:

John Hendricks: So you were in close proximity to Camp Integrity during the attack when Andrew McKenna was killed?

Derek Pleimen: Yeah our base was actually right beside Camp Integrity where Sergeant McKenna was at. It was around 10 o clock at night and we were just watching TV, and the explosion went off. It was a VBIED that started it off. They went right into the gate. After that they had actual suicide bombers run in. It sucks being a security contractor sometimes because our main job is to make sure our clients are safe. When that happened we were standing on HESCOS watching the entire fight unfold. We really couldn’t do anything about it unfortunately.

We wanted to help, but our bosses wouldn’t let us go, plus we had no comms with the base. We were expecting to be attacked next but it never came. It was a pretty rough night.  It was an intense firefight that lasted a few hours unfortunately a great man was killed in Master Sgt. Andrew McKenna.

The Warfighter Foundation: www.warfighterfoundation.org

Facebook-Warfighter Foundation

Instagram-WarfighterFoundation_Actual

John’s website: www.globalrecon.net

John’s Facebook: FB Recon

John’s Instagram: IgRecon, GlobalRecon_Inc

Music provided by Caspian: www.caspianmusic.net

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GRP 25-Ronin Tactics, Bushido, Way of the Warrior

GRP 25-On this episode I had the honor to fly out to Colorado Springs, and attend Special Forces Green Beret Tu Lam’s retirement ceremony. Tu is the owner of Ronin Tactics which is a tactical training company that leverages the experience of Special Operations war fighters. Tu spent 22 and a half years in the Army with 20 of those being in the Army Special Operations Command.

We discuss how Tu used eastern philosophy to help him during his dark period after he was finished with combat, and making his transition. If you have any questions about anything on the podcast send an email to podcast@globalrecon.net

Tu’s website:www.ronintactics.com  

Tu’s Facebook: Ronintactics

Tu’s Instagram: Ronintactics

John’s website: www.globalrecon.net

John’s Facebook: FB Recon

John’s Instagram: IgRecon, GlobalRecon_Inc

Music provided by Caspian: www.caspianmusic.net

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GRP 22-Realities of War, Ronin Tactics, MACV-SOG

Realities of War, Ronin Tactics, MACV-SOG

GRP 22- On this episode we have two special guest back on the show in Tu Lam from Ronin Tactics who is a 20-year veteran of Army Special Forces, and Mike Stahl a MACV-SOG Green Beret who served in Vietnam. They discusses what its like working with indigenous forces which is a specialty of Army Special Forces Green Berets. Mike Stahl and Tu Lam also discuss working with indigenous forces, as well as the realties of what war is like.  Below is an excerpt from Mike Stahl:

“War is fucking hell, I’m sorry there’s nothing nice about it. The best thing in war is to get it over quickly, and sometimes its pretty dam brutal. Until you’ve been shot at, and doing some shooting back, until you’ve been in that crucible you don’t know if you’ve got what it takes or not.”

Below is an excerpt from Tu Lam:

“In war there’s a smell, there’s a taste to it, there’s a feel that you can’t describe. I tell ya man if I don’t have to serve another day in war I’ll be a happy man. Musashi Myamoto wrote The Book of 5 Rings in a Buddhist cave, and he said one thing that always stuck with me and he said “You should fight as if you already died”. There’s a certain point where you still think, but your body reacts, and your kind of in an out of body experience. Rounds are shot, shots are fired you need to do and react. You need to take that initiative away from the enemy otherwise they will control that situation.”

If you have any questions about anything on the episode, or want to contact us send an email to podcast@globalrecon.net

Tu Lam’s Website: www.ronintactics.com

Tu Lam’s Instagram: Ronin Tactics

Tu Lam’s Facebook: Ronin Tactics

Mike Stahl’s website: www.trickymisfit.com

Mike Stahl’s Facebook: TrickyMisFit

John Hendricks website: www.globalrecon.net

John Hendricks Facebook: FB Recon

John Hendricks Instagram Accounts: IgRecon, GlobalRecon_INC

John Hendricks Twitter: IgRecon

Music provided by Caspian: www.caspianmusic.net

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