Late Night History Late Night History

In Episode 8, Mike discussed his life story, including all of the major Delta Force operations that he participated in. Tonight for Episode 38, Mike shares with us the history of the Bomb Disposal/Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) across all service branches between World War II and the Gulf War. Additional topics covered below.



Episode 38 highlights:



1). Controversy regarding Draper Kauffman “The Father of Navy EOD” and his first Navy Cross award.

2). Lesser known service of the Army Combat Engineers alongside the Naval Combat Demolition Units on D-Day

3). Mike’s EOD experiences in Vietnam/Cambodia 

4). History of the Tunnel Rats, including Mike’s experiences doing similar work, which crawled into small tunnels armed with only flashlights, pistols, and in Mike’s case, explosives.

5). OSS Deer Team in Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh’s relationship with the US in World War II

6). Delta Force EOD (which we also covered in Episode 8)

7). First Saturday in May is National EOD Day, which remembers the names on the EOD Memorial Wall

8). Mike’s uniform donated to the Ordnance Museum Fort Lee (Fort Greg Adams) in VA and various Museums-talk

9). Bunker Busters, Nukes, the Cheeseburger Bombs



YouTube Video: Delta Force Legend Mike Vining Discusses Tunnel Rat Missions


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Tonight's guest is Andrew "Sully" Sullivan, a former Navy SEAL Senior Chief (2002-2020), and the founder of the Community First Project, a non-profit that provides law enforcement officers the fundamentals to a tactical response to an active shooter or critical incident like an act of terror.

Some history highlights from this episode include SEAL training, humanity in war, the comedies that shaped the SEALs' vocabulary during the GWOT, pre-mission rituals, the connection between the US military and law enforcement, and so much more.

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The Late Night History podcast is hosted by writer and oral historian Matt Fratus. Join Matt in this special, two-part episode featuring Ret. Marine Col. Eddie Ray, one of only two Navy Cross recipients from the Gulf War. 



In part 2, listen to Eddie share his Navy Cross action from his perspective. Later in the episode, Eddie discusses what it was like to serve as a Battalion Commander under Gen. Mattis in the '03 Iraq invasion and some lessons learned returning to Iraq a decade after the Gulf War. Towards the end, Eddie reflects upon his legacy in the Marines and his thoughts about the future of armor in warfare with the prevalence of drones.



This link is for other podcast platforms: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/late-night-history⁠ 



Join 13K followers of Late Night History on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/latenighthistory/⁠ 



Support the show on Patreon so this one-man show can continue producing content with world-class guests like Eddie Ray: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/LateNightHistory⁠



If you do not have a Patreon account, please donate to the show through Listener Support: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/late-night-history/support


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/late-night-history/support

The Late Night History podcast is hosted by writer and oral historian Matt Fratus. Join Matt in this special, two-part episode featuring Ret. Marine Col. Eddie Ray, one of only two Navy Cross recipients from the Gulf War. 


In part 1, we delve into Eddie’s unique life journey leading to the Gulf War. From his formative years in LA to his stint as a college football player at the University of Washington alongside the future NFL Hall of Fame QB Warren Moon to his early days as an enlisted Marine and junior officer, we uncover the intriguing chapters of Eddie’s life.


The episode is packed with a lot of exciting history and lessons learned. Notably, a training mission that went awry and how Eddie established himself as a leader. Additionally, Eddie shares how he became involved with the Marines Light Armored Vehicles. At the time, the assignment was considered “The Kiss of Death” for an officer’s career, mainly because nobody understood how to operate the unproven LAVs.



Of course, that reputation would change under Eddie, where he combined football-inspired plays with military tactics for the battlefield. But you’ll hear all about that in Part 2.

This link is for other podcast platforms: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/late-night-history

Join 13K followers of Late Night History on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latenighthistory/

Support the show on Patreon so this one-man show can continue producing content with world-class guests like Eddie Ray: https://www.patreon.com/LateNightHistory



If you do not have a Patreon account, please donate to the show through Listener Support: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/late-night-history/support


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/late-night-history/support

The Late Night History podcast was created by writer and oral historian Matt Fratus in 2021. Each year (or season), Matt releases a new batch of episodes starring world-class guests who share their life story. In each episode we cover fascinating historical topics as we leverage each guest's experience and expertise.



This short video is an announcement featuring an update on new guests and new content for 2024.




Listen to the Late Night History podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/late-night-history/id1553678075



This link is for other podcast platforms: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/late-night-history



Join 13K followers of Late Night History on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latenighthistory/


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Tonight’s guest is Rob Newson, a former Navy SEAL officer with nearly 30 years of military service. 



On this episode, Rob and I discuss the highlights of his remarkable military career, as well as the important work he is doing with cancer and leading the fight alongside incredible organizations such as Task Force Dagger and Hunter Seven Foundation. 



If you are searching for insight about military start-ups, this is the episode for you. Rob has personally led or participated within six separate new military organizations, including two national strategic planning elements, and a first-of-its-kind organization to collect and integrate battlefield intelligence to identify and disable terrorist networks. In a three year period, this new team elevated the success rate of SEAL missions from 35% to 91%.



We dive into the gamut of Naval Special Warfare history across the Global War on Terror, including the establishment of SEAL Team 7 and why all veterans of that team owe Rob a green beer for putting the commissioning date on St. Paddy’s Day. We also cover the reasoning for the creation of the Cultural Engagement Units, which relied heavily on the MAVNI program; and various other topics such as women in combat, SEALs in media, and working at the White House.


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