What They Don't Tell You About Being a Combat Medic Turned Infantry Officer

What They Don't Tell You About Being a Combat Medic Turned Infantry Officer

Stephan Wolfert enlisted as a medic in 1986, became an infantry officer, trained for elite special operations, and was on a fast track to a full military career…until two devastating losses in the same year broke something in him. A chance encounter with Shakespeare's Richard III in a small Montana theater changed the course of his life forever. Today, Stephan is a licensed psychotherapist, Shakespeare actor, and founder of De-Cruit, a groundbreaking program using Shakespeare's verse to help military veterans heal from PTSD and trauma. With over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles backing his work, what started as one veteran's personal catharsis has helped thousands find language for the unspeakable.In this episode, Stephan talks candidly about growing up on the rough north side of La Crosse, Wisconsin, fleeing to the Army as his only way out, the rapid rise through elite military training, the grief that broke him, and why he believes we recruit soldiers but never truly "decruit" them — and what that costs all of us. 🔗 Learn more about De-Cruit: www.decruit.org CHAPTERS: 3:02 – Why He Joined the Army 5:45 – Becoming a Combat Medic 7:06 – Basic Training & What Surprised Him 12:40 – Advanced Training & Becoming an Officer 18:05 – Iran-Contra, Central America & Shifting Beliefs 22:55 – Getting His History Degree & Turning Down Regular Army 28:47 – JRTC & National Training Center: Elite Field Training 34:33 – Ranger School & What Almost Ended It 37:42 – The Arctic Training Story (A Favorite Army Memory) 42:53 – The Losses That Broke Him: Deaths in Training & a Soldier's Suicide 49:49 – Going AWOL: A PTSD Episode on an Amtrak Train 54:14 – Whitefish, Montana & a Shakespeare Play That Changed Everything 58:31 – Turning Down the Military for Good 1:02:12 – Ranger School: The Concussion That Cost Him the Tab 1:13:19 – Graduate School & the Birth of Cry Havoc 1:16:36 – Creating DeCruit: Shakespeare as Medicine for Veterans 1:29:02 – The Research: What the Data Actually Shows 1:37:43 – Veterans, Childhood Trauma & ACE Scores 1:46:44 – How to Find DeCruit & What's Coming Next 1:48:35 – The Real Cost of War & What We Choose Not to Fix 1:55:34 – Final Thoughts & Reflections If you or a Veteran you know has a story that should be heard, we'd love to hear from you at humanographyproject@gmail.com.

EP 43: Veteran Podcast What They Don't Tell You About Being a JAG Officer in Vietnam Combat

In EP 43 of Ask a Vet, Ron Holdaway shares a remarkable journey from growing up in Wyoming to serving as a senior Army lawyer involved in historic cases during Vietnam and beyond. Discover his perspectives on military justice, the Vietnam War, and the lessons learned from a lifetime of service. CHAPTERS: 01:00 - Growing up in Wyoming & becoming a lawyer 02:37 - ROTC, JAG Corps & early military career 07:21 - First assignments & court-martial work 12:04 - Postings in Hawaii, Germany & Vietnam 14:39 - First war crime case & combat refusals 16:10 - Deployment to Vietnam 21:36 - Arrival & life in Vietnam 27:15 - Living under fire & shrapnel injuries 31:00 - Soldier shoots fellow soldier on drugs 33:01 - The 1st Cavalry Division 36:20 - War crimes, mutilation & drug enforcement 43:53 - The Mealy incident 45:07 - Lieutenant Calley's court-martial & media fallout 48:18 - Leaving Vietnam & anti-war sentiment back home 51:33 - Pentagon, Europe & promotion to Colonel 59:38 - Chief Judge & career reflections 63:43 - Final thoughts on Vietnam & life lessons 🎖️ Ask A Vet is dedicated to documenting and preserving veterans' stories in their own words, on their own terms, before their stories are gone forever. If you believe these stories matter, please subscribe, like, comment, and share. Your support helps us preserve the voices of those who served. ✈️ Ask A Vet is proud to partner with Utah Honor Flight — giving veterans a free trip to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials built in their honor. Every flight is free to veterans and made possible by generous donors. Learn more or support the mission at utahonorflight.org or find your local hub at honorflight.org.

EP 42: What They Don't Tell You About Hunting Soviet Submarines in the Vietnam Era

In Episode 42 of Ask a Vet, we sit down with Navy veteran Tom Hopkins: a man who spent 20 years chasing submarines across the Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean, surviving fire control lock-ons off the coast of China, harrowing carrier landings, cold catapult shots, and engine failures that nearly put him in the water. And somehow, he never stopped loving every minute of it. Tom grew up in Salida, Kansas, the son of an Air Force bomber pilot who flew unarmed DC-3s over the Himalayas in WWII — and who died in a B-47 crash when Tom was just 12. That loss shaped everything that came after: the draft, the Navy, the jets, the submarines, and the psychological reckoning in his final year of service that taught him PTSD is very, very real. From the flight line at Kingsville, Texas to carrier operations on the USS Ticonderoga and USS Kennedy, from S-2 Trackers to computerized S-3 Vikings, from a night aboard the USS Sabalo diesel submarine to Civil Air Patrol missions near Hill Air Force Base — this is a story of service, sacrifice, and a lifelong love of flight.

EP 41: What They Don't Tell You About Being a Cobra Pilot in the Vietnam War

In Episode 41 of Ask a Vet, we sit down with Walter Cox, Vietnam-era Army warrant officer, helicopter pilot, and Price, Utah native. Walter flew both Cobra gunships and Huey slicks with the 7th/17th Air Cavalry and Alpha 2/27 at Camp Holloway in Pleiku, South Vietnam. He walks us through what it was like to learn to fly in the tiny TH-55 trainer, transition to the sleek and lethal AH-1 Cobra, and ultimately find his calling in the Huey — hauling troops, supplies, and ARVN advisors across the Central Highlands. He recalls his first time being fired upon, the B-40 rockets that barely missed his crew, a bullet hole discovered in his rotor head days after a mission, and the devastating loss of fellow pilots that still stays with him. Walter is also open about the silence he kept for decades after coming home — the airport with no welcome, the PTSD he still navigates, and the memories he's had to push down just to get through. This episode is a remarkable window into the everyday heroism of a generation of veterans who served quietly and came home to even quieter streets. 🎙️ Ask a Vet is a podcast dedicated to honoring and preserving the stories of veterans.

What They Don't Tell You About Flying the CH-54 Skycrane in Vietnam

What does it take to fly the Army's heaviest helicopter, a 72-foot rotor-span Skycrane, into one of the most dangerous combat missions of the Vietnam War? Jim Oliphant knows firsthand. Jim grew up in San Diego, got drafted four times while studying architecture, and ended up becoming one of the Army's elite CH-54 Flying Crane pilots. In this episode, he takes us from boot camp at Fort Bliss to flight school in Texas, all the way to a classified mission on a mountain pinnacle overlooking the Ho Chi Minh Trail- a mission they never even told him the real purpose of until it was over. Jim shares the near-disasters, the ingenuity under pressure, and the surprising moments of humor and humanity that made his year in Vietnam unforgettable, including a hamburger stand on a Vietnamese island, barbecue with steak and lobster, and what it felt like to command the Joint Chiefs of Staff during a NATO exercise on his last day in the Army. 🎙️ Ask A Vet is a podcast dedicated to honoring the stories of Veterans — told in their own words. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Like and share if this story moved you.