GRP 129-From Africa to the French Special Forces-Qui ose gagne: The Story of a French SAS Operator

Click the buttons below to access the full episode on Apple Podcast (Apple users), Spotify or SoundCloud(Android users). Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you.

https://open.spotify.com/show/2iseHI0aNFWE232tXIqt8N

I have a very special guest on for this week’s podcast. Retired French SAS operator Raymond. Raymond was born in Africa and moved to France during his teenage years. He eventually joined the Army and became a member of the French Foreign Legion. It was on a deployment with the Foreign Legion where he met members of the French SAS, France’s premier counter terrorism unit. 

We discussed his early life, the racism he experienced in France and in the Army being from Africa. We touched on what effects terrorism has had on France as a nation, and many other topics. Enjoy. 

3:55- The origins of the French Special Forces

8:44-Joining the French Foreign Legion

17:55-Joining the French SAS

I Want to give a quick thank you to our sponsor

Blinkist- is the only app that takes the best key takeaways, the need-to-know information from thousands of nonfiction books and condenses them down into just 15 minutes so you can read -or- listen to. Go to www.Blinkist.com/Reconfor a free 7 day trial.

Follow Global Recon below:

www.Globalrecon.net

https://www.instagram.com/igrecon

https://www.instagram.com/blackopsmatter

www.twitter.com/igrecon

https://www.facebook.com/GlobalReconPodcast/

Chantel Taylor:

https://www.instagram.com/mission_critical

https://www.instagram.com/altern8rv

Tim Kolczak:
www.thevetsproject.com

www.instagram.com/theveteransproject

GRP 95- The Reality of War: Perspective of SAS Trooper and Victoria Cross recipient Mark Donaldson

Click the buttons below to access the full episode on iTunes , or Apple Podcast (Apple users) Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you.

GRP 95- We know you’ve all been anticipating part two of the conversation we had with Mark Donaldson. Mark is a veteran of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment and recipient of the Victoria Cross. The VC is Australia’s highest award given for valor in combat. In this segment Mark talks about running operations with U.S Army Special Forces Green Berets in Afghanistan. It was on one of these operations in which the battle took place where Mark went above and beyond the call of duty.
    
Mark walks us through that operation in vivid detail. The most important piece of this conversation is when Mark gives us the reality of it all when saying yes, he’s been celebrated for his actions that day, but for many it was the worst day of their lives. There are second and third effects for the family and friends of the warriors who were wounded, or killed during the chaos and confusion of that battle. It wasn’t said to dampen our moods, but to add perspective to what is generally looked at as something glamorous.

0:00-Episode overview
1:43- 2008 SAS deployment to Afghanistan, running operations with U.S Army Special Forces Green Berets.

6:20-Battle in which Mark was awarded the Victoria Cross

52:15- The realities of war, and remembering the Victoria Cross from the perspective of the men on the ground. 

Follow my co-host and my pages on social media. Links below.

Global Recon:
www.Globalrecon.net

https://www.instagram.com/igrecon

https://www.instagram.com/blackopsmatter

www.twitter.com/igrecon

https://www.facebook.com/GlobalReconPodcast/

HP Lefler:
https://www.instagram.com/4runner.freyja

Chantel Taylor:
https://www.instagram.com/mission_critical

https://www.instagram.com/altern8rv

Music provided by Caspian:
www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 93-Victoria Cross: The story of Mark Donaldson an SAS Trooper

Click the buttons below to access the full episode on iTunes (Apple users), or Sound Cloud (Android users). Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you.

GRP 93- It’s with great reverence that I introduce our guest for this week’s podcast. Mark Donaldson is a retired Australian Special Air Service Regiment trooper and recipient of the Victoria Cross. The Victoria Cross is Australia’s highest award for most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valor or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy. It’s the Australian equivalent to our Medal of Honor. 

We discussed Mark’s early life and motivation for joining the Army as he experienced a traumatic event with the loss of his mother at the age of 19. We discussed how one can turn a tragic event into a motivating force. We discussed the mindset required to train for and get selected into a Special Operations unit like the SAS, and how that same mindset can help surmount obstacles in life. We discussed leadership, the bottom-up approach, and the changing strategy and role for western forces in Afghanistan. This is part one of the interview. The second part will be released within the coming days. 

Three U.S. Army Special Forces Green Berets have been killed in action this week while on patrol through western Mali, in Niger. We’d like to send our deepest condolences to the friends, teammates, and family of these fallen warriors.

0:00- Episode Overview

6:36:00- Motivation to join the Army, and later the SAS. Using the loss of a loved one to drive you forward in life.

15:51:00- “The best way to honor my mates is to come back and live a good life”-Australian WW1 veteran

28:19:00-The mindset required to make it into Special Operations and surmount obstacles in life. Training for selection. 

57:06:00- The bottom-up approach. Leadership and team building. “I’m the guy on the ground I decide what I drop”-British Special Boat Service JTAC to brigade command over the radio
1:09:00- The evolution of the strategy in Afghanistan and the changing role of the special operations units. 

This episode is sponsored by Abes Baumann a law firm that provides legal services and fights for the rights of disabled veterans. To learn about what they can offer you visit http://www.abesbaumann.com/vets

Follow my co-host and my pages on social media. Links below.

