1. Latest Conversation: Rand Timmermann

Rand Timmermann enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1966 — his own words: he got drunk in a bar, woke up on a pool table, and by the next morning had signed his name on the dotted line. Nine months later he was standing in a rice paddy in Vietnam wondering if he’d been a little brash. He served with the 1st Marine Division near Da Nang, did everything from clerk typist to machine gunner on a helicopter, earned a temporary commission as a Mustang lieutenant, and by a chain of flukes that only the Marine Corps could produce, became a JAG officer — reportedly the last Mustang lieutenant without a college degree ever to hold that role. He went on to a 40-year career as a litigator in upstate New York, raised three daughters, ran 26 marathons, and at 72 years old hiked 1,863 miles of the Appalachian Trail with his grieving friend Ronnie.

He is 80 now. He still walks six or seven miles a day. He’s been sober for 12 years. And he wrote a book about all of it.

That book — A Spiritual Passage — is part trail memoir, part recovery testimony, part love letter to the men who helped him survive himself. It’s 360 pages, 500 color photographs, and an honest account of what it took for a combat veteran to finally put down the bottle and become, as Rand puts it, “the man God always wanted me to be.”

Watch the full episode here:

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2. The Post-Flight Debrief

It’s always different talking to another Marine. There’s a shorthand that kicks in — a shared language, a shared understanding of what service actually costs — and with Rand, that was there from the first few minutes. He’s lived a lot of life. Trauma, inspiration, darkness, recovery, adventure. At 80 years old, he still has the energy of a man on a mission. Talking to him made me think: if he can do it, I have no excuse.

On carrying the weight alone: One of the moments that stayed with me was when Rand described his father hitting him with a rolled-up chart and telling him to never speak about Vietnam again. His father was a World War II pilot. His uncles served. None of them talked about it. That was the code. And Rand followed it — for almost 60 years. I understood the father in that moment. He was trying to teach his son to be strong, to move forward. That’s what his generation knew. But I also understood Rand — a combat veteran who had seen real things and just needed someone to hear him. I’m still torn on whether the father was right or wrong. What I do know is that carrying it alone for six decades had a cost. It always does.

On the airport stanchion: Rand came home from Vietnam, sat on a tarmac in Okinawa for two nights and three days in his dress greens, flew fifteen hours to LA, and the first thing that happened on American soil was a man twice his size calling him a baby killer and shoving him. Rand grabbed a crowd-control stanchion and was about to finish the conversation his way. I’ll be honest — I would have done the same thing. What saved him was a Korean War Marine aviator who happened to be the pilot of that plane. Sometimes the only person who can reach you is someone who’s been where you’ve been.

On the trail and what kept him moving: Rand didn’t finish all 2,200 miles. He did 1,863 before his hip gave out. But the reason he made it that far — through the pain, through the exhaustion, through days when his body had nothing left — was simple. He didn’t want to let his brother down. That’s the most Marine thing I’ve ever heard said about a hiking trip. The mission changes, the terrain changes, but the thing that keeps you putting one foot in front of the other is always the same: the person next to you.

Takeaway: Whatever you’re carrying — put it down, or find someone to help you carry it. Rand went nearly 60 years before he found his tribe again. He found sobriety at 68, the trail at 72, and his book at 80. It’s not too late. Just don’t do it alone.

3. The Resource Vault

• “A Spiritual Passage” by Rand Timmermann: Appalachian Trail memoir and 12-step recovery story. Three versions available — large softcover (~$30, 500 color photos, 360 pages) and smaller paperback (~$20, ~50 black-and-white photos). Search on Amazon. — [55:03]

• “You Are Not Alone” by Barry Zworstein: Written by a Rhodesian special forces veteran turned psychiatrist. Focused on helping veterans through transition. Includes Rand’s own transition story. — [1:01:45]

• Power of Our Story: Veteran support organization based in San Diego. Helps veterans with transition and recovery. — [1:01:45]

• Alcoholics Anonymous (AA): 12-step recovery program; central to Rand’s sobriety journey. — [7:40, 49:42]

• The VA (Veterans Affairs): Rand credits the VA with significant improvement in veteran mental health services. — [7:40, 1:02:47]

• Syracuse University Veterans Writing Workshop: A writing group for veterans. Rand describes it as finding “his tribe again after almost 60 years.” — [21:32]

  — John "Goofy" Smith MSgt, USMC (Ret.) Trust that God has a plan, do what you love, and let's figure this out together..

1. Latest Conversation: Lavelle Lemonier

Lavelle Lemonier joined the Army as a chemical specialist and spent 25 years wearing the uniform — from jumping into Panama at 19 years old with bullets whistling past his ears, to securing the perimeter during the Black Hawk Down situation in Somalia, to Desert Shield and Storm, to Afghanistan. By the time he retired in 2012 as an E-8, he had lived through nearly every major American military engagement of his generation. That’s the short version. The long version is what we got into on this episode.

