Leaving the Green Berets: My Med Board, 3 Surgeries, and Losing Who I Was

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A former Green Beret and his wife sit down to talk about the part of military life nobody puts on a recruiting poster: getting out. In this episode of Beyond The Beret, Spencer Lewis and his wife MJ go deep on Spencer's transition from Special Forces to civilian life — the Med Board process, three major surgeries (ankle, SI joint fusion, hip), losing 45 pounds bedridden, the identity crisis of "who am I now," and the mental framework that pulled him through: one day at a time. This isn't another war story podcast. Spencer skips the kill stories and Afghanistan highlight reels other veterans lean on, and instead goes deep on what most operators won't talk about: fighting Army PAs and physical therapists to get a real diagnosis, learning to advocate for your own medical care, navigating military retirement at 26, walking through a 3.5-year custody battle, and rebuilding a life and identity after the only career he'd ever known was gone. MJ brings the spouse's side of the story — what it looks like from the home front when your husband is medically retiring, in pain, and figuring out who he is again. If you're a veteran transitioning out, a military spouse, a service member staring down a Med Board, a first responder leaving the badge, an athlete walking away from the sport, or anyone who has poured years into something and is now asking "what comes next" — this episode is for you. Topics covered: * Special Forces medical retirement and the Med Board process * SI joint fusion, hip surgery, and ankle surgery recovery * Advocating for yourself in military healthcare * Identity loss after leaving the military * The "one day at a time" mindset for hard transitions * Setting down the backpack: letting go of your old chapter * Custody battles, fatherhood, and starting over * Becoming an ultramarathon runner during recovery * Marriage through medical retirement and transition * Mental health and choosing to move forward Hosted by Spencer Lewis — former Green Beret, ultra runner, founder of Alpha Country — and his wife MJ. New episodes weekly. Already Decided.

Starting a Business After the Military: How I Built Alpha Country From Nothing | Ep. 10

Most veteran-to-entrepreneur stories skip the actual origin. The couch. The surgeries. The $25,000 you just sent to a manufacturer with no guarantee any of it works. The hours sewing patches onto hats one at a time in your living room because the orders are coming in and you don't have a manufacturer yet. In this episode of Beyond The Beret, former Green Beret Spencer Lewis and his wife MJ go all the way back to the start of Alpha Country — the supplement, apparel, and coaching brand he built from nothing while medically retiring out of Special Forces. Spencer was sitting on the couch recovering from SI joint fusion, hip, and ankle surgeries with no plan, no social media, no product, and no idea what he was doing. This episode is the real story of how it all got built. Spencer breaks down every part of the journey: the first time he sold a training program as a PDF in the DMs, the brand deal that took advantage of him and made him go all-in on Alpha Country, how he found a supplement manufacturer with zero connections, the $50,000 first production order that was every dollar he had, the 16-to-20-week supplement production timeline nobody warns you about, sourcing apparel on Alibaba and losing money learning, the years of late nights packing orders out of his house, and the standards he holds for every single touchpoint with the customer. If you're a veteran thinking about starting a business after the military, a service member with a brand idea, an entrepreneur trying to bootstrap a real product company, or someone curious about how Alpha Country actually got built — this episode is for you. Topics covered: * Why Spencer started Alpha Country while still medically out-processing the Army * Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN) as the brand he studied to learn the playbook * Selling training programs as PDFs in Instagram DMs to make first revenue * The brand deal that taught him to never give his work away again * Building the first supplement formula (Bangalore pre-workout) without white-labeling * The $50,000 first production order and what it actually buys you * The 16-to-20-week supplement production timeline nobody talks about * 40/60 payment structures with overseas apparel manufacturers * Sewing hats in the living room: 20 minutes per hat, then 10 * Building relationships with USPS and UPS when nobody at the counter wants to help * The standard for fulfillment, packaging, and the customer experience * Why the last physical touchpoint with the customer matters more than anything * Hiring, the three-strike rule, and why "sexy" jobs are the wrong goal Previous episode (Ep. 9): Spencer covers losing his identity after the military and how to build a new one. That episode is the why. This one is the how. Hosted by Spencer Lewis — former Green Beret, ultra runner, founder of Alpha Country — and his wife MJ. New episodes weekly. Already Decided.

Ayer1 h 11 min

Leaving the Green Berets: My Med Board, 3 Surgeries, and Losing Who I Was | Ep 3

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