Goat Rodeo

Goat Rodeo #54 - UFO Files, Golden Dome's $1.2T Price Tag, and the Right to Repair

This Episode: This week on Goat Rodeo, Garrett Smith, Dave Caudle, and Simon Coon cover a packed week spanning government disclosure, a trillion-dollar missile defense debate, and a brewing fight over who owns the technology fielded to our warfighters. The conversation opens on President Trump's release of UFO and UAP files through the PURSUE program at war.gov — what's actually in the disclosure, whether it's a genuine step toward transparency or a distraction from a difficult news cycle, and what Secretary Rubio's comments about anomalous observations near nuclear facilities actually mean for national security. From there, the crew digs into the CBO's estimate that Golden Dome could cost $1.2 trillion — nearly seven times the administration's $175 billion projection — and whether a space-based missile defense system is a serious strategic program or an expensive flag in the ground. The episode closes on the right to repair debate inside the military, vendor lock-in, the push for government-owned technical data rights, and whether mandating open systems architecture could reshape the defense industrial base without killing the innovation economy. Our Podcast: National security, defense tech, and geopolitics; serious topics, but that doesn't mean we have to be boring about it. The Goat Rodeo Podcast brings you three military veterans turned defense insiders, breaking down the biggest stories shaping the future of warfare. Expect sharp insights, unfiltered debates, and the occasional defense industry hot take, because let's be honest, this space can be a total goat rodeo. Listen on other platforms: https://linktr.ee/GoatRodeoPodcasthttps://linktr.ee/GoatRodeoPodcast [https://linktr.ee/GoatRodeoPodcast]

Goat Rodeo #53 - True Anomaly's $600M Raise, SOF Myths, and the Army's $253B Budget

This Episode: This week on Goat Rodeo, Garrett Smith, Dave Caudle, and Simon Coon cover a packed week in defense venture, a debate about selling to Special Operations Forces, and a deep dive into the Army's historic budget request. The conversation opens on True Anomaly's $650 million Series D — bringing their valuation to $1.1 billion — and what the round signals about investor appetite for space security and orbital defense platforms. The crew then covers Scout AI's $100 million Series A, the largest in defense technology history, and breaks down their Fury platform and what autonomous robotic command and control actually looks like in practice. From there, Dave dives into the myths that defense startup founders believe about selling to Special Operations Forces, and SOF is a critical partner but not a scaling strategy.  The episode closes on the Army's $253 billion overall budget request — including an $18.7 billion RDT&E proposal, a nearly 13% increase — the collapse from 41 to 4 budget oversight lines, Palantir's Vantage dashboard, and Simon's broader argument that throwing money at a broken system doesn't fix the system. Our Podcast: National security, defense tech, and geopolitics; serious topics, but that doesn't mean we have to be boring about it. The Goat Rodeo Podcast brings you three military veterans turned defense insiders, breaking down the biggest stories shaping the future of warfare.  Expect sharp insights, unfiltered debates, and the occasional defense industry hot take, because let's be honest, this space can be a total goat rodeo. Listen on other platforms: https://linktr.ee/GoatRodeoPodcast

Goat Rodeo #52 - Special Forces Polymarket Scandal, DHS Shutdown, and an $82M Firestorm Raise

This Episode: This week on Goat Rodeo, Garrett Smith and Simon Coon cover a packed week at the intersection of defense policy, government funding, and venture capital. The conversation opens on a bombshell case — a US Army Special Forces soldier who allegedly used classified information about the Venezuela operation to place $33,000 in bets on Polymarket, netting over $400,000 in profits. The crew breaks down the legal precedent, what it means for prediction markets going forward, and whether he had any chance of getting away with it. From there, Simon walks through the DHS shutdown resolution, the CBP and ICE funding fight, and what the reconciliation math actually means for the rest of the fiscal year. The episode closes on Firestorm Labs' $82 million Series B raise and what their drone fabrication platform signals about the future of forward-deployed manufacturing in the Indo-Pacific. Our Podcast: National security, defense tech, and geopolitics; serious topics, but that doesn't mean we have to be boring about it. The Goat Rodeo Podcast brings you three military veterans turned defense insiders, breaking down the biggest stories shaping the future of warfare. Expect sharp insights, unfiltered debates, and the occasional defense industry hot take, because let's be honest, this space can be a total goat rodeo. Listen on other platforms: https://linktr.ee/GoatRodeoPodcasthttps://linktr.ee/GoatRodeoPodcast [https://linktr.ee/GoatRodeoPodcast]

Goat Rodeo #51 Ft. Ross Coffman - Tanks Are Obsolete, Angine de Poitrine, and the Future of Ground Autonomy

This Episode: This week on Goat Rodeo, Garrett Smith, Dave Caudle, and Simon Coon are joined by retired US Army General Ross Coffman, former Commanding Deputy at Army Futures Command and a 35-year veteran of nearly every major American conflict and military transition of the last three decades. The conversation opens on the avant-garde French-Canadian band Angine de Poitrine and what their aggressively unreplicable sound says about human creativity in the age of AI. The crew then turns to US ground force readiness in the context of the Iran conflict, with Ross raising immediate concerns around logistics, magazine depth, and sustainment over a long-term campaign.  From there, the group tackles the big question — are tanks obsolete — with Ross revealing his own role in launching the M1E3 Abrams program and what lighter, faster, more survivable armor looks like in a drone-saturated battlefield.  The episode closes on Lockheed Ventures doubling its fund to $1 billion and what that signals about how the prime contractor set is positioning itself in the defense innovation economy. Our Podcast: National security, defense tech, and geopolitics; serious topics, but that doesn't mean we have to be boring about it.  The Goat Rodeo Podcast brings you three military veterans turned defense insiders, breaking down the biggest stories shaping the future of warfare.  Expect sharp insights, unfiltered debates, and the occasional defense industry hot take, because let's be honest, this space can be a total goat rodeo. Listen on other platforms: https://linktr.ee/GoatRodeoPodcast

Goat Rodeo #50: A-10 Warthogs, the $1.5T Defense Budget, and Programs We'd Kill

This week on the Goat Rodeo, Garrett Smith, Dave Caudle, and Simon Coon cover defense tech investment, the air war over Iran, and a spirited debate over what programs to cut from the federal budget. The conversation opens with Hermes's $350 million Series C and what it signals about a broader venture shift from software to hardware-centric defense platforms. They then cover U.S. aircraft losses over Iran, including an A-10 Warthog over the Strait of Hormuz, and what that means for crewed aircraft in contested airspace. The episode also tackles the inter-service debate over who owns the counter-UAS mission before closing on the president's $1.5 trillion DoD budget request and a round of programs each host would cut to balance the books. Our Podcast: National security, defense tech, and geopolitics; serious topics, but that doesn't mean we have to be boring about it. The Goat Rodeo Podcast brings you three military veterans turned defense insiders, breaking down the biggest stories shaping the future of warfare. Expect sharp insights, unfiltered debates, and the occasional defense industry hot take, because let's be honest, this space can be a total goat rodeo. Listen on other platforms: https://linktr.ee/GoatRodeoPodcasthttps://linktr.ee/GoatRodeoPodcast [https://linktr.ee/GoatRodeoPodcast]