Global Recon:
www.Globalrecon.net

https://www.instagram.com/igrecon
https://www.instagram.com/blackopsmatter

www.twitter.com/igrecon

https://www.facebook.com/GlobalReconPodcast/

Chantel Taylor:
https://www.instagram.com/mission_critical

https://www.instagram.com/altern8rv

Music provided by Caspian:
www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 83-Operation Nimrod: The Story of the Iranian Embassy Siege by SAS Staff Sergeant Rusty Firmin

Click the buttons below to access the full episode on ITunes(Apple users), or Soundcloud(Android users). Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you.

GRP 83- We have the distinct honor and privilege of having on 22 SAS Staff Sergeant Rusty Firmin. Rusty was the blue team leader during the Iranian embassy siege in London, May 1980. The footage captured by the British media show SAS assaulters storming the embassy in which they rescued 19 hostages and killed 5 of the 6 terrorists. The major motion picture "6 Days" is a film about the embassy siege that is based on Rusty's book " Go! Go! Go!: The SAS. The Iranian Embassy Siege. The True Story".

Below is an excerpt:

John Hendricks: This incident was really the first time the world caught a glimpse of what counter-terrorism and hostage rescue is really about. It shocked the world.

Rusty Firmin: That's right. The incident lasted for six days until the resolution was put in on the 5th of May and the mission, of course, was to rescue the hostages. That's exactly what the red and blue teams of B Squadron did all of those years ago.  That was never supposed to be shown on TV. Part of the plan was when the assault did go in it was supposed to be smoked off so nobody could see. What happened is the prime minister (Margret Thatcher) said "We're not going to do that. We're going to show the world how we deal with terrorist" and that's exactly what happened. There was nobody more surprised than me when I finished the operation a few hours later to see it being run on TV when Mrs. Margret Thatcher sat with us in Regence Park Barracks and we were all going "what happened there?"  (Laughs).

I became blue team commander by day 5. The guy I took over from Roy, went to make the distraction charge which is the one you heard that initiated the assault. Once they killed Mr. Lavasani everything changed. Unless they threw their hands up and ran out this was it. It took 16 minutes for us to get into our final assault positions covertly. The idea was to hit everything simultaneously. It was 56 rooms on 6 levels. We had 34 guys ready to go. As soon as we got the go, big loud explosion and we went in. The guy who shot Lavasani came down passed me I saw his hand grenade so I spun him around and shot him.

Global Recon:

www.globalrecon.net

Rusty Firmin:

www.rusty-firmin.com

IgRecon – Instagram

BlackOpsMatter- Instagram

Mission_Critical – Instagram

IgRecon- Twitter

Chantel Taylor:

Instagram: Mission_Critical

Facebook: Battleworn

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net

GRP 76-Who Dares Wins: The Story of SAS Assaulter Jason Falla

Click the buttons below to access the full episode on ITunes for Apple products, or Soundcloud for Android, or Windows products. Be sure to like, share, subscribe, and download the episodes. Thank you.

GRP 76-We have a special guest on for this week's podcast. Former Australian SAS trooper Jason Falla who is also the owner of a tactical training company called "Redback One" came on to talk about his journey in the Australian Special Forces world. He spent the first 6 years of his career with the 1st Commando Regiment before then going to SAS selection and finishing out the remaining 6 years of his military service as an SAS an assault team member and patrol medic of a water operations troop in 1 Squadron, 1st SAS Regiment. Jason shared a deployment story with us, and we discussed his post-military career where he worked as an instructor for what was at the time known as Blackwater. He now runs a successful tactical training company which employs former Tier 1 special ops guys working in several facets. We also covered some Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) as both Chantelle and Jason were Combat Medics respectively. Below is an excerpt from the podcast:

Jason Falla: The Australian Special Operations Task Group rolled out after 9/11 into Afghanistan. We were primarily tasked with reconnaissance and surveillance. We had a large area of responsibility.  We had an incident where one of our vehicles struck an anti-tank mine. Our patrol commander was in a bad way. It turned into a situation of being in a minefield. SGT Andy Russell lost a lot of blood. We called a MEDEVAC with American PJ's jumping in. Unfortunately, Andy died on the way to the hospital. We re-postured and made sure we dished back what we got there.

Our next major operation over there was during Operation Anaconda we were the SAS patrol up there. We got a call that a U.S. helo had been shot down. A special operations component was in a break contact situation. We had to re position ourselves and get eyes on the crash site and provided situational awareness, and interdiction of enemy forces. It was a long arduous march in full kit up to an OP. We had an American Combat Controller attached to us. He started bringing in aircraft. We had B-52's coming in fast air, we were calling in predators hot with AC-130's going Winchester. We asked for a Bomb Damage Assessment (BDA) and an American voice came back " Well, I’m following a trail of cold dead bodies"

Jason Falla:

Web: www.redbackone.com

Instagram: Redbackone

Facebook: Redback One

Twitter: @RedbackOne

Global Recon:

www.globalrecon.net

IgRecon – Instagram

BlackOpsMatter- Instagram

Mission_Critical – Instagram

IgRecon- Twitter

Chantel Taylor:

Instagram: Mission_Critical

Facebook: Battleworn

Music provided by Caspian:

www.caspianmusic.net