Mike Drop

Epizódy

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  Rangers, Delta Force, and the Cost of War | Ep. 305 | Pt. 2 20.08.2026 1h 3min

  In Part 2, former Army Ranger Tony Mayne takes us deep into the objective and execution of the Haditha Dam mission—one of the most heavily defended objectives of the early Iraq War. Tony details the harrowing overnight drive through the desert, the ambush that nearly cost his team everything, and the unique cooperation between Rangers and Delta Force on the ground. From there, the conversation follows his path from enlisted squad leader to commissioned officer, the personal cost of extended deployments to Ramadi, the loss of a close friend to an IED, and a career-altering hearing waiver that nearly ended his time in uniform. It's a candid look at leadership, sacrifice, and the toll of nearly two decades at war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  75th Ranger Veteran Finally Speaks On Haditha Dam & the Ambush That Followed | Ep. 305 | Pt. 1 18.08.2026 1h 6min

  Retired Major Tony Mayne joins the podcast to walk through 12 years in U.S. Special Operations Command, including nine years in the 75th Ranger Regiment's 3rd Battalion, where he took part in the regiment's historic combat parachute assault into Afghanistan after 9/11 and later jumped into Iraq — completing eight combat deployments in support of the Global War on Terror and earning induction into the 2024 Ranger Hall of Fame. We go deep on the night of October 19, 2001, standing in the door of a C-17 as one of the first U.S. Rangers to parachute into Afghanistan, and the fight for Haditha Dam, where his vehicle broke down mid-assault and later got caught in an ambush on both sides of the road. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  Debunking the Extortion 17 Conspiracy Theories Once & For All | Ep. 304 | Pt. 3 14.08.2026 1h 9min

  In the final part of this conversation, Mike Sarraille recounts the base attack in Jalalabad where he served as Joint Strike Force commander, dismantles the conspiracy theories surrounding Extortion 17, and shares the story of Guardian dog Bart's final act protecting his handler Jet Li. He then breaks down his transition out of the military, the founding of Talent War Group, and his current role at Overwatch Mission Critical, before diving deep into the booming and controversial world of AI data centers. The episode closes with the story behind the record-breaking 7-continents-in-7-days skydiving mission and his reflections on purpose after service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  The Night Extortion 17 Went Down & Notifying the Families | Ep. 304 | Pt. 2 13.08.2026 1h 13min

  Part 2 of this conversation with Mike Sarraille picks up inside the deployments that followed Ramadi, including the chaotic quick-reaction mission into Sadr City alongside a hastily assembled team from two different SEAL platoons. Mike breaks down the brotherhood built with Army infantry on the ground, the Sunni Awakening, and why he believes the Iraq War was ultimately a policy mistake despite the valor shown by the troops who fought it. He also opens up about the line he drew when ordered to move his men into an unnecessary risk, his transition to DEVGRU, the reality of Green Team versus BUD/S, the night Adam Brown was killed in Afghanistan, and the devastating loss of Extortion 17—including the brutal process of notifying the families left behind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  The REAL Story Behind Michael Monsoor & Task Unit Bruiser | Ep. 304 | Pt. 1 11.08.2026 1h 16min

  Mike Sarraille breaks down his path from getting kicked out of college to Force Recon to Navy SEAL to DEVGRU. He talks Delta vs DEVGRU, deploying to Ramadi with Task Unit Bruiser, and standing three feet from Michael Monsoor the day he died saving his team. Also covers DEVGRU selection and why he thinks the Iran conflict is repeating Iraq's mistakes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  Permission to Heal: Prime Hall on Plant Medicine, Faith, and Finding Purpose | Ep. 303 | Pt. 3 07.08.2026 1h 12min

  In the final part of this Mike Drop conversation, Prime Hall traces his path from military transition into deep psychological healing. He details his first 5-MeO-DMT experience, a profound "hard reset" that showed him both the devastating and the redemptive paths his life could take, and how it launched an unexpected connection to Mike Tyson and Tyson Ranch. Prime opens up about the harder road that followed—relapse, medication struggles, and losing two close friends to suicide within days of each other—and how ayahuasca, integration therapy, and a structured approach to plant medicine helped him rebuild. The conversation closes on his new book, Permission to Heal, his work in the firearms tech space, fatherhood, and his personal relationship with faith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  Shot Through the Neck: A Marine Raider's Deadliest Day in Helmand | Ep. 303 | Pt. 2 06.08.2026 1h 20min

