Craig Sawyer, a Navy SEAL veteran, talks about how building his network over the years helped bring him opportunities to work in television, non-profit and more areas after his military career. Click here to read more about Craig Sawyer’s military background.
“The David Johnson Show” is a national voice and storyteller of real-life experiences of our military community, in and out of active duty. TDJS highlights points of interest in our American military and veteran subculture. Each show episode showcases a different guest with a different story. Sign up to get notified of new episodes at: and subscribe to TDJS YouTube channel.
10 years in the Marine Corps to #1 Rap Billboard charting artist. It wasn't all cotton candy and rainbows after his ETS from the service.
Raymond Lott - AKA TMR - AKA The Marine Rapper, veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, put in the hard work and mastered his craft.
This is his story....
The Battle of Wanat was one of the deadliest battles during the war in Afghanistan. Countless official Army / Government and other civilian organizations have studied and produced papers regarding this battle. What few talk about is – what was – one of the hardest enemies to fight; CORRUPTION. Afghanistan was filled with it. Here is a brief firsthand account from the RC East Commander, Retired Two Star Jeffrey Schloesser.
“The July 13, 2008 battle at Wanat, near the Pakistani frontier, was one of the bloodiest since the Afghan war began in 2001. A U.S. force of 49, plus 24 Afghan troops, desperately fought off an attack by some 200 Taliban fighters, calling in air strikes barely 30 feet from their own positions during the struggle. The platoon, in close combat with Taliban fighters, repelled the enemy after nearly four hours of intense fire at a cost of nine Americans dead and 27 wounded.”
Never Forget
Jonathan Brostrom. 24, Aiea, Hawaii
Israel Garcia. 24, Long Beach, California
Jonathan Ayers. 24, Snellville, Georgia
Jason Bogar. 25, Seattle Washington
Jason Hovater. 24, Clinton, Tennessee
Matthew Phillips. 27, Jasper, Georgia
Pruitt Rainey. 22, Haw River, North Carolina
Gunnar Zwilling. 20, Florissant, Missouri
Sergio Abad. 21, Morganfield Kentucky
Marine Corps combat veteran Aetha Ives speaks openly about her childhood trauma, joining the Marine Corps, Military Sexual Trauma, combat deployments, how she worked passed her trauma and is now helping others.
Dr Jannell MacAulay on bringing your full self to every situation. Mindfulness is the secret to high performance. She talks about what mindfulness really is and how to practice it.
Retired Air Force Pilot and Military Strategist - Dr. Jannell MacAulay - led a team of 3 other females at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) that planned and executed the removal and destruction of 1500 tons of chemical weapons.
The Syrian regime used chemical weapons on its population in 2013. This is when President Obama drew the "red line". After exhausting all options and scenarios the team came up with a plan to remove the weapons and destroy them at sea. This is the, now unclassified, story told by the team leader.
Retired Marine Corps Engineer, Rob Jones, stepped on an IED during a deployment to Afghanistan in 2010. During his Military deployment with B Co, 4th Combat Engineer BN, one of his tasks was to find and clear IEDs
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJQv7tCou0aXa_kQMCOwYPA
This is a shorter clip of the full episode
The David Johnson Show started as a passion project in 2020 and continues to interview and tell the stories of the GWOT generation. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
Rob Jones - Retired USMC, United States Marine Corps, has an inspiring Military story for all. His story revolves around becoming a double above knee amputee. A story of hope, dedication and never saying "I Can't"
Marine Corps double amputee, Rob Jones, on his Journey from the battlefield in Afghanistan where an explosion took both his legs to his successful life after the Marine Corps.
Watch the Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/59S6bJvOl9c
Rob's second deployment in 2010 took him to Afghanistan with B Company, 4th Combat Engineer Battalion where he was tasked with the job of finding improvised explosive devices. It was in that role on July 22nd he stepped on an IED which resulted in double above-knee amputations.
This is his journey through recovery, healing, earning a bronze medal in the 2012 Paralympic Games and ultimately running 30 marathons in 30 days in 30 different cities.
Jerry Peterson of SCARS spent many months patrolling the Jungles of Vietnam. After many ambushes he learned how to create the offensive mindset -- He turned the narrative around.
Watch the in -person interview here: https://bit.ly/34RtmMn
Directly following the 9/11 attacks in New York City, Retired Major General Jeffrey Schloesser started the planning cell on the Joint Staff, to plan what was to be a Global War on Terrorism - The GWOT.
You can watch the short interview here: https://bit.ly/3BhRPX8
Full Long Video here: https://bit.ly/Former101stCommander
Major General Retired, US Army, Jeffrey Schloesser is the former Commander of the 101st Airborne Division.
His staff become the critical interface between the military staff and the civilian policy makers at the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD).
"After over a year of coordination, in 2002 we published the National Military Strategic Plan for the Global War on Terrorism".
~Marathon War, Chapter 2. Page 25
Jeffrey Schloesser, Major General U.S. Army Retired, commanded the 101st Airborne Division's Combined Joint Task Force 101 (CJTF-101) in combat in eastern Afghanistan for 15 months.
Watch the live Interview on Youtube - https://youtu.be/Q-0wJz9CuHY
In this episode Schloesser delivers an authentic interview on his time in the Army raising through the ranks, America's early reaction to 09/11, early days of planning the Global War on Terr orism, combat in Iraq and his command in Afghanistan / RC East.
Schloesser is the author of Marathon War, Leadership in Combat in Afghanistan. We discuss key components of Military Strategy and Leadership in Chaos.
Schloesser is a former helicopter pilot, former member of the Army's famed 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, an experienced military strategist, former deputy commander of the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq (OIF) and later the division commander for 3 years - 15 months of that in combat in Afghanistan.
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