I originally found Lavelle through VME — Veterans in Media and Entertainment — where he was promoting his documentary Served in Exile, which follows non-citizen veterans who have been deported after serving honorably. That’s what I reached out about. What I didn’t know was the depth of the career behind the man. Somewhere in the conversation I realized we could have spent three hours just on the deployments alone.

Lavelle is also the founder of Lemonier Studios, a working production company, and the inventor of a patented raised mobile garden bed designed specifically with disabled veterans in mind. He is, by any measure, one of those guests where you finish the recording and immediately wish you had scheduled a second session.

Watch the full episode here:

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2. The Post-Flight Debrief

What struck me most about this conversation was how much ground Lavelle covered — not just geographically, but generationally. He came in during an era when service was a calling, watched the culture shift in his final years, and still came out the other side with more projects running than most guys half his age. I left the recording feeling like I’d only scratched the surface, which honestly doesn’t happen every episode.

On a career that spans everything: Lavelle was 19 years old, parachuting into Panama, hearing what he described as little whistles going past his ear before realizing they were live rounds. That’s the entry point. What followed was Somalia during Black Hawk Down, two Iraq deployments, Afghanistan — basically the full timeline of American military engagement from 1989 to 2012. What hit me was that he carried all of that and still found a way to build something entirely new on the other side. That doesn’t happen by accident.

On generational change: Lavelle made an observation that I’ve thought about since we finished recording — that the biggest shift he saw in his final years wasn’t in tactics or technology, it was in mindset. He described younger enlistees treating service like a nine-to-five. His words, not mine, and I understood exactly what he meant. I came in right after 9/11 when the feeling to serve was visceral. By the time I got out in 2023 I was seeing some of that same drift he described. It’s not a condemnation of younger veterans — it’s just an honest observation from someone who watched it happen over 25 years.

On the deported veterans documentary: Lavelle is directing Served in Exile, a documentary about non-citizen veterans who were deported after serving. When he laid out the cases — men raised in the U.S. from infancy, pledging allegiance every day in school, swearing the same oath we all swore, then dropped at the border with nothing — I found myself genuinely conflicted. I think veterans who serve honorably should have a clear path to citizenship. I also understand the complexity of where lines get drawn. What I know for certain is that it deserves a conversation, and Lavelle is doing the work to make sure that conversation happens.

On creativity as therapy: When Lavelle talked about how getting into filmmaking — completely by accident, starting with behind-the-scenes photography on a movie set — gave him an outlet he didn’t know he needed, I thought about how many veterans are walking around with a creative instinct they’ve never acted on. He made the point directly: if you can write it out, act it out, build something with your hands, that process can do things for your head that nothing else will. His garden bed product came from the same place — a personal need that turned into something he could share.

Takeaway: Lavelle Lemonier is proof that the service doesn’t end when the uniform comes off. Twenty-five years, four major deployments, a second career built from scratch — and he’s still moving. Whatever you carried out of the military, there’s something worth building with it.

3. The Resource Vault

• VME (Veterans in Media and Entertainment): Professional network and events for veterans entering the entertainment industry — [~01:01:18]

• Served in Exile: Documentary directed by Lavelle Lemonier about non-citizen veterans who have been deported. Proof-of-concept footage available now on YouTube — search “Served in Exile” or Lavelle Lemonier — [~01:03:41]

• Lemonier Studios: Lavelle’s production company and website — lemonierStudios.com — [~01:03:41]

• Garden to Go: Lavelle’s patented raised mobile garden bed designed for disabled veterans — adjustable height, wheelchair-accessible models available — garden2go.net — [~01:05:37]

  — John "Goofy" Smith MSgt, USMC (Ret.) Trust that God has a plan, do what you love, and let's figure this out together..

1. Latest Conversation: Scott DeLuzio

Scott DeLuzio served six years as an 11 Bravo infantryman in the Connecticut Army National Guard, deploying to Afghanistan in 2010 alongside a brigade-wide mobilization — one of the largest National Guard deployments since World War II. His unit worked the border region near Pakistan, rotating through base security, biometrics screening, partner force training, and village clearing operations alongside the Afghan army. By any measure, they did their job and came home.

But the deployment didn’t end cleanly for Scott. His younger brother, Sergeant Stephen DeLuzio of the Vermont Army National Guard, was killed in an ambush while their units were stationed roughly 80 miles apart — close enough to be in the same country, too far to reach each other. The last time Scott saw Stephen alive was in a chow hall during training, sneaking in past their allotted time. Stephen spent the meal ribbing him for the gear hanging off his pack. It was exactly the kind of moment brothers have.