  Prime Hall returns for Part 2 of this Mike Drop conversation, taking listeners deep into his time as a Marine Raider deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He recounts the brutal June 14th, 2012 ambush where two of his closest teammates were shot, the insider attack that nearly killed him weeks later, and the invisible wounds—traumatic brain injury, hearing damage, and psychological toll—that followed him home. Prime also weighs in on the Charlie Kirk shooting, drawing on his own firsthand experience witnessing a similar gunshot wound in combat. The episode closes with his medical retirement, the unraveling that came with it, and the first steps toward healing through ayahuasca. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  MARSOC Raider on Combat, Resilience, and Staying Alive | Ep. 303 | Pt. 1 04.08.2026 1h 12min

  Mike Ritland sits down with Prime Hall — former Marine Raider, Marine Corps water survival instructor, co-founder of Deep End Fitness and Operation Resilience, founder of the Underwater Torpedo League, and recipient of the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Bronze Star, and Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal. Prime is also the author of "Permission to Heal: Redefining Strength for Warriors, Athletes and High Performers" and features in the upcoming documentary "Air Hunger." In this episode, Prime opens up about being dropped into a Village Stability Operations post in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, the insider attack that changed his life, and how 5-MeO-DMT and ayahuasca journeys became the turning point in a healing process he now shares through his book and work with veterans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  80% of Russian Drones Never Reach Ukraine—Here's the Robot War | Ep. 302 | Pt. 3 31.07.2026 1h 10min

  In the final part, Mike LeBlanc explains why Ukraine has become a real-time preview of future warfare, where robots and drones now do most of the fighting and over 80% of incoming Russian drones are stopped before impact. He breaks down the political reasons Russia hasn't crushed Ukraine, the underexplored frontier of subsurface warfare exposed by Iran, and why he believes autonomy—not new weapons types—is the true turning point in combat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  Ukraine Battlefield Tests: Robots That Can Now Open Fire | Ep. 302 | Pt. 2 30.07.2026 1h 14min

  In Part 2, Mike LeBlanc details how a chance call pulled him away from a private equity offer and into Silicon Valley, where he co-founded Cobalt Robotics before launching Foundation Future Industries. He walks through the brutal early days of building a robotics startup, a company crisis over fabricated sales contracts that forced him to overhaul the business, and the pivot into humanoid robots for the Department of War. The conversation turns to real combat testing in Ukraine, the ethical debate inside his own company over weaponizing robots, human-in-the-loop safeguards against battlefield mistakes, and why he believes America—not China—will lead the humanoid robotics race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  He Built the Defense Humanoid Robots Now Fighting in Ukraine | Ep. 302 | Pt. 1 28.07.2026 1h 13min

  Former Marine Corps officer, Harvard Business School graduate, and entrepreneur Mike LeBlanc spent 13 years in the Marine Corps, including back-to-back deployments advising Afghan forces, service with First Recon, a joint special operations task force in Bahrain, and a Pentagon role evaluating emerging military technology. After leaving active service, he founded Cobalt Robotics and later co-founded Foundation Future Industries. In this episode, we dig into his early days advising Afghan forces, including a green-on-blue attack just 30 days into his deployment after an Afghan soldier saw news coverage surrounding the “Innocence of Muslims” film. We then shift into his work building humanoid robots and why he believes they could eventually replace American troops in some of the battlefield’s most dangerous roles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  WAR BENEATH THE SURFACE: Tunnels, Sub-Terra Combat, and the Next Battlefield | Ep. 301 | Pt. 3 24.07.2026 1h 2min

  In the final part of this conversation, Major John Spencer breaks down the discipline he's built his career on: urban warfare. He explains why cities are the most complex environment any military can fight in, why the U.S. lacks real expertise in fighting underground, and how history's most costly urban battles keep repeating the same avoidable mistakes. He closes by discussing what he sees as the next frontier of warfare — the world beneath our feet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  THE COST OF COMMAND: 150 Lives, Zero Sleep, and the Making of an Urban Warfare Expert | Ep. 301 | Pt. 2 23.07.2026 57min

