Making Shooters Better

Most Armed Citizens Prepare for the Range… Not the Fight

In this episode, firearms instructor Karl Rehn joins former Royal Marines Commando Terry Vaughan for a brutally honest conversation about the dangerous gap between shooting skill and actual survivability in a violent encounter. Drawing from decades of experience training armed citizens, law enforcement officers, and competitive shooters, Karl explains why minimum qualifications often create false confidence, why competition shooting helps more than most people realize… until it doesn’t, and why decision-making under stress is the skill most gun owners fail to train. The conversation explores situational awareness, force-on-force training, concealed carry realities, medical and unarmed skills, and the hard truth about what actually holds up when chaos replaces the script. If you carry a firearm for self-defense, this episode may completely change how you think about training.

Part 2 Captured: One Marine's Fight to Survive the Iranian Revolution

What happens after hope starts to slip? In Part 2, Ken Kraus takes us deeper inside one of the most feared prisons of the Iranian Revolution—a place where time disappears, rules don’t apply, and survival is no longer guaranteed. The questions from Part 1 are gone. What replaces them… is far worse. You’ll hear what it’s like to live among prisoners who’ve already accepted their fate… to witness the consequences of interrogation… and to navigate a system where you’re never quite sure if you’ll be called next—or if you’ll come back. This isn’t just a story of endurance. It’s a story of identity, faith, and what a human being holds onto when everything else is stripped away. Because in a place like this… surviving isn’t the only challenge. Coming out the other side is.

Part 1 Captured: One Marine's Fight to Survive the Iranian Revolution

What happens when the post you’re sworn to protect becomes the place you’re taken from? In this first part of a two-part episode, former U.S. Marine Ken Kraus takes us inside the opening moments of the 1979 Iranian Revolution—from standing watch at the American Embassy in Tehran… to being wounded, captured, and dragged into a system he doesn’t understand. This isn’t a typical interview. It’s a story—told as it happened. You’ll hear the confusion, the silence, the questions with no answers… and the slow, chilling realization that he’s been taken somewhere far worse than he imagined. Cut off from time, control, and certainty, Ken begins to understand one thing: This is just the beginning. Part 2 drops next Thursday… and that’s where the real test begins.

She Had a Bounty on Her Head in One of the World’s Most Dangerous Cities—What Kept Her Alive Isn’t What You Think

This episode isn’t about the Secret Service. It’s not about psychology. It’s about who you become when pressure shows up uninvited. Dr. Mary Beth Wilkas Janke has lived in environments where hesitation has consequences—pulling out of a garage in Bogotá knowing today might be the day, advising protection teams with lives on the line, and operating with a bounty on her head.  And what she learned cuts straight through the noise: Fear isn’t the problem. Mismanaging it is. She didn’t eliminate fear—she trained her response to it. She didn’t rely on confidence—she built it under pressure. She didn’t hope for resilience—she engineered it over time. Then came the realization that changes everything: The real battlefield isn’t out there… it’s in your head. Because people don’t break from lack of skill— they break when their thinking collapses under pressure. Her three truths land hard: * Fear survives because you feed it * Your self-talk shapes who you become * Resilience is built—not given And the line that ties it all together: You don’t rise to the moment… you reveal what you’ve already built. This conversation will leave you with one uncomfortable question: If the moment found you today… would you trust yourself?

She Was Afraid of Guns… Now She’s Leading a Movement Changing Who Shoots—and Why

She didn’t grow up around guns. Didn’t want one in her home. And for years… she fought against the idea entirely. Then one moment changed everything. What started as fear turned into curiosity. Curiosity turned into competence. And that competence… turned into a nationwide movement that’s reshaping how women train, think, and show up under pressure. In this episode, Robyn Sandoval—President and CEO of A Girl & A Gun—pulls back the curtain on what actually builds confidence with a firearm… and why most people get it wrong. We get into: * The real reason women are stepping into shooting sports in record numbers * Why community isn’t just support—it’s a performance multiplier * The hidden dangers of thinking “someone else will handle it” * And the uncomfortable truth about violence that most people avoid… until it’s too late This isn’t just about shooting. It’s about responsibility, readiness… and what happens when you decide you’re the one in charge.