The Vanguard Wall Podcast

The Vanguard Wall Podcast
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The Vanguard Wall Podcast bridges the gap as a fortress of strength and resilience, where modern-day warriors—veterans, law enforcement, and those forged in adversity—share their untold stories of bravery, discipline, mental health, perserverance and personal triumph. Each episode is a shield wall, defending the spirit of honor, courage, and brotherhood that binds warriors across time.

  1. 2D AGO

    EP 35: From Selling Plasma to 8 Figures: Marine Vet Johnny Raushi's American Comeback

    Send us Fan Mail Marine vet Johnny Raushi joined the Corps at 17 for a free skateboard sticker. Four years later he came home broke, picked up change in a gas station parking lot, and sold his plasma twice a week to fund the first batches of a pomade he was perfecting on his stovetop. That pomade became Johnny Slicks — an 8-figure American manufacturing company employing 30+ people out of a North Carolina facility, fully U.S.-sourced. Asher and Raushi cover boot camp, the in-unit suicide that happened seconds after he walked away from his armory window, the Accutane spiral that nearly killed him, the six-day phone call with Marine Raider Nick Koumalatsos that turned a kitchen-table pomade into a brand, and his first book "23 Virtues in 23 Days" (Aug 2025). ⚔️ THIS EPISODE'S SPONSORS (#sponsored #ad): 🏠 NuWave Mortgage — built for vets, by vets. VA loans, refinance, home purchase. → https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall?utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=ep35 💼 Ridge — One thing to pack, five ways to power. The 5-in-1 Travel Power Bank with built-in cables. Get 10% Off @Ridge with code VANGUARD10 at https://www.Ridge.com/Vanguard10 #Ridgepod 💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built, made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off → https://hoplitenutrition.com 🛒 TVW Merch — Built for the mission. https://thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15) 🎟️ Patreon (24-hr early access + Discord): https://patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall CHAPTERS: (00:00) Welcome (03:30) Growing Up in NJ and the Poconos (11:00) Faith, Questions, and the Church (22:30) The Recruiter and a Sticker (27:00) Bootcamp and Brotherhood (37:00) Marrying Rebecca and Camp Lejeune (41:00) The M9 Pistol Eureka Moment (51:30) Deploying With BSRF-14 to Romania (1:02:00) Losing His MOS and Earning It Back (1:17:00) Suicide in the Ranks (1:22:30) Knee Injury and Leaving the Corps (1:41:00) Hair Loss and the First Pomade (2:00:00) Selling Plasma and Picking Up Change (2:14:00) Six Days With Nick Koumalatsos (2:35:00) Hurricane Florence and Moving In With Nick (2:55:00) Scaling Johnny Slicks (3:15:00) The Accutane Spiral (4:00:00) Building an 8-Figure Business (4:30:00) Leadership and EOS (5:00:00) Plant Me Thinking about buying a home or refinancing? Nuwave Lending built a dedicated page specifically for Vanguard Wall listeners so you can connect directly with the team assigned to our audience. Get started here: https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall NMLS #1722624 Patreon advertisment                                                               🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast                                                       🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)   🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall                                            ⚔️ Patreon (early access + Discord): https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall   📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/                                 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297   📧 Sponsor Inquiries: thevanguardwallpodcast@gmail.com                                                                                                       💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off    Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com

  2. APR 27

    EP 34: The Last Plane Out of Kabul: Air Mission Commander Reveals What Really Happened | Col(r) Alex Pelbath

    Send us Fan Mail The last C-17 lifted off Kabul's runway at 11:59 PM on August 30, 2021. The man who gave the order — and made the radio call "Math Safe" that officially ended America's longest war — tells the full story for the first time. Colonel Alex Pelbath (USAF, Ret.) commanded SOUL-2, the only C-17 Special Operations unit in the world, and served as Air Mission Commander for the final flight out of Afghanistan. In this episode, he reveals the moment the Abbey Gate bomb went off, the suspected suicide bomber on his own aircraft, the Taliban press conference that Biden then agreed to, General Milley's coin he handed right back, and the bureaucratic fight that nearly grounded the last flight before it ever left the ground. Born to a first-generation American family — his grandparents fled communist Hungary through a minefield in 1956, survived a Russian soldier's mercy, and spent a year in an Austrian refugee camp before an airlift brought them to America — Pelbath's story is a 65-year generational arc that ends with him commanding the largest airlift evacuation in modern history. Over nearly 7 hours, he covers his entire career: growing up with a blind mother on a construction worker's wages, earning a last-minute wrestling scholarship to the Air Force Academy, flying 22 years of C-17 combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, a near-fatal black hole effect landing on NVGs that almost killed his crew, being hand-selected to brief the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, shaping two national defense budgets inside the Pentagon — and the full firsthand account of Kabul: the chaos, the failures of leadership, and the men and women who held it together when the generals couldn't. Now running for Congress in South Carolina's 1st District, Pelbath explains why the same broken thinking that produced Kabul is still inside the building — and what he intends to do about it. Follow Alex Pelbath 📸 Instagram: www.Instagram.com/ap_alexpelbath 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pelbathforsc/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0utyp0-5TzeLBWoRTTgtHw 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Alex-Pelbath-for-Congress/61579768019800/ 🌐 Website: https://pelbathforcongress.com Sponsors: Thinking about buying a home or refinancing? Nuwave built a dedicated page specifically for Vanguard Wall listeners so you can connect directly with the team assigned to our audience: https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall Serious supplements “For Those that Run Towards” www.hop Thinking about buying a home or refinancing? Nuwave Lending built a dedicated page specifically for Vanguard Wall listeners so you can connect directly with the team assigned to our audience. Get started here: https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall NMLS #1722624 Patreon advertisment                                                               🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast                                                       🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)   🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall                                            ⚔️ Patreon (early access + Discord): https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall   📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/                                 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297   📧 Sponsor Inquiries: thevanguardwallpodcast@gmail.com                                                                                                       💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off    Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com

  3. APR 8

    Ep 33: They Said "We've Been Fine Without You." He Proved Them Wrong. | Dr. Nick Barringer

    Send us Fan Mail Thinking about buying a home or refinancing? Nuwave built a dedicated page specifically for Vanguard Wall listeners so you can connect directly with the team assigned to our audience: https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall If this episode brought you value, drop a comment below — we'd love to know what you're implementing. What does it take to fuel the most elite light infantry unit in the U.S. Army — and earn their respect doing it? Dr. Nick Barringer didn't just study performance nutrition, he built the standard for it inside the 75th Ranger Regiment. Dr. Nick Barringer is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, Bronze Star and Legion of Merit recipient, Ranger-tabbed, airborne-qualified combat veteran, and one of the foremost authorities on tactical performance nutrition in the United States. He holds a PhD in Kinesiology from Texas A&M, co-authored the International Society of Sports Nutrition's position stand on Tactical Athlete Nutrition, and spent years embedded with the 75th Ranger Regiment as part of the Ranger Athlete Warrior (RAW) Program — one of the first human performance programs in all of Special Operations. He later served as Program Director for the Army Baylor Graduate Program in Nutrition and as an Assistant Professor at West Point. Most recently, he founded Salvo Gum, a precision-dosed performance caffeinated gum engineered for controlled alertness under pressure. In this conversation, you'll hear: Whether you're a tactical athlete, a serious lifter, a first responder, or someone who simply wants to perform at a higher level — this episode will change how you think about fueling your body and protecting your mind. Follow Nick Barringer: 📸 Instagram: www.instagram.com/nickbarringer.PhD.rdn 📸 Instagram: www.instagram.com/SALVOgum  use code VANGUARD15 for 15% off Websites:  🌐 www.DrNickBarringer.com 🌐 www.SALVOgum.com use code VANGUARD15 for 15% off 🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast  Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/ @TheVanguardWall   Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall The Vanguard Wall Merch: ⬇️ https://www.thevanguardwall.com Social Media: ⬇️ The Vanguard Wall Podcast Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/ The Vanguard Wall Podcast Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297 Want to sponsor the show? Email: ⬇️ thevanguardwallpodcast@gmail.com 0:00 Introduction & Welcome Thinking about buying a home or refinancing? Nuwave Lending built a dedicated page specifically for Vanguard Wall listeners so you can connect directly with the team assigned to our audience. Get started here: https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall NMLS #1722624 Patreon advertisment                                                               🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast                                                       🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)   🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall                                            ⚔️ Patreon (early access + Discord): https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall   📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/                                 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297   📧 Sponsor Inquiries: thevanguardwallpodcast@gmail.com                                                                                                       💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off    Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com

    4h 33m

  4. MAR 30

    Ep 32: MACV-SOG | How One Man Built the Most Dangerous Training Program in Vietnam | Travis Mills