Scott wrote about all of it — the deployment, his brother, the aftermath — in his book Surviving Son, available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook. He narrated the audiobook himself. He also hosts the Drive On Podcast, approaching 600 episodes, built around veteran stories and connecting vets with resources and alternative therapies that don’t always show up on the VA’s menu.

Watch the full episode here:

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2. The Post-Flight Debrief

What struck me most about Scott wasn’t the weight of what he’s been through — though that weight is real and you can hear it when he talks about Stephen. What struck me was how deliberate he’s been about not letting any of it disappear. The book. The podcast. The GWOT Memorial Foundation work. Every one of those things is Scott saying: this happened, these people were here, and I’m not going to let the world forget that.

On the flash forward: When Scott described finding out his brother was killed, he said most people experience their life flashing backward — birth to present. He had the opposite. He flashed forward. Weddings, holidays, family dinners — all the moments Stephen was never going to be in. I’ve thought about that a lot since we recorded. I know what it’s like to lose friends, and I know what it would mean to lose a brother. That image — tomorrow canceled, permanently, for someone you grew up with — hit me somewhere I didn’t expect.

On getting help: Scott admitted he lied through his teeth at the mandatory mental health screenings when he got home. I understand why veterans do that. I didn’t go that route myself — somewhere in my own medical record, a doctor had noted anxiety and never told me. I found it after I got out and eventually got diagnosed with adjustment disorder. We came at it from different angles, but we landed in the same place: therapy works, and the stigma around it costs people more than asking for help ever will. Scott said it plainly — what do you have to lose? I can’t argue with that.

On keeping people alive: Scott talked about his belief that people die two deaths — the physical one, and the last time someone speaks their name. He wrote Surviving Son partly to make sure Sergeant Stephen DeLuzio never reaches that second death. That’s something I understand in my bones, and honestly it’s part of why this channel exists. The stories veterans carry deserve to be heard. Written down. Put somewhere permanent. Scott did that for his brother, and I think that’s one of the most honorable things a person can do.

Takeaway: Talking about hard things isn’t weakness — silence is the thing that costs you. Scott built a book, a podcast, and a platform around that conviction, and he’s still doing the work. If something in this conversation sounded familiar, that’s not a coincidence. Do something about it.

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3. The Resource Vault

• Surviving Son (book by Scott DeLuzio): Available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook — [37:45, 1:16:42]

• The Drive On Podcast: Veteran stories, alternative therapies, and resources. thedriveonpodcast.com — also on Apple Podcasts and Spotify — [1:08:56, 1:15:34]

• Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation: Building a GWOT memorial in Washington, DC for all who served and sacrificed — service members, families, contractors, and supporting agencies. Currently in the design phase and accepting donations. gwotmemorialfoundation.org — [1:12:54, 1:15:34]

• The Vet Center: Where Scott got his first post-deployment therapy, working with a combat vet therapist. A solid first call if the VA feels like too much — [~59:57]

• Connect with Scott: thedriveonpodcast.com — all his links are there.

1. Latest Conversation: Lee Ettinger

Lee Ettinger grew up in Southern California in the early 1980s and, by his own honest account, was heading nowhere good. Drugs — a lot of them — and the wrong crowd had him on a path he knew wouldn’t end well. He tried the Air Force first. They turned him down. A recruiter pointed him toward the Marines, and the Marines took a chance on him. That decision, Lee says, saved his life.

He served four years of active duty in the mid-to-late 1980s, assigned to Shore Party — a beach-breaching unit designed to hit the beach ahead of the infantry, clear it, and hold it. What Lee didn’t know at the time was that his unit was quietly being built into something bigger. The Marine Corps was developing the special operations infrastructure that would eventually become MARSOC and the Marine Raiders, and guys like Lee were getting cross-training — advanced machine gun school, a combat skills course, a slot at Army Airborne School at Fort Benning — not because they were selected as elite operators, but because someone needed to fill billets and Lee kept volunteering. He earned his jump wings. He just didn’t realize for years how unusual that was.

After his active contract ended, Lee spent time on inactive reserve, worked in Japan teaching English through the JET program, earned an MBA, built a long career in international film sales and hotel training, appeared on Netflix’s survival competition Outlast after applying through a Facebook ad, and eventually launched Better Living Products — a supplement company whose flagship product, Power Plus, just landed on Amazon after six months and twelve rejections. He lives in Montana now with his wife. He’s still moving forward.

Watch the full episode here:

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2. The Post-Flight Debrief

I’ll be honest: I went into this one a little skeptical. When I first looked into Lee before the recording, the resume raised some flags — airborne-qualified Marine, special operations training, eight years of service. I’ve seen stolen valor. I’ve also seen guys who let four honorable years grow into something bigger in the retelling. Peeling back the layers with Lee on air, I found someone who genuinely did some rare things — but also someone who’s learned to frame them in the most dramatic light possible. That tension made for a more interesting conversation than I expected, and it’s worth thinking through.

On letting your service be what it was: Lee’s four years were real. The training was real. The Airborne slot was legitimately uncommon for someone in his MOS. But he also describes eight years of service — which is technically accurate only because every enlistee finishes their contract in inactive reserve status. That’s not the same as eight years of service. Most Marines know that. I pushed back gently, and I think it’s the right call, because veterans who did their time without inflating it deserve a straight accounting. The four active years Lee served are worth being proud of. They don’t need the extra coat of paint.

On the transition no one prepared him for: The most honest part of Lee’s story is what happened after he got out. No debrief, no classes, no mental health conversation — he called a taxi and went to the airport. Within two years he was back in the same drug use he’d joined the Marines to escape. He eventually pulled himself out on his own, through what he describes as a sudden, overwhelming sense of shame he’d never felt before — a lightning bolt, he called it. I believe him. That kind of moment doesn’t fit neatly into a narrative, and he didn’t try to make it. That’s the most credible thing he said all episode.

On the civilian gap: Lee got fired from corporate jobs because he couldn’t dial back the Marine in him — his words. He was too direct, too accountability-focused, too impatient with people who weren’t singularly committed to the mission. I’ve felt a version of that myself working with civilians, and I think most veterans have. His point isn’t that the civilian world is inferior. It’s that the transition asks you to integrate two very different operating systems, and nobody gives you the manual. Lee figured it out the hard way, over a long time. He got there.

Takeaway: Four years of service — or eight, or twenty — doesn’t define the whole person, and it doesn’t need to. What matters is whether you let what you learned in uniform make you better in the decades after. Lee’s story, with all its rough edges, is evidence that it can. Give it time, keep moving, and be honest about where you’ve actually been.

3. The Resource Vault

• Homeward for Heroes: Veteran overlanding and off-road camping group focused on PTSD awareness and mental wellness. Founded by a Marine named Dan and his wife. Worth looking up if you’re a veteran who thinks you don’t need it — that’s exactly who they’re built for. [~38:52]

• Outlast (Netflix): Survival competition series filmed in Alaska. Lee participated in Season 1. Worth a watch for the production dynamics alone. [~19:37]

• DrinkPowerPlus.com: Lee’s company website for Power Plus, a supplement combining pain relief and energy. [~1:21:34]

• National Institutes of Health (NIH) research repository: Publicly available peer-reviewed ingredient studies at nih.gov — Lee used this as part of his product development research. [~1:17:56]

• JET Program (Japanese Exchange and Teaching): Government-run program for teaching English in Japanese high schools. Lee spent three years in Japan through this program after leaving active duty. Worth knowing if you’re a veteran looking for post-service international options.

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  — John “Goofy” Smith MSgt, USMC (Ret.) Trust that God has a plan, do what you love, and let’s figure this out together.

Ron Cooper flew more than 300 combat missions in an F-4 Phantom over Vietnam. He spent 22 years in the Air Force, finished pilot training as a valedictorian, and came home from a war that didn’t welcome him back. Today he runs The Cooper Culture, a consulting practice built on a simple premise: the camaraderie that military people take for granted is exactly what most civilian companies are starving for.

That’s the resume version. What the resume doesn’t capture is the longer road that got him there — a kid who grew up told he should have known things he couldn’t possibly have known, who internalized that silence as stupidity, and who spent years building confidence back one word at a time. Four men did that work: his grandfather, his uncle, a high school football coach, and his father-in-law. Each one said something small. Each one landed harder than they probably knew.

By the time Ron graduated pilot training and pinned on his wings, it had taken thirteen years from that first Thunderbirds air show at Andrews to get there. He graduated valedictorian and took the Leadership Award. Then he volunteered for Vietnam.

Watch the full episode here:

2. The Post-Flight Debrief

Ron came into this conversation the way I imagine he walked into a lot of briefing rooms — prepared, precise, measured. He had frameworks ready. He had language for everything. And for most of our conversation, he delivered it well. But there was one moment where all of that fell away, and it happened when we got to call signs.

When Ron told me about breaking his ankle horsing around in the hooch in Vietnam — fell back on it trying to brace a shove, hobbled to bed, limped to the hospital the next morning with his toes sticking out of the cast — he smiled. You could see it through the screen. It was the smile of a man remembering a time when he was just a young lieutenant in a war zone, laughing with his guys, before 50 years of reflection had settled over all of it. That moment told me more about Ron Cooper than anything else in the hour.

On the people who shape us: Ron’s “Words Matter” talk — built around those four men — is clearly something he’s given many times. It’s polished. But that doesn’t make it less true. I’m a fourth-generation Marine. My biological father wasn’t in the picture, and it was my stepfather who raised me to be the man I became. So when Ron talked about a grandfather saying Ronnie, you’re a good worker, and an uncle saying let’s go with the apostrophe S — just the two of them — I understood exactly what he meant. The people who build us aren’t always the ones we planned on. Sometimes it’s a sentence. Sometimes it’s just someone choosing to show up.

On camaraderie and what companies are missing: Ron’s consulting work is grounded in something real — that trust produces confidence, and confidence produces retention, innovation, and people who actually want to come to work. His framework around what he calls the Three R’s (resent, resist, retribution) is worth sitting with if you’re in any kind of leadership role. Silent resentment that never gets named doesn’t stay silent forever. He’s right about that.

On transition: The advice Ron gave veterans coming out of the military is the kind of thing that should be in every TAPS class but probably isn’t said plainly enough: don’t chase the money. Find the culture first. Interview the company like they’re interviewing you. The camaraderie you had in uniform is not a given in the civilian world — and no salary makes up for going to bed every night dreading the next morning.

Takeaway: The people who shaped you are worth naming out loud — before it’s too late to tell them. Ron made a point of telling each of those four men what they meant to him before they died. That’s not a soft sentiment. That’s something to put on the calendar.

3. The Resource Vault

• The Cooper Culture: Ron’s consulting practice helping small-to-mid-sized companies build camaraderie, trust, and innovative thinking — www.thecooperculture.com

— John "Goofy" Smith MSgt, USMC (Ret.) Trust that God has a plan, do what you love, and let's figure this out together.

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1. Latest Conversation: Rich Lamonica

Rich Lamonica spent 22 years in the Army as a CBRN specialist — chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear. He was forward deployed to Kuwait on September 11, 2001, watching the Twin Towers fall on a TV in the desert after growing up in Jersey City with those same towers visible from his back door. By the time he hung up his boots on June 30, 2015, he’d deployed four times, served alongside the Big Red One and the 82nd Airborne, run force protection and QRF out of FOB Wilson, and been wounded by a mortar in Kunar, Afghanistan.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, on December 31, 2010, he lost Sgt. Michael Beckerman — the only soldier under him to be killed in combat. He still had 31 other men to bring home. He did. And then he carried that weight into a fourth deployment because when he asked for help in 2011, a social worker looked at his rank and told him he was good, go back to work.

This conversation covers the 9/11 pivot, the leadership decision Rich made the day he lost Beckerman, the year after retirement when he didn’t know what to do with his hands, and the volunteer work that eventually led him to The Misfit Nation — the community he built because he couldn’t find one that fit.

Watch the full episode here:

2. The Post-Flight Debrief

What struck me most about sitting with Rich wasn’t any single combat story. It was the arithmetic of leadership he walked me through — one soldier gone, 31 still looking at you, and no pause button. That’s a math problem most civilians will never have to solve, and one most veterans will never talk about out loud. Rich did, and he did it plainly, without dressing it up. I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

On losing a soldier and still leading 31 others: The moment that hit hardest for me was when Rich described December 31, 2010. He’d just lost his first dude. He was angry. And he still had 31 other people to get home. He told me, “That day changed how I led completely because I was angry for one. I just lost my first dude. I still had 31 other people I had to take care of and get them home as well.” There’s no manual for that. You grieve on a schedule that doesn’t exist, and you keep moving because people are watching you to decide whether to keep moving themselves. Rich kept moving. That’s the quiet cost of leadership nobody puts on a recruiting poster.

On the system failing him in 2011: I didn’t feel anger when Rich told me about going to that social worker and getting waved off with “you’re good, go back to work.” I felt disappointment. The system overlooks things like this, and it puts service members at risk. Here’s a senior NCO, carrying the weight of a combat loss, walking in the door and saying I need help, I’ve got to get this out of my head — and the response was to look at his rank and send him back to work. He deployed again in 2012. I was hoping, as he told the story, that he’d eventually found the help he needed. Then I realized — that’s exactly why he built The Misfit Nation. He built the community he never got handed.

On why getting hit actually brought him home: Rich went into his fourth deployment convinced he wasn’t coming back. A mortar in Kunar snapped him out of it. On its face, that sounds backwards — most guys describe getting wounded as the thing that breaks them, not the thing that wakes them up. But the more I sat with it, the more it tracked. Rich wasn’t carrying a death wish into that deployment. He was carrying a leader’s obligation — the instinct that says everyone goes home, and if the math doesn’t work out, I’m the one who stays. A lot of leaders feel that, especially the ones who’ve already lost somebody. The mortar didn’t break him. It just reset the equation.

On purpose being the thing, not the job: Rich said it flat: “Purpose. Purpose is the number one thing.” Not a paycheck. Not a title. Purpose. He spent a year after retirement unemployed, drinking too much, wondering what to do with his hands. Seven hundred volunteer hours with the Red Cross is what finally cracked it open. If you’re a veteran sitting in that year-one fog right now, hear this — every one of us struggles to find purpose after our time in. Every one. Don’t give up on it, and don’t wait for it to find you. Get involved in the community. Volunteer somewhere. Take the VIA strengths assessment Rich talks about. The purpose is out there. You have to go looking.

Takeaway: Leadership doesn’t end at the DD-214, and neither does the weight you pick up wearing the uniform. Rich’s story is a reminder that the system will sometimes fail you, the transition will sometimes flatten you, and the answer isn’t waiting for either one to fix itself — it’s finding your community, doing the work, and building what you need if it doesn’t exist yet. That’s what Rich did. That’s what The Misfit Nation is.

3. The Resource Vault

• The Misfit Nation: Rich’s podcast/show, 636 episodes, live Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays

• Rich’s website: https://themisfitnation.com (contact form routes to his email)

• Travis Manion Foundation — Clarksville chapter: Rich is the chapter lead; community projects and youth mentorship

• Character Does Matter program (via Travis Manion Foundation): youth mentorship program centered on character strengths

• VIA Character Strengths Assessment: ranks your 25 character strengths, top 5 and bottom 5 — Rich uses it with veterans to help locate purpose

• Clifton Strengths Assessment (Gallup): alternate character-strengths tool Rich recommends

• American Red Cross: where Rich put in 700 volunteer hours that led him to his purpose

• Michigan Continuous Fellowship Program: veteran transition mentorship program Rich mentored with for two years

• Community on-ramps Rich recommends: VFW, American Legion, Wounded Warrior Project, Team Red White & Blue, Team Rubicon

• Three Things That Matter: Rich’s forthcoming book, compiling stories from 34 guests on leadership, education, and mental health

• In memory: Sgt. Michael Beckerman — honored by name in this conversation

• Connect with Rich Lamonica: themisfitnation.com; The Misfit Nation on YouTube and social platforms

— John "Goofy" Smith MSgt, USMC (Ret.) Trust that God has a plan, do what you love, and let's figure this out together.

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1. Latest Conversation: Evan Poling

In this episode, I’m joined by Evan Poling, a Specialist who served six years in the Ohio Army National Guard as a combat medic. Evan didn’t come from an entrepreneurial background. He didn’t have a startup network or venture capital connections. What he had was six years of Guard service — including time alongside Heath Robinson, the soldier whose death helped pass the PACT Act for burn pit veterans — and years spent investigating financial crimes and money laundering at a level that taught him exactly how businesses work when nobody’s watching.

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That background led him to found BizRetire.com, a marketplace connecting small business buyers and sellers in an industry he watched fail ordinary people for years. Two and a half years into building it, he hasn’t turned a profit. He’s still building.

The conversation covers the full arc: serving alongside Heath Robinson and what burn pit legislation meant to his unit, the weekly mental shift of Guard life — what he calls the soldier switch — his career investigating terrorist financing and money laundering, why 80% of profitable businesses that go to market never actually sell, and what it looks and feels like to keep building something when the reward hasn’t shown up yet.

This isn’t a veteran success story wrapped up with a bow. It’s an honest look at what entrepreneurship actually feels like when you’re still in the middle of it — and what keeps you going anyway.

Watch the Full Episode Here:

2. The Post-Flight Debrief

What struck me most about Evan’s story wasn’t the business — it was how clearly he could see his own blind spots while still inside them.

A lot of veterans who start businesses lean hard on the military identity: the discipline, the mission focus, the grit. Evan has all of that. But he was also honest that the same traits that kept him moving — the ability to push through alone, to stay heads-down, to not ask for help — were the things that almost broke the business before community and faith helped him course-correct.

Three moments from this conversation stayed with me:

On serving with Heath Robinson: Evan mentioned it early and without fanfare. Heath was in his unit. That’s all he said. But the weight of it sat in the room for the rest of the conversation — a quiet reminder of what burn pit veterans and their families fought for, and why legislation like the PACT Act took as long as it did. For Evan, this wasn’t a talking point. It was personal.

On the soldier switch: Evan described a mental shift that happened every drill weekend — a transition into soldier mode in the days leading up to drill, and a slow wind-down back to civilian life afterward. It’s not a disorder. It’s not dysfunction. It’s just what it costs to live two lives simultaneously. Guard and Reserve veterans carry this in a way that rarely gets acknowledged in the broader veteran conversation. Evan named it plainly, which is more than most people do.

On two and a half years with no profit: This is the one that lands hardest. Evan didn’t soften it. He said directly that he hasn’t made a profit, that the early years of building something are often unrewarded, and that the military prepared him for that better than any business school could — but that it also trained him to push through in isolation, which isn’t always the right move. Learning to be vulnerable, to let community in, to stop white-knuckling it alone — that shift changed the direction of the business.

The Takeaway: The military doesn’t issue you a tolerance for ambiguity and then tell you what to do with it. Evan’s still figuring out what to do with his. That’s what makes this conversation worth your time — not because he has the answers, but because he’s honest about where he is while he’s still in it.

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3. The Resource Vault

• BizRetire.com — Evan’s marketplace for buying and selling small businesses:

https://bizretire.com

• Connect with Evan Poling: LinkedIn

• PACT Act Information for Burn Pit Veterans: https://www.va.gov/resources/the-pact-act-and-your-va-benefits

• Small Business Administration — Veteran Resources: https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/grow-your-business/veteran-owned-businesses

Trust that God has a plan, do what you love, and let’s figure this out together.

1. Latest Conversation: Tyler Muniz

In this episode, I’m joined by Tyler Muniz, a Marine Captain who served as an Air Support Control Officer from 2016 to 2022. Tyler didn’t come from a tech background. He didn’t have a Silicon Valley network. What he had was six years of high-pressure planning, briefing, and execution under the Marine Corps — and the discipline to figure out how to translate that into something a recruiter at a Fortune 500 company could understand.

The conversation covers the full arc: the stress of out-processing while still operational, the deliberate decision to avoid the defense contractor path, his time in the USC Marshall Master of Business for Veterans program, and the grind of networking his way into a Program Manager role at NetApp during one of the worst tech layoff cycles in recent memory.

This isn’t a “veteran succeeds” highlight reel. It’s an honest look at what the gap between service and civilian career actually feels like — and what it takes to close it.

Watch the Full Episode Here:

2. The Post-Flight Debrief

What struck me most about Tyler’s story wasn’t the outcome — it was the self-awareness he brought to the process.

A lot of veterans, especially officers, leave the service believing their record will speak for itself. Tyler had to confront the reality that a civilian hiring manager doesn’t know what an Air Support Control Officer does, doesn’t know what WTI means, and doesn’t have a framework for translating six years of Marine Corps operational planning into program management competency. That translation work? It falls entirely on you.

Three moments from this conversation stayed with me:

On officer transition support: Tyler was candid that officers often receive less hand-holding during out-processing than their enlisted counterparts — the assumption being that officers are self-sufficient enough to figure it out. That assumption costs people. The paperwork, the timelines, the VA process — none of it stops because you’re still running a section or maintaining operational tempo. It just piles up.

On avoiding defense: A lot of veterans default to defense contracting because it feels familiar. Tyler made a deliberate choice to go the other direction. That decision forced him to actually develop a new skillset rather than rely on proximity to the world he already knew. It was harder. It was also the right call for him.

On communicating your value: This is the one that lands hardest. Tyler said it directly — “Your skills matter no matter what MOS you have. It’s on you to communicate that effectively when you get out.” That’s not a motivational poster. That’s a job requirement. If you can’t explain what you did in a way a hiring manager can act on, the skills don’t matter. Learning to tell that story is work, and most transition programs don’t teach it well enough.

The Takeaway: The military didn’t issue you a resume translator when you raised your right hand. The responsibility to bridge that language gap sits with you. The good news is the skills are real — Tyler’s story proves that. The work is learning to speak both languages.

3. The Resource Vault

• USC Marshall Master of Business for Veterans (MBV): https://www.marshall.usc.edu/programs/specialized-masters-programs/master-business-veterans

• Hiring Our Heroes Fellowship Program: https://www.hiringourheroes.org

• Connect with Tyler Muniz: LinkedIn

• NetApp Careers: https://www.netapp.com/company/careers

Trust that God has a plan, do what you love, and let's figure this out together.

1. Latest Conversation: Tina Irwin

In this episode, I’m joined by Tina Irwin, a 20-year Navy veteran who retired as a Commander in 1992. Tina entered the service in 1972—a time when military academies and ROTC scholarships weren’t even an option for women.

The conversation centers on her path from a college graduate in North Carolina, where she faced blatant hiring discrimination, to becoming the first female instructor in the history of the Navy Submarine School. Tina doesn’t lean into the “pioneer” narrative for the sake of it; instead, she talks about the vertical learning curve of submarine systems, the ethical weight of managing classified material, and the specific reality of being a woman in the “Silent Service” during the Cold War.

We focused on the transition from entering a “man’s world” to eventually leading it, specifically her work in anti-terrorism and physical security for the Submarine Force Atlantic Fleet.

Watch Full Episode Here:

2. The Post-Flight Debrief

Talking to Tina was a reminder that for most veterans who “broke barriers,” they weren’t trying to be crusaders. They were just trying to do the job better than anyone else. Tina’s perspective on entering the Submarine Force in the 70s is as direct as it gets. She didn’t expect the environment to change for her; she learned the language of the environment so she could command it.

There were three moments that really hit home for me:

• On being a “Crusader”: “You don’t wake up and say, ‘Gee, I think I’m going to be a crusader.’ You wake up and go, ‘What am I going to do in this job today?’”. This is the professional’s mindset. You focus on the task, and the “history” part takes care of itself.

• On the vertical learning curve: “We had to learn the language of men—how they refer to things, how they related to things. It was insane for any woman to think that men were supposed to adjust to them. This was their world; we entered their world.”. In any transition, whether it’s a new unit or a new career, you have to learn the local dialect before you can start changing the culture.

• On knowing when to walk away: “I couldn’t hear one more personal problem... I had to have an emotional break myself. When the joy is gone, it’s time to go.”. This is an honest look at burnout that many 20-year retirees feel but rarely admit.

The Takeaway: Respect in the military isn’t given; it’s extracted through competence. Whether you’re the first or the thousandth person in a role, if you know your gear and hold the line on ethics, the “men’s club” or any other barrier eventually has to give way to the mission.

3. The Resource Vault

• LinkedIn: Tina Irwin

• YouTube: Tina Irwin’s Channel

• Website: Ghost Helpers

4. Connect with Tina Irwin

Tina Irwin is a retired Navy Commander and a specialist in anti-terrorism and submarine physical security. Her contributions include the design of non-lethal protection equipment for submarines that remains in use today. You can find her professional profile and current projects via the links in the Resource Vault.

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Why I Started The Unsung Veteran

In August 2023, I retired after 20 years of service. Like many of you, I moved straight into the contracting world. I enjoy the work, but the transition has its own set of challenges.

After two decades of a guaranteed paycheck, the uncertainty of the civilian sector is a massive shift. In this world, if a contract ends, the income ends. Even with a pension, that transition from “steady” to “uncertain” is a mental weight that hits differently at 2:00 AM.

Back in November, I was up late praying about what was next. I wasn’t necessarily looking for a new career, but I realized I was missing a genuine connection with other veterans. I wanted a space to hear the real stories—not the rehearsed “war stories” or formal briefings, but the honest truth about life after the uniform.

What to expect here

I chose an unscripted format for the show because it removes the pressure. In the military, everything was a checklist or a formal brief. Here, I just want to sit down and talk. No rehearsed answers—just honest conversations from people who have been there.

By subscribing to this Substack, you’ll get:

• Weekly Episode Updates: Direct links to new conversations on YouTube and Spotify.

• The Post-Flight Debrief: My personal reflections on each conversation, the lessons I’m taking away, and the thoughts that didn’t make it into the recording.

• The Resource Vault: Direct links to the books, websites, and organizations discussed in every episode. If a guest shares a specific tool that helped them, you’ll find it here—along with how to connect with them directly.

I don’t have all the answers—I’m still figuring out this transition every single day—but I’m glad to have a platform where we can learn from one another. Whether you served 4 years or 30, we are all navigating the same waters once we take the uniform off.

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Latest Conversation: Douglas Katz

This past Wednesday, I sat down with Douglas Katz, an Army veteran, West Point grad, and the inventor behind the Nu-Lu knife and Golf Fresco. We didn’t spend much time on "war stories." Instead, we talked about the "unofficial contract" of loyalty that exists in the military—and why it’s so jarring when you realize it doesn't exist in the corporate world.

The Post-Flight Debrief

One thing Doug said really hit home: “The military took better care of us than corporate America does.” [03:03]

Coming from a world where your NCOs and officers are literally invested in your life, it’s a shock to move into a workspace where leadership is often more worried about losing their own job than moving the ball forward. Doug’s perspective on using the “Asymmetric Warfare” mindset to build small businesses was a wake-up call. We aren’t just employees; we’re strategic thinkers who are a second away from adapting to any situation.

If you’ve ever felt like your “wiring” didn’t fit a 9-to-5, this conversation explains why that’s actually your greatest strength.

The Resource Vault

Doug mentioned several organizations that actually put their money where their mouth is when it comes to helping veteran entrepreneurs:

• IVMF / Bunker Labs: Transitioning support and entrepreneurial training. [10:00]

• Founder Institute: Offers military scholarships for those looking to launch tech or product companies. [10:04]

• Warrior Rising: Helping veterans find the capital and mentorship to start businesses. [10:11]

• US Inventor: A group Doug works with that fights for the rights of independent inventors against big-business “regulatory capture.” [01:00:32]

• Connect with Doug Katz

Trust that God has a plan, do what you love, and let's figure this out together.