The Vanguard Wall Podcast

EP 36: Air Force PJ: He Was Told to Stand Down. Cole Condiff Was Never Found. | Aaron Love

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2401946/fan_mail/new] Senior Master Sergeant Aaron Love — Air Force Pararescueman, 22 years, five combat deployments — is the first PJ ever on The Vanguard Wall. Fewer than 500 people have earned the maroon beret. The pipeline carries a 91% attrition rate — the longest special operations selection pipeline in the DoD. In 2002, Aaron quit on a pool deck at Indoc. He'd made it through Hell Night. He said three words to an instructor and walked out. What followed was five years in aerospace physiology, waiting for a cross-training window. At a poker game with PJs, his friend looked him dead in the eye: "What the hell are you doing at this table?" He went home. His wife was feeding their four-week-old daughter. She said: "Put the packet in. But don't come home unless you graduate." He graduated. In 2019, Aaron was standing four feet from the open door of a C-130 over the Gulf of Mexico when Staff Sergeant Cole Condiff was ripped from the aircraft. He ran dive operations for two days. Side-scan sonar returned two shapes that looked like parachute canopies with a body mass behind them. Divers went down. They were two boulders. Cole Condiff has never been found. ⚔️ THIS EPISODE'S SPONSORS (#sponsored #ad): 🏠 NuWave Anchor — Veteran-focused home loans. Built for this community. → https://nuwaveanchor.com/i/thevanguardwall?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio&utm_campaign=ep36_aaronlove 💼 Ridge — One thing to pack, five ways to power. Get 10% off @Ridge with code VANGUARD at https://ridge.com/VANGUARD #Ridgepod 💪 Hoplite Nutrition — Supplements built for veterans and operators. Code VANGUARD15 → 15% off Subscribe & Save → https://hoplitenutrition.com 🎟️ Patreon (24-hr early access + Discord): https://patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall CHAPTERS: (0:00) Cold Open: Aaron Love & The Cole Condiff Story (6:04) Aaron Joins the Show (8:34) What Is a Pararescueman? (91% Attrition Rate) (9:51) Growing Up in Barberton, Ohio (19:01) Ohio State, Factories & Hitting Rock Bottom (27:57) 9/11: "This Is My Generation's Moment" (29:05) Discovering Pararescue: The Air Force Recruiter (35:04) Air Force Basic Training: Lackland AFB (41:49) PJ Indoc 2002: Day One (49:22) Hell Night — Extended Training Day (53:32) "F*** You, I Quit." — The Decision That Cost Five Years (1:00:43) Reclassified: Aerospace Physiology & HALO Support (1:06:58) The Poker Game With PJs (1:09:33) "Pass or Don't Come Home" — His Wife's Ultimatum (1:13:00) Going Back: The Second Run at Indoc (1:40:48) Dive School & Earning the Beret (2:28:42) "The Only Spec Op You Need One Of" — PJ Identity (3:19:24) Pedro 66: Knowing the Men Who Died (3:32:45) "I Made the Decision to End My Own Life." (3:53:30) Konduz: Mike Cathcart & Dignified Transfer (4:09:00) "We Wrapped Him in the Flag Before His Brothers Walked In" (4:20:48) Are You Gonna Kill Yourself? I'll Be Awkward. (5:50:59) The Cole Condiff Stand-Down: Four Feet from the Door (6:05:30) "Get Me the F*** Out of This Aircraft" (6:21:42) Two Boulders. Cole Condiff Has Never Been Found. (6:31:55) Calling the Air Force Out in Front of 200 People (6:38:12) "I Was Hammered on the Plane Home. I Was Done." (7:16:00) Sobriety, DMT & Becoming Someone New (7:56:25) "The Black Pill Is a Lie. Have Hope." CONNECT WITH AARON LOVE: Ones Ready Podcast → onesreadypodcast.com Instagram → @aaronlovesamerica or @onesready 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

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

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2401946/fan_mail/new] 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 [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 VANGUARD at https://ridge.com/VANGUARD [https://ridge.com/VANGUARD] #Ridgepod 💪 Hoplite Nutrition — veteran-built, made in the U.S. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off → https://hoplitenutrition.com [https://hoplitenutrition.com/] 🛒 TVW Merch — Built for the mission. https://thevanguardwall.com [https://thevanguardwall.com/] (code VANGUARD15) 🎟️ Patreon (24-hr early access + Discord): https://patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall [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 Medicine and Healing (5:45:00) Marriage and Trust (6:15:00) 23 Virtues in 23 Days (6:30:00) Closing Thoughts CONNECT WITH JOHNNY: johnnyslicks.com | IG: @johnnyslicks | @johnnyraushi 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

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

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2401946/fan_mail/new] 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.hoplitenutrition.com Use Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off 🔗Connect with The Vanguard Wall Podcast 🏪Merch: https://www.thevanguardwall.com 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheVanguardWall   ⚔️Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheVanguardWall 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevanguardwallpodcast/ 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569106772297 📧 Connect/Sponsor: thevanguardwallpodcast@gmail.com 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

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

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2401946/fan_mail/new] 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 0:03 Salvo Gum First Impression 0:05 Wrestling, Football & His First Nutrition Hack 0:07 The Clemson Strength Coach Who Changed Everything 0:09 9/11 and the Decision to Join the Military 0:19 The Army Dietician Pipeline & Getting Branched Wrong 0:21 The Paperwork Error That Changed His Life 0:28 First Deployment: Baghdad — Managing Media & Interpreters 0:30 How Rangers Recruited Him From a Combat Hospital 0:33 Airborne School to RASP in One Weekend 0:35 The Sergeant Major's Challenge: "We've Been Fine Without You" 0:36 First Days at Ranger Regiment — No Computer, No Desk 0:47 How He Earned Trust Inside the Regiment 0:49 Ranger School — The Graduation Reality Check 0:50 The RAW Program — Origin Story & Vision 1:03 What Supplements He Actually Pushed to Rangers 1:09 First Deployment With the Rangers — Baghdad Round Two 1:28 Texas A&M PhD — How the Creatine Obsession Started 1:32 Omega-3, DHA, and the Suicide Prevention Research 1:37 Vitamin D, Depression, and the Study He Built at A&M 1:53 Afghanistan Food Study — What He Discovered Shocked Him 1:59 Creatine & Sleep Deprivation — The Cognitive Research 2:06 Creatine Timing, Dosing & the Monohydrate vs HCL Debate 2:07 Creatine Myths — Kidneys, Cramping & What Science Says 2:13 Why He Put His 77-Year-Old Mom on Creatine 2:14 His Personal Supplement 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

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

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2401946/fan_mail/new] 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 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 #MACVSOG #VietnamWar #SpecialForces #GreenBeret #VanguardWallPodcast #VietnamVeteran #MilitaryHistory Hoplite Nutrition — Veteran-built supplements. Code VANGUARD15 for 15% off subscribe-and-save. https://hoplitenutrition.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=ep32_macvsog&utm_content=sponsor_hoplite 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