    Send us Fan Mail Thinking about buying a home or refinancing? Nuwave built a dedicated page specifically for Vanguard Wall listeners so you can connect directly with the team assigned to our audience: https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall In August of 1968, Travis W. Mills was shot five times in a single engagement at FOB 4 — the deadliest night in the history of U.S. Army Special Forces. He survived. And then he went back to Vietnam. A Green Beret who served with one of the most classified units in American military history, Travis Mills sat down with The Vanguard Wall Podcast to document a story that couldn't be told for nearly three decades. Assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group and then to Military Assistance Command, Vietnam — Studies and Observation Group (MACV-SOG), Travis led small recon teams deep into denied territory along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, conducting cross-border operations into Laos and Cambodia during the most dangerous years of the Vietnam War. After surviving the FOB 4 sapper attack that left 16 Special Forces soldiers dead and over 30 wounded in a single night, he recovered aboard the USS Sanctuary — then returned to Vietnam, not as a patient, but as a leader. He was tasked with building the next generation of warriors, founding and commanding the MACV-SOG Recon Leader School, known as the One-Zero School. MACV-SOG's existence stayed classified for nearly 29 years. Travis carried that history quietly until 2001, when the unit was finally awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. In this conversation, viewers will hear: What it was like to serve in a unit whose missions "officially weren't happening" A first-person account of the FOB 4 sapper attack — 16 SF killed in one night Why Travis chose to return to Vietnam after being wounded rather than rotate home The operational structure of MACV-SOG recon teams and the Hatchet Force What Travis witnessed in Vietnam that still shapes how he thinks about service today How he and his wife Bobby have stayed married for 62 years His message to the next generation considering military service Watch the full episode and subscribe to The Vanguard Wall Podcast to hear more conversations that preserve the history of those who served. 🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast  Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/ @TheVanguardWall   Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall The Vanguard Wall Merch: ⬇️ https://www.thevanguardwall.com Social Media: ⬇️ The Vangu Thinking about buying a home or refinancing? Nuwave Lending built a dedicated page specifically for Vanguard Wall listeners so you can connect directly with the team assigned to our audience. Get started here: https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall NMLS #1722624 Patreon advertisment                                                               🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast                                                       🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)   🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall                                            ⚔️ Patreon (early access + Discord): https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall   📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/                                 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297   📧 Sponsor Inquiries: thevanguardwallpodcast@gmail.com                                                                                                       💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off    Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com

    5h 42m

  5. MAR 11

    Ep 31: Kyle Steiner: Korengal Survivor, Green Beret, and the Fight to Be a Good Father

    Send us Fan Mail Thinking about buying a home or refinancing? Nuwave built a dedicated page specifically for Vanguard Wall listeners so you can connect directly with the team assigned to our audience: https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall CW2 Kyle Steiner — 173rd Airborne, Korengal Valley combat veteran, and 7th Special Forces Group operator — joins The Vanguard Wall for a full-length documentary-style interview covering combat, resilience, and legacy. Kyle Steiner was 20 years old when he deployed to Outpost Restrepo in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley, one of the most dangerous places on earth, with Battle Company, 2nd of the 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade. During Operation Rock Avalanche, he was called KIA over the radio after being struck in the head during an enemy ambush — and walked away. He later failed Special Forces selection, rebuilt, and crushed it the second time, spending 15 years with 7th Special Forces Group. Today, weeks from retirement after 20 years of service, Kyle's mission has shifted — to raising sons who will become better men than him, a daughter who will never settle for less than she deserves, and answering the question that drives him: how do you pass on the values forged in combat without the trauma that came with them? Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction & Welcome 00:01:00 Kyle Steiner: The Full Story Read 00:04:27 Kyle Reacts to Hearing His Own Story 00:05:51 Military Brat to Small-Town Wisconsin 00:07:02 The SF Pamphlet That Launched His Dream 00:07:25 His Father's Hard Standards (And Why He's Grateful) 00:09:43 Oldest of Five: Family Dynamics & His Parents' Divorce 00:27:51 The 18X-Ray Program Explained 00:30:00 Basic Training: How He Became the Honor Graduate 00:37:50 Airborne School & the Band of Brothers Moment 00:39:55 SFAS First Attempt: Not Selected, Not Ready 00:54:55 Three Dark Months at Bragg Watching Others Leave 01:06:20 Italy: Assigned to the 173rd Airborne at Vicenza 01:07:39 Scout Platoon Struggles & a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy 01:12:20 The Command Team "Punishment" That Built Him 01:30:05 Joining Battle Company & the Road to the Korengal 01:45:00 Flying Into the Korengal Valley 01:51:00 Life at Outpost Restrepo: SAW Gunner, 1,600 Rounds, Daily Firefights 01:57:50 111 Firefights in One Month: September in the Korengal 02:19:20 R&R Leave: Going Home & Choosing to Walk Back Into It 02:21:31 "Combat Is Like Crack": The Adrenaline of War 02:31:30 Sebastian Junger, Tim Hethering Thinking about buying a home or refinancing? Nuwave Lending built a dedicated page specifically for Vanguard Wall listeners so you can connect directly with the team assigned to our audience. Get started here: https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall NMLS #1722624 Patreon advertisment                                                               🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast                                                       🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)   🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall                                            ⚔️ Patreon (early access + Discord): https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall   📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/                                 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297   📧 Sponsor Inquiries: thevanguardwallpodcast@gmail.com                                                                                                       💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off    Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com

  6. MAR 8

    Ep 30 Part 2: He Survived Fallujah… Then Walked Away From Everything | Eric Shelvy

    Send us Fan Mail He fought in Fallujah at 21. He carried a diplomatic passport in Moscow. He investigated explosives for the ATF. And then he walked away from all of it — sold his house, pulled his kids out of school, flew to Panama, and bought a sailboat. In Part 2 of this conversation, Eric Shlevy picks up where the war ended and takes us through every chapter most people never get to hear: embassy life, the State Department, the ATF fugitive task force, and ultimately the decision to sail the world with his wife and two kids for nearly three and a half years. This episode goes deep into what it actually looks like to rebuild your identity after combat — not through therapy buzzwords, but through action. Through new missions. Through showing your kids that the world is bigger than anyone told them it was. Eric talks about sailing logistics, homeschooling at sea, marriage on a boat with nowhere to escape, and the moment his daughter started talking about a life in the foreign service — at 16. He also reflects on the Time Magazine cover, legacy, and what it means to secure your place in history without letting it own you. This is a rare story. And Eric is a rare man. If this conversation moved you — share it with someone who needs it. That's the only way this reaches the people it's meant for. 🎙️ Subscribe for new episodes | Support us on Patreon | Merch available now Follow Eric Shelvy 📸 Instagram: www.Instagram.com/sailing.altair 🎥 YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UC3B0cJaRDBXbEMYwppOlAjQ 🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast  Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/ @TheVanguardWall   Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall The Vanguard Wall Merch: ⬇️ https://www.thevanguardwall.com Social Media: ⬇️ The Vanguard Wall Podcast Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/ The Vanguard Wall Podcast Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297 Want to sponsor the show? Email: ⬇️ thevanguardwallpodcast@gmail.com Thinking about buying a home or refinancing? Nuwave Lending built a dedicated page specifically for Vanguard Wall listeners so you can connect directly with the team assigned to our audience. Get started here: https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall NMLS #1722624 Patreon advertisment                                                               🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast                                                       🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)   🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall                                            ⚔️ Patreon (early access + Discord): https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall   📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/                                 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297   📧 Sponsor Inquiries: thevanguardwallpodcast@gmail.com                                                                                                       💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off    Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com

    4h 27m

  7. FEB 22

    Ep 30 Part 1: He Refused to Be Put in a Box | Marine, Diplomat, Then Gone | Eric Shelvy

    Send us Fan Mail On November 22nd, 2004, a photograph appeared on the cover of Time Magazine — a young Marine, 21 years old, face locked in a primal scream in the middle of the push on Fallujah, Iraq. That Marine was Eric Shelvy. And if you think you know where his story goes from there, you're wrong. Eric grew up in St. Louis — Catholic schools, divorced parents, weekends riding in his father's police cruiser. He was the one kid in his elite Jesuit high school who didn't go to college. He enlisted in the Marines instead, deployed to Iraq twice, and on his second tour led men through house-to-house combat in Fallujah — the heaviest urban fighting since Vietnam. What happened after is just as remarkable. Embassy duty in Moscow straight out of Fallujah. A posting to The Hague. A reassignment to Kuala Lumpur he didn't want — where he met a Ukrainian ballerina in an expat bar, barely speaking each other's language, and fell in love anyway. He fought embassy bureaucracy to get her a visa, married her, left the Marine Corps, joined the Diplomatic Security Service, became an ATF explosives specialist — and then walked away from all of it. Sold the house, bought a sailboat in Panama, and spent nearly three years crossing the Pacific with his family. This is Part 1. It's not a war story. It's not a love story. It's a story about a man who has spent his entire life refusing to be put in a box. Content note: Frank discussion of combat and loss of fellow service members. Documentary and historical context throughout. Subscribe for Part 2 and follow The Vanguard Wall for more stories from people who have lived it. Follow Eric Shelvy 📸 Instagram: www.Instagram.com/sailing.altair 🎥 YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UC3B0cJaRDBXbEMYwppOlAjQ 00:00:00 Intro: 00:06:57 St. Louis upbringing: Jesuit school + ride-alongs with a cop dad 00:18:23 Cop father in the streets: learning calm under chaos 00:25:32 The recruiter pitch: choosing infantry over the “normal” path 00:42:56 ASVAB & DEP: signing the papers and committing 00:47:20 Pre-boot jitters: cigarettes, nerves, “what did I do?” 00:49:36 Boot camp reality: receiving platoon + breaking you down 01:01:15 Becoming a Marine: discipline, suffering, brotherhood 01:07:56 To the infantry: Pendleton, forming the team 01:24:39 Landing in Kuwait: first taste of war & the unknown 01:29:30 Rolling north: vehicles, armor, and the invasion machine 01:30:16 Infantry squad anatomy: weapons, roles, how you actually fight 01:51:30 Thinking about buying a home or refinancing? Nuwave Lending built a dedicated page specifically for Vanguard Wall listeners so you can connect directly with the team assigned to our audience. Get started here: https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall NMLS #1722624 Patreon advertisment                                                               🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast                                                       🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)   🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall                                            ⚔️ Patreon (early access + Discord): https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall   📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/                                 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297   📧 Sponsor Inquiries: thevanguardwallpodcast@gmail.com                                                                                                       💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off    Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com

    5h 17m

  8. FEB 9

    EP 29: From Failing Middle School to Special Forces Commander | LTC Chane Jackson

    Send us Fan Mail Chane Jackson was told he'd never make it past eighth grade. A teacher gave him an "H" on a paper because an F wasn't low enough. He never made honor roll once.Fast forward: West Point graduate. 75th Ranger Regiment. Green Beret commander. Five combat deployments. Over 100 direct action missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Three Bronze Stars. Fluent in Arabic. And he never lost a soldier under his command—never fell back in a firefight. Not once.After retiring, Chane taught himself to code and became Director of Data Science for US Special Operations Command, managing AI systems for 90,000 personnel across 11 commands. Now he's building two businesses—D1 Training in Austin and Game Day Men's Health in Tampa—focused on optimizing human performance.This is a four-hour conversation about struggle, resilience, combat leadership, loss, and what it means to keep pushing forward when everyone says you can't.What we talk about:The childhood that shaped him—single mom, tough neighborhood, academic struggles that almost ended everythingHow a brutal West Point professor taught him the mental toughness that would save his life in combatRanger Regiment and learning what it takes to lead elite soldiersGetting his Green Beret and deploying to Afghanistan with ODA 3325Months of sustained combat in Kajaki—getting shot at on infill, firefights that never seemed to endThe day Master Sergeant Gregory Trent was killed (we covered Greg's story in a seven-part series with ODA 3424)What it's like holding someone's skull together while praying they make it homeLeading through loss while staying mission-focusedTeaching at West Point and mentoring the next generationTransition to tech—teaching himself data science and building AI systems for SOCOMWhy he left the military and started two franchisesD1 Training: athletic performance for youth and adults using cutting-edge technologyGame Day Men's Health: veteran-owned TRT and men's wellness clinic Full conversation on The Vanguard Wall podcast. ⚔️Follow Chane Jackson 📸 Instagram: www.Instagram.com/chanesz D1 Training Center Austin, Texas (owned by Chane) 📸 Instagram: www.Instagram.com/d1jollyvilletx 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/d1jollyvilletx Game Day Mens Health Tampa, FL (owned by Chane) 📸 Instagram: www.Instagram.com/gameda Thinking about buying a home or refinancing? Nuwave Lending built a dedicated page specifically for Vanguard Wall listeners so you can connect directly with the team assigned to our audience. Get started here: https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall NMLS #1722624 Patreon advertisment                                                               🔗 Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast                                                       🏪 Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com (code VANGUARD15)   🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall                                            ⚔️ Patreon (early access + Discord): https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall   📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/                                 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297   📧 Sponsor Inquiries: thevanguardwallpodcast@gmail.com                                                                                                       💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built supplements made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off    Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com

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About

The Vanguard Wall Podcast bridges the gap as a fortress of strength and resilience, where modern-day warriors—veterans, law enforcement, and those forged in adversity—share their untold stories of bravery, discipline, mental health, perserverance and personal triumph. Each episode is a shield wall, defending the spirit of honor, courage, and brotherhood that binds warriors across time.

Information

  • Creator
    The Vanguard Wall Podcast
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    46
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Vanguard Wall Podcast
  • Show Website
    The Vanguard Wall Podcast

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