  Major John Spencer is a retired U.S. Army officer who served 25 years in uniform, including two combat tours in Iraq as an infantry platoon leader and later as a company commander during the Battle of Sadr City. In this part 2, he describes taking command of a company hours after it was devastated by an Iranian-backed rocket attack, and explains how he rebuilt a broken, stop-lossed unit into one of the most requested companies in his battalion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  TOP WAR STRATEGIST: Why the Iran Escalation Theory Left Out What Mattered Most | Ep. 301 | Pt. 1 21.07.2026 1h 8min

  Major John Spencer is a retired U.S. Army officer with more than 25 years of service and is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on urban warfare. In this conversation, he breaks down the conflict with Iran, challenges popular predictions about escalation, and explains why war remains inherently human, political, and unpredictable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  Free Will, Faith, and Second Chances After the Fall | Ep. 300 | Pt. 3 17.07.2026 54min

  In the final part of this conversation, Derek Janisch talks about rebuilding his life after prison — reconnecting with his ex-wife in Hawaii, moving back to California, and starting over as a father, husband, and businessman. The conversation closes with a deep dive into faith, free will, and how his time in jail shaped a worldview built on second chances. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  He Survived Afghanistan, Then Got Shot Growing Weed | Ep. 300 | Pt. 2 16.07.2026 52min

  Derek Janisch spent a decade in the SEAL Teams, deploying to Afghanistan and the Philippines, before his life came apart at home. In this part 2, he talks openly about the affair that ended his marriage, the arrests that followed, and the night on a Humboldt County cannabis farm when a dispute over money ended with him being shot in the chest. It's a raw look at what happens when a warrior's nervous system has nowhere left to go, and how one man found his way back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  I Survived Afghanistan, But Almost Got K*lled in California Over $3k | Ep. 300 | Pt. 1 14.07.2026 54min

  Derek Janisch took PKM and RPG fire in Afghanistan and walked away alive. Years later on a California cannabis farm, an argument over $3,000 put a bullet in his chest. In this episode he breaks down both nights, the firefight that should have killed him and the one that almost did, plus the recovery, the scar people mistake for a war wound, and how he ended up back in California teaching shooting at the Outfit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  Why the Epstein Files and Its Names Are Never Touched | Ep. 299 | Pt. 3 10.07.2026 1h 21min

  In the final part of this conversation, Nic McKinley traces his path from private personal recovery work to founding DeliverFund, and delivers a hard-hitting breakdown of the forces enabling child trafficking in America today. He names Roblox CEO David Baszucki's own words on predators and minors, connects the Epstein files to a broader pattern of political silence, and lays out the exact mechanics—burner phones, anonymity loopholes, and smartphone adoption—that turned trafficking into a scalable market. Nic closes with concrete policy proposals and a direct challenge to parents and everyday listeners on what real accountability looks like. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  CIA Recruitment, High-Speed Chases, and the Op That Led to DeliverFund | Ep. 299 | Pt. 2 09.07.2026 1h 27min

  Nic McKinley returns for Part 2, picking up right after his time as a Pararescue instructor and walking through his recruitment into a specialized CIA unit. He details the grueling 30-day vetting process, the shooting standards that eliminated seasoned special operators, and the small-team tactics that shaped his work overseas. Nic recounts high-speed chases, joint operations with elite military units, and his rise to Country Team Leader in a nuclear-armed nation—before revealing the two pivotal moments that first exposed him to child trafficking and set him on the path toward founding DeliverFund. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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  PJ Turned CIA Spy Breaks Silence on Human Trafficking in America | Ep. 299 | Pt. 1 07.07.2026 1h 23min

  Former U.S. Air Force Pararescueman and CIA officer Nic McKinley — a Harvard grad dubbed "the real Jack Ryan" for his operational background across spec ops and intelligence work — breaks down how his 11 years as a PJ and later role as country chief of a special CIA unit exposed him to the realities of child trafficking and illicit markets, work that eventually became the foundation for DeliverFund, the nonprofit he now runs that arms law enforcement with technology, actionable intelligence, training, and data-driven tools to fight human trafficking. We dig into how smartphones and gaming platforms turned into a direct pipeline connecting predators to kids, why the policy fixes are obvious but the people with the power to enact them won't touch it, and what it actually takes to hunt a human trafficker for a living. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices